Courage for heart patients
Night Blooming Cereus (Selenicereus grandiflorus, Queen of the Night or Moon Cactus) is an epiphytic (grows on the surface of other plant forms without drawing sustenance from them), climbing member of the Cactaceae family, growing to about four metres, and mostly found on trees. A native to tropical America, it displays a green, tubular body that has five to six wings containing clusters of spines, with lateral and terminal flowers that bloom after dusk and last for about six hours. The flowers, which grow to about 30cm, are white with yellow centres and have a strong smell of vanilla. They are pollinated by bats and moths. The plant often needs support for it to flourish.
When the flowers fade they leave a small, red-striped fruit about the size of a gooseberry, which contains alkaloids and flavanoids, mainly cactine and isorhamnetin.
The Shoshone Native Americans call this plant ‘pain in the heart’ and have used it to treat heart diseases, while several other tribes extract the juice to combat diabetes.
Cereus has been used for centuries as a cardiac tonic, central nervous system stimulant, diuretic and sedative. The alkaloid cactine has a similar effect to digitalis, and when used as a tincture it gives relief from angina pectoris, palpitations, weak heart beat, rapid heart beat accompanied by loss of bodily strength, coronary disease, low blood pressure, numbness of the left arm (often associated with angina), dropsy, incipient apoplexy and haemoptysis (bloody sputum). It is recommended by homeopaths for aneurism, cholesterolised arteries, temporal arteritis and heart murmur. Cereus is claimed to give courage to the chronic heart disease sufferer to face the day.
There is a cautionary note however – large doses of cereus give rise to gastric irritation, delirium, hallucinations and mental confusion.
This plant can be seen in many of the old gardens of Nicosia and grows very easily from broken segments. The cactus has a lobular form and the segments are easily detached. Place the base in well-drained soil at the foot of a tree or climbing frame and it will rapidly climb if assisted, but make sure the securing material is not so tight as to restrict growth. Once established, it will fill the garden with delicious evening perfume.
Next week Kava
