THE MEDICINAL USES OF BOOPHANE DISTICHA
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Narcotic properties have been noted and ingesting the juice of the plant has caused death.
Case history of use in cancer treatment:
In 1986 Mr. Adrian Lind was taken ill. Pains were felt in his back and x-rays
were taken and a kidney condition diagnosed. He was given morphine for the
pain.
The condition did not go away and he was in such pain that he visited a German
Dominican Sister known for her skill in healing with natural plant substances.
With the assistance of a divination rod, which she ran over his body, she
diagnosed that he was suffering from cancer of the kidneys. She asked him
if he wanted to go to a hospital but his reply was negative.
She gave him part of a half bottle of brandy to make him sick - which it did
- and then 4 scales from the Boophane plant with instructions to boil them
- together with a small piece of root (unidentified). She told him that the
treatment was dangerous but that if he did not take the mixture she was certain
he would die shortly.
The root and the Boophane were boiled together with a litre of water until
reduced by half - when cool a tablespoon was drunken immediately - and then
a tablespoon three times a day until the liquid was finished.
Immediate relief was experienced from the pain and it never returned. The
root was used to relieve the pain. The bulb to destroy the cancer.
On completing the course she again administered the Boophane on its own -
boiled in the same way. Taking four of the scales and boiling them in a litre
of water until reduced by half and then removing the scales and throwing them
away. Mr Lind took these courses of treatment three times more in succession.
He never suffered any of the poisoning symptoms or any form of hysteria or
disability. it must be noted that people react differently to any substance
they ingest.
Not only did the pain never return but his health improved and he has shown
no signs of any reoccurrence over 20 years later - he has had no further kidney
problems and leads an active life involved with the outdoors.
There have been other cases of the same nun giving the Boophane to other persons
for cancer of the breast and for cancerous tumors in the brain - all with
success.
Case of use in Zimbabwe for abdominal pain:
A patient, 24 years of age was told by a n’ganga to drink the juice of a boophane
bulb if he developed abdominal pains and felt weak. On 18 January 1953, after
experiencing such discomfort, he cut off the root of the bulb, allowing a few
drops of the bulb to collect on a plate. He then mixed this with cooked porridge
and consumed only two spoonfuls of the mixture. Immediately his mouth became
painful and he experienced a burning pain down his epigastrium. He became dizzy
and fell to the ground within a few minutes. He regained consciousness 20 hours
later in hospital. On examination he was irrational, talkative, and restless
and displayed an intense photophobia. His pupils were widely dilated but reacted
to light. The next morning he was still irrational, talkative and inclined to
resist being examined, but at 5pm he regained consciousness and thereafter made
an uninterrupted recovery (Gelfand & Mitchell, 573)
The characteristic signs of boophane poisoning in non-fatal cases are rapid
development of ataxia and giddiness, impaired vision, talkativeness or quietness
and depression, stupor coma.
In the book ‘People’s Plants’ it notes that it is a powerful hallucinogenic
and is used in male adolescent initiation rites and in the initiation of diviners.
Some diviners administer the bulb scales orally as a decoctation to enduce visual
hallucinations that are then interpreted.
A weak decoctation of the bulb scales is commonly administered as a profound
sedative to violent psychotic patients and once the drug takes effect, the patient
no longer needs to be restrained and can be given milder herbal remedies.
The bulb is used extensively as a medicine, including use for headache, chest pain, abdominal pain, and insomnia. The dry bulb scales are applied topically as an antiseptic and pain-relieving dressing after circumcision, and to painful joints, swelling, bruises, abscesses, sores, rashes, burns, and septic wounds. This book goes into the use of the plant on an extensive level.
© Odette Lind & Iain Stephens Wednesday, August 07,
1996
Disclaimer:
Please note that this plant has not been proven by the medical world as a cure.
It has been used in indigenous medicine but has also caused death. Any use of
this plant is completely at the risk of those taking the plant and neither Odette
Lind or Iain Stephens or their associates can be held responsible for the effects.
On the advice of Sister Halaria if there has been any chemotherapy treatment
or similar drug taken the plant should not be used.
REF:
The Traditional Medical Practitioner in Zimbabwe - M Gelfand, S Mavi, R B Drummond,
and B Ndemera
Poisonous Plants of South Africa - Ben-Erik van Wyk, Fanie van Heerden, Bosch
van Oudtsehoorn
People’s Plants - Ben-Erik van Wyk & Nigel Gericke
Return to the Indigenous Healing Plants Page