Dooryard Medicinal Plants of St. Lucia

Migrant Pharmacopoeias: An Ethnobotanical Survey of Four Caribbean Communities in Amazonia (French Guiana)

“…Most of the species used by Saint Lucian people residing in FG are exotic and mostly pantropical species. Introduced for the most part during the colonial period, both in the Caribbean islands and in FG, these plants are thus both constitutive of the Saint Lucia “traditional” pharmacopoeia (Fredrich 1978 , 1981 ) and of the French Guianese native medicinal flora (Grenand et al 2004 ), which Saint Lucian migrants began to adopt upon their arrival in FG. Interestingly, certain Amazonian species that are not present in Saint Lucia (such as Astrocaryum vulgare Mart., Carapa guianensis Aubl., Handroanthus serratifolius (Vahl) S.O.…”

“…In general, strongly aromatic plants (spices like Cinnamomum verum and Zingiber officinale , or aromatic species such as Cymbopogon citratus , Citrus spp., or Alpinia zerumbet ) are considered “hot” and are highly recommended to treat the cold imbalance lenpridans / imprudencia , which if not stopped will give rise to bloating, flu symptoms, rheumatism, or generalized pain. Salty decoctions of certain plants (salt is also considered a “hot” ingredient) are also prescribed for “cold” imbalances, as observed in Saint Lucia (Fredrich 1978 ), Martinique (Peeters 1979 ), Haiti (Farmer 1988 ), and the Dominican Republic (Vandebroek and Balick 2014 ). On the contrary, “cold” substances (fwk, htk, slk: rafréchi ; dom: refrescamiento ) fight against “hot” excesses.…”