Guinea Hen Weed: The mysterious, powerful healing herb.

By S. Jeffery

What are these plants? Yuh know the name? A few years ago (maybe 5 or 6 years) after one heavy shower of rain, my family and I noticed these plants growing in our back yard. We had no clue what they were, we thought they were some exotic weed. As I said, it just started growing in the backyard after some heavy June/July showers caused by a passing hurricane.

One day, my mom was talking to a neighbor and they told her it was called Guinea Hen Weed. Yup, before then I never knew anything about it. After being told anecdotal information about the plants' healing properties, my mother started using them for cold, sinus and even headaches. Each instance they proved to be quite effective in relieving the ailment that she used it for.

Since the first time she started using it, I have tried it a couple times and experienced relief. Just recently, I had a terrible migraine and my mother insisted that I smelled the leaves. She picked off a few leaves, crushed them in her hands, lightly wet them with some water and handed me a fist full to sniff on. I will admit it doesn't smell pleasant. The leaves have a highly pungent scent, but I did what she recommended and viola, within about 30 seconds of smelling the thing my headache had eased and was almost gone! Another thing I have observed is, Guinea Hen Weed when soaked in either water or rubbing alcohol and then wrapped in a scarf and tied tightly around a person's head, is very very good for migraine headaches.

So I decided to do some research about the strange, mysterious plant that just appeared one day in my backyard, but has been a life saver ever since.

So, the first thing you should know is that Guinea Hen Weed is known by different names in other countries, but it's scientific name is petiveria alliacea. To the people of the Dominican Republic, however, it is called anamu. Puerto Ricans and Brazilians call it tipi. It's known as apacin in Guatemala, mucura in Peru, and guine in many other parts of Latin America, while the Trinis (colloquial name for the people of Trinidad) call it mapurite (pronounced Ma-po-reete) and gully root. The Brazilians also call it amansa-senhor (tame the master), we'll get into that later.

It is a flowering herbaceous shrub, deeply rooted that grows up to about a metre (3.3 ft) in height and has small greenish piccate flowers. The roots and leaves have a strong, pungent odor.

Just above is a little video I took of a flowering Guinea Hen Weed plant in my backyard. Take a look. Beautiful right? The flower actually has a pleasant fragrance!

 The Guinea Hen Weed herb usually grows in the tropical regions of Central and South America, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Caribbean islands but can also be found in Florida and the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas in the United States. Yes mi dear, it seems to love to travel to tropical destinations, lol.

The plant's leaves are simple, slender and are alternately pinnate (leaf resembling feather) and netted (major veins on the leaf branch off into tiny veinlets) in appearance.

Pinnate leaves

Netted leaves

It is capable of reproducing throughout the year but peak reproductive activity (this plant with adequate rainfall took up almost half the backyard at one point, we had to be digging them up from the roots to get rid of some of them) occurs during a portion of the year that is dependent on geography. For example, in Mexico the reproductive peak is from September to October, while in Central America it is from July to January.

Uses of Petiveria alliacea / Guinea Hen Weed / Gully Root

As I hinted at earlier, it's good for relieving headaches but generally any sort of pain (even toothache), it brings relief. Now according to recent research, this plant has several chemicals that actively affect our bodies including the Central Nervous System (CNS). Let me just list a few:

benzaldehyde, benzoic acid, benzyl 2-hydroxyethyl trisulphide, coumarin, isoarborinol, isoarborinol acetate, isoarborinol cinnamate, isothiocyanates, polyphenols, senfol, tannins, and trithiolaniacine. Yup, just to name a few! 

Also, chemicals in the plant have been used as bat and insect repellent. But let's get back to its healing properties.

Medicinal Purposes

 It has antifungal, antimicrobial properties: eliminating fungi, bacteria, candida and some viruses. In some cultures, it is known to relieve pain and inflammation and has been used to ease the effects of arthritis. It's even been used to ease menstrual cramps. Yes! Try some Guinea Hen Weed tea. Wash the leaves, place in boiling water, allow to boil until the water has a light yellowish-green color. Strain the water, sweeten as you wish and drink it hot.

It is a fever reducer; provides relief for allergies and has been used to cure Malaria. Petiveria alliacea can be ingested in the form of capsules, teas and other extracts such as oils (Wikipedia). As I mentioned earlier, the leaves can be crushed but you can also finely chop them into a paste, place it on where it hurts and yuh good to go. Both the leaves and roots are used for medicinal purposes.

Scientific research has also shown that gully root can be used to lower blood sugar and scientific trials prove it contains chemicals that kill cancer cells. Recently, the chemical compound called Dibenzyl Trisulphide (DTS) was discovered to inhibit the growth as well as kills existing cancer cells (Campbell, 2020). In fact, it was discovered that this DTS had an advantage over chemotherapy.

Jamaican scientists realised that DTS is directly absorbed into the intestinal walls, where it binds to a blood protein called albumin, which transports hormones and fatty acids, and regulates acid levels. It's therefore able to differentiate between normal cells and cancer cells, killing only those that are cancerous (Campbell, 2020). Unlike chemotherapy weh kill off everything, both good and bad cells, kmt.

Guinea hen weed is able to boost the immune system. It can also be used as a diuretic (increase urine production) so it may be useful in flushing toxins from the body overall, or bladder and aid in relieving UTI infections. In addition, the plant is reportedly an abortifacient, meaning it can induce abortions. (Wikipedia). It is therefore recommended that pregnant women avoid the use of the plant.

Mysterious Properties

The history of the use Guinea Hen Weed is quite interesting. In the afro-centric culture of Brazil, the plant is used as part of religious rituals and in combination with other herbs, makes a powerful scented incense that is used to connect with the gods they worship. The smoke is believed to purify and sanctify the atmosphere where the religious ceremony should take place:

"...both the environment and the people taking part are exposed to the smoke of the burning herbs, in order to "balance the energies", drive away bad spirits and attract the good ones..." (Alves et al, 2019).

It is reportedly known to have a psychological effect on those who inhale the incense. According to a study done through interviewing an Afro-Brazilian religious group called Umbanda, gully root is said to promote "balance and harmony in the environment" and has a calming effect.
In fact, several other studies have reported the importance of this plant in smoke rituals. According to Ruanda (1954), of the twenty (20) incense used by the Umbanda, eighteen (18) use Guinea Hen Weed as an essential element (Alves et al, 2019).

Popularly known as amansa-senhor (tame the master) by the locals, the name was derived from Brazil's colonial-slavery past. Check this: Female slaves used to mix the plant into their master's food as a way to 'calm them down' preventing them --the master's from sexually harassing them. Neat trick, uh?

Today, this plant is still one of the most important ingredients in a kind of cigarette called the tira-capeta (removing the devil), which is used because of its mind altering effects. Research shows that petiveria alliacea or gully root, has a profound effect on the Central Nervous System (CNS), altering the brain's functions (Alves et al, 2019). Beyond relieving pain, it can be used to improve poor memory (Wolters Kluwer Health, 2020) and traditionally has been used to treat depression and anxiety, and even epilepsy! (Alves et al, 2019) Chemical elements in the plant make it useful as a sedative and anesthetic (Wolters Kluwer Health, 2020).

Bet yuh neva know all this about Guinea Hen Weed, don't it? You're welcome! So next time you have a headache or toothache, what you gonna take? Right... Some good Jamaican Guinea Hen Weed. Exactly!

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References

1. Wikipedia. Petiveria. Retrieved June 24, 2020 from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petiveria
2. Alves, Thiago et al.  Petiveria alliacea, a plant used in Afro-Brazilian smoke rituals, triggers pulmonary inflammation in rats (2019). Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia. Excerpt retrieved June 24, 2020 from farmacogn. vol.29 no.5 Curitiba Sept./Oct. 2019  Epub Dec 09, 2019 - https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-695X2019000500656 
3. Campbell, A. "Guinea Hen Weed: Miracle drug or not?" Jamaica Observer. January 20, 2020. Retrieved June 24, 2020 from  http://amp.jamaicaobserver.com/opinion/guinea-hen-weed-miracle-drug-or-not-_179791
4. Wolters Kluwer Health. Guinea Hen Weed Uses Benefits and Dosage (2020). Edited by Drugs.com. Retrieved June 24, 2020 from https://www.drugs.com/npp/guinea-hen-weed.html