Medicinal Plant: Mimosa

Don't expect this Mimosa to be the Mimosa which is a cocktail-like drink composed of three parts champagne or other sparkling wine and two parts thoroughly chilled orange juice. Though the effects may be similar.

This mimosa grows wild in lawns and fields in Malaysia and Singapore. It has thorns and is a gardener's nightmare. It can spread like a carpet and is very difficult to get rid of. At the neglected allotment of the NTU gardening club, once they establish themselves, they evade the neighbouring plots, and is a nuisance. The flower is pink and soft and fluffy. As a kid, we used to take a stick, and induce the leaves to "sleep."

The Malaysia stuff this into pillows for babies and adults alike to help give them a peaceful sleep to cure insomnia.

This plant is also called a sensitive plant. The leaves close when you touch it. At dusk, the leaves also close until the next morning. This is probably why the Malays think that they will give tranquil sleep.

So if your baby doesn't sleep through the night, next time you go to Malaysia or Singapore, go and look for some.

Medicinal Plants: Blue Ginger

My mum had big bushes of this rhizome, and I knew it as the Blue ginger or lam keong. Whenever she braised ducks or belly of pork, she would tell be to dig a sliver of it. It is very difficult to dig the rhizome in the dirt. Your hands get all muddy and the rhizome is very tough to cut. You have to be careful not to dig too much, otherwise you injure the plant. We kept our own ducks, and we slaughtered a lot of them. So there was a lot of digging and muddied hands. Mum She says it helps to remove the gamey smell of the duck.

I too, grew a big bush in the NTU gardening club allotment. It is more than eight feet long. I don't use it because my husband didn't like it's flavour. So well did I grow it? It was for nostalgia.

In Singapore, it is called Galangal , But it has different names in the different South East region. It is grown for culinary and medicinal uses. The Malays and Indonesian use it for their fried rice Nasi Goreng, it is a must in the Thai Tom Yum soups. The Vietnamese use it in their braised pork like my mum did. You can buy them as a whole root, or cut or powdered.

As a medicinal use, in the Southeast area, mix with lime juice and drink it as a tonic. In man’s quest for youth, some drink it claiming its prowess as an aphrodisiac, and a stimulant. Galangal oil is also used regularly in various forms of oils for anointing.
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