Skip to main content

The Mystical, Magical Rhodendron or Senduduk Putih

Senduduk putih 

I was visiting a friend's garden in Balik Pulau when his father pointed to this shrub with fragrant white flowers. He said it was full of medicinal properties but he didn't know what it was called. And the flowers could be infused as a tea to reduce high blood pressure.

I was intrigued as I always am whenever I find out about a new plant. I couldn't stop researching and finally I found out the name of this plant. It's called senduduk putih (Melastoma decemfidum).

Now what does this plant do? Actually plenty.

The flowers are used to heal persistent coughing. It is also believed that its flowers can help children with slow speech development. Its leaves can be pounded and mixed with fresh turmeric to cure diarrhoea and bloody stool.

According to this website:

The leaf and root extracts are used to treat diarrhoea, dysentery, epilepsy and rheumatism. Shoots are ingested to treat puerperal infections, high blood pressure and diabetes while juice can be used as a mouthwash to relieve toothache or to treat leucorrhea. The bark is used for skin diseases and flowers are used for cancer treatment.

To get rid of scars as a result of chickenpox, just rub the flowers onto the scars. The flower can also be eaten to promote youthfulness and is said to taste like guava. It also has a mystery of its own in that the Malay folklore considers the white rhodendron to be closely related to the spirit world in the jungle. As such, it is a rare flower to be found. Other folklore says that the white rhodendron flower is used in love potions. 

Interestingly, the Malays believe that if you find this plant in the jungle, you mustn't just pluck the flowers or take the cuttings home as the plant has its own guardian spirit. They believe that your cuttings will not survive even if you plant them well. And women who have their period are not allowed to water this plant as it will die. (Then again, I have heard this same precaution for the kaffir lime plant. I wonder if a menstruating woman really has such potent powers?) 

Anyway, do you know of this plant? Let me hear your thoughts. Most of what I found online were from Malay blogs and most seem to repeat and echo each other. 

But isn't it such a wonderfully mystical plant?






Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tong Sum and Red Date Tea

I caught an interesting cooking show on TV last night. On Astro's Asian Food Channel (Channel 703), I watched a show on TCM. It was a Taiwanese programme where the host and hostess spoke in Mandarin and sometimes a smattering of Taiwan Hokkien. The show featured 3 recipes each segment, using TCM herbs with the herbalist host explaining about the uses of the specific herbs. Then the lady hostess would cook up a dish, usually a main course, using the herbs. While I am not very interested in making dishes like prawn balls with Chinese herbs (it seemed just too much work!), I liked the 2 other recipes they showed. One was a milk beverage with herbs (I can't recall what now). But the other one was easy. A tong sum and red date tea. Tong sum or dang shen is a mild herb which resembles a dry, gnarled twig the size of a finger. It is called the poor man's ginseng in some instances because it shares similar properties with the more expensive ginseng. Dang shen is actually a root wh...
7 comments
Read more

24 Herb Tea - Bitter, Foul-Tasting But Oh So Good For You!

Was out running a couple of errands this entire afternoon and ended up buying groceries at the nearby supermarket. If I had a choice I wouldn't go into this decade-old supermarket because it's small, cramped and you tend to knock into other shoppers with your trolley (yes, the aisles are that narrow). Nic and I figured that we might as well buy our groceries since we were in this vicinity and he did need some coffee. Finally we ended up with a trolley full of cheese, butter, coffee and noodles. Anyway, I was getting thirsty after all the errands and shopping. We decided to stop and have a drink at this stall which sells Chinese herbal tea. This uncle who mans it is actually a Hong Kong native who has been living in Malaysia for a long time. He drives a little white van which he parks at the corner of a junction and opens up for business. You see, he sells hot and cold Chinese herbal teas of all types - the kind that is slowly boiled and brewed. It's common to see Mal...
Post a Comment
Read more

Snow Fungus, Longan, Goji Berry & Red Date Dessert For Lungs & Liver

Just last week I made this dessert because I was rummaging in my kitchen and found some snow fungus. This is a classic dessert that any Cantonese would know. I was just surprised at myself that I haven't made this dessert in a long time. Maybe because I didn't have the key ingredient - snow fungus - at hand! What is Snow Fungus?  It is technically a fungus that grows on dead bark or tree stumps just like wood ear fungus.  Snow fungus or silver ear, snow ear or white wood ear is known as Tremella fuciformis and yes, it is an edible fungus. The pleasanter term is mushroom if that makes you feel better. As most mushrooms go, they contain vitamin D, zinc, calcium, and folate.  Benefits of Snow Fungus Snow fungus is said to have anti-ageing effects due to the presence of superoxide dismutase , an enzyme that acts as a potent antioxidant throughout the body, particularly in the skin. It is best known in TCM for nourishing the lungs and we know how important this fact is right n...
Post a Comment
Read more