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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?






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