Category Archives: Native fauna and flora

May 28, 2018 · 12:00 pm

Charandaro Pitayas

Just before the rainy season starts in mid-June, the pitayas, another cactus fruit, are ready. This year we went to Charandaro to do a little harvesting. Pitayas, not to be confused with Pitahayas AKA Dragon Fruit, is also known by the indigenous name coapetilla which means thick serpent in reference to the branches of the cactus stenocereus that this fruit is found.

A little off the beaten path.

No alcohol permitted in town.

These are the cactus that produce pitayas.

We found a long bamboo stick with a three-prong top for easy harvesting. This particular grove of cactus was easily accessible by climbing neighboring trees.

We ate about 5 or 6 each and left the rest to ripen up a little more. When fully ripe, they taste exactly like a sweet strawberry.

Have you had pitayas?

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Filed under Native fauna and flora

Tagged as cactus, cactus fruit, charandaro, coapetilla, picking pitayas, Pitaya, plants native to mexico

April 26, 2018 · 12:00 pm

Wildflowers and Butterflies in Mexico

One of the best things about living in rural Mexico is the abundance of wildflowers and butterflies of every imaginable color. Today I’d like to share just a small sampling!

Do you like what you see? Check out more lovely flowers and insects here!

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Filed under Native fauna and flora

Tagged as butterflies in Mexico, Mexico lindo, wildflowers in Mexico

April 7, 2018 · 12:00 pm

Natural Healing–Guayaba Leaf Tea

At the first sign of an upset stomach, my husband is out back plucking leaves off of our guayaba tree to make a tea. I thought I’d do a little investigation on whether or not there was any validity to these stomach ailment treatment claims and here’s what I found out. Psidium guajava, known as guayaba or guava, is native to Mexico and its fruit ranges from white or yellow to dark pink. We have two different varieties growing in our backyard, the yellow and the light pink. Both the fruit and the leaves are used in traditional medicine to treat diabetes, hypertension, cavities, diarrhea, rheumatism, lung disease, fever, and inflammation.

Digging a bit deeper into scientific studies, I found that the fruit (either eaten raw or made into juice) has antitumor and anti-cancer properties, is useful in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, and effective in lowering blood sugar, serum total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDLc while increasing HDLc levels. Guava is also a natural antibacterial agent and antioxidant and beneficial in the treatment of cholera. The guayaba leaf also has medicinal properties. It is cytotoxic, thus effective in the treatment of a variety of cancers. It protects against mercury toxicity, one of the causes of Alzheimer’s. Regular ingestion improves vascular function and regulates blood-glucose levels. It is effective in the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery as well as infections caused by the Candida fungi and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.

My husband makes his stomachache tea from freshly picked young whole leaves. He washes then boils them for about 10 minutes and that’s it. He drinks it without any sweetener, but you could add honey if you like. The tea has an earthy taste to it.

I saw on another site, that you could make tea from dried and crushed leaves. However, that takes 3-4 weeks and there seems to be no additional benefit to drying them. Since we have a fresh source right outside our back door, we’ll stick with that. Have you tried guayaba leaf tea?

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Interested in natural remedies? Uncover herbal remedies from traditional Mexican sources for healing and wellness in the Exploring Traditional Herbal Remedies in Mexico series.