Move over Viagra

KOTA KINABALU: A plant promising to rejuvenate libido is being cultivated at the Poring Hot Spring, about 108km from here.

It is called Amorphophalus Sp., a member of the yam family know scientifically consumed by the Kadazandusun community. (pic)

Roots of the plant are sliced into tiny pieces and boiled in water to be drunk, said Sabah Park botanist Rimi Repin, adding that the plant was purportedly of aphrodisiac value.

Since its discovery in the last decade, Tongkat Ali was now highly commercialised product sold in its original form, powdered into beverage sachets or capsules.

Another "tonic" plant cultivated for men but was equally desirable for women after child-birth is the Dusun Sempit-sempit or Ficus Deltoidea, from the Kayu Ara or Moraceae Fig family.

"These leaves are eaten by almost all indigenous people throughout Sabah," she said.

According to noted botanist Dr Jamili Nais, based on the principle of "Doctrine of Signature", Daun Sempit-sempit was widely believed by the indigenous community to be good for female reproductive organ which is depicted at the back of the leaves in the form of a dot between two veins.

"Local people see this resembling the two legs of women and their reproductive organs," he remarked. In certain plants, the doctrine visible indicated the plant’s functions or characteristics.

Similarly, only the water is to be consumed after being boiled with the leaves.

These plants are among the 200 species being cultivated in the under construction Ethno Botanical Garden in Poring Hot Spring.

The botanical garden, sprawled over five acres, features plants used by the indigenous community that includes medicinal plant, wild vegetable, fruit, spice, timber for making furniture and others.

Rimi said the park was conceptualised on the ex-situ conservation method that extract plants from the wild for conversation, research and education in the garden. Sabah Parks have traditionally implemented the in-situ method that conserves wildlife in its natural habitat.

"More orchids are needed from the local people for the garden," she said.

The park will be opened early next year together with the Lowland Garden in Tawau Hills Park and the fernarium in Crocker Range Park. These parks covered five acres and were managed by an average of five staff.

Construction work began last year in the Lowland Garden that will display 1,800 types of orchids, ferns, yam, ethno-botanical plants and pitcher plants. Over 1,000 types of ferns will be planted in the fernarium.

A new laboratory is also under construction in the Poring Hot Spring, called the Plant Tissue Culture Lab which is a fully sterilised environment for cultivating rare orchid, propagate Rafflesia and pitcher plants, also known as Nepenthes Sp.

Source : Daily Express, 22.1.2000