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Love Bush
10/13/09
Love Bush
He loves me, he loves me not?
How do I known if he really loves me?
Some Jamaicans will tell you that the way to find out if your love is true is to tear off a piece of the love bush, toss the plant at a tree and call out the name of your hoped-for lover. If it sticks and grows, true love will flourish.
So what is this wonder bush? The scientific name for the love bush is Cuscuta spp, more commonly known as dodder. It is a parasitic plant. It cannot make it’s own food, but relies entirely on other plants. Dodders have slender twining or thread like stems that vary in colour from pale green to yellow to bright orange. They climb on nearby plants and then send out small suckers, which eventually grow into the host plant. As soon as the dodder is firmly attached, its own root withers away, and all the nutrients required are drawn from the host.
Doesn’t sound very romantic does it? In fact dodders can be a serious pest. It reduces the growth of the host plant and sometimes eventually kills it. Its persistence and the fact that it is very difficult to eradicate once it becomes established in an area makes it a farmers nightmare. Some other names given to the dodder are strangleweed, hellweed, angels’s hair, devil’s gut, devil’s hair, beggar weed, pull down, hellbind and shoelaces. I think the names says it all.
But wait, there is more. Some Jamaican’s will tell you that the love bush can be used to cure baby gripes and colds as well as for headaches and prickly heat. Personally I cannot endorse any of the medical claims so I will stick with my doctor. But maybe some of you know about those remedies from your grand parents. I remember my Grand mother giving me some herb tea or other each time I went to her with an ailment. Pity I didn’t pay attention then.
So, does the love bush work or not? Who knows? Any way before you decide to throw a piece on someone’s hedging, have a heart, think of the problem they will have to get rid of it after.
Nuff love.
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Reasons why I love my Jamaican Mom
1. My Mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait till we get home."
2. My Mother taught me about RECEIVING.
"You going get a ass'n when we get home!"
3. My Mother taught me to MEET A CHALLENGE.
"What di backside yu thinkin'? Answer me when me talk to you...Don't talk back to me!"
4. My Mother taught me CONSEQUENCES.
"If yu run cross de road an' cyar lick yu dung, a goin' kill yu wid lick."
5. My Mother taught me THE VALUE OF EDUCATION.
"If yu no go a school, yu a go tun tief or walk an' pick up bottle."
6. My Mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
"If yu tun over yu eye lid an fly pitch pan it, it a go stay so fi evva."
7. My Mother taught me to THINK AHEAD.
"Is not one time monkey goin' wan' wife"
8. My Mother taught me ESP.
"Yu tink a don't know what yu up to nuh?"
9. My Mother taught me HUMOR.
"If yu don' eat food, breeze goin' blow yu 'way."
10. My Mother taught me how to BECOME AN ADULT.
"Come an' tek yu beatin' like man."
11. My Mother taught me about SEX.
"Yu tink say yu drop from sky?"
12. My Mother taught me about GENETICS.
"Yu jus' like yu faada."
13. My Mother taught me about my ROOTS.
"Yu tink mi come from "Back A Wall?"
14. My Mother taught me about WISDOM OF AGE.
"When yu get to be as ol' as me, yu wi understan'."
15. And my all time favorite... JUSTICE.
"One day wen yu have pickney, a hope dem treat yu same way."
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