I visited a flower market located in the parking lot of one of the malls here in Davao. I was drawn to this colorful and beautiful plant and just had to take pictures of them. I asked the vendors what these are called. They said these were Mayanas or Coleus Mayanas.
As you can see, they come in various colors, designs and prints. The distinguishing marks though are the almost heart shape and serrated edges of their leaves.
I googled this plant and found out the other names for this plant such as Lampuyana, Dafronaya, Tampunaya, Painted Nettle, Joseph's Coat and Flame Nettle among others. Although commonly cultivated and used as ornamental plants, they are actually proven to be medicinal as well. Other traditional medicinal uses for this plant are as:
- Antioxidant
- Anti-inflammatory
- Antihypertensive
- Antimicrobial
- Antihistaminic/Anti-allergy
- Treatment for headache
- Anti-flatulent
- For Indigestion/Anti-diarrheal
- Treatment of parasitic worms
- For insomnia
- Anti-cancer
If you are interested to know more about this amazing plant check this link.
As I said earlier I was drawn to this plant because of its vivid colors and breath-taking beauty. Now I discovered a whole lot more about it and indeed the expression from the movie "Transformers" come to mind - "There's more to them than meets the eye!" Who would have known that these marvelous leaves can actually not only soothe the soul because of its beauty but heal the body as well because of its medicinal properties. And here's the icing on the cake. These plants are so easy to grow and are so cheap. The seedlings cost 3 for US$2. Check on the link here for instructions on how to grow this plant.
I will begin to grow this plant in my wife's garden and hopefully do another post about it in the future. All for now. Hope you enjoyed this post. (Note: All photos are mine taken from my J2 Prime Samsung smartphone).