Doctrine of Signatures and Other Superstitious Beliefs

Are you superstitious? Here are five popular beliefs to 
lend us some light moments. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

One can read how nature intended plants to be used by examining their resemblances and other physical features.                                    

This is a belief called Doctrine of Signatures, which was popular during the Middle Ages. Liverworts (Riccia and Marchantia) which resemble the shape of liver are effective for liver diseases.  The shapes of eggplant and avocado suggest fertility and aphrodisiac value. Apple and mango resemble the heart and are therefore good when it comes to matters of love. Kidney beans are good for the kidney, but the truth is that it has high uric acid content. The garlic plant has a hollow stem so that it would be of benefit in afflictions of the windpipe, hence used in all types of respiratory disorders such as cough, colds, catarrh, asthma and bronchial problems.

Physical appearance has nothing to do with the curative powers of plants, or animals for that matter. It is true that garlic is an effective respiratory cure, but it is its active ingredients that are responsible for it.

Avoid laughing when planting kamote otherwise the roots will become liplike.

One who has incomplete teeth (bungal) should keep his mouth closed when planting corn otherwise the cobs will not be filled properly, or become empty.

These are purely superstitious beliefs.  But maybe we look at it this way. One who is not serious in his work is likely to commit mistakes. What happens if the planting materials are not well placed in the soil?  Stray chickens may come after the uncovered corn.  If the distancing of the cuttings is irregular, naturally crop stand will be poor.  Too much fun leaves a lot of work poorly done or unfinished.

Black ants in lansones means the fruit is sweet.

Lansones (Lansium domesticum) from Paete has a singular reputation that it is the sweetest lansones. But if you can’t find the Paete variety, you can settle for other sweet varieties.  If there are black ants crawling on the fruit, it must be sweet.

Not really.  The black ants feed on the sugary secretion of mealy bugs and scale insects clinging on the bunch of fruits. Actually they are parasitic, feeding on plant sap. Some unscrupulous fruits vendors sprinkle sugar solution which attracts red ants instead.      

Bringing salt under a sour fruit-bearing tree will cause the fruits to fall.

Naturally.  What goes better than a pinch of salt when eating juvenile sampaloc, kamias, kasoy or green mango? 

Cassava grown from inverted cutting is poisonous.

This is not true.  But let us take it this way.  Cassava cuttings if planted upside down will take a much longer time to grow, if at all. Those that survive become stunted (bansot), thus at harvest time they are left behind in the field. Come next planting season, and they are rouged, their tubers by now are about a year old. Tubers accumulate poisonous cyanic substances as they mature, and the longer they stay in the field the higher is the poison level in their tubers.

A one-year old cassava tuber has twice the amount of cyanide than regularly harvested ones do (4 to 5 months in the field). Thus cassava poisoning is not uncommon. Beware of cassava tubers harvested from borders or along fences. These must be very old indeed. By the way, when preparing cassava, choose the freshly harvested tubers. It is in the bark where the poison is concentrated so that it should be completely peeled off.  While boiling, take off the pot cover in order to allow the poison to escape as gas -  cyanogas , which is similar to the poisonous gas used in executing convicts in the US. ~

(Acknowledgment: Images from Internet)