Are you sick and tired being sick and tired? Are you asking for a "last resort?" Have you ever heard about Pau D'arco or Taheebo (lapacho), in Latin Tabebuia avellanedae, Tabebuia impetignosa and Tabebuia heptaphylla from the Amazon region of Argentine and Brazil? In the Brazilian variation of Portuguese, Pau D'Arco translates as "Bow Tree." This tree is a medicinally important genus that grows in the savannas and rain forest. Some species have pink or purple flowers, others have yellow blooms.

South American medical doctors, at the Municipal Hospital of Santo Andre, have been using this Indian folk medicine since the 1960s. How did they start? Quite by accident!

Dr. Orlundo dei Santi was a guest at a party. The host told a story about a relative of his, a girl with terminal cancer. As a last resort, her great aunt went to an Indian Tribal doctor who said the cancer would be cured with a brew made from the bark of a certain tree. Grasping at straws, the aunt took the taheebo to her niece.

Neither the girl nor her parents believed a word the medicine man said. The sick girl kept having recurring dreams telling her to drink the tea and she would be cured but she paid no attention to the dreams. As her pain increased, so did the frequency of her dreams.

Finally, she drank the brew and her pain immediately went away. She drank the tea every day and in about a month, her medical doctor could find no trace of cancer! The host of the party showed his souvenir, a bag of taheebo tea, as he told the story. Dr. dei Santi asked him for it and he went immediately to the Municipal Hospital of Santo Andre where he was a resident Physician.

His brother was a patient there and was near to death with cancer. He boiled the bark and give it to his brother. The pain disappeared and he slept soundly through the night. He continued using the brew and checked out of the hospital a month later.

Since that time, other Physicians at the hospital have been treating patients with taheebo. They have found that diabetes disappears even more quickly than cancer and these doctors treat leukemia as well as numerous other ills.

The taheebo herb is taken from the inner layer of the bark of the tree, the Lapacho. However, only a fraction of the bark from the tree is taken and it is not cut down and the tree heals itself since the bark is growing back. Several features of the Lapacho tree give it the unusual ability to withstand the pollutants of this modern day. This tall plant grows in places where the fresh, pure ozone air is plentiful. Thus pesticides, exhaust and smog cannot contaminate the purity of the taheebo bark. From the bark the tea, as well a herbal extract is derived and the extract is used in herbal tinctures, creams and other personal care products. Another unique feature of this amazing tree is it carnivorous flowers which eat insects, keeping away fungus, spores or viral growth.

What has made taheebo so medicinally popular around the Globe? Within this precious plant lies a powerful antibiotic called "quechua" and it has also three phytochemicals as anti-yeast compounds, lapachol, beta-lapachone and xyloidine that show activity to Candida albicans and other common problem fungi. Taheebo also contains a high percentage of iron, which is easy to assimilate. It produces gradual elimination of pain, simultaneously multiplies the number of red corpuscles. Thus taheebo puts the body in to a defensive position, energizing it for self-defense against disease.

Dr. Teodore Meyer's experience in Brazil, who was a well known and respected Professor of botany and plant geography at the Miguel Lillo Institute and Herbarium in San Miguel de Tucuman, proved taheebo to gradually eliminate pain, often after only a few days use. He distributed the herb to cancer patients and also to doctors in major South American cities. A general body tonic, a wound healer and infection fighter are just some of the claims Dr. Meyer makes for taheebo.

An exciting feature of taheebo is it proclaims success in cases considered hopeless with allopathic medicine. It has been said to give greater vitality to the body by strengthening its organic defenses, revitalizing the body, helping to create new and normal cells and increasing the body's resistance to disease.

The Dietmann Research Foundation Inc., Los Angeles, California found in extract samples that taheebo is stimulating to the alimentary tract through the rectum and then back to the liver, gall bladder and sweat glands. The sweat glands are relief valves for the stomach, lungs and heart. The stimulation of this herb helps keep these glands open and operating and will help eliminate problems stemming from the stomach, lungs and heart as well as warning the body when the adrenal glands are under stress.

In South and North America the following dysfunctions have been claimed to be greatly aided by taheebo: AIDS, allergies, anemia, antibacterial, athlete's foot, arteriosclerosis, asthma, blood builder & purifier, bowel problems, bronchitis, cancer (all types), candida, cardiovascular, colitis, dermatitis, diabetes, dysentery, eczema, Epstein-Barr virus, gastritis, gonorrhea, hemorrhoids, immune system booster, infections, leukemia, lupus, malaria, pain, Parkinson's disease, psoriasis, pyorrhea, rheumatism, ringworm, scabies, smoker's cough, sore throat, spleen infections, tonic, tumors, ulcers, varicose & spider veins, wounds.

The bark of this medicinal marvellous plant has wonderful healing properties without side effects. A longtime folk medicine in South America has in recent years brought hope to the millions of people worldwide who are turning to botanical medicines. Mother Nature at work!

References: The Green Pharmacy, James A. Duke, Ph.D, ISBN 0-312-96648-2 Prescription for Nutritional Healing, James F. Balch, M.D., Phyllis A. Balch, C.N.C., ISBN 0-89529-727-2 Pau D'Arco, Kenneth Jones, ISBN 0-89281-497-7 The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook, James A. Duke, Ph.D., ISBN 0-312-98151-1

Words of Wisdom: Flowers are by nature beautiful. Trees are by nature vital. The world is by nature transient. The mind is by nature dynamic.

Klaus Ferlow, herbalist, innovator, lecturer, researcher, writer, founder and co-owner of FERLOW BOTANICALS, Div. of Ferlow Brothers Ltd, Vancouver, B.C., manufacturing/distributing TOXIN free medicinal herbal and personal care products to professional health & wellness practitioners in Canada and parts of USA since 1993. FERLOW BOTANICALS was the first company to introduce in 1994 Ayurvedic Neem Tree herbal products to the Canadian market. www.ferlowbotanicals.com

His educational articles have been published in 25 Health Magazines and Newsletters in Canada and numerous websites in Canada, United States, Europe and Australia.

This information is offered for its educational value only and not to be used to diagnose, treatment, or prevention of disease, contact your health care practitioner.