November 27, 2008

Meow!

Those who checked out my Magical blooms post in my other blog when I asked for help in identifying the flowers we have in our garden will find this image familiar. Thanks to Anty, an Indonesian who now lives in Ireland, I finally know what it is! It is Orthosiphon aristatus and is found mainly in Southeast Asia and tropical Australia. Its most common names are Java Tea and Cat's Whiskers. It turns out that this plant is medicinal—it is mildly diuretic and antiseptic, and good for the kidneys, bladder, liver and urinary tract. Now I need to find out how to prepare it to take advantage of its many benefits.

Cat's Whiskers or Java Tea plant

11 comments:

Olivier said...

elle est très belle cette fleur avec ces moustaches

it is very beautiful this flower with mustaches

Debbie Courson Smith said...

Definitely a kitty plant in my book. I wish I could grow it in Idaho, USA!

I went to a Christmas event in Boise, ID, yesterday...and there was a tree that made me think of Hilda. www.boisedailyphoto.com. I don't know if the tree is accurate Hilda, but it was definitely DIFFERENT for it to be featured in my town.

Unknown said...

The size of the stamens is amazing! Beautiful flower!

Eki said...

Yes, we call it "kumis kucing" (cat's whiskers). It's one of our traditional medicinal plants.

Anonymous said...

I would imagine using part of it (flower or leaf) as a type of tea. I know that nettle tea is also a type of mild diuretic (it is also the most foul-tasting thing I've ever tasted, lol).

Anonymous said...

This plant healing i think so. I Am healing which gives connection is available. Greetings.

marley said...

Great flower photo! Glad you got at least one answer ( I was useless!) To use it I guess you boil it up and use the liquid.

escape said...

it's unique. one might even think that there's a creature in it.

Stevenson Q said...

Loved this macro shot Hilda! By the way, it was very nice to hear from you and your hopes for our team. It means a lot. The excruciating job composes of not just designing but programming, implementing and gathering all the feedback from the mock implementation of our system. It's like we are going to do the jobs of those hired programmers but all is for free of course. Thanks and I really hope everything comes well!

God Bless you and your loved ones!

Steven^^

angela said...

Cat's whiskers what an apt name. It looks just like...
Be careful with the preparation of plants, some can be poisonous depending on how you "cook" them.

USelaine said...

It really is a beautifully formed plant. The whiskers are fantastic!