Small, evergreen tree. Seeds edible, sold in local markets, eaten raw or cooked, with a flavor like raw peanuts. Sometimes cultivated in home gardens and around villages.

Native to Fiji.

No known.

Cut nut is related (same family) to the cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis).

Rhizophora species generally live in intertidal zones which are inundated daily by the ocean. They exhibit a number of adaptations to this environments, including “pneumatophores” that elevate the plants above the water and allow them to respire oxygen even while their lower roots are submerged, and a cytological molecular “pump-mechanism” that allows them to remove excess salts from their cells.

Mangroves are found in subtropical and tropical areas in both hemispheres. They thrive on coastlines in brackish water and in swampy salt marshes.

No known.

The generic name is derived from the Greek words “rhiza” (meaning “root”) and “phoros” (meaning “bearing”), referring to the stilt-roots.

Small tree, growing up to 6 m. Aromatic leaves, pinnate, with 11-21 leaflets, each leaflet 2-4 cm long. Small white flowers which can self-pollinate. Fruit is a small, black drupe containing a single, large seed. The pulp is edible, with a sweet flavor.

Native to the Indian subcontinent. It can be found growing wild throughout the country, in Sri Lanka and Thailand. Commercial plantations have been established in India and more recently in Australia

Curry leaf contains several medically active constituents including a glycoside called koenigin, an essential oil and tannins.
It is a warming, strongly aromatic herb that improves appetite and digestion.
The leaves, roots and bark can all be used internally in the treatment of digestive problems.
It has been shown that the leaves increase digestive secretions and relieve nausea, indigestion and vomiting.
The leaves can be used internally in treating constipation, colic and diarrhoea.
The leaves are used in the treatment of diarrhoea and dysentery.
The leaves can be applied externally as a poultice to treat burns and wounds.
The leaves are harvested as required and used fresh.
The roots and bark are harvested as required and can be used fresh or dried.
The juice of the fruit mixed with lime juice (Citrus aurantiifolia) is applied to soothe insect bites and stings.
A paste made from the bark is applied to the bites of poisonous insects and other animals.

The leaves of the Curry tree are used in many dishes in the Indian subcontinent and in SE-Asia, especially in curries.

Tree, 15-25 m tall, with a large canopy. Leaves alternate. Flowers in clusters: white, purple and pink, blossoming throughout the year. The tree is well adapted to intense heat, sunlight and droughts. Root nodules promote nitrogen fixation (typical for Fabaceae – the bean family).

Native to eastern and tropical Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands

No known.

The seed oil has been found to be useful in diesel generators and is being explored in hundreds of projects throughout India and the third world as feedstock for biodiesel.

Perennial climbing tree, up to 12 m tall. Although it produces true leaves as a seedling, like most members of this section of the genus, the mature plant does not have true leaves but has leaf-like flattened stems called phyllodes. The Tatakia tree is abundant along sandy beaches and on the inner edges of mangrove swamps. It is never found far from the sea.

Native to islands in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. It is also found in Argentina.

The bark of all Acacia species contains greater or lesser quantities of tannins and are astringent. Astringents are often used medicinally – taken internally, for example. they are used in the treatment of diarrhoea and dysentery and can also be helpful in cases of internal bleeding. Applied externally, often as a wash, they are used to treat wounds and other skin problems, haemorrhoids, perspiring feet, some eye problems, as a mouth wash etc.
Many Acacia trees also yield greater or lesser quantities of a gum from the trunk and stems. This is sometimes taken internally in the treatment of diarrhoea and haemorrhoids.

The tree is used as a toxin in fishing. It incapacitates the fish, but it is apparently not harmful to people.

Perennial, tropical plant. Primarily grown as a root vegetable for its edible, starchy corm. Leaves up to 40×35 cm and sprout from the rhizome, dark green above and light green beneath, highly water-repellent. Taro is one of few crops (along with rice and lotus) that can be grown under flooded conditions.

Native to Southern India and Southeast Asia but is widely naturalized in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. Taro corms are a food staple in African, Oceanic and South Asian cultures.

The plant is antibacterial and hypotensive.
A decoction of the leaves is drunk to promote menstruation.
A decoction, together with some parts of other plants, is taken to relieve stomach problems and to treat cysts.
In New Guinea, the leaves are heated over a fire and are applied as a poultice to boils.
The sap of the leaf stalk is used in treating conjunctivitis
The scraped stem, together with some parts of other plants, is used to create an appetite.
The plant is used to treat wounds.

Taro is believed to have been one of the earliest cultivated plants.

Rhizomatous, evergreen, perennial herb, up to 4.5 m tall. Gigantic leaves (up to 180 x 120 cm), arrow-shaped at their bases and stand upright, pointing skyward (unlike the leaves of Colocasia which droop and point toward the ground). Flowers consist of a yellowish-green spathe and spadix. The plant performs best in part shade in organically rich, moist to wet soils.

Native to the rainforests from Borneo (Malaysia) to Queensland (Australia). It has long been cultivated on many Pacific Islands and elsewhere in the tropics.

No known.

The giant, heart-shaped leaves are used to drink from or make impromptu umbrellas and also to cover the food placed in Fijian ground ovens called “lovo”.

Tropical, evergreen, monoecious (male and female flowers) shrub, up to 3 m tall. Leaves large, thick, leathery, shiny, alternate, 5-30 cm long and 0.5-8 cm wide, colored green, yellow or purple in various patterns, depending on the variety. When cut, the stems bleed a milky sap.

Native to Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and the western Pacific Ocean islands, growing in open forests. Widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions as an ornamental and in even temperate areas as house plant.

The leaves are abortifacient, antiamoebic, antibacterial, anticancer, antifungal, antioxidant, emmenagogue, purgative and sedative.
A decoction of the crushed leaves is used in the treatment of diarrhoea.
Chewing three leaves and then swallowing the juice is used to stimulate menstrual flow, to induce an abortion or to facilitate parturition.
The leaf sap is drunk and also applied topically to treat a snake bite.
The sap of the leaves, combined with coconut milk, is used in the treatment of syphilitic lesions.
The young leaves, combined with Pandanus macroieacceretia, coconut milk and the root sap of Areca catechu, is used in the treatment of gonorrhoea.
The green liquid from boiled leaves is used as a wash to ease fevers.
The sap from the leaves or the bark is used to treat sores and fungal infections.
A decoction of the root is used in the treatment of gastric ulcers.
The root combined with betel nut (Areca catechu) is chewed as a treatment for stomach-ache and to give temporary relief from toothache.
Studies have shown the leaves and shoots to be rich in alkaloids (most abundant), cardiac glycosides, saponins, tannins, cardenolides, flavonoids, steroids and phyllites.
Phytochemical screening of six clone cultivars showed bioactive constituents that included alkaloids, anthraquinones, flavonoids, terpenes, steroid, phenol, saponins, tannins, phlobatannin and cardenolide, which suggests their use as antibacterial, ant amoebic and antifungal.
In a study of 55 traditional medicinal plants in Cameroon, only the leaves extract of this species exhibited a clear ant amoebic activity that was more pronounced than the conventional treatment metronidazole.A study showed the latex to have a high molluscicide activity against freshwater snails.

Garden croton (Codiaeum variegatum) should not be confused with the Croton (Rushfoil), a cosmopolitan genus also in the Euphorbiaceae, containing more than 700 species of herbs, shrubs and trees.

Evergreen, palm-like, woody plant, up to 3 m tall. Fan-like and spirally arranged cluster of broadly elongated leaves at the tip of the slender trunk. Numerous color variations, ranging from red to green to variegated forms. Yellowish to red flowers that mature into red berries. The plant is of great cultural importance to the traditional animistic religions of Austronesian and Papuan people of the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Island Southeast Asia. It is also cultivated for food, traditional medicine and as an ornamental for its variously colored leaves.

Original native distribution unknown but believed to be in Southeast Asia and New Guinea. It was carried throughout Oceania by Austronesians (canoe plant).

An infusion of the leaves is used as a remedy for swellings, inflammations and for dry fevers.
The juice of the leaves is used to treat colds and coughs, stomach-ache, eczema and gastritis.
An infusion of three crushed leaves of the purple cultivar is used to treat high blood pressure.
The leaf buds are used to treat lower chest pains.
Filariasis is treated with a solution made from the new plant shoots.
Applied externally, the juice of the leaves is used to treat earache and infected eyes.
An infusion of the leaves in oil is used to treat wounds.
The leaves are crushed with oil and applied to abscesses of the gums.
The lower portion of the leaf is macerated in olive oil and used as a cataplasm or tampon for treating wounds.
Liquid from the stem is used to treat sickness after childbirth and to help expel the afterbirth.
The root is used to treat inflammations, baldness, toothache and laryngitis.
Pieces of the root, soaked in vinegar, are used to make a preparation against bleeding.

Palm lily” is neither a palm (Arecaceae) nor a lily (Liliaceae). It belongs to the asparagus family (Asparagaceae) and is closely related (same genus) to the Cabbage tree (Cordyline australis), endemic to New Zealand.

Erect, evergreen, perennial herb, up to 2 m tall. Leaves with prominent central nervation. Pseudostems (formed by the leaf sheaths) emerge from underground rhizomes. The inflorescence (cluster of flowers) range in colourful hues of yellow, orange and red. The inflorescence consists of brightly colored, waxy bracts (special leaves at the base of flowers) arranged alternately on the stem that encloses and protect small flowers. Flowers produce an abundance of nectar, attracting hummingbirds.

Native to South America and the Caribbean. It is often cultivated as a tropical ornamental plant in regions outside its native range.

No known.

This Is commonly confused with the Bird of paradise (Strelizia reginae), but in fact belongs to a different family and Is often called the “False bird of paradise”.