The Healing Tree — Ancient Evergreen Called ‘The Village Pharmacy’

By Jim Evans

Most people have never heard of the Neem tree — probably because it is indigenous to India — but this remarkable evergreen has been around for thousands of years and is making inroads in California.

Its medicinal healing properties have been recorded as far back as 4000 B.C., and it often has been called “the village pharmacy” because of its multiple uses in the treatment of everything from conjunctivitis to hemorrhoids.

The Neem is tall, typically growing to a height of 60 to 80 feet, and is mostly grown as a shade tree in its native India rather than in the forest. It is a flowering tree that usually produces white, honey-scented flowers between February and May, and bears a bitter but colorful fruit. The Neem also can be grown as a houseplant, and it will grow only as large as the pot in which it is planted.

It has a strong root system and grows well in sand, clay or saline soil, which probably would make it easily adaptable to Ramona. It already has been successfully introduced to other parts of California, with good results. It can tolerate extreme temperatures well but does not usually survive frost or cold temperatures for very long, so more mountainous areas like Julian— even though just a few miles away — likely would not support a population of Neems.

Medical uses

Everything about the Neem tree, from bark to roots, seems to offer some home remedy. For example, it is said that chewing the leaves of the Neem protects the body from diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and encourages immunity to certain skin ailments. Various formulations of neem leaves can be used topically for the treatment of skin conditions such as herpes, psoraisis, chicken pox and measles, and it has been used successfully to treat hair loss and premature graying, reports say. Neem also has proved effective in the treatment of head lice, ringworm and athlete’s foot fungus.

Mixtures of juice from neem leaves can be used as eyedrops to treat conjunctivitis and eardrops to reduce inflammation, reports say, and mixed with ginger juice and taken internally, the juice is said to relieve painful menstrual cramps. Powder from the seeds, mixed with alum, has been used as an effective toothpaste, and green neem twigs have been used as toothsticks or toothbrushes.

Neem is also a very effective topical insect repellent, which leads to another category.

Pest control

Extracts from the Neem have long been used as a natural pesticide influencing more than 200 species of insects, including grasshoppers, crickets, aphids, beetles, moths, flies, threadworms, ants, cockroaches, mosquitos, fruit flies, snails and more. Surprisingly, it does not have a deleterious effect on earthworms (in fact, it actually increases the earthworm population) and other beneficial insects such as honeybees and spiders.

The use of neem extracts does not always have an immediate “kill factor” with regard to pests, like most conventional commercial insecticides. It works more slowly by sterilizing the adult insects to prevent reproduction and generally repelling both the larvae and adults of different insect species from feeding on plants and crops. More important, perhaps, is that neem products are natural. They are biodegradable and nontoxic to humans, animals and birds, so they are safe to use around livestock and pets. Neem products also do not require protective clothing or masks to apply.

Plant viruses and fungi

Neem products have been used successfully in the treatment of certain plant diseases such as yellow mosaic of grain legumes, ragged-stunt virus (rice), tungo virus (also rice), and others. And, while they cannot kill fungi, neem products protect seeds against fungal diseases and prevent the formation of additional fungi.

Sound too good to be true? Well, neem products are now being mixed with kelp fiber (see “Fighting Wildfires with Dirt — Increasing Moisture Rentention with Kelp Soil Amendments,” Ramona Home Journal, Dec. 2004) to both enhance the growth of plants and protect them from pests and disease at the same time. It’s an example of Mother Nature joining with Mother Nature to make things even better.

Additional research and information about the remarkable Neem Tree can be found online at www.neemamerica.org.

Always consult with your physician.