Episode 24: Forest Flavored Floss & Demonic Tug of War - Neem
Hello and welcome back to another week of Rooted! This week we are digging into The Neem Tree- a plant you’ve likely used, but maybe never even heard of!
The Neem tree, or Azadirachta Indica is a member of the mahogany family, with relatives like Mangroves, Crabwood Trees, and White Cedar. It’s native to India, with a strong preference for arid, subtropical climates. It can handle quite high heat, and doesn’t need a ton of water for its size and dense foliage, but they cannot tolerate cold. Their hardiness in heat and drought make it quite difficult to prevent the trees from spreading, which is why some countries view them as a bit of a weed.. But they also provide a ton of shade, protection, and health benefits, so it’s certainly one of the better weeds to deal with.
Neem trees are known for their dense, evergreen foliage- with dark green pointy leaves. These leaves look a lot like olive leaves to me, but point-ier for sure. They have fragrant white blooms that are made up of lots of tiny little flowers- giving it the nickname “Indian Lilac”. The Fruits of the Neem Tree are considered “Drupes” meaning it's a small round fruit with a larger seed or pit in the middle. These Drupes look a lot like olives, as they are light green in color, and extremely smooth. The fruits are edible, with a slightly bittersweet pulp which is used in a wide variety of traditional indian dishes.
If you’re a gardener, you’ve likely heard of Neem oil, and maybe even used it as a suffocant for unwanted pests like aphids, mites, scale, and mealy. It’s effective in this application because it is able to stick well to your plants leaves while suffocating the critters you spray in the oil- or in the case of fungus- trapping their spores so they can’t spread. Neem leaves also have a scent that helps to repel other bugs like mosquitoes, which makes them a favorite with farmers and families alike.
In fact, in India Neem trees have been used for centuries, and are regarded as a cure-all due to their many benefits with the Vedas (the most ancient scriptures in hinduism) actually referring to them as “SARVA ROGA NIVARIN” or “one that cures all ailments”
In Indian Folklore, Neem is said to have obtained these divine properties sort of by accident. The story goes that Lord Indra- the God of Devas, was in a heated battle with some demons trying to snatch their nectar- because clearly they had bad intentions for it and he was, quite frankly, tired of their shit…they had already created pests like mosquitoes and honestly, he didn't want to picture what ELSE they were planning.
As he was in a game of literal tug of war with these bozos, he managed to pry the container from their creepy little demon fingers, but not without spilling a few drops directly onto a Neem tree.
As luck would have it, the tree absorbed the healing powers from this nectar, and gained all of the health benefits and pest-repelling properties we love it for today. Take THAT whichever demon brought us mosquitos…that one was unhinged and uncalled for.
In Hindu Tradition, the Neem tree is said to be the manifestation of the goddess , Kali,who is the goddess of the death of Ego- which is the ultimate goal of humans in Hinduism. Kali is the embodiment of time, as well as the female form.
Her name roughly translates as “She who is black” and most often resides in cemeteries, where she wears a necklace of skulls and Drips blood as she treats all of creation like an all-you-can-eat buffet, using her 18 arms to aid in her path of destruction.
While this description makes her sound awfully scary and unpleasant, according to those who worship her, that couldn’t be further from the truth. She is doing most of this to remind us that eventually life ends, and that in some sense our whole world is really just a cemetery. In being reborn, we are once again left waiting for death. But Kari is encouraging us to let go of our ego so that we may end the cycle of rebirth and finally be at peace, which is the ultimate goal of hinduism. And ultimately she is regarded as being one of the kindest gods because she offers salvation to those who take her advice.
But it’s not just Kali that is associated with Neem. There are several goddesses it is associated with across cultures, all to various extents.
Neem is often also associated with skincare, and as such also very closely tied to the goddess of skin ailments- both giving them to folks, and curing them. There are 2 different goddesses who are credited with this power- Sitala Devi in the north of India, and Marimman in the south.
In addition to those goddesses, Neem is also commonly associated with the occult goddess Yellamma, who has multiple heads, and is said to sometimes appear as a young neem tree. Her followers often celebrate her in elaborate rituals where they noy only cover themselves with neem leaves, but also hold them in their mouths as they complete different aspects of the celebration.
On top of being associated with Deities and being used in rituals to honor them, Neem was often (and is still) used to ward off demons and other negative energies. This is typically done one of 2 ways:
The most common way is by burning the neem and letting the smoke cleanse the space like incense, however it was also common for people to hang Neem branches outside of their homes and in door ways, similar to garlic, as it was thought that negative energies would be repelled and unable to cross the threshold.
Obviously Neem plays a massive role in Hinduism, and in various other cultures and religions across India. And for good reason. Remember how I told you that it was a cure-all? Well this time I actually mean it- on top of being used to praise gods and repel demons, neem can be applied to a wide range of uses.
In health, Neem oil is commonly used in many different treatments- being used to solve everything from bad breath to ringworm
Starting with Bad Breath, young neem twigs were often chewed in ancient india to help with cleaning the teeth, and reducing bacteria on the gums because of the antimicrobial and antibacterial properties of neem, AND because the twigs were good at getting between the teeth, sort of like modern day glass, but way less comfortable.
The antimicrobial and antibacterial properties also made Neem a helpful addition to the medicine cabinet when it came to healing wounds, lesions, skin sores, and burns, and even Ring worm. Often this was done by applying neem topically- either in an oil, or as a poultice by crushing the leaves up and mixing the resulting paste directly on top of the wound.
But neem wasn’t just effective at managing skin diseases. As we talked about earlier, Neem was often (and still is) used to treat acne, as well as added to a variety of skin and hair care products, as neem oil can help to soften skin and hair.
Beyond beauty and health, Neem brings a lot of benefits to the garden as well.
Like we talked about earlier, Neem is GREAT at repelling pests like mosquitos and gnats, as they really don’t care for the smell of it. On top of that, Neem oil is often used as an organic pesticide and fungicide when applied directly to the pest in question.
Nowadays these products are pretty easy to find in garden centers, but this certainly wasn’t always the case.
This brings up an interesting problem and source of heated debate in the plant industry around Intellectual Property and patenting plants, or their specific uses.
In the early 1990’s an American company filed a patent using Neem oil as a fungicide. While the Indian government argued this was a use of ancestral knowledge and therefore couldn’t be patented, the company ended up winning the case, because they could legally claim the active ingredient (the specific chemical compound that made neem oil effective as a fungicide), as technically this ancestral knowledge was that it DID work, but not exactly HOW it worked….insert eyeroll here... In the years that followed, overharvesting and price gouging became a problem. The company purchased most of the supply, leaving very little for local use and causing prices to skyrocket. The very farmers who had shown the company how to use Neem oil were left unable to afford it. Thankfully, the patent was overturned in 2004, eventually making Neem more accessible. However, these farmers were never compensated by the company. Lack of compensation remains an issue India faces in the medicinal plant industry and beyond.
Many companies make billions of dollars exploiting the indigenous people’s ancestral knowledge and practices, while those communities and countries see very little benefit from sharing these elements of their culture. In fact, situations like these often lead to mistrust and hesitancy to share ancestral knowledge- rightfully so. However, in not being able to benefit from this knowledge, our society loses potential solutions to major medical problems AND potentially allows vital aspects of many cultures to go unheard and unappreciated- potentially one day losing them completely.
It’s important to acknowledge that reality, especially on this podcast where we discuss ethnobotany and other culture’s ancestral knowledge frequently. It’s a HUGE part of why I put emphasis on finding stories from the cultures these plants are from, and why I always do my best to tell these stories as authentically as I can. Luckily, people who are WAY smarter than me have been working on a framework called the “Heritable Innovation Trust” framework, which works to protect ancestral knowledge and the people sharing it, while also ensuring that any proceeds and credit are appropriately shared when companies use this knowledge to develop a product and potentially patent it. While it’s certainly not perfect, we are making steps in the right direction here, and I think that’s important to acknowledge too!
Today, neem is still largely used for the same stuff it always has been. People still use it as a common additive in their natural beauty routines for softer hair and skin, in their gardens to deter pests, and even in herbal medicine to treat a variety of ailments. It remains to be a culturally significant plant in India, and still has an important role to play in many Hindu practices and traditions.
If you live here in the US, You probably wont see neem trees outside of a green house unless you happen to live in zones 9-10 with plenty of rainfall (so pretty much just Florida). But if you DO see one any time soon, be sure to stop and say hello- and also thank them for ALL of the amazing things they have done for humans…but especially for sticking it to mosquitos… they really are rockstars for that.
Sources:
