The Polynesians who came to settle in Hawaii brought bananas with them. Although we think of the banana tree especially as a food plant, the Hawaiians used the banana for a medicine, too. They used different kinds for different diseases.

The juice or sap from the cut flower bud was used when a person had a weakness of the body and a coated tongue from stomach trouble. The flower bud was also pounded with other things, and the juice squeezed out and strained. This liquid helped get rid of stomach cramps.

Boiled ripe banana fruits were mashed and added to other ground-up plants -- then mixed with water and finally strained. This liquid was used for constipation.

The ripe fruit was also used for asthma.

When a baby was weakly, the mother pinched off the tip of the flower bud and gave the drops of sap or juice that dripped out to the baby. Now we have learned that this sap is rich in vitamins!