GREEN HEART, THE WONDER TREE, can bud money if spared the axe PT.1_Otindo.mov

The tree is a powerful drug and can be dangerous if used wrongly. It should be mixed with other herbs. 86-year-old herbalist has been in this trade in Embu, kenya,for over 50 years. He concocts medicine to treat a myriad diseases.

From stomach ache to epilepsy to erectile dysfunction to skin diseases and malaria, this tree, the Greenheart, known scientifically as warburgia ugandensis has been proven by laboratory tests to be a wonder drug of sorts — not just for humans but livestock, too. The tree grows all over East Africa. It remains popular in herbal medicine in the region. The extracts from the tree are making their way into urban centres and enjoying pride of place in supermarket shelves across East Africa.

Shrewd entrepreneurs are setting up processing units in the region to manufacture syrups, powders, dietary supplements and tablets from parts of the tree. One such factory is located in Kampala and the products are distributed across the region.

Though Kenya is yet to set up its own factory to manufacture the herb, parts of Mount Elgon are said to provide raw material for processors in nearby Uganda.

In Kenya, there is a growing interest in commercial exploitation of this tree. 
Jonah Muguna, a retired civil servant, is leading a group of residents of Meru, also in Eastern Province, in processing parts of the tree into herbal teabags.

Without a factory, the group hires grinders and transports the powder to Nairobi, 200km away, for packaging and labelling.

They hope to make money from the growing interest in herbal medicine. 
Currently, even those who used to consider herbal medicine primitive and preferred conventional medicine are giving it a try.

With such growing attention, experts are sounding the alarm, saying the tree could become extinct soon unless measures are taken to stem over-exploitation.

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