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Herbal aphrodisiac: A garden plant
found effective
London:
A plant that is widely available in garden centres
has the same effect on men as the potency enhancing
drug called viagra. It is the winter-flowering heather,
and botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh,
many of them heather experts who have recognised the
source of its active ingredient, now expect it to
be the next must-have plant in British gardens. Demand
is already high. Nurseries and garden centres in some
areas are having trouble finding sufficient supplies
as word spreads of the plant's unexpected properties.
"At first, it was just a trickle of inquiries, but
now stores are virtually being besieged each weekend.
We have had men buying dozens of the plants and, at
one store in Croydon, there were men old enough to
know better fighting over the last remaining trays,"
a spokesman for Wyevale Garden Centres, which has
106 UK branches, said.
The
latest gardening craze was triggered by a discovery
by a 55- year-old furniture restorer, Michael Ford,
on his allotment. He was always experimenting with
drinks made from different plants and one day he tried
an infusion from his winter-flowering heather. He
said: "The effect was almost immediate. I had to stay
in my potting shed for an hour or so before I could
decently walk down the street." He then contacted
the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, famous for their
work with the heather family, to see if they could
offer an explanation. They could. Botanist Alan Bennell
said: "This first surfaced when East European chemists
reported finding a Viagra-type chemical in the floral
tissues of winter-flowering heaths. They were able
to isolate measurable amounts of material that is
an analogue of the active principle in Viagra." Winter-flowering
heather, he explained, belongs to the genus Erica,
a close relative of our own native heather. He said:
"As yet, the active ingredient has not been found
in these British forms, but it is proving to be most
concentrated in many of the widely available hybrids
sold as winter-flowering heather in garden centres.
Particularly potent are forms of Erica carnea, the
Alpine heather, whose range extends into the Balkans.
"The work of these biochemists and physiologists -
much of it disrupted and lost during the ravages of
war - is now coming to light."
- April 2, 2007
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