Toothache Flowers

The toothache flower

Taken on Pulau Ubin with Samsung note 10, Singapore

A conversation between Friend A and Friend B in a plant nursery.

A: Do you know that there is a toothache flower?

B: Huh! what do you mean? Do you mean a flower has teeth and can cause pain, so it's called the toothache flower.

A : Take a look at this flower. It has teeth that are protruding out. When it blooms, the seeds are eaten by animals and plants that like to chew on things, like grass and leaves. They then grow from these seeds and cause the animal or plant to feel toothache so that they can eat those seeds for their food.

B: Oohhh I see

A : I AM JUST JOKING. She then points to a nearby signboard.

Toothache Plant
Acmella paniculata
As the name suggests, the extract of the plant was commonly used in folk medicine as a numbing agent to mitigate the pain from toothaches. This is done by chewing the flower heads for toothaches and applying the leaves externally onto skin wounds. It is also believed to stimulate wound healing, protect one from the cold and flu, and decrease allergic symptoms.

According to a source in google, spilanthes acmella is an herbaceous plant that belongs to the family Asteraceae. It is used in traditional medicine throughout Asia and South America, where it is known as Jambu. The leaves are used for culinary purposes, and the flowers have been used for their numbing and pain-relieving properties, earning the plant such common names as the toothache plant.

Meanwhile A & B decided to continue their trek at Pulau Ubin with their mobile phone and the story continues on another day.