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**Nadine Tree
The wood from this tree is used in Montserrat for making charcoal.
Text Copyrighted © KO 2004

Nastursium Tropeolum
This is one of my all time favorite flowering plants and its success in my garden has eluded me for years. Does it need water or not, fertile soil or not, sun or not..... I am too frustrated for words by this engaging plant and totally unable to make it grow.
Text Copyrighted © KO 2004

Natural Pesticides and More See the "L" Page -- LINKS and REFERENCES FOR TROPICAL GARDENING

**Neem Tree Melia azadirachta L.
Native to India, but now common in Montserrat, this is a lovely tree with deep green leaves. We use the leaves as an organic insecticide in our vegetable patches. We crush the leaves and set them to soak for three days and then use the liquid as a spray. Insects do not like it as all of them fly up and off the plants when we spray and the plants always look better the next day. We have been told that local farm animals on the island will not eat the neem’s leaves; not even the goats and it is almost unimaginable that there is something they won’t eat.
Text & Photo Copyrighted © KO 2004

**Night Blooming Cereus See The "C" Page CEREUS

Noni, Great Morinda, Beach Mulberry, Indian Mulberry Morinda citrifolia L.
Our neighbor Jack and his wife, repatriate Montserratians who lived and raised their family in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States, returned here to Montserrat for their retirement. Jack is an avid gardener and has promised to grow a noni for me from the several thriving bushes that he has on his property.
Benefits: Its fruit can be eaten if you are truly hungry; they don't taste very good, but they won't kill you.
From: Southeastern Asia or maybe the Caribbean or maybe Hawaii.
Medicinal Uses: The plant is said to have many medicinal benefits, though none are as yet proven by modern laboratory standards.
Planting and Care: Plant your noni in the sun or in a semi shady area where it will benefit from local rains, though it will handle a drought if it has no choice.
Text Copyrighted © KO 2008

**Nopal Cactus, Prickly Pear Cactus, Edible Tree Cactus, Mission Cactus Opuntia or Opuntia ficus-indica
This is the oval shaped spiny thin leaved branching cactus found in Montserrat, but also so common in Mexico. The leaves are scraped clean of their spines, cooked and eaten most deliciously in omelets.
Benefits: The paddle shaped leaves of the nopal are known to have a beneficial effect in controlling diabetes in all of the small outlying villages we have visited in Mexico. They may also have a very important effect on cholesterol -- lowering the bad while leaving the good alone!
Fruits: Its fruits growing from red and yellow flowers are called tunas in Mexico; I think the English version is prickly pear. Handle these fruits carefully as they do have nasty spines.
Recipe: Crush prickly pear fruits and push them through a sieve to remove the seeds. Blend with tequila for a very Mexican margarita. We had this drink for the first time in Oaxaca, Mexico, at a tequila festival. We liked it then and we still do!
Note: The "opuntia" seems to be a huge class of paddle shaped cactus plants. They are quite beautiful and very different from one another in growth, susceptibility to disease, hardiness and more. Still I haven't been able to find good information on specific plants. They always seem lumped together as opuntia. If you have more information, please get in touch.

The prickly pear cactus in the photo to the left very closely resembles the one above, but its paddles are fat and more icy green in color. Here in Montserrat they are very subject to a wasting disease that doesn't seem to affect our other cactus.

The cactus below on the left grew into the large cactus to the right in a few short years. It is unusual because it doesn't have spines and I'm an expert at getting them lodged in my fingers! Someone on the island told us that the paddles of this cactus were used as a local version of a rough face cloth, something to scrub off the dirt at the end of the day. The paddles are rough and I can believe that they might well have been used that way in days gone by.

Text and Photographs Copyrighted © KO 2008

Nutmeg Tree Myristica fragrans Houtt.
In a sunny, warm, humid place the nutmeg tree will grow to 70 or 80 feet. Its leaves are similar to those on a coffee tree or gardenia–deep green and shiny. Five to six months after flowering it bears a 2" fruit containing the nutmeg seed. The seed is covered with a scarlet aril which when dried and ground becomes mace. One hundred nutmegs will produce only 3 ounces of dried mace. It has become an important export crop for the island of Grenada which sends about 2000 tons of nutmeg to the US each year.
Benefits: It is said to have medicinal uses as well as giving us its terrific spice. Imagine eggnog without it! We are hoping to find one to plant in our Montserrat garden.
From: Opinions vary on its origin; some say it is native to the East Indies while others believe that nutmeg arrived in the Caribbean in the early 19th century.
Text Copyrighted © KO 2008

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