Impila is a type of spring flower often found in grasslands with the rare combination of white petals surrounding a dark round mound in the center and bright green undergrowth making it a nice-looking garden plant. However, you may have to bear with its disagreeable smell which can be compared to the odor of green mango, when freshly cut. Moreover, you may have some difficulty acquiring seeds due to its thick underbrush.
This might not be your usual medication but some people took to Impila (Callipses laureola) to treat anal fissure. Impila is a lasting herb with cluster of stems that extend to about 600mm tall branching out from a big woody tuber. Its hairy stems branched out from the base in simple stretches, with no curves or curling whatsoever. Its leaves on the other hand vary in sizes and shapes but are generally elliptical and its size diminishes upwards. One can sometimes see long faint hairs in the blade or axils of the leaves. You can usually find this herb flowering during the months of August to November. Occasionally however, it still blooms even as late as February.
For Impila (Callipses laureola) to treat anal fissure, one should visit the grasslands of KwaZulu-Natal, Transkie, Mozambique, Lembombo Mountains and Eastern Transvaal. This type of herb typically grows in open grasslands. Despite the benefits derived from this type of herb, one should never be complacent about its potency, especially its tubers which are known to be poisonous. Caution must be practiced at all times.
There had been recorded fatalities amongst the Zulu people who have taken to the tubers to make a mixture of its roots for use as purgative and to treat tapeworms. In conventional medicine, this herb is used to treat several diseases and conditions including infertility, whooping cough, and tapeworms. It is used as a tonic during pregnancy and terminated maggots in cattle.
For cough, only roots gathered during the winter are mashed to make a concoction for the treatment of cough. The infused leaves are used amongst the Swati as disinfectant for external wounds or boils. Hence, one can also use Impila (Callipses Laureola) to treat anal fissure with the use of leaves which have been mashed or steeped in hot water. Making a paste out of the crushed roots and applying it directly on a wound, makes it a good disinfectant. In this way of using the herb, you do not have to worry of the danger of overdose, which occur quite a number of times with the use of the herb in other forms.
The roots of the herb when powdered and formulated with other ingredients are taken as purgatives. For children with tapeworms, the roots are boiled and mashed to make a concoction which can also be used for fertility purposes. Girls in the early stages of menstruation also take the tonic made from the herb. Roots are even used as protective charms by placing it under their pillows. Such practice is believed to ward off bad dreams.
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