{"id":692255,"date":"2019-08-26T17:43:22","date_gmt":"2019-08-26T17:43:22","guid":{"rendered":" <br><div data-io-article-url=\"https:\/\/www.adomonline.com\/mysterious-plant-women-dont-touch\/\">\n            <div class=\"td-post-featured-image\"><img width=\"640\" height=\"404\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/wp-content\/uploa"},"modified":"2019-08-26T17:43:22","modified_gmt":"2019-08-26T17:43:22","slug":"mysterious-plant-women-dont-touch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/08\/26\/mysterious-plant-women-dont-touch\/","title":{"rendered":"Mysterious plant women don&#8217;t touch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-io-article-url=\"https:\/\/www.adomonline.com\/mysterious-plant-women-dont-touch\/\">\n<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"404\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/9616996088427_3456864013750.jpg\"   alt=\"Homakyem\" title=\"Homakyem\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Have you ever heard of a forest plant, believed to make a woman barren or force her into premature menopause?<\/p>\n<p>How about its leaves having magical potency to charm a woman into a relationship against her will, in addition to aid abortion?.<\/p>\n<p>Well, the age-old myth about the plant, known scientifically as Dalbergia Lactia, and why it is a shrine for worshippers at the Bobiri\u00a0Forest and\u00a0Butterfly\u00a0Sanctuary in the Ashanti Region, is what this feature story seeks to look at.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/6026173263581_6085224604234.png\" alt=\"Homakyem\"\/><figcaption><strong>Homakyem<\/strong> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It is known in Akan as \u2018Homakyem\u2019, believed to have mythical features for which locals worship it as a deity.\u00a0It is one of few plant species found only in forest reserves and therefore receives proper attention.<\/p>\n<p>Many tourists and foresters love visiting the\u00a0Bobiri Forest and Butterfly Sanctuary to catch a glimpse.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1905614467958_8749908463046.png\" alt=\"Homakyem\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>According to principal technologist of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research of Forest Research Institute of Ghana and Manager of the Bobiri Research Centre, the plant is more than 35 years old and more than 50 meters long.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Christian Opoku-Kwarteng, in an interview with Joy News, said\u00a0it is associated with a lot of spiritual and superstitious beliefs and worshipped\u00a0as a lesser god.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is believed to be a deity and a being in itself,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>In order to slash a portion of it, the necessary rituals must be performed: three eggs produced by a local fowl should be offered to it by a traditional leader or fetish priest.<\/p>\n<p>Also, a bottle of schnapps should be poured as a libation to seek approval from the ancestors and the spirit being behind the \u201cHomaky\u0510m\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt should not be cut completely, only a slash should be taken. If one cuts it completely or in an unworthy manner,\u00a0 he\/she may die,\u201d Mr Opoku-Kwarteng further revealed.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, such death has been reported.<\/p>\n<p>It is recommended that slashing should be made early in the morning or in the evening because\u00a0the person\u2019s shadow will be on it in the afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Hence, that person would be cutting his\/ her own soul in the process of slashing the \u201cHomaky\u0510m\u201d\u00a0 and may die as a result.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHomaky\u0510m\u201d according to\u00a0Mr Opoku-Kwarteng, is perceived as\u00a0a human being because its sap is as red as the blood of humans.<\/p>\n<p>Women are however advised to avoid touching \u2018Homaky\u0510m\u2019 for its magical powers and implication on fertility and childbirth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTraditionally, females are not permitted to touch it nor harvest any part of it. If a female touches it, she may not menstruate again. Hence may never give birth afterward,\u201d\u00a0Mr Opoku-Kwarteng added.<\/p>\n<p>Some women who spoke to Joy News disagreed with the assertion.<\/p>\n<p>Nancy Karikari thought it is discriminatory to not allow women to touch the \u201cHomaky\u0510m\u201d and urged something to be done about such beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy would you bring us here and say we as ladies shouldn\u2019t touch it,\u201d she quizzed.<\/p>\n<p>She is among many ladies who are protesting against the beliefs and feels that only men should be sent to that portion of the forest if they can\u2019t touch it.<\/p>\n<p>Although\u00a0Nancy and her friends protest the beliefs, they told Joy News they would not dare\u00a0touch it.\u00a0One of her colleagues had to struggle for herself when one of the guys pushed her towards the plant.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The leaves of the perennial plant are hard to come by because they literally hide from people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe leaves also possess magical properties in hypnotising females that a man may be interested in.\u201d Mr Opoku-Kwarteng stated.<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn, another lady\u00a0who was in the forest\u00a0thought it was\u00a0unnecessary for\u00a0men to seek help from the plant to charm women.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe that the tree respects women that is why it hides its leaves from men,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0The tree\u2019s back\u00a0is believed to be sedative. It can, therefore, be used to cure severe depression.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Opoku-Kwarteng disclosed, \u201cfew drops into the nose will cause the patient to sleep for about 8 hours. He\/she will become sober after waking up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Slashes of it are placed in water for the patient to bath with afterward to complete the healing process.<\/p>\n<p>It is believed that any forest with \u201cHomaky\u0510m\u201d also has dwarfs (spirit beings) in it. Hence, no timber harvesting nor heavy-duty activities are performed on Fridays.<\/p>\n<p>Fridays are considered\u00a0taboo days in the Bobiri Forest because\u00a0traditionalists commune with the ancestors.<\/p>\n<p>According to Mr. Opoku-Kwarteng, \u201cif one breaks this taboo, he\/she may die, get severely injured, translocated, disappear, etc. through the agency of these dwarfs\/ spirit beings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>People\u00a0may or not believe in such a myth, however, it is necessary, perhaps, to show greater respect for the genius of nature\u2019s designs, rigorously tested and refined over millions of years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong>Ghana| Joy News| Mahmud Mohammed-Nurudeen<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever heard of a forest plant, believed to make a woman barren or force her into premature menopause? How about its leaves having magical potency to charm a woman into a relationship against her will, in addition to aid abortion?. Well, the age-old myth about the plant, known scientifically as Dalbergia Lactia, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":692256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-692255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-odd-but-true"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mysterious plant women don&#039;t touch - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/08\/26\/mysterious-plant-women-dont-touch\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Mysterious plant women don&#039;t touch - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Have you ever heard of a forest plant, believed to make a woman barren or force her into premature menopause? 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