Folk Wisdom: Cassava grown from inverted cutting is poisonous, and other beliefs and practices

Folk Wisdom 

Cassava grown from inverted cutting is poisonous, 

and other beliefs and practices

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Cassava grown from inverted cutting is poisonous.

This is not true.  But let us take it this way. Cassava cuttings if planted upside down will take a much longer time to grow, if at all. Those that survive become stunted (bansot), thus at harvest time they are left behind in the field. Come next planting season, and they are rouged, their tubers by now are about a year old. Tubers accumulate poisonous cyanic substances as they mature, and the longer they stay in the field the higher is the poison level in their tubers.

A one-year old cassava tuber has twice the amount of cyanide than regularly harvested ones do (4 to 5 months in the field). Thus cassava poisoning is not uncommon. Beware of cassava tubers harvested from borders or along fences. These must be very old indeed, a contain high level of the poison.

Cassava (Manihot utilissima)

By the way, when preparing cassava, choose the freshly harvested tubers. It is in the bark where the poison is concentrated so that it should be completely peeled off. And while boiling, take off the pot cover in order to allow the poison to escape as gas - cyanogas, which is similar to the gas used in the gas chamber. ~

2. Goat’s saliva is hot. 

Plants grazed by goats are likely to die.

Leo Carlo and his pet - a black goat - at home, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Other than direct injury, what is in the saliva of the goat that leads to the death of the plant that it feeds upon?

First of all, let’s study the eating habit of this herbivore. When feeding, it pulls and tears off at anything its teeth come in contact with. It prefers seedlings and succulent tissues. But when food is scarce it feeds on older leaves, stems and roots. Goats in town may even devour wrappers of sweets and kitchen refuse. There are cases ingested plastics can cause slow death to the animals.

I gave a pet kid to my youngest son when he was small. He would allow the animal to lick his fingers. I discovered tiny lacerations inflicted by the developing milk teeth of his pet. “Was it not painful?” I asked. Leo told me it was only after some time that he felt tingling sensation of pain. I believe that the saliva of a goat contains anesthesia, which could be the thing old people call “hot.” Is this the active principle that kills plants?

But plants have their ways of defending themselves, such as the presence of thorns (e.g., Mimosa or makahiya), high level of impregnated silica (e.g., Imperata cylindrica or cogon), and obnoxious odor or taste (e.g., Lantana or bangbangsit Ilk). There are plants that respond to injuries caused by the feeding of animals. They produce poison to discourage, if not kill, the voracious feeder.

This is a classical case. In the African Savannah a species of acacia is the favorite of browsing animals like the giraffe. When the acacia trees are threatened by overgrazing, they send signals like pheromones to warn each other, including the unaffected acacia trees, to produce higher level of tannic acid, similar to mimosin in ipil-ipil. This substance, other than being unpleasant to the taste, is extremely acrid and may cause discomfort to the feeder.

I had an experience at home when I was a farmhand which is quite similar to this case. Goats after the rice harvest are usually left stray in the field but now and then they trespass into backyards and gardens. I noticed our neighbor's goat coming over to browse on wild patani (Phaseolus lunatus). My dad simply didn't mind, to think that entire borders are covered with the viny plant. Then the goat stopped visiting us.

We went to our friendly neighbor and saw the goat, its stomach bloated as if it were in its last stage of pregnancy. Tata Melecio had to slaughter the animal. We found out that its stomach was stuffed with undigested patani leaves, and emitting the characteristic bean odor which I found in later years to be that of tannic acid.

Did the patani plant, like the acacia tree, produce "toxin" to defend itself from excessive feeding by the animal? If this is so, then nature extends to both plants and animals protective mechanisms through the production of chemical compounds that directly confront extreme threat - indeed an effective means of survival not only to the organism, more so, to the species.

But this does not adequately answer why plants bitten by goats are likely to die. I attribute this observation to the manner goats feed.  

Firstly, uprooted plants have little chance to recover especially in extreme dry season. 

Secondly, plants in general die when their biomass above the ground is severed, even if their roots remain intact. It is because the roots will subsequently starve for lack of manufactured food coming from the leaves.

Thirdly, goats prefer plants in the flowering and fruiting stages, thus depriving the plant from producing offspring, even those that reproduce vegetatively.

And lastly, in the absence of fresh feeds, goats forage on the dormant parts of plants in summer (aestivation), and in winter (hibernation), thus preventing the plants to re-emerge come growing season.

One thing I learned from that childhood experience of mine is that, raise goats in corral, or tether them securely while grazing in the field. Your plants may not have a second chance. So with your goats.~

3.Fruit laden kapok means poor harvest

When you see plenty of dangling pods of cotton tree or kapok (Ceiba pentandra L), expect poor rice harvest. Kapok is sensitive to water stress. It does not have deep penetrating roots. Instead it has large spreading roots that depend largely on shallow water source.


To compensate for lack of water in summer, the tree stores a lot water in its fleshy trunk and branches like how cactus does while water supply lasts. When the stored water is not sufficient to tide up with the long, hot summer months, a triggering mechanism controlled by hormone stimulates the tree’s physiology. The plant bears flowers and ultimately fruits and seeds, a trait universal to any organism facing stress. This is the key to the perpetuation of the species. In short, Nature has provided a means with which an organism’s ultimate biological function to reproduce is carried on. And the more progeny it produces the more is the chance of the species to continue on.

5. Pristine Environment is indicated by abundance of lichens on trunks and branches of trees, rocks, and soil. 

There are three types: crustose (crust), foliose (leaf-like) and fruticose (fruiting type). They are biological indicators of clean air. The ultimate test is the abundance of the fruticose type of lichens, while the least is the crustose type. On the side of the animal world, the ultimate indicator of clean air and healthy environment is the abundance of fireflies. ~

6. Don’t gather all the eggs. Leave some otherwise the laying hen will not return to its nest. 

True. The layer is likely to abandon its nest when it finds it empty. Leave a decoy of say, three eggs. But there are layers that know simple arithmetic, and therefore, cannot be deceived, and so they abandon their nest and find a new one.

7.  Raining while the sun is out breeds insects.
Now and then we experience simultaneous rain and sunshine, and may find ourselves walking under an arch of rainbow, a romantic scene reminiscent of the movie and song, Singing in the Rain. Old folks would rather grim with a kind of sadness on their faces, for they believe that such condition breeds caterpillars and other vermin that destroy their crops.

What could be the explanation to this belief? Thunderstorm is likely the kind of rain old folks are referring to. Warmth plus moisture is vital to egg incubation, and activation of aestivating insects, fungi, bacteria and the like. In a few days, they come out in search of food and hosts. Armyworms and cutworms (Spodoptera and Prodina), named after their huge numbers and voracious eating habit, are among these uninvited guests

9. Garlic drives the aswang away.
If aswang (ghost) being referred to are pests and diseases, then there is scientific explanation to offer, because garlic contains a dozen substances that have pesticidal, antimicrobial and antiviral properties such as allicin, from which its generic name of the plant is derived – Allium sativum. Garlic is placed on doorways, in the kitchen and some corners of the house where vermin usually hide, which is also practiced in other countries. It exudes a repellant odor found effective against insects and rodents – and to many people, also to evil spirits, such as the manananggal (half-bodied vampire). ~

10. Old Folks’ Science or Superstition? A self-administered test (50 items)

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog

Lesson: As we move away from tradition and embrace new knowledge, we find ourselves often in quandary: "Is this tradition just a superstitious belief, or it has scientific explanation?" Here is a simple test to find out. Answer the following items to the best of your knowledge.

Life on the farm, mural detail, AVR

Science or Superstition? Find out the answers at the end of this test and the corresponding rating.

1. Raining while the sun is out breeds insects.

2. Nangka may bear fruit from its roots underground.

3. You know how big ube tuber is by its mound.

4.Karurayan na dumalaga (all white female fryer) is best food for a recuperating patient.

5. Swarming of winged termites and ants predicts siyam-siyam (18 days of uninterrupted rainfall)

6. Red sky in the west means coming of a typhoon.

7. When you break a glass, take another and break it too, to break the omen.

8. Kapre (ogre) lives on old trees; dwende (dwarf) lives among mushrooms.

9.When a spoon is accidentally dropped, a female guest is coming. If fork, a male guest.

10. When buying watermelon, choose that which has wide spaces between the “ribs.” It is more fleshy and sweet.

11. Actually you can hear the earth breath on a quiet summer night.

12. Predominance of cogon grass means the land is not worth farming.

14. Oranges with indented bottom are sweeter.

15. Powdered rhino horn is medicine and aphrodisiac.

16. Worms improve the taste of bagoong or patis. (fish sauce)

17. Just wipe kitchen with mild vinegar to drive ants away.

18. Large and round macopa contains seeds, so with lanzones.

19. Prune standing corn stalk to get fuller cobs.

20. There are people who cook ampalaya which tastes more bitter.

21. A brooding animal, like snake, is ferocious.

22. Guava seeds may cause appendicitis

23. Ginseng increase human virility or has aphrodisiac property.

24. Cut the leaves (pruning) of rice seedlings before transplanting in the field to make them grow faster and bigger.

25. When you eat twin bananas you will bear also twins.

26. During full moon crabs are lean.

27. Phases of the moons influence behavior (lunatic effect).

28. Gate must not face directly the dead-end of a road.

29. Planting cassava stem upturned will produce poisonous tuber.

30. Ring around the moon means a storm coming.

31. When you have a fishbone stuck, get the cat and gently rub its paws on the affected area.

32. When a spoon is accidentally dropped, a female guest is coming. If fork, a male guest.

33. A brooding animal, like snake, is ferocious.

34. Food offering at the family altar during festivals is homage to the spirits

35. Say tabi-tabi when entering a thicket.

36. Put sugar as fertilizer to get sweeter fruits.

37. Some people suffer body aches before a typhoon brews near.

38. When walking through a forest, wear a face mask backward to ward of tiger or lion attack.

39. When harvesting the first fruits, get an oversize basket and pretend that the harvest is heavy.

40. Expect rain if hordes of dragonflies hover low.

41. Size and shape of lips of a woman reflects her private organ.

42. Get male flower and introduce it into the female flower to enhance the fruit to develop.

43. Crickets are noisiest in summer.

44. When transplanting banana tiller take out the eyes (young tiller buds) arising on the corm.

45. Wet your navel with the first raindrops in summer.

46. Noisy hen layers are not productive layers.

47. Roosters do sometimes lay eggs which are very small and sterile.

48. Throw sand into axils of coconut leaves to prevent beetle attack

49. Black cat bring bad luck when you meet them on the corridor or street.

50. A noisy salaksak or kingfisher is an emissary of death.

ANSWERS: False answer to 7,8,9,11,13,16,22,25,28,29,31,32,34,35,36,39,41,45 and 47.

RATING: 46-50 Outstanding. You must be one of the old folks.
41-45 Very Good . You must be living with old folks.
36-40 Good. You have a good grasp of tradition
31-34 Fair. You are not really moving away from tradition.
30 and below. Read more about old folks' science and superstitious beliefs.
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Reference: Living with Folk Wisdom, AVRotor UST

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday