FINALLY GOT IT!!!

Got what? You must be wondering what I got, right? Well, it is the roselle plant that I managed to get. I have been searching for this particular herbal plant for more than a month and finally one of the lady cleaners brought it for me on Saturday. She saw Fydo and I during one of our herbal hunts last week. We were searching for plants in Pasir Panjang. When we told her that we were looking for the roselle plant, she said that her mother might have the plant in her house and promised to go and look for it for me. Yes! I must remember to treat her to breakfast on Monday for helping me out.

Read about the roselle plant below:

ROSELLE

Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is a species of hibiscus native to the tropics. It is an annual or perennial herb or woody-based subshrub, growing to 2–2.5 m tall. The leaves are deeply three- to five-lobed, 8–15 cm long, arranged alternately on the stems.

The flowers are 8–10 cm in diameter, white to pale yellow with a dark red spot at the base of each petal, and have a stout fleshy calyx at the base, 1.5–2 cm wide, enlarging to 3–3.5 cm, fleshy and bright red as the fruit matures. It is an annual plant, and takes about six months to mature.Primarily, the plant is cultivated for the production for bast fibre from the stem of the plant. The fibre may be used as a substitute for jute in making burlap [1].
The red calyces of the plant are increasingly exported to America and Europe, where they are used as food colourings. Germany is the main importer. It can also be found in markets (as flowers or syrup) in some places such as France, where there are Senegalese immigrant communities. The green leaves are used like a spicy version of spinach. They give flavour to the Senegalese fish and rice dish thiéboudieune.

In Thailand, Roselle is drunk as a tea, believed to also reduce cholesterol. In Malaysia, calyces from roselle are harvested fresh to produce pro-health drink due to high contents of vitamin C and anthocyanins.This drink is particularly good for people who have a tendency, temporary or otherwise, toward water retention: it is a mild diuretic.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roselle_(plant)