Does The Yoruba Plant "Ewe Daiko" Exist or Have Any Scientific Finding
I have heard and seen many leaves and trees with Yoruba names that also has English names from Ewedu (Jute Leaf), Egusi (squash, melon, gourd), Apon that some people call Ogbono (African mango with its scientific name being Irvingia gabonensis), and many more but there is one leaf that I haven't seen physically and so is the same for a lot of people but it has a name (a native yoruba name) with no English name or scientific name making me along with others to question its originality.
If you are Yoruba or from any Yoruba speaking country, there is a possibility that you have heard the name Ewe Daiko. A lot of people say that our grandparents usually encounter this this leaf in the forest or the bush and when they touch it, the miss their way home only to come back after days or to be seen by a search party. Ewe meaning leaf and Idaiko meaning wandering around. When I heard this as a child, I would wonder how a leaf could make someone lose their ability to identify the road home or cause them not to remember how they got to the location.
Some people say it is a spiritual plant and it doesn't still sit well because there are a lot of plants and trees that Yorubas have called spiritual plants that do exist and when we check for their English and scientific name, they end up having because they do exist like the Iroko tree known as African Teak in english has the scientific name Milicia excelsa. It is very good for timber use for construction purposes, Its bark having analgesic effects, and its gum oozes as a good antiseptic.
Another tree is Triplochiton scleroxylon known as Arere in Yoruba, Obeche in Edo, and Okpobo in Igbo. This tree is also known and we see clearly that its exists. Its wood are used for interiors of houses, its leaf serves as food and its back as medicine. Growing up to 50 metres tall, we still know that it exists and we can point out to it. Similar to these trees mentioned, we have oganwo (the Mahogany tree), and the Araba Tree (Kapok tree) with the scientific name Ceiba pentandra.
There are lots of plants with Yoruba, English and a scientific name followed with uses and importance. The trees I mentioned above are regarded as spiritual trees but we have been able to understand them today that they are trees of economic importance and they grace us with their height, size and life longevity which could be part of the reasons for the belief but at least we know these ones and we can point out to them but what do we say about Daiko leaf.
Why haven't numerous number of people seen or heard about the leaf that makes people wonder about in the forest or farm causing them not to find their way home. if such tree exists, people would have gone into the bush to identify it and bring it out so we can confirm the sayings. If the leaf truly exists then there is a high chance that it has properties that make them hallucinate for a while causing them not to find their way home for a very long time or the plant itself doesn't exist.
For now, I will pick the later and classify this plant along with the numerous fallacies that Yorubas say when they do not have a concrete explanation to something just like sending a child to help you get "Arodan" which simply means "empty message" where the person you are sent to just delays you for no purpose because the sender needs space, time, or privacy. Daiko could just be a leaf lied against just so our hunting and farming fathers could have an excuse when they go to places they didn't tell their families about when leaving.
Read More
- https://forestcenter.iita.org/index.php/iroko-tree/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378112704008102
- https://forestcenter.iita.org/index.php/2019/06/21/triplochiton-scleroxylon/
- https://prota.prota4u.org/protav8.asp?g=pe&p=Triplochiton+scleroxylon
- https://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Triplochiton+scleroxylon
- https://www.nairaland.com/4993800/daiko-mysterious-leaf
- https://www.scribd.com/document/758465897/Daiko-the-Mysterious-Leaf-Culture-Nigeria
- https://hortson.org.ng/images/Journals/2024Volume/Olajide_2024_compressed.pdf
- https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Ceiba-Pentandra-Family
Did you know I had to go google the name of the plant. I heard of it in a yoruba movie sometime back but I thought they just made it up until I just checked it now and realize that a lot of people actually believe it exists
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