Apart from being used to decorate homes, many parts of the flower are said to have medicinal properties:
Seeds: Relieve headache
Flowers: Refresh the mind, reduce blood pressure, heal wounds and cure abscess
Rhizome: Relieves cough, toothache and irregular menstruation, and remedies tuberculosis, chronic dysentery and diarrhoea
Leaves: Relieve vomiting, colic and diarrhoea
Thais also use flour made from Phuttharaksa’s rhizome to create a traditional dessert called Sakhu.
The Hmong people boil or steam the rhizome for consumption, while the Karen people boil it with sugar to make sweets.
