Ceiba

The novel is based on a true story, which Sirias researched while visiting Nicaragua. He is personified as a professor spending the summer near his parents birthplace, where he hears the story of the lesbian lovers, and attempts to reconstruct the days before and after Adelas demise. By means of his interviews, the reader comes to know Adelas family, her former lover (who feared for Adelas safety), Adelas former husband (who never dreamed that being a lesbian would get her killed), and Adelas magnetic and stunningly beautiful lover Ixelia, who was prostituted by her mother at age 11.

This work is the first monograph devoted solely to Bombax ceiba, popularly known as the Red Silk Cotton Tree. Consisting of seven chapters, it covers all relevant aspects of this plant, from its historical and spiritual importance, to its botanical characterization, pharmacognostical details and ethnobiological uses, to its scientific validation in various animal and human studies. Each part of the tree is of medicinal value and possesses many novel chemical constituents such as shamimicin, bombasin, bombamalone, bombamaloside etc. along with other bioactive secondary metabolites. The book presents the chemical structures of the most important constituents and highlights various pharmacological activities, predominantly antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, hypoglycemic, hypotensive, hepatoprotective and fibrinolytic, which may prove to be a source for the development of a novel phyto-pharmaceutical agent to treat diabetes, heart disease and cancer. In addition, separate chapters deal with the commercial and ecological significance of B. ceiba, as well as a case study on its conservation. Numerous color illustrations are included to identify the plant and to justify its nickname, the “Little Bird’s Cafeteria”.