leaves as toilet paper

[planthelper]

i want to find out which leaves would make good toilet paper, preferable a non deciduous bushy plant, or vine.

i used to live once at a place where this vine like plant with five fingered leaves grew al over the thunder box, and i gave it the use as indicated above... it's a common (weed) plant, but i don't know it's name. i think to remeber that it has strong arial roots and calea like flowers. it allways displays a lot of brown, disused leaves which don't seem to fall off the plant for quite a while. the texture of those old, brown leaves is quite silky and elastic, meaning they don't tear, and as such i was very happy using them. those leaves are about halve the size of a hand, which would be a good size, but because the are fingered, the useable parts are quite small.

there must be better alternatives out there, let's find them!

to make our toilet paper moist, for that realy clean feeling (not just clean, soooo clean , it demands to be rimmed, lol) we could use aloe vera!

persimmon, paw paw, mullein, wisteria, fig (said to get rid of hemmorhoids aswell), mullbery, are all good candidates i found so far.

Edited August 5, 2007 by planthelper

[gerbil]

In one of the abc organic gardener magazines a family mentioned utilising pieces of cut up loofah

which were dropped into a small bowl of water with some tea tree oil in it which sits next to the composting toilet.

they said it worked very well.

Luffa cylindrica.

[foolsbreath]

You are looking for bushman's friend PH (Brachyglottis repanda)

It is a very common and useful shrub in NZ, but I believe it is native although I'm sure seeds are available they are of short viability.

I learnt of this one when I was very young. I'm sure most kiwi's would have due its fabled use as perfect toilet paper and can be used as writing paper too.

Bushmans Friend

Although the picture in the link doesn't show it, the underside of those leaves are white soft and furry

[telemetric]

one of the best ive been recommended is the soft parts of coconut husk !

[worowa]

Peppermint pellargonium is great, fluffy enough to pick up poo, and leaves a cool, clean smell!

[gecko]

Montanoa bipinnatifida

Tithonia diversifolia

Both of these are just great for this purpose.

They're in the daisy family and grow 2-4m tall easily grown from cuttings.

Tithonia has yellow sunflower like fls., Montanoa , white and smaller.

Montanoa has soft leaves with just the right amount of 'grab' and not

too much 'slip'n'spread' like shiny leaves, if you know what I mean

A couple of leaves together if you want 2 ply or if you worry

about your fingers going through.

Solanum ?mauritianun 'Wild tobacco' weed is a handy one if out in the bush .

Kapok fibre?

Lambs ears (Stachys byzantina) ...Oh so soft!

Hoja Santa (Piper auritum), big leaves with a nice sassafras fragrance.

Paperbark from Melaleuca spp. or birch (Betula papyrifera).

[ThunderIdeal]

great thread.

[nothinghead]

Brug leaves are nice and soft, just don't wipe too many times :D

Actually young neem leaves are suprisingly soft, with antibacterial properties.

[mud]

Mullein.

Its the best toilet paper around. I find it preferable to paper.

Gotta use it fresh tho. Pity that dont have leaves year round.

I think they'll go ok in pots or indoors..

)

Edited April 30, 2011 by mud

[ThunderIdeal]

i always thought i'd get an outdoor bidet of some sort one day

i dunno about the dog idea, for starters the idea of wiping your ass is to make it clean, anything that a dog licks becomes the opposite of clean. secondly, who would let their dog eat shit, even if we know that they do it while we're not looking?

[Teotzlcoatl]

Ethnobotany of hygiene, see link.

I only have Davidia involucrata ~ "Handkerchief Tree" or "Dove Tree" list for toilet paper, help me add to my list please!

Edited June 20, 2011 by Teotzlcoatl

[ErraneousHerbalist]

I've used Kawakawa (click here) many a time whilst camping in the bush in NZ.