Meaning
A small creeping wayside weed used in Jamaican bush medicine, brewed as a tea for colds, gas, and stomach trouble and to soothe the nerves. Its evocative name — 'search my heart' — reflects the plant's use as a calming, cleansing tonic, and appears in folk and gospel imagery of searching one's heart.
Examples
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Mek a tea outta search-mi-heart fi di belly.
Make a tea out of search-mi-heart for the stomach.
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Di likkle bush grow low pon di grung.
The little bush grows low on the ground.
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Search-mi-heart tea calm yuh dung.
Search-mi-heart tea calms you down.
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Boil some search-mi-heart fi cleanse yuh system.
Boil some search-mi-heart to cleanse your system.
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Search-mi-heart grow wild pon di roadside.
Search-mi-heart grows wild on the roadside.
Origin
A Jamaican folk name (Rhytidophyllum / related creeping bush) evoking heart-searching and cleansing. See Bush tea, Cerasee.
How it’s used
A calming/cleansing bush-tea weed with an evocative name. See Cerasee, Ram-goat-dash-along.