I imagine okra leaves may work as well.
Years ago, long before people could call a chemical company or go to the store and buy a product, somehow people used what they had at hand to solve their problems.
I have great admiration for those that came before us, for their ingenuity (and other traits, as well).
Those old wives and their tales taught more than a few. Not knowing the ‘why’ they knew only that it did work
My admiration to them all. Can you imagine traveling across unknown territory in a wagon? I couldn’t do it. God bless every one of them.
Since you mentioned it. Yes, when I was a barefoot urchin in the deep south we lived in a wooden share-croppers house where the outdoors was generally also indoors. All of us urchins slept with the bed bugs through the winter. When the weather turned warm to stay the beds all went outside. Open springs laid out on the grass were wiped clean and returned to the beds. Then the mattresses were brought out. All urchins had a “rag” soaked in Kerosene with which we wiped the crevices of the mattresses on both sides. It was a painstaking job and the tiniest crevice dare not be missed. After they set in the hot sun for several hours they were returned to the beds. The room also had been scrubbed and sprayed with Kerosene. Loved that clean smell of “Coal Oil”. When the cold weather came back, so did the bed bugs. We considered them part of life in rural TN.