medicinal
Aspen – Balm of Gilead?
January 31, 2012 | 
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Aspen
Aspen
SALICACEAE Populus tremula
Appearance
The alternating, almost circular leaves possess bluntly toothed or wavy borders and emphatically sideways-flattened petioles, which tremble in the least breeze: they adorn a small deciduous tree with flat bark – at the onset yellowish but then developing darkish grey highlights.
The female blooms have purple stigmas. The flowers unfold before the leaves emerge. The fruit is a capsule which releases seeds with a white pappus.
The slightly sticky buds are sturdily oval. Aspen is dioecious with separate male and female catkins, that have purple hairy bracts.
History
Aspen and the archaic version, Asp, are taken from the Anglo-Saxon name aespetoithe tree. The word ‘asp’ was sometimes utilized to indicate tremulous, after the shaking leaves. The particular epithet also identifies this distinctive attribute of the tree.
Usage
Other than on the Continent, Aspen is not widely used in herbal medicine. A better-known resinous product from poplar buds is balm of Gilead, which is produced by the tree referred to as Balm of Gilead (P. gileadensis or P. candicans), from Balsam Poplar (P. balsamifera) or American Aspen (P. tremuloides).
Balm of Gilead is likewise gathered from a North American fir (Abies balsamea). The true balm of Gilead is, however, the resin of tropical bushes or small trees of the genus Commiphora.
Externally compresses, bathtub formulations and treatment-creams are used for haemorrhoids and management of burns. Preparations from fresh leaves are employed in homeopathy.
The leaf buds, sometimes the young bark and the leaves of Aspen, are all employed medicinally. Like the buds of Black Poplar (P.nigra), Aspen buds include an essential oil, bitter compounds, salicin and populin.
Such ingredients provide Aspen powerful diuretic, anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties and the buds are used in an infusion for gout and rheumatism as well as for problems of the urinary tract and enlarged prostate gland.
Growth Characteristics
Aspen grows all over Europe including the British Isles, in open woods, notably on poorer soils. It is also regularly placed in home gardens and avenues.
Flowering time: February to March. (Northern Hemisphere)
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Yarrow – First Among Natural Herbal Remedies?.. Part 1
One Of The Oldest Herbal Remedies
Tags: Marshmallow Herb – A Lot More Than Just Candy
Marshmallow Herb
Marshmallow – also althaea root, mallow root, mortification root, Schloss tea, sweet weed, Hock herb.
MALVACEAE Althaea officinalis
Description
A perennial botanical herb with a yellow, branched root, elevated, vertical, leafy stems and substantial alternating, lobed and irregularly toothed foliage.
The stems and foliage are velvety. The milky white or pinkish blooms of these herb garden plants, which are inviting to bees, are lined up in uneven racemes in the leaf axils. The disc-shaped schizocarpic fruit (a capsule) splits into one-seeded nutlets (mericarps). The fruits are usually referred to as ‘cheeses’ because of their rounded structure.
History
Homer’s Iliad - from 2,800 years ago, contains references to marshmallow root as a healing herb.
The familiar soft candy, marshmallow, was initially flavoured with Marshmallow root.
The familiar term ‘mallow’ is a corruption of the Latin term malva for this and similar plants in the Malvaceae family (see also PL 139). Both malva and Malvaceae almost certainly originate in the Greek word malakos (= soft), a reference to the softening and healing attributes of these herbs.
Among its various constituents are sugar, starch, an amino acid (asparagine) and pectin.
Usage
Marshmallow is a popular herbal remedy for diverse conditions and is cultivated commercially in certain countries.
The whole plant incorporates a healing action. But it has got to be without rust.
Marshmallow is regarded as the most vital mucilaginous medicinal herbs mainly because it contains a high proportion of mucilage (flowers around 20 per cent, roots near 30 per cent) and it is incorporated into branded medication and herbal preparations as an ointment, demulcent, antitussive and expectorant.
Marshmallow is employed internally for bronchitis and bronchial asthma and for indigestion and gastrointestinal difficulties.
It makes calming gargles and compresses and poultices for external application. It offers a number of cosmetic purposes too. The roots may be boiled and used like a vegetable.
Growth Characteristics
Marshmallow boasts a wide-ranging distribution from western Europe to Siberia. In the British Isles, where it is native, it is commonplace in salt marshes and on banks nearby the seashore. It is now naturalized to the eastern United States and used for ornamental purposes - foliage and purple flowers.
Flowering period – Northern hemisphere: August to September.
Alder – With An Alter Ego
Alder - Alnus glutinosa
BETULACEAE Alnus glutinosa
Appearance
There are 3 well-known alder plants with a few differing characteristics:
Alder (Alnus glutinosa) A deciduous shrub or medium-sized tree with darkish-brown, fissured bark and glabrous twigs with yellowish lenticels (wart-like components) on the bark. Alder is monoecious; the flowers are borne on the old wood and emerge before the leaves, organized in catkins. The leaves are broadly spherical or sometimes notched at the tip, often doubly serrate, bright-green on both sides and very sticky (viscid) in the springtime. The long, hanging male catkins possess purplish scales and yellow-colored blossoms; the shorter female catkins- are nearly globular, reddish-purple in early spring but they transform into brownish and woody after the seeds are released developing cones or ‘berries’. The fruit is a winged achene.
Grey Alder [A. incana) is similar to Alder however it has sleek greyish bark, its leaves are pointed and are greyish green above and pale below.
Green Alder (A. viridis) is more of a shrub than a tree. Its leaves have a sharp point, cordate base and are green on either side. It grows in mountainous areas in Europe.
History
Alder is indigenous to Europe, Asia and Africa, it is familiar all across the British Isles. The wood is light and easily worked once seasoned. The common designation, Alder, apparently originates from the Anglo-Saxon word alor or aler, and this may derive from an old time German term elo or elawer (reddish yellow), considered a reference to the colour of the fresh-cut timber.
Usage
All species of alder possess similar medicinal properties and are established rustic medications, employing the sticky young leaves and the bark, from felled timber. The constituents include tannins and anthraquinones which provide Alder an astringent effect and a bitter taste.
- The fresh crushed leaves soothe chapped skin.
- A decoction of Alder is utilized externally in the form of a gargle for tonsillitis and as a mouth wash.
- Used to deal with enteritis, severe diarrhoea, fever, colds and rheumatic soreness.
Growth Characteristics
Alder will grow in wet woods and by wetlands and streams.
Alder can flourish in places where the anaerobic or near-anaerobic soil factors – generally due to waterlogging – could swiftly damage and destroy most other tree varieties. It manages this by a symbiotic relationship with a nitrogen-fixing bacterium which occupies root nodules. The bacteria provide the nitrates the tree needs while the tree appears to supply physical and chemical protection to the bacteria.
Flowering period: March to April. (Northern hemisphere)
Green-winged Orchid – Viagra of the Ancients
ORCHIDACEAE Orchis morio
Appearance
The violet-red flowers are borne in a loose, terminal spike. The leaves are lanceolate, broadest at the center and unspotted; the ones at the bottom level are structured in a rosette, those at the summit are sheathed and upright. A perennial herb with spherical tubers and an erect leafy stem. The side petals are curved upward to form a helmet-shaped structure with conspicuous green veins; the lower lip is three-lobed. The fruit is a capsule with numerous very small seeds.
History
They are collected for therapeutic needs only where they still grow abundantly but they have been replaced by other, less-expensive herbal remedies.
Green-winged Orchid is reasonably plentiful in the south of Britain but is rarer in other places. Another indigenous British orchid, Broad-leaved Marsh Orchid [Dactylorhiza majalis), has a far more scattered and local distribution. It can be distinguished from Green-winged Orchid by its split tubers, usually spotted leaves, pinkish-mauve flowers and the side petals which are spreading and not formed into a helmet.
These species along with other orchids are declining in quantities in the wild and many are now protected.
At one time orchids were utilized as aphrodisiacs and the generic name, Orchis, from a Greek word for testicle, pertains to the appearance of the tubers. Green-winged Orchid’s specific name, morio, however, means ‘fool’! A nutritious drink known as salep is still produced from the dried tubers of some orchids, chiefly species of Orchis.
Usage
The tubers are the medicinal elements. Their constituents include about 50 per cent of mucilage that changes by hydrolysis to mannose and glucose, as well as 30 per cent of starch and proteins.
These elements give Green-winged Orchid emollient, stomachic and antidiarrhoeal characteristics and it was previously used for intestinal and abdominal disorders.
Growth characteristics
Green-winged Orchid grows patchily throughout Europe in dry meadows and pastures, especially on lime-rich earth.
Flowering period: May to June.(Northern hemisphere)
Bilberry, Whortleberry, Blaeberry – Berry Many Names
ERICACEAE Vaccinium myrtillus
Appearance
The alternating, briefly stalked leaves are oval, finely serrate and vivid green; they are easily distinguished from those of Cowberry. The pitcher-shaped pinkish or greenish-pink flowers with rather short turned-back lobes grow singly or in pairs in the upper leaf axils. A low deciduous subshrub with a creeping rhizome and numerous erect, leafy, branched, green and angled stems..The fruit is a globose, edible, blackish berry with a blue-grey bloom.
History
Vaccinium is the ancient designation for this and related plants. The specific epithet refers to the leaves, which are similar to those of Myrtle (Myrtus communis). The derivation of the ‘bil’ and ‘whortle’ in the traditional names is unknown; ‘blae’ means blue-black.
Often associated with improvement of night sight, bilberries are cited in a popular story of World War II RAF pilots eating bilberry jam to sharpen vision for night missions. However, a contemporary study by the U.S. Navy found no such benefit and origins of the RAF story cannot be established.
Although the effect of bilberry on night vision is unproven, laboratory research in rats have provided preliminary evidence that bilberry consumption may inhibit or reverse eye conditions such as macular degeneration.
Usage
- The sweet fruits, which are rich in vitamins, have long been a popular food. They have also been a traditional treatment for diarrhoea.
- The leaves of non-flowering twigs and the fruits are used medicinally. The constituents of the leaves include tannins, organic acids, a glycoside (arbutin) and plant insulins. These substances give the leaves astringent, antiseptic, diuretic and weak hypoglycaemic properties; they are used in an infusion for gastritis, enteritis, and diarrhoea.
- Dried berries are chewed to control diarrhoea.
- They are also incorporated in natural herbal tea mixtures with an antisclerotic action. It is advisable not to take this infusion in strong doses or over a long period of time.
- The ripe berries are used fresh or dried. They comprise of sugars, pectin, organic acids, tannins, mineral salts, vitamins B and C and organic pigments (anthocyanins).
- Wine and an alcoholic extract from the berries also provide a costive action.
- The pressed liquid from the berries and conserves are good for mouth and throat infections.
- The wholesome berries can be enjoyed raw or stewed and made into pies.
Growth Characteristics
Albeit bilberries are indigenous to Europe and grow on humus-rich acidic damp soils in heaths, woods and on moors, they are present in very acidic, nutrient-poor soils throughout the temperate and subarctic regions of the globe. One attribute of bilberries is that they produce single or paired berries on the bush rather than clusters, as the blueberry does.
Flowering time April to June (Northern hemisphere)
Garlic The Essential Herb
LILIACEAE Allium sativum
Appearance
Garlic is a perennial herb with a bulb which is split into segments (Known as cloves), basal linear leaves and an erect stalk terminated by an umbel with numerous small bulbils between the purplish-white flowers. The flower cluster is encircled by a sheath (spathe) of papery bracts. The fruit is a capsule with black seeds; the seeds do not ripen in cultivated plants.
History
Surrounded by myth and legend, garlic is truly one of the oldest herbs, believed to have originated in Central Asia. It was used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to give vitality and stamina and it is still one of the world’s most useful culinary and medicinal plants.
Garlic has long been planted as a crucial vegetable, seasoning and medicinal herb.
Garlic’s name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon term garleac, from gar (= a spear) and leac (= a leek), supposedly meaning ‘a leek with cloves like spearheads’.
Garlic is a wonderful plant that played as great an role in the ancient spice trade as it does right now. Whether you like it or otherwise, there’s no escaping this useful herb.
Usage
ALWAYS CONSULT A MEDICAL EXPERT BEFORE BEGINNING A HOME TREATMENT; THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS IN NO WAY INTENDED TO REPLACE YOUR DOCTOR’S PROFESSIONAL ADVICE.
- Garlic is a powerful medicinal herb with extraordinary antibiotic qualities. The bulb is used medicinally, either fresh, dried or otherwise prepared. It includes essential oils and iodine.
- It is a blood tonic and has strong antiviral properties.
- If taken routinely it will remove harmful build up within the blood, kidneys and liver.
- Under medical supervision it can be used to bring down high cholesterol and ease high blood pressure.
- It is an energizing cleanser, tonic and energizer – its hypotensive and cardiovascular activitv has been well investigated as has its antiseptic and expectorant effect on the entire respiratory system.
- It is used to deal with intestinal illness, hypertension and arteriosclerosis, and it helps digestion by stimulating bile secretions.
- Externally Garlic can be applied to insect bites, boils and unbroken chilblains, but it may cause an allergic rash if used for too long.
- Garlic has certainly come of age worldwide; once regarded as a smelly European ingredient it is now in demand in many countries and for a wide variety of foods. The phenomenal popularity in the last decades of Italian cuisine is possibly the single most significant reason for the renewed superstar status of garlic
- Chewing a leaf of basil, mint, parsley or thyme helps to cleanse the breath after eating garlic.
Propagation and harvesting
Breeding and selection has yielded countless types, which are propagated by planting the cloves in rows in prepared ground.
Autumn is the right time to plant garlic. Plant individual cloves 5-7cm apart in shallow trenches in well dug, richly composted soil and full sun.
When planting garlic make certain that the pointed end faces up.
Water your plants two or three times a week in hot weather conditions.
Your garlic is ready to harvest once the flat long leaves start to turn pale and papery. Tie the bulbs in bunches and suspend them in an airy structure to dry and develop the rich, pungent flavour that garlic is popular for.
Flowering time: July to September.(Northern Hemisphere)
Companion planting
- Parsley performs very well indeed when raised close to garlic and it is employed to clear the breath of garlic’s strong sulphur compounds.
- Additional excellent companion plants are beetroot, orange and lemon trees, lettuce, roses and even tomatoes.
- Grown around citrus fruit trees garlic forms an excellent barrier against caterpillars, borers and cutworms and aids in inhibiting leaf curl.
- It improves the taste of cherry tomatoes grown nearby and keep beetles and grasshoppers to a minimum.
- Do not plant garlic in near proximity to cabbages, beans, peas, strawberries or broccoli because they will not do well next to garlic.
Vervain the Versatile Herb
verbena officilanis
Appearance
Vervain is a perennial herb sporting a rectangular, stiff and erect stem, which is typically randomly branched. It is sparsely leafy in the top section, frequently with with semi-circular teeth;the diametrically opposed dull-green leaves are pinnately divided into oblong lobes, often with rounded teeth, the end lobe having a greater size than the others. The topmost leaves are smaller and sparsely divided. All parts of the plant are coarsely hairy. The small, double-lipped pale lilac flowers are displayed in elongated terminal spikes. Plants yield a foursome of nutlike burgundy coloured fruit.
History
The name, Vervain, comes from verbena, the classic Roman term for altar plants used in religious ceremonies. Vervain is native to much of Europe in sheltered spots spread around the countryside. Uncommon in Britain, where it is native, but principally in England and Wales. Vervain has a history interwoven with legends of sorcery, magic and its properties as a medicinal herb. Lovers used it in love potionsand the triumphant Roman soldiers carried it for protection.
Usage
- Vervain was once used to ward off plague.
- To this day it is a popular herbal remedy for nervous complaints.
- When worn round the head, it was believed to repel headaches and prevent poisonous bites from snakes, spiders and scorpions.
- The flowering stems are used medicinally. Their constituents include the glycosides verbenalin and verbenin, tannins, an essential oil, mucilage, saponins and mineral compounds. These substances give Vervain astringent, diuretic, stomachic, tonic, diaphoretic, antispas-modic, vulnerary, mild sedative and hypnotic properties.
- It is used internally in an infusion for various disorders associated with the stomach, liver and kidneys. It is great for stimulating the metabolism, treating general nervous exhaustion, insomnia and migraine.
- Externally Vervain is used in gargles and in compresses and bath preparations for skin disorders. An extract from the fresh plant is used in homeopathy.
Sunflower the Versatile Crop
COMPOSITAE/ASTERACEAE Helianthus annuus
Appearance
The large, terminal showy flower heads are made up of yellow ray-florets, which are sterile, and purplish-brown, tubular disc-florets. The fruit is a slightly flattened achene, frequently streaked with white and black.
Sunflower is a large annual herb with an upright, occasionally branched hairy stem. The many leaves are sizeable and chordate, opposite below and alternate and long-stalked above.
History
Sunflowers were initially grown by American Indians some time before 1000 BC. It was introduced to Europe in the 16th century yet somehow failed to emerge as a major food plant until it reached Russia, where large-scale cultivation started. Today it is grown as a field crop commercially in a great many areas of the world for oil, fodder and decoration.
There are many cultivated varieties, some with flower heads up to 40 cm wide. The popular name, Sunflower, and the generic name, Helianthus (from the Greek words helios ~ sun and anthos ~ flower), were purportedly given to the plant since it tracks the sun by day, continually turning in the direction of its direct rays.
Equally as possible an explanation is that the plant was so-named simply because the flower heads with disc and ray suggest the sun’s overall look.
The leaves and flowers were once used to attend to malaria.
Usage
- In homeopathy a tincture from the seeds is employed internally to relieve constipation and externally on cuts and bruises.
- The expressed fatty oil from the seeds contains glycerides of unsaturated lino-lenic and oleic acids (around 45 per cent) and saturated palmitic and arachic acids (about 4 per cent).
- It can be used in salves, plasters and liniments for rheumatic discomfort.
- It is also frequently used in food items as a salad and margarine oil, in soaps and as a lubricant.
- The seeds can also be roasted and eaten, employed as a coffee replacement and ground up into flour.
- The dried flower heads are also made use of medicinally in some countries. They have diuretic, carminative, anti-inflammatory and antidiarrhoeal attributes.
Growth Characteristics
Sunflower is a native of western North America. Flowers June to September
