AN HERBAL MEDICINE CHEST

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CHAMOMILE

This is a wonderfully delicate, almost applescented plant—one I delight in growing. I'll be describing German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla), the annual. This grows taller, flowers more, and spreads more easily than Roman chamomile (Anthemis nobilis), a lowgrowing perennial. Both share similar medicinal properties, though.

Many people know of chamomile as a sedative and nervine—a tea to drink when you're restless or upset. It can help the insomniac face the night, it relieves pain, and it's a safe treatment for children's colds, nervous disorders, and indigestion. (My little one doesn't ever resist drinking this tea, since Peter Rabbit drank it when he got sick.)

You can make chamomile tea by steeping one-quarter ounce of flowers in a pint of boiled water for ten minutes. I prefer the stronger effect derived from using one ounce of chamomile pet pint of water. (You can make a tincture of it, as well.) The flowers are the only part of the plant you use. Externally, you can apply a hot compress (by soaking a cloth in the tea) to sore joints and muscles and other aches and swellings.

Chamomile tea can also be used to relieve menstrual cramps. It should not be drunk by any pregnant woman, as it it often used to induce menstruation. (It's certainly not as strong an emmenagogue as angelica, pennyroyal, black cohosh, or tansy, but you should take no chances.)

Chamomile isn't difficult to grow. As a matter of fact, ours continually self-sows and comes up in the pathways between our beds. The simplest way to establish plants is to gently press the seeds into the soil (they need light in order to germinate) after all danger of frost is past . . . leaving about four to five inches between each one. The seeds will probably not be viable unless they're subjected to an annual freezing and thawing cycle (which happens in our garden).

Once the plants flower, harvest a large number of blooms, but allow some to set seed. Blooms can be somewhat tedious to harvest, although I've learned to speed up the process and eliminate any cleaning by just pinching the flowers off between my nails into a very clean basket.

CALENDULA

Calendula officinalis (also known as pot marigold) doesn't get the recognition it deserves. As with chamomile, you use only the flower heads. Calendula is an antiseptic and a vulnerary, and it's also an astringent, which means it can be used to stop hemorrhages and secretions and to treat swollen tonsils or hemorrhoids. You can use a hot tea to induce sweating (when you want to work a fever out of your system), to soothe ulcers and cramps, and to help heal skin eruptions. Make the beverage by infusing one ounce of herb in one pint of water.

Externally, calendula will help stop bleeding and promote healing of wounds. (It's often used in poultices.) You can also use calendula oil externally—as you would the poultice—or for earaches, as you would garlic oil. (Make calendula oil by soaking two ounces of flowers in one pint of olive or sesame oil'for three days and then straining the liquid before bottling it.)

Calendula is a pretty plant to grow and it attracts a lot of helpful insects to the garden. It's an annual, and you can get a jump on the season if you start your seeds in the greenhouse (the soil temperature must be at least 60°F). Later, set your transplants out nine to ten inches apart.

To get the purest medicinal part of the plant, you should pull and use only the petals of each flower. I've not done that so far—I have so little time as it is! To compensate, I increase the proportion of the herb in any mixture I'm making. If you do dry just the petals, put them on a paper towel or they may stick to your drying screen.

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