The Pharmacy In The Forest
(Page 4 of 8)
Meadowsweet
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Every time you reach for an aspirin you owe a debt to the
plant called mead owsweet, for it was this herb from which
salicylic acid was first obtained. Salicylates found in the
flowers of the meadowsweet are the basis of its
longstanding reputation as a remedy for flu, rheumatism,
arthritis, and fevers.
The herb grows from Canada south to West Virginia and east
to Ohio. It is a stout perennial growing up to six feet
tall with a creeping underground stem (rhizome) with fleshy
nodules. The leaves are pinnate with oval-toothed green
leaflets and prominent veins below. It produces tiny,
fragrant, cream-white-petaled flowers during summer.
Don't pay the drugstore for synthetic chemical remedies
when you can prepare a very effective extraction of the
flowers by boiling a cup of them in a small pan of water,
straining off the extract, and drinking it for flu
symptoms. Just another example of using nature's pharmacy
in exchange for high-priced flu remedies sold in stores.
Goldenseal
Sometimes when we suffer a cut it seems to happen at the
most inopportune time. While various commercial
preparations are available, the Cherokee Indians have long
valued the goldenseal plant for its ability to stop
bleeding and even hemorrhaging. Few wildflowers were as
important to the American Indians in general as the
versatile goldenseal, not only for its hemostatic
properties, but also as a dye and paint material.
Goldenseal belongs to the buttercup family and is also
known in different regions by other names such as eyeroot,
ground raspberry, Indian dye, yellow puccoon, and yellow
Indian paint. It is widespread in eastern United States,
although many of the natural sites have been exterminated
by commercial harvesting. It is a perennial herb with a
hairy stem 6-18 inches high. The blossoming stem bears two
alternate either five- or seven-lobed leaves. It displays a
greenish-white solitary flower in the spring which has no
petals and eventually develops into a mature red fruit that
looks like a small raspberry.
The next time you suffer a cut, have some ground
golden-seal ready to place on it. You can prepare it by
pulverizing the rhizome (underground stem) of a plant or
purchase it already in powder from a natural food store.
Nerve-Calming Tea
Valerian tea is rather neglected as a homemade remedy
because the roots smell so strong during preparation. The
flavor is also quite "singular," souse valerian in a
mixture with other pleasant-tasting herbs, as in the
following recipe:
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