HOPS,HOREHOUND(WHITE) & HORSETAIL USE AS HERBS

Common name: HOPS

Botanical name:  HUMULUS LUPULUS

Family: CANNABINACEAE

Part used: Strobiles 

 The fruiting-body which appears after flowering

Constituents and uses: The papery Strobiles contain reins, bitters and tannins. Originally used in ale to enhance its preservation properties.

It has two main uses in modern herbal medicine: the stimulating effect of its bitter properties on the digestion; and its soothing and relaxing effects on the muscular activity of the digestive system and on the nervous system generally. It is useful in the treatment of colic, colitis and irritable bowel (which is often linked to nervous tension), plus general nervous tension and insomnia.

Make an infusion - initially weak due to strength of the taste - to take 3 times daily or at night. A traditional way of bringing about restful sleep with the use of a hop pillow - simply a small pillow-shaped cotton bag, filled with dried hops.

CAUTION: Due to the effectiveness of its relaxing, sedative properties, it should not be used in cases of depression - it may worsen rather than relieve this problem.

Common name: HOREHOUND (WHITE)

 Botanical name: MARRUBIUM VULGARE

Family: LABIATAE

Part used: Leaves

Constituents and uses: This is a gentle but effective soothing expectorant. It helps to relax tightness and encourages the production and expulsion of phlegm from the lungs. It contains mucilage, tannins, volatile oil and bitter substances which help the digestion and liver function. It is very useful in all chest infections, particularly where there is a dry, unproductive cough and associated poor appetite and debility in the digestive system. An infusion should be taken 3 times daily.

Common name: HORSETAIL

Botanical name: EQUISETUM ARVENSE

Family: EQUISTACEAE

Part used: Aerial parts

  Is too primitive to have true leaves

Constituents and uses: an excellent remedy for urinary problems, this plant is a soothing, healing diuretic. It contains numerous minerals, including silica, which may be significant in its healing action. It also has bitters, flavonoids, saponins and alkaloids. It promotes the expulsion of fluid through the urinary system and helps soothe any inflammation there may be, whether due to infection or other causes. It tones and heals further damage, and can be used for prostate disease. It has a good reputation as a treatment for bed-wetting in children, though this problem is rarely just a physical problem, in my opinion: Horsetail may play a useful part, rather than solve the problem entirely.

An infusion should be taken 3 times daily.

GOLDEN ROD,GOLDEN SEAL & HAWTHORN USE AS HERBS

Common name: GOLDEN ROD

Botanical name: SOLIDAGO VIRGAUREA

Family: COMPOSITAE 

Part used: Leaves

Constituents and uses :A useful remedy for catarrhal problems it contains tannins, bitters, oils, soap-like substances known as saponins and a sugar-related glycoside. It has an anti-inflammatory and anti-infective action, an helps particularly with long-term nasal catarrhal where the infection may be stubborn, if low-grade.

Common name: GOLDEN SEAL 

Botanical name: HYDRASTIS CANADENSIS

Family; RANUCULACEAE 

Part used: Root - botanically a rhizome 

Constituents and uses:Golden Seal contains oils, resins and several substances known as alkaloids which give it much of its characteristics action. It is used as a tonic to all mucous membranes , par of the digestive system, where it has a stimulating and laxative action. It helps to stimulate liver, kidney and lungs function and it is an antiseptic remedy in mouth, ear and eye infections

Make a decoction, or an infusion from the powdered root, to take 3 times daily. An infusion, strained through a filter paper, can be used as a gargle for mouth and throat infections. This can diluted to quarter strength with boiled water and used in an eyebath for eye infections - it is best combined with Eyebright CAUTION: This is one of the few remedies that should be avoided until the last month of pregnancy, as it may stimulate contraction in the muscle of the womb.   

Common name: HAWTHORN

Alternative common name(s): MAY TREE

Botanical name: CRATAEGUS OXYACANTHOIDES

Family: ROSACEAE

Part used: berries, leaves and flowers

Constituents and uses: a remedy of great benefit to many problems of the heart and blood-vessels. It contains several bio-flavonoids ( which are a source of nutrition to the heart and blood-vessels), tannins, glycosides and saponins. Hawthorn helps to 'feed' and strengthen the heart muscle; it opens up the heart's own supply of blood and stabilises and strengthens the beat. It is therefore useful in all types of heart failure and debility, including angina, and as a preventative treatment for heart-attack,plus as a restoration after they have occurred. It helps to reduce high blood-pressure, and, paradoxically, can be used in cases of low blood-pressure an it seems to have an overall normalizing action. It is useful in cases of hardening of the arteries and in any other illness where the problems originates in the blood-vessels, such as varicose veins and inflammation of the blood-vessels.

My personal preference is to take this remedy in the form of berries, crushed and made into an infusion, 3 times daily.

FEVERFEW, GARLIC & GINGER USE AS HERBS

Common name: FEVERFEW

Botanical name: TANACETUM PARTHENIUM

Family: COMPOSITAE

Part used: Leaves

Constituents and uses: This remedy has two different, equally useful applications. It has been tested in migraine clinics and found to be successful in about seventy per cent of migraine cases- achieving at least partial improvement and often total remission of the problem. It helps to open up the constricted blood-vessels in the brain that cause the pain in the majority of migraine cases. It contains volatile oil and tannin.

The anti-arthritic properties where discovered when migraine sufferers taking Feverfew found that their arthritis was also improving. It is one of the few anti-inflammatory remedies that is likely to bring about an improvement when taken by itself rather than in combination with other remedies - other anti-inflammatory herbs may help improve the condition in other ways.

It is best taken in the spring and summer as freshly picked leaves- one or two large leaves daily should be put in a sandwich ( to mask the bitter taste, and the possible irritating effects on the mouth). The plant dies off in the winter. Capsules containing the freeze-dried leaves are available, alternatively the dried leaves can be taken as an infusion.

Common name: GARLIC

Botanical name: ALLIUM SATIVUM

Family: LILLICEAE

Part used: 'Clove' - in botanical terms, a corm

Constituents and uses: this plant is best known for its culinary properties, but is highly beneficial as preventative medicine when taken regularly. An important point, however, it's that to retain in greatest benefit, it must be eaten raw - cooking destroys most of its therapeutic properties. It can't aims a high amount of volatile oil and when the clove is crushed, certain constituents in this interact to produce the characteristically odoured, actively antiseptic principle of the plants. This is of great benefit in the treatment of infections in the digestive tract, and has the remarkable ability to act selectively against harmful micro-organisms here, while living intact the beneficial bacterial populations which aid the digestive process. 

As constituents are absorbed into the bloodstream and dispersed around the body, the antiseptic principles, when passing through the blood-vessels in the lungs, diffuse out through the lung membranes and are 'breathed out' of the. Body. The remedy is therefore excellent against respiratory infections - both deep in the lungs and throat and higher up in the nasal passages or sinuses. This explains why the smell of Garlic is so persistent - it is due to the way that is comes out of the body, rather than how it goes in.

The second great benefit of the is its importance as an aid to circulatory problems. It contains a 'healing' mineral called germanium and a group of substances which help to control fat levels in the bloodstream - an important action, as fat deposition is a great problem in hardening of the arteries,angina, and many cases of high blood-pressure. It also helps to prevent thrombosis by counteracting the tendency of clot-forming sells to stick together within the blood-vessels. Up to one clove of fresh raw Garlic should be taken daily, in divided doses, for the benefit of one's general health. If the taste is found to be really unacceptable, Garlic Oil capsules can be substituted - 2 or 3, if taken at night, will have passed out of the body by the following morning. 

Common name: GINGER

Botanical name: ZINGIBERIS OFFICINALE

Family: ZINGIBERACEAE 

Part used: Root

Constituents and uses: One of the strongest of the aromatic remedies. It contains volatile oils and phenols and has a strong stimulant action on the digestion circulation. It helps to clam flatulence and colic but, although less hot then cayenne, is best initially given in small doses, as it can be irritating to the stomach in large doses. One recently discovered benefit is the ease it bring to sufferers of travel-sickness - it seems to have a directly soothing effect to prevent vomiting and dizziness. It has a warming, anti-chilling effect on the whole circulation, promoting blood-flow to the extremities, and is useful internally and locally for problems related to poor circulation due to cold weather, typically chilblains.

  Make an infusion of the finely sliced fresh root of a strength to suit individual taste. Alternatively, use well-preserved powdered ginger- it should still have the characteristic aromatic scent. For travel-sickness, small piece of crystallized ginger can be taken, before starting and throughout the journey.

For hand and footbaths, a strong infusion should be made and added to a bowl of warm water. Immerse the hands or feet for about 5-10 minutes. If the bath causes stinging on any broken skin, add more water until an acceptable dilution is reached.

EYEBRIGHT, FENNEL & FENUGREEK USE AS HERBS

Common name: EYEBRIGHT

Botanical name: EUPHRASIA OFFICINALIS

Family: SCHROPHULARIACEAE

Part used: Leaves

Constituents and uses: as it is name Suggests, the plant has long been used as a tropical application for eye irritation. It contains tannins, resins and volatile oil which have astringent and anti-inflammatory properties. These help problems due to allergic reaction, airborne pollution( for example, smoky atmospheres) and conjunctivitis.

When used as a gargle, it will help catarrhal and inflammatory problems of the throat and nose; taken ternary for the same. For bathing the eyes, a half-strength infusion should be made and allowed to cool. This must be stained throughly- a coffee filter-paper is suitable - then put in an eyebath and used to irrigate the whole surface of the eye. If there is an infection present the eyebath must be immersed in boiling water and the solution change after on the first eye. The strength of the infusion may be increased gradually,if this necessary, to gain maximum benefit. For the remedy. A gargle should be made from full-strength infusion. This can be swallowed after gargling. Eyebright is best combined with an equal quantity of Golden seal when used in an eyebath for eye infections.

Common name: FENNEL

Botanical name: FOENICULUM VULGARE

Family: UMBELLIFERAE 

Part used: Seeds

Constituents and uses: This is another of the sweet, aromatic spices with a high volatile oil content. It also contains bitter substances, giving the duel benefit of stimulating a sluggish digestion and helping to calm the irritation that can result in griping pains, flatulence and over-activity in the bowel.

Like many of the aromatic spices, it helps stimulating milk-production in lactating mothers.

An infusion of the seeds can be taken before or after meals to aid the digestion. This remedy is so well known as a pleasant herbal tea that it is easily available in the form of tea-bags.

Common name: FENUGREEK

Botanical name: TRIGONELLA FOENUM-GRAECUM

Family: LEGUMINOSEAE

Part used: Seeds

Constituents and uses: This pungently aromatic bitter-tasting spice contains a variety of constituents which help the digestion: bitters, mucilage and volatile oils, plus an anti-inflammatory steroid-like substance which further helps to calm conditions such as gastritis and enteritis. It has a tonic effect on the digestion, particularly for convalescents.

It anti-inflammatory properties will help when it is applied as a poultice to inflamed or infected skin.

The steroid component as well as the oils, helps stimulate milk production in locating mothers. An infusion of the seed should be taken before or after meals, in combination with other sweet aromatic spices which will improve the taste. A poultice is made from the crushed seeds.