Grape Hyacinth - Muscari armeniacum

Violets growing everywhere

Sage with a lovely purple tinge

Witch Hazel - Hamamelis sp.

Incredibly fragrant pink and white blooms

Moss and lichens

]]> http://dandelionrevolution.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=858 1 http://dandelionrevolution.com/blog/?p=842&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=herbs-all-the-time http://dandelionrevolution.com/blog/?p=842#comments Wed, 21 Mar 2012 06:13:00 +0000 celia http://dandelionrevolution.com/blog/?p=842

Fang Feng

I have been preoccupied with school. It is my constant companion, my ball-and-chain, my ultimate teacher, my inspiration, the first thing I think about when I wake and the last thing on my mind at night. It is the most perfect and natural thing I could imagine doing with my life right now, a great joy and gift, but it is also very trying to coerce myself to study, and to sit in a chair for 25 hours a week when I’d rather be hiking in the woods.

There are a plethora of wonderful things about going to school for Oriental medicine and acupuncture. One of my *favorite* things is, of course, herbs. Although I don’t have quite the amount of leisure time to meet the Pacific Northwest herbs in their natural habitat as I’d wish, I am still surrounded by herbs at school. And for that I am so excited I am practically jumping out of my skin.

Gui Zhi

I will start with the basics. The number one way I am learning about herbs is through class. We have 4 terms (1 year) of single herbs, where we study the herbs grouped in categories. The categories of Chinese medicine are a brilliant organizational system based on what action the herbs have in the body. At first I was appalled by the idea – how could you group herbs by what they do? They are so varied and unique? I though about yarrow; it would probably be in the “Acrid, release the exterior” category, but it is so much more than a diaphoretic. It is a bitter digestive, moves blood and also stops bleeding, and it is an external remedy for wound care. It is complex in flavor and action and the thought of forcing it in a category was unthinkable. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the categories may be fixed, but the herbs withing them have no limits to their additional actions.

Taking a herbal class with almost weekly tests, learning somewhere between 300-350 herbs in a years time was equally appealing. Learning about herbs is indeed a life-long process, but forcing myself to swallow my pride and practice rote memorization to learn the herbs is not a bad first step to take. Its like doing scales before you learn how to play a song.

Dr. Liu, one of the teachers at school, said he had a Chinese doctor study with him. This doctor was out of school 8 years, which is upon first glance, a decent amount of time to gain experience with herbs. It was obvious that he was not near mastery, as Dr. Liu told him to go back and study the single herbs, especially their natures and flavors. What he told us reverberates in my head when I approach my wits end during a study session:

“You must study the herbs again and again to broaden your foundation upon which to build a high building. Everybody wants a new and different approach, but first you need the foundation of the old.”

Zi Su Zi

Dr. Liu taught an elective for two terms, called Herbal Combinations. The class looked at the interactions between herbal pairs, and how their flavors, natures (hot, cold, ect…) and actions changed when combined. Although it was a little over my head (or a lot, actually) at times, I still learned a ton, mostly through having my view of herbs both reduced and expanded. It all came down to the flavors, which is the reductionistic part, but the flavors as I previously understood them broadened.

This term I started formulas, which are organized similarly as the single herbs, in categories based on their action. Compared to the other classes, I feel like it is a difficult subject for me to grasp, mostly because of the shear quantity of information contained within the formulas. The coolest thing about formulas is that they exist. I am not sure if there is a comparable body of formulas in Western herbalism (granted, I have not dedicated my attention to discovering them). The Chinese formulas have been so carefully and elegantly formulated, meticulously documented and studied by generations of physicians since 220. The year 220. What were the Western herbal formulas from 220? Do we use them now? Did that knowledge get lost, or did it evolve into pharmaceuticals?

After much time and toil, I finally concocted the my ideal body scrub.

In the past, I simply mixed olive oil and sea salt and enjoyed it just fine as an invigorating, polishing, moisturizing scrub, but it left much to be desired. It was hard to clean up after, in the tub, on my linens and on my skin. I love, love, love olive oil as a moisturizing body oil, but as a scrub it behaves quite differently, mostly because of the sheer quantity needed to be a vehicle for the exfoliating salt. It doesn’t wash off, which is bad because the salt needs to come off, unless you can lounge about your bathroom all day until it is dried (I fantasize about days like that).

The first modification I tried was making a lotion based scrub, using Rosemary’s Perfect Cream recipe (an all-time favorite) and mixing in the salt. It was a slight improvement. It too felt greasy in such large quantities; as a lotion only a tiny drop will do the job, so anything more than a pea-size dab is overkill.

I was just about the give in and buy one, taking the walk of DIYer’s shame into the New Seasons’ body care isle. But then I came across a recipe on the inter-webs for an EMULSIFIED sugar scrub WITH SOAP and WATER added. Brilliant! The castile liquid soap would make it sudsy and easy to clean off. My enthusiasm waned as I read the recipe. It called for all sorts of crazy ingredients: parabens, steric acid (not terrible, but not something I keep in my supplies), preservatives, fragrance oils, chemical waxes, that sort of thing. I didn’t have them around and I wasn’t about to purchase them nor use ingredients I can’t pronounce.

A week or two of tweaking and experimenting with proportions and ingredients led to a body scrub I can get behind. I used to sauna and shed my skin on a regular basis in Minnesota. Where we live now, I have just a few minuet to shower before all the hot water disappears. As you can obviously see, I am suffering an exfoliating deficiency, and this body scrub is my gateway to the land of everyday luxuries.

Basic Proportions for Emulsified Body Scrub

• 29.5g  Shea and cocoa butter
• 54g  Apricot kernal Oil and herb infused olive oil
• 20g Candelilia Wax (a vegan, plant derived wax)
• 5g Emulsifying Wax (plant derived)
• 85g Water
• 85g Castile liquid soap (Dr. Bronner’s)
• 600g Salt or sugar, ground to almost fine.

Yeah, I used grams. I am a metric type of girl. have a postal scale, but you could use a fancy kitchen scale.

I also didn’t follow this recipe to the “T”. But here are the basic directions:

• Melt the solid butters (shea and cocoa) in the liquid oils by placing a glass jar (I use an old Pyrex measuring cup with a handle) in a hot water bath.
• When melted all the way, add about half of your waxes into the oils. Stir until melted.
• Remove oil jar from water, let cool for a few minuets on counter, then place in the fridge to cool for about 5-10 mins.
• Check the consistency of the oil after it has cooled a bit. It should be a little thick and opaque with a little bit of a meniscus on the top, but not solid like a salve. If it looks 100% like oil, put the jar back in the hot water bath and add more of your waxes, a bit at a time. I usually melt and cool a total of two times before I like it. If you add too much beeswax, it will be much harder, like lip balm, and make a waxy scrub or lotion. To dilute, add more oils and melt, cool until you like it.
• Pour oil into a mixing bowl. Stir a few times.
• Pout the water and soap into the bowl with the oil.
• Mix with a beater for 3-5 mins, until thick and creamy, with bubbles.
• Stir in a preservative, if you like. I choose freshly wilted rosemary, which is a great antioxidant. Vitamin E oil or rosemary oil (not essential oil) work well, too. A teaspoon will do.
• Pour in salt or sugar. Make sure it is ground finely, but not so fine that they are powdery. Stir until well absorbed.
• Mix in essential oils, herbs, whatever floats your boat. Start with just a couple of drop of essential oils, don’t overdo it.
• Bottle, label, use liberally and frequently for smooth skin. Store excess in the fridge to keep the oils from oxidizing prematurely. Keeps a little over a year.

Top left: Comfrey oil.

Top right: Chamomile oil.

Bottom left: Arnica oil.

Bottom right: St. John’s wort oil.

Start with quailty herb-infused oil. I like olive oil. Add skin-soothing herbs like calendula, chamomile, comfrey or plantain to a jar with a lid. Cover with oil, so the herbs are covered by at least two inches of oil. Let steep for 4-6 weeks, or longer. Shake the jar often, let it bask in the light on your window sill. Look inside to wipe out any mold that may be growing on the lid (happens once in a great while).

Top left: I don’t have the sunniest window, nor do I live in the sunniest town, so I helped my herbs steep a bit more by giving them a hot water bath in the crock pot. Use a warm setting for about an hour. Use a thermometer, the water should be under 110 degrees. I have lost more than a few batches by frying my herbs in the oil, which is what happens when the temp gets too high. Crunchy herbs are not good.

Top right: Strain the herbs, let sit for a few days, decant (pour off) the clear oil from the bottom of the jar goo. It’s not bad goo, it just changes the color and consistency of an oil. Save it for a salve.

Bottom left: Ingredients you may need.

Bottom right: Chunks of shea and cocoa butter floating in the liquid oils.

Top left: The oil is a little opaque from the wax, which becomes apparent after it is cooled a bit.

Top right: The water and soap is poured in, and is already getting a little creamy.

Bottom left: Whip it! Whip it good! One beater will do the job.

Bottom right: Smooth and creamy, light and fluffy after about 3-5 mins of beating.

Top left: Salt is a moisture-sucker. The salt scrub was much thicker, dryer, than the sugar scrub even though I used the same amount of each.

Top right: I poured some lovely green comfrey oil to thin it out a bit.

Bottom left: You can see that the salt scrub is still a bit dry compared to the sugar scrub.

Bottom right: Added even more oil; now it is better. Next time I will add less salt.

Experiment with herbs and oils for scent, visual appeal (aka beauty) and skin soothing effects. The options are endless!

Left top: Sugar scrub. Chopped rose petals and cardamom seeds. Just a litte bit of cardamom, it is pretty potent.

Right top: Salt scrub, with a tiny bit of ground juniper berries and orange essential oil. Very fresh smelling.

Left bottom: Rosemary mint salt scrub; chopped fresh rosemary and mint essential oils.

Right bottom: Sugar scrub, dried and ground chamomile and lavender mixed throughout. This one smells like a cup of tea, yummy!

I have been a birth doula since 2006, and although I haven’t been a bustling, full-time doula, and I don’t use herbs during labor per se (which is kind of out of a doulas’ scope of practice anyways), I still consider herbs for pregnancy one of my favorite topics. From talking to midwives, herbalists and moms with personal experience, I had never heard a positive story about the popular black and blue cohosh combination used during the last few weeks of pregnancy to prepare the uterus for labor, or to induce labor after the due date. Comments include three accounts of allergic reactions, most accounts of nothing happening after taking it, and one women who thought that it induced labor too early and contributed to a long labor.

When people asked me about preparing for labor in the last few weeks of pregnancy, I would talk about positions, yoga, exercise, sexual activity, rest and relaxation, visualizations and affirmations, nutrition and hydration (including herbal teas, of course), but I never thought to mention an herbal partus perpatorus. This is mostly because of what I heard from herbalists and/or midwives like Aviva Jill Romm.

Romm, who is a midwife, mentions that blue cohosh is an herb contraindicated for use in pregnancy, and she says that

“Blue cohosh has been implicated in at least one and possibly several incidences of cardiac problems in newborns, including myocardial infarction  (heart attack) when taken by pregnant mothers in the last three weeks of pregnancy, even when used in the generally recommended doses. Blue cohosh has not been associated in the medical literature with problems when used short-term during labor, but the potential for such problems cannot be entirely discounted. Again, the use of blue cohosh as a general late pregnancy tonic is not advisable, it should never be taken prior to three weeks before the due date, and its use is best left to qualified health professionals.”

Romm does mention the use of black and blue cohosh might be indicated to help promote uterine contractions when the due date has come and gone, and that together, the cohosh pair may be a better alternative to pitocin induction. She also says that blue cohosh can both relax and tone the uterus and that “the right balance of relaxation and tone is necessary for effective flavored. The use of many such herbs was taught to us by Native American women, who have long use herbs in late pregnancy for the purpose of easy birth.” Conflicting information, no?

On one hand, a few (or even just one) isolated incidences of cardiac problems make using this herb ‘not advisable’, on the other hand, a long-standing Native American use makes it sound not only perfectly safe, but something desirable.

The medical journal that Romm discusses is a 1998 issue of Journal of Pediatrics. She states that blue cohosh contains alkaloids and cardiac glycosides, which are well-known in the herbal and medical community to having effect on cardiac muscles. Romm also states that blue cohosh, black cohosh, partridgeberry, and spikenard were used as a partus preparators, or herbs that were taken towards the end of the pregnancy to prepare the body in uterus for labor. Romm states that partus preparators would be used “with the hope of ‘ensuring a speedy delivery’”. I do appreciate that Romm brings to light the question of why herbs would be used or needed to do what the body and your can do on its own.

After re-reading Romm’s stance on blue cohosh and feeling confused, I searched in my other herbals for more clarity, going first to one of my favorite herbalists, Rosemary  Gladstar. She discusses the controversy around blue cohosh, and reminds us that the study was done of one isolated constituent of the plant (caulosaponin) being injected to lab animals in finding a narrowing of the arteries. From this, scientists said that blue cohosh may be responsible for heart damage.

Gladstar also gives a good account of the uses of blue cohosh, discussing it’s wonderful use in speeding up slow or drawn out, long labors where it is combined with black cohosh and pennyroyal. It should be thought of as a specific medicine, not as a tonic or food herb, and should not be used until the end of pregnancy. She quotes Dr. Shook, a physiomedicalist, who said,

“This exceedingly valuable herb is well called ‘woman’s best friend’ for the reason that it is much for a reliable and far less dangerous at expediting delivery in those cases were labor is slow and very painful. This is a very old Indian remedy. They believe it to be the best parturient in nature, and it was the habit of their women to drink the tea several weeks before labor”.

Uterine tonics can be used to treat pain since they regulate the muscular activity of the uterus, making them to be more regular, rhythmic and orderly. Australian NP and herbalist Ruth Tricky also puts in her two cents regarding the blue cohosh controversy and neonatal heart failure. In one case, the mother of took three times the prescribed amount of blue cohosh, in another, the dose was not named. It is hard to detect a toxic dose when the dose by these individuals is not the recommended dose.

Tricky mentions blue cohosh along with dang quai, false unicorn root and raspberry leaf in a class of uterine tonics which “initiate regular uterine contractions and regulate uterine tone” (319). The references that Tricky reviewed indicated that some constituents of blue cohosh seemed to increase the contraction force and rates while another alcoholic extract of the whole herb increased uterine tone that decreased the rate and amplitude contractions (no wonder, since and herb is more than the whole of its parts, or in this case, the whole of just a handful of parts). Uterine tonics like these can treat hemorrhage because they are able to improve weak muscle activity of the uterus, but also relax excessive spasm. Specifically, Tricky (239) says that blue cohosh is use:

“…when spasm seems to be localized in the cervix, resulting in acute crampy pain was very little flow. Women with this pain pattern usually experience relief once the flow becomes established”.

Let’s not forget that blue cohosh is a muscle relaxant. If it’s good for the uterus, it can be good for other muscles with all of their tendoness attachments. Matthew Wood gives many other uses and indications for the herb including amenorrhea of young women, chronic uterine disorders, particularly of those with broken-down constitutions, insomnia and nervousness, rheumatic conditions for spasmodic muscular pain, sexual debility, joint pain and more. It is quite useful, though, for bringing on suppressed menstruation, relieving cramps and menstrual pain, especially when considering its anti-spasmodic nature. Woods says blue cohosh as a “menstrual remedy, it can remove congestion of the uterus from muscular and vascular constriction and tension often accompanied by malposition of the uterus”.

Blue cohosh is a great example of not boxing in an herb and based on its most popular use. Perhaps blue cohosh should be used as a tonic herb rather than an herb only to induce strong contractions at the end of pregnancy. Also we cannot judge the safety of an herb on a few isolated, yet incomplete, reports or studies. Single isolated constituents are interesting to study, and they can contribute to a the chemical and biological activity of the constituent, but their findings cannot be seamlessly extrapolated over the use of the whole herb.

If we use the herb when indicated, if we understand it’s personality, actions and historical usage, if we use the smallest dose necessary, and consider using it as a tonic rather than a strong single-purpose uses, if we take the few studies with a grain of salt and combine with other herbs to produce a synergistic individually made formula, than this and other much maligned herbs could be used safely and indeed very effectively.

——

Tricky, Ruth. Women, Hormones, and the Menstrual Cycle.

Gladstar, Rosemary. Herbal Healing for Women.

Wood, Matthew. Healing Wise – New World Plants.

Romm, Jill Aviva.The Natural Pregnancy Book: Herbs, Nutrition, and Other Holistic Choices.

All I have left from my calendula harvest this year is caterpillar poop. And some golden calendula flower oil, probably with a caterpillar or two in it. For all the flowers I picked, all the times I tried to meticulously remove caterpillars, and all the ways I tried to harvest and dry them, not a one remains.

My work room was invaded with caterpillars that crawled out of my harvesting baskets. For weeks (months?) on end, I found about 4 worms daily, tons of excrement, about 6 cocoons, and only one moth (thank goodness). In the end, I dumped all my harvest over the fence.

Next year, I will either find a way to deal with the bugs, or just admire my calendula when I am at the garden, and not attempt to harvest it.

So, instead of putting my garden-grown yellow and orange calendula blossoms into my favorite lymph cleansing teas, healing salves, and herbal facial steams, I have these photos look at. And when push comes to shove, it’s not that difficult to order some high quality organic calendula by the pound from Mountain Rose.

In the past I have made more of an ‘ear formula’, with another fabulous standby, mullein flowers. Now that I live in a city, my mullein flower harvesting has diminished. There are still plenty of mullein around, but not in my back yard garden like it was before (so spoiled I was, sigh…). Willow bark, cayenne, eyebright, St. John’s wort and calendula are some other options (among many) to add to your herbal ear oil.

I do have to say, however, that just plain good old garlic does the job quite nicely.

Garlic has been hailed as a super-food for millennia, and rightfully so. Every year it seems that the powers of garlic expand as the scientific community catches on to folk uses of of garlic. Recently, there has been investigation around garlic and weight loss, but it has long been know for other benefits. It is widely accepted as having anticancer, high blood pressure and high cholesterol reducing, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, and immune-stimulating effects, in addition to being a nutrient-dense food.

One common folk use of garlic is an oil used topically and in the ear for infections. A 1995 University of New Mexico study looked at garlic oil’s effect:

“Aqueous garlic extract (AGE) and concentrated garlic oil (CGO) along with various commercial garlic supplements and pharmaceutical prescriptions were used in an in-vitro study. AGE and especially CGO were found to have antifungal activity. These agents showed similar or better inhibitory effects than the pharmaceutical preparations…” [emphasis added].

Garlic oil for medicinal purposes is easy to make and easy to use. It is essentially just like making culinary garlic oil, except that extra care is taken to strain all the garlic particulate out of the garlic before bottling. It smells delicious (in that garlic-y sort of way), and of course can be used for cooking, salad dressing and bread-dipping. Just store it away from the stove, so it doesn’t get the chance to raise its temperature. If you are making a large batch, use a wide-mouthed jar and store it in the fridge. Olive oil, being an unsaturated plant fat, will solidify in the fridge, so you’ll have to scoop it with a spoon and melt it before using in the ears.

Garlic Oil Recipe and Dosage:

• Peel a few heads of garlic, trim the bottoms, rinse and air dry (or pat with a clean towel).

• Lightly crush, chop well and let it chill out on your cutting board for a few minuets before adding it to the jar. Crushing the garlic opens the cells and allows health-benefiting alliinase enzymes (one of the multiple compounds in garlic) to become active. I don’t recommend using a garlic crusher, though, because it opens the cells too much, expressing a lot of the garlic’s water quickly. Introducing extra water to the oil to increase the likelihood of bacteria and mold growth, as well as promote oxidation and rancidity.

• Add to a small jar, cover with extra virgin olive oil until a half inch of oil is over the top of the garlic.

• Cover with a tight-fitting lid and let sit in a sunny window for 4-6 weeks, shaking every now and again (once a week or every-other day is good).

• Occasionally, open the jar to check for extra moisture beads condensing along the lid. If there is moisture, simply wipe it off with a clean towel.

• After steeping, strain the oil into a clean, dry bottle. This is the time to add other medicinal ingredients, if desired.

• Label and date, store in a cool, dry place. Use within 18 months.

• Use one drop for kids over 2 in each ear, and three to five drops for adults.

• Drop the oil in, one drop at a time, while side laying. Drape a towel under your head, and adjust your head position so that the ear canal feels vertical. Play around with moving your head around to distribute the oil, lingering at any sweet spots, or tug on the ear and massage the area. Kids and dogs love that part.

• Sit for a few minuets, maybe more if it feels good and you have the time. When you sit up, wipe the outside of your ear off with a clean towel. Yes, your ears will kind of smell like garlic. It should dissipate after an hour.

• Administer twice daily for acute infections, once daily or every other day for a week for lingering problems (recovering from a cold, itchy ears, ect.) or once a week for maintenance (this is the best dosage for prevention).

  

  A warm oil is a nice oil…

• Warm the bottle in a cup of hot (almost boiled) water for a minute or two before dropping in the ear, making sure to test the temperature before using. Warmth thins the oil, so it can penetrate the ear canal, and provides comforting relief for infections. A warm oil makes all the difference. If you are in a pinch, wave the dropper over a candle flame, being mindful not to spill the oil from the dropper as it thins. I loosely fix the label on the bottle so I can take it off when it is warming.

Now that you have your lovely garlic oil, what can you do with it? If you are like I was when I first heard of garlic oil, you will be asking, why would I want to put it in my ears? It just so happens that oil is very soluble in the ears because its normal environment is oily (well, waxy, but close).

Uses for garlic oil:

• Ear infections.

• To prevent swimmer’s ear, use a drop or two in each ear a few hours before swimming. Dry the ears extra well before swimming. Once swimmer’s ear has set in, it is best to avoid garlic oil.

• Fighting a cold. The ears are closely connected with the nose and the throat, areas that first come into contact with microbes causing the common cold or influenza. A little garlic oil in the ears at the first feelings of a scratchy throat, drippy nose, itchy ears can sometimes kick the cold out before it sets in.

• Excessive wax build-up, or gummy or closed ears. Use one drop daily in each ear.

• Eat on food for the medicinal effects mentioned above, a teaspoon or more per day.

Sources:

Lett Appl Microbiol. 1995 Jan;20(1):14-8. Antifungal effects of Allium sativum (garlic) extract against the Aspergillus species involved in otomycosis. Pai, ST, Platt, MW. Department of Microbiology, University of New Mexico, School of Medicine, Albuquerque 87131

How many people without an herbal background would recognize bupleurum, eleuthero, hyssop or damiana if they heard them? Not many. How many would recognize ‘chamomile’? Many more, even though they may not know how to pronounce it (cha-mole-y, anyone?).

Despite being commonly known, Chamomile is not just a benign little flower that tastes sweet in your cup, it packs a powerful medicinal punch. Chamomile should not be thought of in terms of what specific diseases it can be used for, because there are too many uses to list, nor is is helpful to only think of what herbs can ‘do’. After reading though my favorite herb books, I summarize the actions of chamomile as being:

• Relaxing nervine for states of tension
• Aromatic and bitter for regulating digestion
• Anti-inflammatory and anti-allergy
• Anti-microbial
• Safe, tasty and suitable for everyone, including babies, children, pregnant women and the elderly
• Matthew Wood says that “The fresh preparations preserve the oils, so they are more relaxing, the dried preparations are bitter and promote secretions to the stomach, G.I. and liver.”

Here are some of the chemical constituents present in chamomile and their generalized actions (mostly from Wood, but also from Simon Mills, David Hoffmann and Chanchal Cabrerra)

• Flavanoids -  cooling and relaxing
• Bitter sesquiterpene lactones – stimulate digestive juices
• Volatile oils -  antipyretic, anti-spasmodic, can reduce histamine-induced inflammation
• Mucilage – soothing, nutritious and immuno-stimulating
• Amino acids, fatty acids and many more

Cabrerra describes volatile oils as being helpful in allergic situations. These volatile oils reduces histamine-induced reactions mostly because Mills says they inhibit contractions provoked by histamine, acetylcholine, and bradykinin. Some, if not most, volatile oils have a counter-irritant effect on the body and cause local vasodilation, bringing fresh oxygenated blood to the area, and thus stimulating a healthy healing response. This explanation of inflammation makes me view anti-inflammatory herbs are actually pro-inflammatory. Inflammation is our body’s healing response. If we value inflammation as a positive, helpful and intelligent response from the body, then we would want a pro-inflammation response.

Chamomile isn’t my go-to herb for cold and flu, but after reading more about it, I will remember to add it in to steams, baths and teas the next time I catch a cold. Who doesn’t need a relaxing, tension reducing, and GI soothing and regulating herb when your sick in bed? Not to mention that it is used for people who are acting like babies, which I, for one, admit to feeling when I am sick. The gastrointestinal tract starts with the teeth well before it reaches stomach and intestines. Chamomile has been used in Europe for centuries for treating child complaints including teething, pain, whining and fussiness. One of the main indications for homeopathic chamomile is teething.

Wood says,

“Chamomile can be used for all sorts of tension, it can be used for menstrual cramps or people with a low tolerance for pain”, including  “‘babies of any age’, petulant, self-centered, intolerant of pain or not having their way, inclined to pick quarrels, yet adverse to being touched, soothed or spoken to”.

I wish I would’ve had some chamomile candy to disperse when I was working with kids, because I have seen its effectiveness against babyish behavior. I have taken it for cramps, and although it didn’t decrease their severity, I did notice that the mental loop of negative, complaining thoughts ceased.

Aromatherapists Kathy Kevill and Mindy Green describe chamomile as an antidepressant, especially in individuals who are oversensitive, stressed out, anxious, hysterical, insomniacs or suppress anger. I think chamomile is indicated for people with a history of eating disorders, especially when digestive issues or sensitivity linger years after recovery.

Chamomile is a yellow, sunny, light herb with a depth to it. Flowers tend to ascend and disperse, but the bitterness weighs it down. It is a flower that has an affinity to the solar plexus, the middle jiao, and it is both dispersing to food stagnation and promotes coordinated movement of the digestive system due to its aromatic nature. It has been shown to speed up the healing of peptic ulcers, (Mills). The carminative properties of chamomile, with its volatile oils, helps relax the gut; at the same time, it has bitter properties that promote healthy bile flow, so that the system is not only relaxed, but keeps moving as it should (Mills).

My purely opinionated guess it that from a Chinese medical perspective, it enters the Spleen, Stomach and Liver meridians, possibly the Intestines or Lung. The Spleen and Stomach are the Earth organs, and are associated with our solar plexus, transformation and transportation of food, worry/over-thinking and with the flesh and muscles of the body – quite in alignment with the calming, relaxing and digestive properties of this herb, no? I think the Liver is involved because the Liver’s job is to circulate Qi freely around the body. When this isn’t happening efficiently, as can easily be caused by emotional upsets (especially pent-up anger or frustration), one can very easily feel stuck, tense and irritated, but luckily chamomile can release states of tension. A close cousin to chamomile and another white/yellow flower, chrysanthemum, helps calm the Liver, too.

If you remember from my previous entry about chamomile, I mentioned that Matricaria D genus name for German chamomile came from the word matrix referring to mother. Considering this, it is no surprise that chamomile is a gentle remedy for problems of the female reproductive system. I suppose it can be used in all sorts of situations, but I like to use it the best for morning sickness and nausea during pregnancy, tension during menstruation, menstrual cramps, and problems in appetite or digestion related to nervousness, your debility, or premenstrual tension. Aviva Rome, a midwife and an herbalist, also uses chamomile to relieve heartburn.

To get the most out of a simple cup of chamomile tea, steep it strong. 1 heaping tablespoon of herb for every one cup boiled water. Cover the vessel while it steeps and wait 10 to 20 min. before straining.  If you wait longer, for the chamomile too cool from hot to room temperature, the bitter principals will strongly present themselves in your cup of tea; sweet gentle chamomile no more!  I have heard of people steeping one handful dried herb to 2 cups water, steeped covered for an hour or home.

References:
Cabrera, Chanchal. Lecture notes, Medicines from the Earth. 2006.

Hoffmann, David. Medical Herbalism.

Keville, Kathy and Mindy Green. Aromatherapy: A Complete Guide to the Healing Art.

Mills, Simon. The Essential Book of Herbal Medicine.

Romm, Aviva. The Natural Pregnancy Book.

Wood. Matthew. Earthwise Herbal: Old World Plants.

This year, I am growing chamomile in my garden for the first time. The growing season on the West coast is longer, with more rain and milder springs and falls, so I have tried growing things I never grew in Minnesota. Actually, I tried growing chamomile in MN from a transplant, but it never took off. This is an into to this lovely herb; next week I’ll post some medicinal uses and properties.

Botanical info: Matricaria recutita is German chamomiles botanical name, an annual in the Asteraceae or aster/composite family. ‘Chamomile’ means something like “earth/ground melon/fruit/apple”, which I am guessing refers to its aromatic, apply-fruity smell and its height (about a foot or so). Anthemis nobilis or Roman chamomile is grown and used as well, sometimes interchangeably. Chamomile is an native to Europe and Eastern Asia, but it was introduced to North America and grows in temperate areas as long as it is a mostly sunny locale with decently draining soils. The flowers are small, with yellow centers surrounded by white petals. It seems that not all flowers on chamomile have petals or they fall off at some point, some are just disc flowers.

I thought that Matricaria alluded to the mat forming tendency of chamomile, but an University website says that Matricaria is from the Latin word matrix, meaning “womb”, indicating its use for women’s health, recutita meaning cut around (although I have no idea to what that is referring to).

Growth: The first thing I noticed about the chamomile was its vigorous growth. It was the first seed to sprout by almost a week; it quickly grew to about 24″, budded, flowered in a matter of weeks. It bloomed and bloomed some more after a number of harvesting. Another noticeable thing is the light but sweet aroma radiating from the patch when a breeze came through.

Harvesting: Collecting your chamomile is laborious, no doubt. There has to be another a better method than snipping every individual flower. How do big herb farms do it?! I tried giving the crop a hair cut and catching the trimmings, but that requires cleaning the herb later. The stems are thin and soft enough that I could pinch the flower heads off, but placing each individual flower in the basket got old. I ended up leaning the herb over the basket, which collected the flowers after snipping them with a scissors.

As the chamomile dries, the sunny yellow color darkens and the smell sweetens and intensifies. It is important to note that the yellow color concentrates, but the white of the petals is still present. This contrast of colors is NOT seen in chamomile that I buy by the pound, which is mostly yellowish-brown. Weeks after the first harvests, the smell of chamomile is actually getting stronger in my study/herb room. It is almost intoxicating – interfering my studying by making me sleepy, perhaps?

Chamomile has long been a favorite herb of mine for both medicine and beverage, for body and mind. It was probably the first herbal medicine I ever experienced, as my mom would make me herbal tea when I was sick with a cold. In truth, I didn’t like chamomile tea (or any tea for that matter) back then, and now I know why: it was stale. We lived in a basement apartment, and had a mold infestation. Anything that could absorb excess humidity did, herbal tea bags were a prime target. Still, there is something nice about getting tea made for you when you are in bed with a cold or sore throat, especially when that tea contains a liberal dose of honey.

As much as I love them, nervines are not the end-all-be-all for perfect health, but they can be a good place to start when you don’t know what else to do, or are too stressed to focus on figuring out what you need to do, but you know you have to do SOMEthing. Yes, that is where they come in for me more often than not (hello, chamomile!).

Botanicals are multi-dimensional; a nervine can be a digestive tonic, circulatory tonic, glactagouge, cardio tonic and more. Some are warming, cooling, drying, moistening, sweet, bitter, acrid – basically there’s one out there for everyone’s constitution and needs.

Here are a few quick notes about some of these wonderful nervines. As you can see, they all share the common thread of restoring proper tone (functional, healthy resting baseline) to a body system. Many times, the restoration needed leans in the direction of relaxing a tense state, but sometimes flaccid, lax, boggy or atonic tissue state needs some sort of increase of tone. See the sources below for more detailed information.

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) – Soothing diffusive, relaxing, stimulating nervine. Used with nervous irritation, atonic conditions, mental confusion. Use when both relaxing and stimulating effects are needed. Direct action on the smooth muscles, wonderfully anti-spasmodic.

Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) – Stimulating and relaxing. Anxiety, restlessness, fear, hysteria. Bisobolol and chamaezulene  are volatile oils that are spasmolytic to smooth muscles and nervous tissue. The bitterness is tonifying and stimulating. Nervous irritability and persistent low grade anxiety.

Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) – Anti—spasmodic, stimulating and cleansing in the nervous system. Aids relaxation, alertness, clarity from volatile oils. Convulsive disorders, as it regulates, balances, normalizes brain activity.

Melissa (Melissa officinalis) – Tonic and restorative for nervous function. A nerve remedy with a carminitive element. Depression, lethargy, insomnia, agitation, anxiety, headaches, hysteria, ADHD, nervous stomach. Inhalation of volatile oil very effective, sedative properties marked and rapid. Tincture more of a tonic and stimulating (with some bitters and resins). Paracelsus: “the elixir of life”. Culpepper: “…causeth the mind and the heart to become merry…and driveth away all troublesome cares and thoughts out of the mind arising from melancholy”.

Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) – Tonic nervine. Both sedative volatile oils and stimulating bitters, thus balancing. Depression, insomnia, hysteria. Mental exhaustion, hallucinations or delusions. The oil steadies the emotions, balances introverted and extroverted.

Milky Oats (Avena sativa) – Food for the nerves! Promotes myelin sheath integrity and growth. Wonderful for restoring the nerves. Amphoteric to the nervous system, as it is a stimulant (strengthening) and sedative. Nutritious. Epilepsy, nervous depression. Use to calm the mind without drowsiness.

Hops (Humulus lupus) – Hypnotic, permitting a deep sense of relaxation and tranquility, trophorestoritive to cerebrospinal fluid. Nervous digestive upsets, very bitter, strong anti-spasmodic effect on smooth muscle, presumably by mediating the nervous supply to the gut.

Scullcap – (Scutellaria laterifolia) – Calming and relaxing to the nervous system. Excellent nerve tonic where there is chronic anxiety. Nervous weakness, agitation, insomnia, nightmares, restless sleep, over-excitability, twitching.

California Poppy (Eschscholzia California) –  Milder and non-addictive. Anxiety, nervous tension, insomnia, hyperactivity, fear, all sorts of pain. Well suited for children.

Gotu Kola (Centella asiatica) – Energizing effect on the brain. Overcoming stress, fatigue and mental confusion. Mineral rich. Enhances cognitive abilities and increases memory. Calming and adaptogenic, cleanses the blood, promotes healthy connective tissue repair – good for excess scar tissue.

St. Johns Wort (Hypericum perforatum) – Depression, raises the spirit and lifts the mood. Amphoteric, tonic to the brain. reportedly as effective as SSRI’s.

Blue Vervain (Verbena officinalis) – Nervine and stomachic, as it is bitter and stimulates appetite, production of digestive enzymes, HCL and more. Blends well in formulas for women’s health. Epilepsy and convulsions. Very balancing.

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) – Increases cerebral circulation, anti-oxidant rich. Affinity to blood vessels. Normalizes acetylcholine receptors in the hippocampus – the area most affected by Alzheimer’s.

Wood Betony (Stachys officinalis) – Gentle, stimulating tonic for the brain. Hysteria, persistent unwanted thoughts, nervous debility, anxiety, chronic headaches, lack of energy, poor memory, dizziness, disordered thoughts. Bitter digestive tonic, adjusts the autonomic regulation of the digestive system. Anxiety with digestive upsets.

Ashwaganda (Withania somnifera) – Brain and adrenal tonic. Increases tolerance to emotional, chemical, and other stressors. Anti-depressant effect, libido lifter for exhausted states.

Sources:

Hoffmann, David. The New Holistic Herbal.

Winston, David.

Wood, Matthew. Earth-Wise Herbal: New World Plants, and Old World Plants.

Tierra, Micheal. Planetary Herbology.

During my interview for Chinese Medicine school, one of the interviewers asked if I had ever had acupuncture or taken Chinese herbs. “Of course! Why else would I be here?” was my response. I thought they were either joking or patronizing, but they looked dead serious. They didn’t respond. I asked if people actually went to school for acupuncture without ever having it, and they replied with, “some people go through school, pass their boards and start practicing without ever having it.”

I was shocked. Chinese medicine isn’t the sort of field that people pick with the mentality, “I need a job, so why not do acupuncture?”. As I worked in the herbal dispensary and took Herbology classes, I found that its not entirely rare for students to have never taken the herbs they prescribe.

It hit me when I asked my provider if they could make my bulk formula taste a little better. In truth, it tasted a lot like rotten stomach acid mixed with a side of fermented garbage juice – it was very difficult to swallow, literally. He had no idea what was so bad about it, and said something like: “I don’t know how to do that. This is the formula, and it tastes the way it tastes”. Well, this particular formula had 15 grams of Ai Ye (Mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris) per dose, in addition to several other incredibly bitter herbs, that were boiled for 50 minuets in just over a quart of water, making for some very concentrated tea.

In prescribing individuated formulas, it is difficult and indeed impossible to try every formula you give to others. However, making and tasting some classic formulas and as many individual herbs as possible is not only doable, but required (in my humble opinion) to fully grasp the medicine. I am happy to report that we are doing just that in the lab portion of Herbology classes this summer. Bring it on, Gui Pi Wan!

This got me thinking of ways to engage with plant medicine to deepen our understanding of them and the gifts they have to offer. Luckily, there are a plethora of classes, workshops, study courses, books and blogs out there that explore medicinal plants in depth. For starters, check out the information on Dancing in a Field of Tansy‘s blog and join her in discovering an Herbal Ally. Here you can learn just about every way to both prepare your herb (teas, slaves, tinctures, ect…) and learn about its properties, energetics, and personality.

When I come across a new herb on the intellectual plane (from a book or class) I tend to ask myself these questions:

• What is this herb’s botanical name and family?
• Where does it grow, where is it cultivated and where is it native?
• What does this plant look like?
• What part or parts are used for medicine?
• What unique features does it have?
• Who are the closest relatives to this plant in my environment?
• What does it smell like, how does it taste? Why does it have these attributes?
• What are its energetics, actions and constituents?
• What formulas feature this herb and why?
• Is it endangered, commonly adulterated or heavily chemically sprayed?
• Is this plant mentioned in folk lore, ancient texts or old herbals?
• What, if any, research surrounds this plant?

Learning herbs in a school setting is an incredibly time consuming task as it is, so I can’t imagine that I will be able to to do this type of investigation for more than a few herbs at a time. But I can’t NOT do some digging to find answers and information – I am much too curious, or obsessed with herbs, or both (probably the later). I am going to do my best to sift through these questions and find some answers, busy as I am.