Herbal Lesson 03

YOUR FIRST 10 HERBS OF THE COURSE
Daniel Blankley - Wednesday, November 15, 2017

These are not listed in order of importance or popularity, but according to the order in which they are required in the various hands-on practice videos. Most of these First 10 will be familiar to you and you may already have all of them. REVISED: I am giving you Great Great Grandmas Top 30 Herbs in three installments, 10 at a time. Here Are the first 10, with LINKS to both Wikipedia and The Modern Herbal.

REMEMBER: YOU ONLY NEED TO LEARN SIX THINGS ABOUT EACH HERB! You need to learn the common name and botanical name, the parts of the plant used, whether to use dried or fresh, and what they are effective against. Note if they are toxic or restricted to external use. I find 3X5 cards the easiest way to drill myself and shuffle them between learning from them.

HERE IS WHAT I put on my 3X5 cards to practice. --- POT MARIGOLD Calendula Officinalis Parts Used: Petals Use Dried Good For: Astringant, Antiseptic, Anti-fungial, Anti-inflamitory --- SHUFFLE and use like Flash Cards. Put common Name on the back and turn over and try to remember all the info from the front. Have your child drill you (if you have one.. or borrow your friends kid  *smile* they will love it like being a teacher.

Take Heart.. we are only going to cover the top 30 Herbs used by Great Great Grandmas before WW I and she took care of virtually all the families health needs with 30 herbs or less along with some non-herbal substances. REMEMBER that Western Herbalism uses around 150 different Herbs which are shown in Most Herbals. Dangerous or Toxic Herbs are often eliminated from modern Herbals. I prefer Herbals that show all the Herbs and clearly Label the Toxic Ones.

Most Pioneer Folk (even children) had a knowledge of around 50 Herbs including garden vegetables and seasonings. They included cabbage and apple and rhubarb and cherry, and many others, among ‘Herbs’, so in the beginning I thought to have you all learn all the top 50. Finally I decided to have you only learn the Top 30 (more or less) that Great Great Grandma and her mother used for remedies. You will find to your surprise at the end of this course, after brushing up on a few details, that you know more plants and herbs than you think.

NEW FEATURE: Click on the Name to Jump to Wikipedia or Click on [MH] after the name to jump to the page in The Modern Herbal which is more extensive.

1. CHAI [MH] (you know it as Tea)

Tea originated in Southwest China, where it was used as a medicinal drink. It was popularized as a recreational drink during the Chinese Tang dynasty, and tea drinking spread to other East Asian countries. Portuguese priests and merchants introduced it to Europe during the 16th century. During the 17th century, drinking tea became fashionable among Britons, who started large-scale production and commercialization of the plant in India to bypass the Chinese monopoly.

The term herbal tea usually refers to infusions of fruit or herbs made without the tea plant, such as steeps of rosehip, chamomile, or rooibos. These are sometimes called TISANES or herbal infusions to prevent confusion with tea made from the tea plant.

2. COFFEE [MH]

Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee beans, which are the seeds of berries from the Coffea plant. The genus Coffea is native to tropical Africa (specifically having its origin in Ethiopia and Sudan) and Madagascar, the Comoros, Mauritius, and Réunion in the Indian Ocean. The plant was exported from Africa to countries around the world and coffee plants are now cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in the equatorial regions of the Americas, Southeast Asia, India, and Africa.

Findings have been contradictory as to whether coffee has any specific health benefits, and results are similarly conflicting regarding the potentially harmful effects of coffee consumption. Furthermore, results and generalizations are complicated by differences in age, gender, health status, and serving size.

Extensive scientific research has been conducted to examine the relationship between coffee consumption and an array of medical conditions. The consensus in the medical community is that moderate regular coffee drinking in healthy individuals is either essentially benign or mildly beneficial. There is no evidence that coffee stunts a child's growth.

3. CHAMOMILE [MH]

Chamomile is the common name for several daisy-like plants of the family Asteraceae. Two of the species are commonly used to make herb infusions thought to serve various medicinal purposes.

Popular uses of chamomile preparations include treating hay fever, inflammation, muscle spasms, menstrual disorders, insomnia, ulcers, gastrointestinal disorders, and hemorrhoids. Chamomile is also thought to treat skin conditions such as eczema, chickenpox, and psoriasis.

4. GARLIC [MH]

Garlic (scientific name Allium sativum) is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and Chinese onion. With a history of several thousand years of human consumption and use, garlic is native to Central Asia and northeastern Iran, and has long been a common seasoning worldwide. It was known to Ancient Egyptians, and has been used both as a food flavoring and as a traditional medicine.

5. MUSTARD [MH]

Mustard plants are any of several plant species in the genera Brassica and Sinapis in the family Brassicaceae. Mustard seed is used as a spice. Grinding and mixing the seeds with water, vinegar, or other liquids, creates the yellow condiment known as prepared mustard. The seeds can also be pressed to make mustard oil, and the edible leaves can be eaten as mustard greens. Mustard also has medicinal uses.

A mustard plaster is a poultice of mustard seed powder spread inside a protective dressing and applied to the body to stimulate healing. It can be used to warm muscle tissues and for chronic aches and pains. It was once part of conventional medical treatment,[citation needed] and available in prepared versions in pharmacies. It fell from favor in the 20th century and is now only used as a home remedy.

6. THYME [MH]

Thyme is an aromatic perennial evergreen herb with culinary, medicinal, and ornamental uses. The most common variety is Thymus vulgaris. Thyme is of the genus Thymus of the mint family (Lamiaceae), and a relative of the oregano genus Origanum.

Oil of thyme, the essential oil of common thyme (Thymus vulgaris), contains 20–54% thymol. Thyme essential oil also contains a range of additional compounds, such as p-cymene, myrcene, borneol, and linalool. Thymol, an antiseptic, is an active ingredient in various commercially produced mouthwashes such as Listerine. Before the advent of modern antibiotics, oil of thyme was used to medicate bandages. It has also been shown to be effective against various fungi that commonly infect toenails. Thymol can also be found as the active ingredient in some all-natural, alcohol-free hand sanitizers.

A tisane made by infusing the herb in water can be used for coughs and bronchitis.

7. GINGER [MH]

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or simply ginger, is widely used as a spice or a folk medicine. It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual stems about a meter tall bearing narrow green leaves and yellow flowers. Ginger is in the family Zingiberaceae, to which also belong turmeric (Curcuma longa), cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), and galangal. Ginger originated in the tropical rainforest in Southern Asia. Although ginger no longer grows wild.

The [empirical] evidence that ginger helps alleviate chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting is inconclusive and it is not recommended for clinical use for this, or for any other type of nausea.Studies have found no clear evidence of harm from taking ginger during pregnancy, though its safety has not been established and it is a suspected risk for mutagenicity.

8. SAGE [MH]

Salvia officinalis (sage, also called garden sage, common sage, or culinary sage) is a perennial, evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers. It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae and native to the Mediterranean region, though it has naturalized in many places throughout the world. It has a long history of medicinal and culinary use, and in modern times as an ornamental garden plant. The common name "sage" is also used for a number of related and unrelated species.

Some research has suggested certain extracts of salvia officinalis may have positive effects on human brain function, but due to significant methodological problems, no firm conclusions can be drawn. The thujone present in Salvia extracts may be neurotoxic.

9 TURMERIC [MH]

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to Southeast Asia, and requires temperatures between 20 and 30 °C (68–86 °F) and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive. Plants are gathered annually for their rhizomes and propagated from some of those rhizomes in the following season. In Ayurvedic and Siddha practices, turmeric has been used as an attempted treatment for a variety of internal disorders, such as indigestion, throat infections, common colds, or liver ailments, as well as topically, to cleanse wounds or treat skin sores. Tho gaining popularity as an herbal cure, there is little high-quality [empirical] clinical evidence for use of turmeric or its main constituent, curcumin, as a therapy.

10. ROSEMARY [MH]

Rosmarinus officinalis, commonly known as rosemary, is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region.

It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae, which includes many other herbs. The name "rosemary" derives from the Latin for "dew" (ros) and "sea" (marinus), or "dew of the sea". The plant is also sometimes called anthos, from an ancient Greek word meaning "flower". Rosemary has a fibrous root system.

Hungary water was first prepared for the Queen of Hungary Elisabeth of Poland to " ... renovate vitality of paralyzed limbs ... " and to treat gout. It was used externally and prepared by mixing fresh rosemary tops into spirits of wine. Don Quixote (Part One, Chapter XVII) mixes it in his recipe of the miraculous balm of Fierabras.

Rosemary has long had a popular reputation for improving memory [It may rival that of Ginkgo Biloba]. The Guardian reported in 2017 that sales of Rosemary oil to students in the UK studying for exams had skyrocketed because of Rosemary's perceived benefits to memory.

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