Herbalism

[the-herbalist]

[violetsandshrikes]

Fun fact: Falling Fruit has a worldwide map where you can look to see if anyone has noted any fruit trees you can harvest near your location for free 🍎

[violetsandshrikes]

Just wanted to add a little update because I've seen some comments and tags: this map is very much user generated, and it's been running for a fairly long time!

Sometimes areas get developed or trees get removed or circumstances change which is super disappointing, but please don't hesitate the map to reflect that so other people know that it's no longer a viable site! Additionally, if you know of sites that aren't on the map, adding them is a great way help out other people in your region who come across it.

As well as foragable materials, there's also the option to add other resources as well such a seed libraries, community gardens, bike pumps, free stores/pantries, food banks, compost sites, guerilla gardens, water fountains, and other community resources.

Projects like this are amazing, but don't forget that they work best when everyone collaborates!

[the-herbalist]

Bearberry

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

Common Names: Arberry, bear’s grape, kinnikinnick, mealberry, mountain box, mountain cranberry, red bearberry, sagackhomi, sandberry, upland cranberry, uva ursi.

Medicinal Part: Leaves.

Description: Bearberry is a small, evergreen shrub found in the northern U.S. and in Europe, especially in dry, sandy or gravelly soils. A single long, fibrous main root sends out several prostrate or buried stems from which grow erect, branching stems 4 to 6 inches high. The bark is dark brown or somewhat reddish. The leaves are entire, oval or obovate, rounded at the apex, often puberulent, ½ to 1 inch long, and slightly rolled down at the edges. The white or pink flowers grow in sparse terminal clusters. The fruit is a bright red or pink berry containing several one-seeded nutlets.

Properties and Uses: Astringent, diuretic, tonic. Bearberry helps to reduce accumulations of uric acid and to relieve the pain of bladder stones and gravel. Use it to alleviate chronic cystitis; it usually will change the color of urine but this need not cause alarm. The tea or tincture can also be used for bronchitis, nephritis, and kidney stones. It may also help where bedwetting is a problem. CAUTION: Excessive use of bearberry can lead to stomach distress, and prolonged use can produce chronic poisoning.

Preparation and Dosage: Fall is the best time to pick the leaves.

Infusion: Soak the leaves in alcohol or brandy, then add 1 tsp. soaked leaves to 1 cup boiling water. Drink 2 to 3 cups a day, cold. You can also let the leaves soak in brandy for a whole week before making the infusion with water and add a teaspoon of the brandy to each cup of infusion.

Tincture: Take 10 to 20 drops in water, 3 to 4 times a day.

[the-herbalist]

Bean 032

Phaseolus vulgaris

Common Names: Kidney bean, common bean, green bean, navy bean, pinto bean, snap bean, string bean, wax bean.

Medicinal Parts: Pods, beans.

Description: The kidney bean is an annual, twining plant which probably originated in South America and which is still the predominant bean cultivated in the Americas. Its leaves are alternate, each leaf consisting of three broad-ovate to rhombic-ovate, entire, pointed leaflets. The white, yellow, or purplish flowers grow in sparse, axillary clusters. The fruit is a green or yellow pod; the color of the seeds, or beans, depends on the variety. Diverse as they are, all the beans named above are varities of the kidney bean. The dry beans are picked when mature, the others at various stages of immaturity.

Properties and Uses: Diuretic. Bean pods are effective in lowering blood sugar levels and can be used (with the concurrence of a physician) for mild cases of diabetes. A bean pod diet for this purpose would mean eating 9 to 16 pounds of pods per week (they can be cooked like vegetables). The pods are most effective before the beans are ripe, and fresh pods are more effective than dried. Dried pods are particularly to be used in conjunction or rotation with other efficacious herbs, such as bilberry, milfoil, dandelion, and juniper. These can be taken, alone or mixed, as a tea. Bean pod tea is also useful for dropsy, sciatica, chronic rheumatism, kidney and bladder problems, uric acid accumulations, and loss of albumin in the urine during pregnancy. Prolonged use of the decoction made from the beans is recommended for difficult cases of acne. Bean meal can also be applied directly to the skin for moist eczema, eruptions, and itching. Wash the skin every 2 to 3 hours with German camomile tea and apply new meal.

Preparation and Dosage: Decoction: Use anywhere from 2 tbsp. to 3 handfuls dried, small-cut pods with 1 qt. water. Boil for 3 hours. Take ½ to ¾ qt. a day.

[the-herbalist]

Basil

Ocimum basilicum

Common Names: Common basil, St. Josephwort, sweet basil.

Medicinal Part: The herb.

Description: Basil is an annual plant found wild in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world; elsewhere it is cultivated as a kitchen herb. Its thin, branching root produces bushy stems growing from 1 to 2 feet high and bearing opposite, ovate, entire or toothed leaves which are often purplish-hued. The two-lipped flowers, varying in color from white to red, sometimes with a tinge of purple, grow in racemes from June to September. The plant is very aromatic.

Properties and Uses: Antispasmodic, appetizer, carminative, galactagogue, stomachic. Basil’s usefulness is generally associated with the stomach and its related organs. It can be used for stomach cramps, gastric catarrh, vomiting, intestinal catarrh, constipation, and enteritis. As an antispasmodic, it has sometimes been used for whooping cough. Basil has also been recommended for headache. Some of its other uses are indicated by the categories above.

Preparation and Dosage: Infusion: Steep 1 tsp. dried herb in ½ cup water. Take 1 to 1½ cups a day, a mouthful at a time. Can be sweetened with honey if taken for a cough.

[cundtcake]

Botanical Sexism Cultivates Home-Grown Allergies 

Arborists often claim that all-male plants are “litter-free” because they shed no messy seeds, fruits or pods. In the 1949 USDA Yearbook of Agriculture, which focused on trees and forests, this advice was given to readers: “When used for street plantings, only male trees should be selected, to avoid the nuisance from the seed.”  In the years following, the USDA produced and released into the market almost 100 new red maple and hybrid-maple-named clones (cultivars), and every single one of them was male.

It took a number of years for these new trees to mature enough to start to bloom, but eventually they did and with them came more city pollen and the “epidemic of allergy and asthma.” Many of these same trees are still alive and well and getting even larger, and the bigger they get, the more pollen they shed.

Allergies are rarely triggered by small amounts of an allergen; they are initiated by an overdose. Small amounts of pollen exposure are actually good for us, but if we have highly allergenic trees or shrubs in our own yards or lining our streets, we will soon enough be over-exposed. In order to put the brakes on America’s allergy epidemic, we need to reverse the trend toward male-dominated landscapes and stop selling and planting any more of the most allergenic trees, shrubs and grasses in our cities.

and the kicker:

Female trees produce no pollen, but they trap and remove large amounts of pollen from the air, and turn it into seed. Female trees (and female shrubs also) are not just passive, but are active allergy-fighting trees. The more female plants in a landscape, the less pollen there will be in the air in the immediate vicinity. By relying less on males and paying more attention to the allergy-potential of all the plants in our urban landscape, all of us may one day breathe easier.

[capsgirl19]

ain’t this what happened to the fuckin ents

[riggedforsuccess]

caps youre the funniest fucking person alive

[the-herbalist]

Barley

Hordeum vulgare

Common Names: Pearl barley (hulled grain), Scotch barley.

Medicinal Part: Grain.

Description: Barley is an annual plant that is widely cultivated as a food grain. Its stout, simple stem (or culm) is hollow and jointed and grows from 1½ to 3 feet high. The narrow, tapering leaves ascend the stem in two ranks, the third leaf over the first; and their bases form loose sheaths around the stem. The flowers grow in bristly-bearded terminal spikes, producing eventually the elliptic, furrowed barley grains.

Properties and Uses: Demulcent. When hulled barley (pearl barley) is cooked, a mucilaginous substance is obtained which makes a good source of nutrition for those with throat or stomach problems. Mixing barley water with milk makes a soothing preparation for stomach and intestinal irritation. Barley has also been recommended for feverish conditions. The demulcent properties of cooked barley make it useful as an external application for sores and tumors.

Preparation and Dosage: Decoction: Wash 2 oz. barley with cold water and boil in 1 cup water for a few minutes. Discard this water and boil the barley in 4 pints of water until the total volume is 2 pints. Strain and use as required. Barley Water: Wash pearl barley in cold water. Boil 1 part pearl barley in 9 parts water for 20 minutes and strain. A dose is from 1 to 4 oz.

[the-herbalist]

Barberry

Berberis vulgaris

Common Names: European barberry, jaundice berry, pepperidge, pepperidge bush, sowberry.

Medicinal Parts: Bark of the root, berries.

Description: Barberry is a deciduous shrub that grows in hard, gravelly soil in the northeastern states and sometimes in rich soils in the western states. The root is yellow on the outside and its bark has a bitter taste. The stems, growing from 3 to 8 feet high, are reddish when young but turn dirty gray when older. The leaves are obovate to oval and have a soft, bristly point. The small, yellow flowers appear from April to June and hang from the branches in clusters. The bright red, oblong berries, ripening in August and September, have an agreeable acid taste and should be eaten only when ripe.

Properties and Uses: Root: hepatic, laxative. Berries: laxative, refrigerant. The bark of the root contains an alkaloid that promotes the secretion of bile and is therefore indicated for various liver ailments. It also tends to dilate the blood vessels, thereby lowering blood pressure. A teaspoon of the root will purge the bowels, or use an infusion of the berries with wine for the same purpose. A decoction of either berries or root bark makes a good mouthwash or gargle for mouth and throat irritations. The fresh juice of the fruit is also said to strengthen the gums and relieve pyorrhea when brushed on or applied directly to the gums.

Preparation and Dosage: Gather the root in spring or fall. Use only ripe berries.

Decoction: Use ½ to 1 tsp. root bark with 1 cup water. Boil briefly, then steep for 5 minutes. Take ½ to 1 cup during the day, a mouthful at a time.

Tincture: Take 3 to 7 drops, 3 or 4 times a day, in water.

[the-herbalist]

Balm

Melissa officinalis

Common Names: Balm mint, bee balm, blue balm, cure-all, dropsy plant, garden balm, lemon balm, melissa, sweet balm.

Medicinal Parts: Herb, leaves.

Description: Balm is a perennial plant that is common in the Mediterranean area and the Near East but is also naturalized in some places in the U.S. Mostly it is cultivated as a culinary herb, but it grows wild in fields and gardens and along roadsides. The stem is upright, hairy, quadrangular, and branched and grows as high as 3 feet. The leaves are opposite, ovate, long-petioled, somewhat hairy, bluntly serrate, and acuminate. The bilabiate flowers grow in axillary clusters and may vary in color from pale yellow to rose colored or blue-white. The flowering time is July and August. When bruised, the whole plant smells like lemon.

Properties and Uses: Antispasmodic, calmative, carminative, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, stomachic. Balm is a remedy for common female complaints and is useful for all sorts of nervous problems, hysteria, melancholy, and insomnia. Use balm tea to relieve cramps, dyspepsia, flatulence, colic, chronic bronchial catarrh, and some forms of asthma. Try it also for migraine and toothache and, during pregnancy, for headaches and dizziness. The warm infusion has diaphoretic effects. An infusion of the leaves added to bath water is also said to promote the onset of menstruation. Use the crushed leaves as a poultice for sores, tumors, milk-knots, and insect bites. Balm is also used in herb pillows because of its agreeable odor.

Preparation and Dosage: Collect the plant before or after flowering. The fresh plant is more effective than the dried.

Infusion: Use 2 tsp. chopped herb or leaves to 1 cup boiling water. Drink warm, as required. Cold Extract: Use 2 tbsp. per cup of cold water; let stand 8 hours.

Tincture: The dose is ½ to 1 tsp.

Powder: Take 10 to 40 grains at a time.

[the-herbalist]

Asparagus

Asparagus officinalis

Common Name: Sparrow grass.

Medicinal Parts: Young shoots, seed.

Description: Asparagus is a perennial plant that is generally cultivated for food but may be found wild around gardens and in waste places. The short, horizontal root-stock has long, thick roots and sends up the young shoots that we eat as vegetables. If allowed to mature, these become branched stems that reach 5 feet in height. What look like leaves on the stem and branches are actually filiform branches which are clustered in the axils of the scaly, inconspicuous leaves. In May and June the plant bears small, solitary, pendulous, bell-shaped, greenish-white flowers. The fruit is a red berry, about ⅓ inch in diameter, containing black seeds and ripening in August.

Properties and Uses: Aperient, diaphoretic, diuretic. Asparagus acts to increase cellular activity in the kidneys and therefore increases the rate of urine production (it is not to be used when the kidneys are inflamed). It may also encourage evacuation of the bowels by increasing fecal bulk with undigested fiber. Asparagus has also been recommended for gouty and rheumatic problems (except podagra). The powdered seed can be used to relieve nausea and calm the stomach.

[the-herbalist]

Asarum

Asarum europaeum

Common Names: Asarabacca, European snakeroot, hazelwort, public house plant, wild nard.

Medicinal Parts: Rootstock, leaves.

Description: Asarum is a perennial plant that grows in European woods. It is a low plant with a horizontal, creeping rootstock and prostrate stem. Two long-petioled, upright, shiny, dark green leaves grow from each bud on the stem, rising from 2 to 4 inches above the ground. The large, solitary flowers appear from March to May and are characterized by a green-brown color on the outside, reddish black on the inside.

Properties and Uses: Rootstock: diuretic, emetic, purgative. Leaves: cathartic, emetic, errhine. The basic use for asarum is as an emetic. As an errhine, it can be mixed with lance-leaf plantain to eliminate mucus from the nose and respiratory passages. Asarum is too dangerous to use without medical direction.

[the-herbalist]

ARUM

Arum maculatum

Common Names: Cocky baby, cuckoopint, cypress powder, dragon root, gaglee, ladysmock, Portland arrowroot, starchwort.

Medicinal Part: Rootstock.

Description: Arum is a perennial plant that grows in moist, shady places, along hedges, among bushes, and in deciduous forests. Its tuberous rootstock is poison when fresh but edible when dried or sufficiently cooked. It is about the size of a walnut and is brown outside, white inside. Arum’s arrowhead-shaped leaves are also poisonous when eaten. Its flowers, which bloom in May and June, trap insects which the plant digests for food.

Properties and Uses: Acrid (fresh), diaphoretic, expectorant. Arum is generally used mixed with honey or syrup for internal use and as an ointment for external use. Internally, it can be used for bronchitis, asthma, chronic catarrh, flatulence, and rheumatic problems. For sore throat, gargle the decoction by itself. A 1:1 mixture of arum and sweet flag in powder form is sometimes recommended as a stomachic. An ointment made with arum is useful for sores and ringworm, and for swellings simmer arum with cumin in wine or oil to make a plaster. In any case, only the dried root should be used.

[systlin]

In regards to the expensive nature of saffron…

‘stares into distance, takes a long drag off of what is, if you look closely, in fact a candy cigarette’

what if I told you…that saffron…is actually not that hard to grow at home for your own use. 

Oh look a place you can buy the bulbs. 

If you live in a climate colder than zone 6…as I do…plant them in containers and move the containers into a basement or garage during the winter. 

They bloom in fall, and are quite lovely. And also you get saffron. 

[charlesonmambo]

Can Saffron handle Zone 13?

[systlin]

They grow it in the deserts of the Middle East (with a bit of irrigation.) It can handle the worst heat you can throw at it. 

What it does NOT like is wet feet all the time. If the soil is soaking wet too often, it will rot. So if you live somewhere with a lot of rainfall, I’d try raised beds or pots that can be protected from excess rain. 

[sonoransiren]

So my Arizonan (Phonecian to be precise) ass should be perfectly fine, then?

[systlin]

Not only fine it would probably love the shit out of your area, so long as you threw it some water now and then. 

Seriously, here’s a saffron farm in the desert of Afghanistan, and the saffron is happy as shit there. 

[bad-wolf-moment]

What’s zone 6?

[systlin]

Growing zones are a measure of how cold it gets in a given area in winter, which is a limiting factor in where many things will grow. 

Zone 6 means that the minimum expected temperature will not get below -10F. 

Here is a gardening zone map of the USA. 

I’m in zone 5, supposedly, right on the tip of Iowa’s nose where it bumps out into Illinois, but more realistically given our not-uncommon cold snaps here we’re about a zone 4. 

So if you live in any of the light green through pink-orange areas, saffron will grow just fine for you on its own in your regular old dirt. It will grow in hotter zones as well, but the continental US only goes up to zone 10 and so most US based companies will advertise plants as ‘being suited for zones 5 through 10′ even if a plant can take hotter temps. 

[gallusrostromegalus]

First of all, it’s always a delight to see you encouraging agricultural anarchy on my dash.  Please continue.

Second: I can’t speak to most of the US but if you’re on the CO front range and put Saffron in the ground, you’re going to have Saffron forever.  It’s literally coming up out of my parent’s lawn and has completely overrun a neighbor’s garden.  This is the opposite of a problem.

Third: Bees love it.  Honeybees, bumblebees, little bees and big bees.  Late-season butterflies and moths love it too.  support your local pollinators.

Fourth: It’s worth growing for the sheer, visceral delight of giving your friends that cook a lump of homegrown saffron for free and telling them you grew it yourself and watching them go >:O as they are both tremenously impressed with your ability to do plant magic and enraged by the bullshittery that is the modern agricultural market.

[systlin]

Agricultural Anarchy is a hell of a line, exactly what I stand for, and I may have to make t shirts with that on them. 

[bixbythemartian]

…well. I guess I’ve got some yard work to do here pretty soon.

[rewind-on-purpose]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-22/food-plant-solutions-malnutrition-farming-edible-plants/12580732

https://fms.cmsvr.com/fmi/webd/Food_Plants_World

This guy is my new hero. I LOVE learning about native food plants that just grow everywhere without human help.

The database is a little clunky to use (especially on a phone), but still loads of excellent information.

[plantyhamchuk]

Here’s their website - Food Plant Solutions - and they can use volunteers! And $ of course. What they really need help with is connecting with NGOs/groups on the ground already working in countries, to get them access to the database. They also need help from formally trained agronomists, people good with website stuff, and people good at marketing / getting the word out about their project.

[korach]

56 Lists to make for when you’re feeling down.

I feel like a lot of us do this on some level. Like a mental list of all the people we care about, a playlist of songs that cheer us up. People like to say that you should work on think of these things when you’re down, but it can be difficult to think positive when we’re falling into a downward spiral.

I used to have a pocket notebook where I would write down the compliments people would give me. Especially the little ones. My line of work doesn’t make that practical anymore so now I’m working on some new lists to carry on my phone.

[violetsandshrikes]

Fun fact: Falling Fruit has a worldwide map where you can look to see if anyone has noted any fruit trees you can harvest near your location for free 🍎

[the-herbalist]