Herbs Medical Use

The medical use of herbs

Balm of Gilead, poplar buds.
Part used: leaf buds.
Medical use: Chest infections, sore throats.
Balm of Gilead has a sweet smell, Its used for pain, reduces inflammation and is antimicrobial.
An ointment of the herb eases rheumatic pain. Its used for chest infections and sore throats.

Barberry, Jaundice berry, pepperidge bush.
Parts Used: Bark and fruit.
Medical use: Painful periods and labour pains.
Barberry bark contains many active alkaloids, useful to the medical herbalist. The alkaloids berberine, oxyacanthine, and columbamine are all strongly antibacterial. Berberine may also have antiviral properites and research shows that it dilates the arteries so lowering blood pressure as well as being anticonvulsant. It has been successfully used to treat Leishmaniasis (infections transmitted by sandfly). It is also effective in treating cholera.
CAUTION; THIS HERB SHOULD NOT BE USED DURING PREGNANCY AS THE ALKALOID BERBERINE STIMULATES THE UTERUS.

Black haw, stagbush, sweet viburnum.
Parts used: root bark.
Medical use: menstrual pains.
Combined with crampbark: Scopoletin ( a coumarin) in the plant has been identified as a uterine relaxant. It is a great remedy for menstrual cramping, and is used to prevent miscarriage, and to prevent excessive flow at menopause.

Blue cohosh, squaw root, papoose root, blue ginseng, yellow ginseng.
Parts used: Root and rhizome.
Medical use: For suppressed periods with cramping pain; labour pains; arthritis; stomach cramps.
It is now recognized that blue cohosh should not be used during pregnancy, but this was not the experience of American Indian women who drank the tea a few weeks before childbirth to make the birth process easy, nor for a doctor who used it to counter restlessness and pain during pregnancy and to reduce labour pains. Blue cohosh eases the cramping pain of dysmenorrhoea. Blue cohosh is used to treat arthritis and ease stomach cramps.
CAUTION; BLUE COHOSH SHOULD NOT BE USED DURING PREGNANCY, OR WHERE THERE IS HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE OR HEART DISEASE. THE SEEDS ARE POISONOUS.

Borage, bugloss, burage.
Parts used: leaves, flowers, seed -cultivation
Uses: Culinary flowers to flavour summer wine cups. New leaves pickled.
Medical: coughs, depression.
Borage leaves and seeds are said to increase the milk supply of a nursing mother.
Borage is sweat-inducing in hot infusion, making it a good remedy for colds and flu, especially when these affect the lungs because it is a good cough remedy.
The leaves have a taste reminiscent of cucumber.
CAUTION: Avoid excessive consumption.

Crampbark, guelder rose, highbush, cranberry, snowball tree,
Parts used: stem bark.
Medical: Cramps
Crampbark is a muscle and nervous relaxant good for cramping pains. Crampbark eases painful periods and the cramping pains of pregnancy, it is used to prevent miscarriage for which it is often combined with black haw. Like black haw, crampbark is used to prevent excessive menstrual flow at menopause.
CAUTION: THE FRESH BERRIES ARE POISONOUS.

Comfrey, knitbone, boneset, bruisewort, consormol, knitback.
Parts used: Fresh or dried roots or leaves
Medical use: fractures, bruises and burns; respiratory and digestive disorders.
Culinary: fresh leaves and shoots as vegetable or salad.
Comfrey is remarkable to heal tissue and bone due to allantoin, a cell-proliferant that promotes the growth of connective tissue, bone, and cartilage, and is easily absorbed through the skin. Comfrey breaks down red blood cells, a finding that supports its use for bruises, hence its country name, bruisewort. Comfrey is used externally as a poultice for varicose ulcers and as a compress for varicose veins. It alleviates and heals minor burns.
Comfrey has always been used for gastric ulcers, and it inhibits a prostaglandin that causes inflammation of the stomach lining. Comfrey treats colitis. And its a useful remedy for bronchitis and other respiratory disorders.
A vinegar extract of the herb can be used for cirrhosis of the liver.
Comfrey can influence the sex hormones which stimulates the ovaries and testes. It can be use for back pain (it causes involuntary flowing of the seed in men).
CAUTION: Avoid excessive consumption

Elder, European elder, black elder, common elder, bore tree.
Parts used: flowers, and berries.
Medical: colds, flu, catarrh.
Elder combined with yarrow and mint are specific for the treatment of colds and flu. Elder flowers also reduce bronchial and upper respiratory catarrh and are used to treat hay fever. A cold infusion of the flowers may be used as an eyewash for conjunctivitis and as a compress for chilblains. A gargle made from elderflower infusion or elderflower vinegar alleviates tonsillitis and sore throats. Elderflowers have a mild laxative action and have a reputation for treating rheumatism and gout. The berries are mildly laxative and sweat inducing, and simmered with sugar, make a winter cordial for coughs and colds.
CAUTION; ELDER LEAVES, ROOTS, AND BARK SHOULD NOT BE USED INTERNA

Honeysuckle
Parts used: aerial parts.
Main use for its scent.
Medical: for skin infections.
Honeysuckle is a sweet-smelling shrub and is used mainly for its perfume.

Hops
Part used: dried female strobiles.
Medical: insomnia, nervous tension, gastrointestinal spasm.
The flowers are known for their sleep inducing sedative effect, whether drunk as a tea or slept on as a hop pillow. The volatile oils released while sleeping on a hop pillow affect the brain directly through its olfactory centre. Hops extracts relax smooth muscle, especially the digestive tract. Hops are used in combination with other herbs to treat disorders as irritable bowel syndrome, crohn’s disease and nervous stomach,
CAUTION: The pollen from the strobiles may cause contact dermatitis. Because of their
sedative effect, hops are not recommended in the treatment of depressive illness.

Jamaican dogwood, fish-poison tree, fish fuddle.
Parts used: Bark
Medical use: insomnia, neuralgia, toothache, spasmodic dysmenorrhoea.
Jamaican dogwood has an antispasmodic effect on smooth muscle. The main herbal use is as a sedative and painkiller. It is useful to treat insomnia, neuralgia and menstrual cramping. Jamaican dogwood can calm the cough reflex and reduce fevers.

Lobelia, Indian tobacco, asthma weed, puke weed
Part used: Aerial parts.
Medical use: Asthma, whooping cough, muscle spasm, sprains.
Lobelia is a relaxant remedy. Its used to treat pain caused by sprains, It does it by relaxing the tissue. Its used in asthma and bronchitis because it is also an expectorant.
Lobelia stimulates the respiratory system and is a respiratory relaxant. It has many of the pharmacological properties of nicotine, first stimulating the central nervous system and then strongly depressing it,
Lobelia is sometimes used to help tobacco withdrawal symptoms,
Lobelia plasters and liniments are used to treat sprains, muscle spasms and bruises because of the plants relaxing and stimulating effect. Its used for insect bites, poison ivy irritation, and ringworm.

Lungwort, beggar’s basket, Jerusalem cowslip, Jerusalem sage, maple lungwort.
Parts used: Dried flowering plant .
Medical use: bronchitis and other lung complaints.
Lungwort is a soothing expectorant. The silica lungwort contains restores the elasticity of the lungs. It reduces bronchial mucus. The tannin it contains makes it suitable for treating haemorrhoids, and the tannin and alantoin content explains its extensive folk use for wounds.

Myrrh
Parts used: gum-resin.
Medical use: Sore throats and infected gums; thrush, athlete’s foot.
Myrrh is a cleansing agent, countering putrefaction and poisons throughout the body. Its antifungal, antiseptic and astringent action makes it a major ingredient of mouthwashes, and a useful agent for treating thrush and athlete’ foot. Myrrh stimulates the circulation and is expectorant,

Oregon grape root, mountain grape, rocky mountain grape, holly leaved barberry.
Parts used root and rhizome.
Medical use: Liver, gallbladder and chronic skin disease.
Oregon grape root has a reputation as a blood purifier, cleansing the tissues and blood of toxins and waste products. Its bitter components stimulate the liver and gallbladder and are tonic to the digestion and mildly laxative. It is used for skin diseases such as psoriasis, eczema, acne, and cold sores.
CAUTION: OREGON GRAPE ROOT SHOULD NOT BE USED DURING IN PREGNANCY.

Oriental ginseng, Korean ginseng, Japanese ginseng
Parts used: Dried root.
Medical use: as tonic, particularly for people weakened by disease, old age, or stress.
Wild ginseng, particularly that from Manchuria, is considered the best but is phenomenally expensive. Cultivated ginseng comes in two varieties, white and red. The red is cured by steaming which gives it its colour and reputedly a warmer nature than the white. Most Korean ginseng is of the red variety and is stronger.
Ginseng should not be taken during acute inflammatory disease or bronchitis since it can drive the disease deeper and make it worse.
In China, ginseng is rarely used on its own, but is usually combined with other herbs, such as licorice or Chinese dates, which temper its powerful nature.
Ginseng is best taken by someone made weak by disease or old age.

Pleurisy root, Canada root, flux root, orange swallow-wort, tuber root, white root, windroot, milkweed, butterfly weed.
Parts used: Root.
Medical use: Colds, flu, and respiratory problems. Specifically pleurisy.
CAUTION: THE FRESH ROOT MAY CAUSE VOMITING: TOXIC IN HIGH DOSES.

Sweet flag, sweet sedge, sweet grass, sweet rush, myrtle flag
Parts used: Rhizome.
Medical use: Stomach and bowel
Sweet flag is used for the stomach and bowel because it stimulates the salivary glands and production of stomach juices, helping to counter acidity and ease heartburn and dyspepsia. It also eases flatulence and relaxes the bowel, reducing catarrhal states of the mucous membranes. In traditional Chinese medicine sweet flag is used to treat deafness, dizziness and epilepsy. Sweet flag is sometimes chewed for toothache and to break tobacco addiction because it has a mild sedative effect.
Note: The presence of aserone in the essential oil. But rhizomes from Europe have low concentrations of aserone compared with those from India and no cases of malignancy have been reported in the mill and mine workers who chew the rhizome.

Skunk cabbage, meadow cabbage, polecat weed, skunkweed
Parts used: Root
Medical use: Asthma, whooping cough, and bronchitis.
Skunk cabbage is a highly useful herb, even though it smells when bruised. It is antispasmodic and expectorant with somewhat sedative properties and is prescribed for tightness of the chest, irritable tight coughs and other spasmodic respiratory disorders. In addition, it is sometimes used to calm the nervous system. It also has a diuretic action.

Soapwort, bouncing bet, fuller’s herb
Parts used: Rhizome
Uses: Cleansing
Medical: skin conditions.
The name it self indicates the use of this plant in washing. It is useful in cleaning cloth. This and the medicinal properties of soapwort are due to the hormone like saponins it contains, which lower the surface tension of water and produce a lather. In the body, these saponins are mildly irritant to the respiratory and digestive systems. Soapwort is an expectorant and laxative in small doses. It has an ancient reputation used both internally and externally for treating skin conditions such as psorasis, eczema, boils, and acne. Its use for gout and rheumatism is probably effective because of the anti-inflammatory property of its saponins. Soapwort also increase the flow of bile.
CAUTION: IN LARGE DOSES SOAPWORT IS A STRONG PURGATIVE AND POISONOUS.
IT SHOULD ONLY BE TAKEN IF PRESCRIBED BY A HERBALIST.

White birch, silver birch, paper birch.
Parts used: leaves, bark, oil and sap.
Uses: Culinary; Sap in wine or vinegar; used as a sweetening agent.
Medical: Fluid retention, arthritis, gout, urinary stones or infections,
The sap, preserved with cloves and cinnamon, was used to treat skin diseases like acne and used for rheumatism and gout.
Birch leaf tea is capable of dissolving kidney and bladder stones. It kills off harmful bacteria in the kidneys and urinary tract. To obtain the full diuretic effect herbalists add a pinch of baking soda to the tea which promotes the extraction of the diuretic hyperoside. The leaves also have a substantial reputation for treating rheumatism, arthritis, and gout.
Birch leaves can be used to treat fluid retention due to heart or kidney malfunction. In addition the tea lowers blood cholesterol levels and stimulates the flow of bile. A decoction of the bark has been used to allay intermittent fevers. Oil extracted from the buds or bark has been used externally in lotions to treat psoriasis and eczema.
This oil should not be confused with sweet birch oil which is extracted from black birch.