2-2 Balm of Gilead, poplar buds.

Part used: leaf buds.

Medical use; Chest infections, sore throats.

An ointment of the herb eases rheumatic pain. Its used for chest infections and sore throats.

2-2 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.

2-2 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.

CAUTION; BLUE COHOSH SHOULD NOT BE USED DURING PREGNANCY, OR WHERE THERE IS HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE OR HEART DISEASE. THE SEEDS ARE POISONOUS.

2-2 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.

2-3 Comfrey, knitbone, boneset, bruisewort, consormol, knitback.

Parts used ; Fresh or dried roots or leaves, cultivation.

Medical use; fractures, bruises and burns; respiratory and digestive disorders.

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.

3-2 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.

3-2 Hops

Part used: dried female strobiles.

Medical use; insomnia, nervous tension, gastrointestinal spasm.

The glowers 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.

4-1 Jamaican dogwood — fish-poison tree, fish fuddle.

Parts used Bark

Medical use; insomnia, neuralgia, toothache, spasmodic dysmenorrhoea.

4-3 Lobelia, Indian tobacco, asthma weed, puke weed

Part used: Aerial parts.

Medical use; Asthma, whooping cough, muscle spasm, sprains.

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.

4-3 Lungwort, beggar’s basket, Jerusalem cowslip, Jerusalem sage, maple lungwort.

Parts used: Dried flowering plant; cultivation.

Medical use; bronchitis and other lung complaints.

5-1 Myrrh

Parts used; gum-resin.

Medical use: Sore throats and infected gums; thrush, athlete’s foot.

5-3 Oregon grape root, mountain grape, rocky mountain grape, holly leaved barberry.

Parts used root and rhizome.

Medical use, Liver, gallbladder and chronic skin disease.

CAUTION; OREGON GRAPE ROOT SHOULD NOT BE USED DURING IN PREGNANCY.

5-3 Oriental ginseng, Korean ginseng, Japanese ginseng

Parts used Dried root.

Medical use as tonic, particularly for people weakened by disease, old age, or tress.

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.

6-1 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.

7-1 Skunk cabbage,

Meadow cabbage, polecat weed, skunkweed

Parts used Root

Medical use, Asthma, whooping cough, and bronchitis.

7-1 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.

8-2 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.

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.