Author Archives: marktsaloumas
Echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia, purpurea, pallida) is a popular herb its name coming from the Greek word for sea urchin, referring to its spikey seed head. This valuable herb is used for stimulating the immune system, its use dating back to the Nineteenth century American eclectic schools of herbal medicine who learned it from the American Indians. The dried herb is widely available in the supermarket in the form of a compressed pill, often combined with other respiratory system herbs, vitamin C and zinc, and is mostly used for preventing or treating colds and flus.1,2
(more…)Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) is a herb with thousands of years of medical usage. It was called glukoriza, which means sweet root, by the physician Dioscorides, but was in use for at least two thousand years before that. The Egyptians took it as a tonic to build stamina and vitality, the Romans to stop hunger and thirst on military campaigns, and the Chinese still use it to increase Qi and restore the glands. Today, most of the liquorice cultivated is used to sweeten tobacco.
(more…)Yellow dock (Rumex crispus), also called curly dock, is an easily identifiable herb found growing in ditches where you can see the rusty-coloured seed stalks standing above the other grasses. It is also present in damp paddocks where the roots can be dug up well away from the roadside where the council routinely sprays. The roots, leaves and seeds are gathered in the countries of the Mediterranean region to make salads, flour and soups, as well as medicine.
(more…)Chickweed (Stellaria media) is a delicate, inconspicuous herb that you find growing about the shady parts of the garden amongst the other weeds. It is the colour of grass with small, white, star-shaped flowers and slender green stems. The whole plant can be used fresh in a salad together with other greens from the garden such as dandelion, sow thistle and sheep sorrel.
(more…)Anaemia is a condition of insufficient oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood due to reduced numbers of red blood cells or haemoglobin. Anaemia may be caused by decreased red blood cell production, increased red blood cell breakdown (aplastic anaemia), excessive blood less (wounds, stomach ulcers, menstruation, cancer), or genetic disorders in haemoglobin (thalassaemia, sickle cell).
(more…)Mullein (Verbascum thapsis)is a plant that you will often see growing on dry waste ground or along the side of the road and railway lines. The leaves are large, covered in soft hairs and arranged in a rosette. Yellow flowers grow on spikes that rise from the centre of the plant. In dry climates the large up-turned leaves catch what little rain there is, then funnel it downwards towards the base. The hairs can be scraped off the leaves and used to make wicks, hence the common name candlewick.1
(more…)Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), also known as Indian Ginseng, is a plant in the nightshade family found growing in India, Nepal and China. The powdered root is used in Ayurvedic medicine as a rasayana, which means tonic, to promote a youthful state of mind and health. It improves the health of emaciated children, treats constipation, enhances the mood, and assists with cognitive decline in the elderly, thereby helping all age groups.
(more…)The term dementia covers a range of conditions that afflict the elderly mostly Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia (stroke). These conditions produce progressive impairments in thought, memory, language, living skills and other behaviours. The symptoms profoundly affect the patient’s quality of life and cause increasing difficulty and distress to caregivers.
(more…)Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) is a small palm native to the south-eastern United States which grows to about 2-3 metres with leaf fans comprised of narrow leaflets. The leaflets are supported on a narrow stem lined with spines, hence the name saw. The fruits were collected for both food and medicine by the indigenous people.
(more…)Flax (Linum usitatissimum) is a slender plant with narrow leaves and vivid blue flowers. The fibre has long been used to make cloth, rope and sails, while the oil (linseed oil) is added as an ingredient to furniture polishes and house paints. The seeds are very nutritious containing fibre, healthy fats, B-vitamins, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc.
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