Category Archives: Herbs
Burdock (Arctium lappa) is a type of blood-cleansing herb known as an ‘alterative’. A very useful herb for detoxification, burdock works through the bowel, liver and the kidneys, stimulating these channels of elimination so that they function more efficiently.
(more…)Oats first appeared as a domestic crop during the Bronze Age and have been valued ever since, due to their high nutrient content. The common oat (Avena sativa) has a tall, hollow stem with lanceolate leaves typical of the grass family, while the flowers and seeds form loose hanging panicles. The wild oats found growing along the roadsides and in paddocks belong to the same family and several species have been cultivated in Asia, Africa and Europe. The seed, husks and the fresh green straw of common oats are all used in herbal medicine.
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Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is an inconspicuous plant that can be seen flowering white or pink around the sheering sheds during Spring, or in the grass along the paddock fences. It has tall erect stems with finely notched leaves that give it the epithet millefolium, while the first part of its Latin name derives from Homer’s account of the warrior Achilles, who used the herb to dress wounds at Troy. It was used this way in the First World War when dressings were sparse, as with moss and garlic, honouring its use as a woundwort that probably dates back to the beginning of civilisation.
(more…)Artichoke (Cynara scolymus) has been cultivated since the time of the Romans, and people of Mediterranean origin still often still grow this old-fashioned vegetable in their gardens in Melbourne, knowing its health benefits. In fact, the French herbalist Maurice Messegue says that it is ‘the best preventative medicine for people in their fifties.’1 Only the tender parts of the unopened flower are usually eaten once the heads have been steamed, and they are garnished with olive oil and lemon juice.
(more…)Rhubarb is an easily recognisable plant with large palmate leaves that stand on red stalks resembling celery. The fleshy root has tapering branches with a brown skin and yellow flesh. Turkish rhubarb (Rheum palmatum) is the principle species of rhubarb used in medicine, while common garden rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) is similar in laxative effect, only weaker.
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Sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella) is a small, inconspicuous plant with lance-shaped leaves that have two small lobes at the stem. Sheep sorrel spreads easily from its shallow root system and appears in paddocks or along the side of the road, easily visible in spring because of its rusty-red flower spikes. This herb contains citric, malic, oxalic and prussic acid, making it a tangy addition to salads.
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Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a common herb of grasslands and paddocks easily identified by its yellow flowers and seed ‘clocks’. The flower stem rises up from the centre of a whorled base consisting of toothed leaves, and the whole plant exudes a white sap. Dandelion has many virtues as a medicinal herb but it is largely unknown in this respect in Australia, being considered a nuisance weed because it disturbs the neatness of manicured lawns.
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Garlic (Allium sativum) grows in the form of a bulb consisting of several cloves and produces a strong characteristic odour. The Egyptians fed it to the labourers who built the pyramids in order to build their strength and protect them from illness, and also used it to treat bites and skin irritations, according to the Hearst Medical Papyrus. The Greeks and Romans also knew it well, bringing it with them on military campaigns wherever they went to treat wounds. Dioscorides summarises the medicinal uses from antiquity: it is good for treating oedema, expels flatulence, kills many types of worms, and externally it is good for nits and lice. He adds that garlic clears the arteries, heals old coughs, treats acne and running ulcers.1
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Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) is a thorny tree found here and there along the railway lines and roadsides of Victoria where it reaches a height of up to ten metres. It was planted as an ornamental tree to remind the settlers of the ‘old country’, and the red haws, which appear soon after the pleasant-smelling flowers, contain a white flesh surrounding a hard seed.
(more…)Arnica (Arnica montana) is a well-known wound herb with a long history of use in the mountainous parts of Europe where injuries arising from falls are common. It is called leopard’s bane or wolf’s bane, and grows all the way from Siberia to the snowline in the Alps, preferring poor acidic soils.
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