Materia Medica
If I were a plant, I would be this particular plant. Not just a general Rose, but wild New Mexico Rose growing on the lush banks of the Gila’s riparian forest. Not only because the flower is exquisitely, delicately beautiful but because the Wild Rose is tough and tenacious, living through flash floods, long droughts and even cattle grazing. She [...]
Flowers From the FaeryGrounds: The Enchantment of Beebalm
Monsoon season is a magical time in the Southwest. The air grows heavy, the clouds roll in and the thunder rumbles across the mountains. Within days of the arrival of the first storms, the golds and sages of the semi-arid woodlands, grasslands and meadows erupt into a riot of vibrant wildflowers and lush green [...]
Dispelling the Myth: Cherry Leaf Tea
Open the herbal book nearest to you, pretty much ANY herb book. Find the section on wild cherry or chokecherry, if there is one. Now check out the contradictions or warnings. It will almost certainly command you in very authoritative tones to NEVER EVER, NOT EVER consume cherry leaves or YOU WILL SURELY DIE. Poisonous, toxic, [...]
The Elder Mother’s Pantry:
An Herbal Materia Medica for Influenza and Other Cold-Weather Ailments
As the colder weather begins to move into the northerly reaches and higher eleveations of the Western hemisphere, there’s been much talk of the dreaded H1N1 as well as other virulent strains of cold and flu. The most important action you can take this is preventative in nature, including [...]
Blue Mountain Tea: A Sunny Medicine for Cloudy Days
Common Names: Goldenrod, Blue Mountain Tea, Liberty Tea
Botanical Name: Solidago spp.
Taste & Impression: Bitter, Aromatic, Astringent, sl. diffusive
Energetics: Warm, Dry
Parts Used: Flowers & Flower Buds, Leaves, Roots
Actions: digestive bitter, alterative, stimulant and relaxant nervine, diaphoretic, astringent, digestive aromatic (and carminative), diuretic, vulnerary, anti-inflammatory, bacteria-balancing (often termed anti-infective)
Specific Indications: Red, inflamed eyes, “bad [...]
A Golden Torch: Mullein’s Healing Light
Common Names: Mullein, Punchón, Gordolobo, Wild Ice Leaf, Our Lady’s Flannel, Hag’s (or Hedge) Taper, Torches, Candelaria, Quaker’s Rouge,
Botanical Name: Verbascum spp.
Parts used: root, leaf, flower, flower stalk resin
Energetics – Root: neutral, sl. drying. Leaf: cool, sl. moistening. Flower: cool, neutral
Taste: salty, bland, vanilla
This velvet leafed plant with its brightly bloomed flowerstalk is one of the [...]
From the Lion’s Mouth: Dancing A Weedy Revolution
by Kiva Rose Hardin http://animacenter.org
Common Name: Dandelion
Botanical Name: Taraxacum spp.
Taste: Bitter, sweet
Energetics: Cool, dry
“It gives one a sudden start in going down a barren, stony street, to see upon a narrow strip of grass, just within the iron fence, the radiant dandelion, shining in the grass, like a spark dropped from the sun”
- [...]
Sawtooth Sage: A Soothing Southwestern Nerve Tonic
Botanical Name: Salvia subincisa
Botanical Family: Lamiaceae
Common Name: Sawtooth Sage
Energetics: Cool, dry
Taste: bitter, aromatic (skunky)
Actions: Relaxant nervine, nervous system trophorestorative
Parts Used: Flowering tops
Come August and our annual summer rains, a lush abundance of flowering plant will grow in the cool shade of Alder trees. Among these will be a diminutive and graceful plant with tiny blue flowers [...]
Wild as the Day is Long: The Restorative Medicine of Avena
There’s nothing quite like the sound of a warm spring wind rustling through a vibrantly green patch of Oats. Bowed with the weight of their ripening fruit, they nod and toss their heads with each breeze. Their sweet smell and long smooth leaves certainly invite us to sit down and get [...]
