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Medicinal plants

Manthing

Manthing

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Not entirely sure this is the right section but here we are.
Had a walk around the remains of Stafford Castle last year and in the grounds there's an enclosed garden of medicinal plants along with some not so nice toxic plants. They apparently do or did talks on both, which might be of use in a bushy situation, willow bark being natural aspirin being the bit of info I know.
Anyway have a look at your local country houses and walled garden type places and see if there is owt about near you, knowledge is king and all that.
TTFN
 
Most of us, as kids, were taught that if you get stung by a stinging nettle you should rub a dock leaf on it. It's rubbish! The idea is right but, somehow, they taught us the wrong plant. Not docks, but ribwort plantain! Ribwort plantain is very common and easy to identify. It is very effective on almost all bites and stings. On a personal level, I have even been bitten by a horse fly, realised straight away, and rubbed the bite with the sap from ribwort plantain. The bite never came up and never itched.

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Manthing said:
Not entirely sure this is the right section but here we are.
Had a walk around the remains of Stafford Castle last year and in the grounds there's an enclosed garden of medicinal plants along with some not so nice toxic plants. They apparently do or did talks on both, which might be of use in a bushy situation, willow bark being natural aspirin being the bit of info I know.
Anyway have a look at your local country houses and walled garden type places and see if there is owt about near you, knowledge is king and all that.
TTFN
Click to expand...
Getting away from your herbal garden, spagnum moss has been used as wound dressings for centuries due to its antiseptic properties. I have in fact used it to make water filters because it contains iodine
 
Ah Stafford castle , used to do regular re-enactments up there till woeful council organisation killed it all. I remember the herb garden and although it's been probably four or five years since I last visited I'm glad to hear it's still there.
One plant I had in my own herb garden ( otherwise known as the front garden) was white horehound. I say had because it went from being quite prolific to just dying out unfortunately. Made into a tea and gargled it was an effective treatment for sore throats although it tasted like crap.
 
Dock does work (although it may not be the best) and importantly tends to grow in the same soil conditions as nettles so is found when needed!

Rose hip syrup is very high in vitamin C as a preventative measure.

Not a plant but found hanging off them but Cob webs can also be used as a would dressing as they promote clotting; probably worth picking any dead flies out first.

38
 
One of my favourites is soapwort, not to be ingested as it’s slightly toxic however great for personal hygiene as it can be used to wash yourself or launder your clothes.
awkwardbotany.com

Using Weeds: Soapwort

Over the past year or so I have written about several edible weeds in an effort to highlight useful weeds. However, weeds don’t have to be edible to be useful. In fact, many weeds are most ce…
awkwardbotany.com awkwardbotany.com
 
38thfoot said:
Dock does work (although it may not be the best) and importantly tends to grow in the same soil conditions as nettles so is found when needed!

Rose hip syrup is very high in vitamin C as a preventative measure.

Not a plant but found hanging off them but Cob webs can also be used as a would dressing as they promote clotting; probably worth picking any dead flies out first.

38
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The scientific evidence for docks curing nettle stings points the other way. There is no known active ingredient in docks that would help with nettle stings. Nettle venom is acid, so if dock sap was alkali it might be helpful, but dock sap is also slightly acid. It is true that they often grow near nettles, so as a cure they would be convenient. Their cooling affect may appear to ease the sting, and to this extent may be useful, and what you have observed. From my reading the science concludes that:
Quote:
There are a few theories as to why dock leaves appear to help nettle stings. The most plausible are:

  • the cooling sensation of the sap evaporating from the affected skin can relieve some of the stinging sensation
  • it could be merely a placebo effect. The belief that dock leaves help nettle sting is such a wide and popular opinion - maybe it works because people believe it works!
Unquote.
 
Use it when working with kids on a weekly basis so science or placebo it has a visible effect. I’d read that it was a combination of the saliva and dock that had the best effect; saliva countering the acid of the sting with the dock providing a soothing effect on top.

38
 
Baking soda or dilute washing soda work well on both bee stings and nettle rash so it would follow that washing with another mild alkaline solution such as white wood ash dissolved in water would help (as you would use to clean grease from pans or make soap from fat)
Some people argue that dockleaves may contain natural antihistamines but I haven’t been able to find any supporting evidence through Dr Google.
Dock leaves being slightly acidic may mean that the sap could be helpful in treating wasp stings which are alkaline. In all of the above cases I find that the most important thing is not to scratch the affected area.
 
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Ystranc said:
One of my favourites is soapwort, not to be ingested as it’s slightly toxic however great for personal hygiene as it can be used to wash yourself or launder your clothes.
awkwardbotany.com

Using Weeds: Soapwort

Over the past year or so I have written about several edible weeds in an effort to highlight useful weeds. However, weeds don’t have to be edible to be useful. In fact, many weeds are most ce…
awkwardbotany.com awkwardbotany.com
Click to expand...
If anyone attempts to grow some do it in a pot or tub. Someone 😠😠 put it straight into the ground only to find it spreads probably worse than the mints. Actually mention of mints reminds me of lemonbalm . I've got some of that which makes a nice soothing tea , good for stress evidently but that spreads too.
 
Baytree said:
If anyone attempts to grow some do it in a pot or tub. Someone 😠😠 put it straight into the ground only to find it spreads probably worse than the mints. Actually mention of mints reminds me of lemonbalm . I've got some of that which makes a nice soothing tea , good for stress evidently but that spreads too.
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Or use the soapwort when you find it… that’s the thing about plants that do well in nature, they tend to be thugs.
 
Ystranc said:
There is a concoction made from apples (well, mainly apples) that is a sovereign cure for sleeplessness and depression. 😇🤪
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Although if allowed to ferment the alcohol is a depressant; the only alcoholic beverage which is a stimulant is tequila (hence the terrorvision song) which also gives credence to the fact that medicine doesn’t have to taste nice…..

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38thfoot said:
Although if allowed to ferment the alcohol is a depressant; the only alcoholic beverage which is a stimulant is tequila (hence the terrorvision song) which also gives credence to the fact that medicine doesn’t have to taste nice…..

38
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I challenge anyone to be depressed after drinking my cider.
 
Ystranc said:
Or use the soapwort when you find it… that’s the thing about plants that do well in nature, they tend to be thugs.
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Frustratingly I 've not found it really near to me and thought " wouldn't it be a good idea to transplant a bit for that little corner between the shed and greenhouse" when I found some . Didn't think it through really...
 
A little sprig transplanted along a riverbank used to be considered to be a gift to other wayfarers.
 
Couple of years ago I decidedto bottle some of the apple juice from our trees . Several large kilner jars pasteurized or so I thought. A little while later my wife said "that juice is bubbling out of the jars' . Yep it had started to ferment so it got chucked into demijohns . Didn't go to waste and jolly nice too...
 
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