Throughout human history, we’ve turned to plants to heal our injuries, aches, and pains. We usually take what is at hand, what someone else says has worked for them, or in recent centuries what has been written about them. Nowadays, of course, we’re taking pharmaceuticals that may or may not contain plant parts.
Look at the botanical names of your plants, and whenever you see “officinalis” in the name, that’s a ready identification that it’s a herb. “Officinalis” means it is or has been in a pharmacopoeia, an official guide to pharmaceutical plants. Not all herbs that have been used medicinally are so designated, since many are “Grandma said” treatments.
Keep in mind, too, that herbs have been used in cooking, scenting, dieing of cloth and other materials, religious ceremonies, cosmetics, pesticides and probably more purposes. They range in size from trees to mosses, their human effects from beneficial to lethal.
Most of our ornamental plants have been classified as herbs, or at least they’re mutations or descendants of herbs, their ancestors being wild plants originating somewhere in the world.
One rose, Rosa gallica officinalis, or apothecary’s rose, is also presumed to be the red rose of Lancaster in the “War of the Roses.” Opposing sides used roses as their emblems; it was not a contest of throwing blossoms. Lancaster’s opponent was the house of York, represented by a white rose (probably R. alba). R. gallica officinalis roses grow as a thicket of canes, with spreading roots. They’re not very pretty plants, but their nicely-scented blossoms have been useful as a tonic or astringent.
Europeans from ancient Greeks (Galen and Hippocrates, for instance) to near- modern physicians, tended to use plants that looked like body parts to heal those ailing parts. In the 15th century, Paracelsus called this similarity the “Doctrine of Signatures.” That was based on the theory that the Almighty had produced plants that would heal humans, and if a plant looked like a body part, that was chosen to treat problems with that part.
Thus we have the ornamental Pulmonaria, leaves speckled as a lung said to relieve or cure lung problems; wormwood (including sagebrush) supposed to expel parasitic worms; liverwort said to heal livers, etc. Incidentally, botanical names often end with –wort, a word out of antiquity, meaning herbaceous plant (i.e., one lacking a woody trunk or stalk).
Chinese herbalists correlated body parts to plant features. If a plant were black and salty, it would heal lungs, green and sour was meant for liver, red and bitter for the heart.
Native Americans had their own “pharmacies,” using wild plants. Some used plantain on external wounds, as do some modern herbalists, although plantain is native to Europe and has been termed the “white man’s footprint.” Cleavers (Galium aparine, or catchweed bedstraw), a native, is another esteemed first aid herb.
Native willow twigs were peeled then chewed to relieve headaches or other pains; sagebrush was burned in enclosed lodges to induce sweating for dry fevers; sweet clover was used for poultices treating abrasions or steeped for soothing teas; and generally herbs served for contraception or aphrodisiacs, correcting skin problems, colds, flu, earaches, toothaches, other ailments and constipation. One of the cures for constipation is an herb named “wahoo,” the use of which is no longer advisable, because it has a significant toxic potential.
Readers should not attempt to medicate themselves with herbs for several reasons, including the fact that the active ingredients may be stronger or weaker, depending on the way the plant has been watered and fertilized. Also, herbs may interfere with prescription medicines you’re taking.
Modern researchers have also found that some herbs, such as comfrey, are ineffective, harmful or even carcinogenic when taken internally.
Margaret Lauterbach: melauter@earthlink.net or write to Gardening, The Idaho Statesman, P.O. Box 40, Boise, ID 83707
