Allergy season is here! Itchy watery eyes combined with sneezing and a stuffy nose can really be a drag. Today’s walk through Mother Earth’s Medicine Cabinet will take us through a small section of natural antihistamines to help you through allergy season.
Often times when we think of medicinal plants we see flowers, stalks, and stems, but the medicine goes much deeper with some. Today’s walk through Mother Earth’s Medicine Cabinet will take you deep into the ground to have a look at some plant roots that heal.
Helichrysum italicum is a flowering plant that’s a member of the Asteraceae family and a relative to the daisy. Helichrysum is native to the Mediterranean and thrives in the dry, rocky, and sandy ground. One of the plant’s nicknames is the Everlasting Flower due to its rejuvenating skin benefits, as well as the plant’s ability to naturally improve your complexion.
Growing up, there were a few different honeysuckle bushes around the neighborhood. They were like a kid magnet – we would all gather around them and wonder how a flower tasted so sweet, picking the little blossoms and sipping their sweetness. I had no idea at that age that these nectar-filled blossoms were actually good for me or that they held any sort of medicinal properties. Mother Nature's Medicine Cabinet is full of surprises and they are all really amazing.
Gotu Kola: a small plant with big healing potential.
Gotu Kola (Centella asiatica) has been considered a cure-all for thousands of years. It is considered to be an herb of longevity in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic medicine with good reason. This slender, tiny herb is packed full of some truly amazing health and healing benefits.
Wood Betony (Stachys betonica or Botanica officinalis) is an edible herb that’s packed full of alkaloids, tannins, saponins and several medicinal healing benefits. Wood Betony has been a part of traditional medicine for centuries. In fact, during the Middle Ages it was considered to be one of the cure-all herbs. It was once one of the most used medicinal herbs by the Anglo-Saxons.
Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) is actually a really versatile healing plant, and it looks really interesting, too - often times one bunch of this herb can contain different types of leaves! This tree smells so amazing -- every part of it has a strong, sweet aroma that’s almost relaxing.
There is a little bit of everything inside of Mother Earth’s Medicine Cabinet. Anemia is a condition that occurs when your blood doesn’t have enough healthy red blood cells, also known as hemoglobin. The hemoglobin in our red blood cells is extremely important for maintaining good health. If you have abnormal blood cells or not enough of them your body will not get enough oxygen.
What Is Anemia?
Poultices are some of the most interesting medicines. A poultice is a warm medicated dressing. To make a poultice, you just crush up different plants, herbs, and other healing medicinal items into a paste and apply to the affected area. It really is one of the simplest medicines to make, with incredible results.
More often than not, the first thing that comes to many people’s minds when they hear the word hops is a cold beer. Did you know hops is actually a medicinal plant? Hops can help you with some very common ailments.