Thank you for joining us!

This concludes our spring blog. Thanks to all who joined us in welcoming back our wild medicinal plant friends as they popped up this season!

Did you identify any plants that were new to you this spring?

Poke

Pokeweed, poke, pokeberry, inkberry - these are the names of Phytolacca americana. Its name tells of its native ancestry, as well as its use in making a red dye (Phyto = plant, lacca = like lac, a red dye made from insects). Early shoots of the plant cooked in several changes of water create poke salat, a Southern wild edible specialty. The conspicuous hot pink berries, appearing in the fall, can create a corresponding dye if prepared with sufficient acidity. The whole plant contains toxic compounds, but the bitter berries have old-time recipes associated with them, and I’ve also known old timers to eat a berry a day to protect against cancer. The root, also, is strong lymph-moving medicine when used topically (or internally, in very low doses).

Greater Celandine

Greater celandine (Chelidonium majus) could have been one of our early spring plants, as it’s one of the first to appear. At this late stage in spring, it’s fully turned flowers into seedpods and is getting ready to start a new generation for next year. This plant is a member of the poppy family, and its telltale sign of this is its brightly colored sap - egg-yolk yellow, to be specific. The most well-known use of this plant involves this yellow latex, which is applied topically to warts and skin growths; it has an escharotic (chemically removing dead or diseased tissue) effect.

Comfrey

Is Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) a cultivated plant or a wild one? It is a European import, and certainly acts like an uncontrollable, invasive plant in some ways, popping up on field edges, and resisting being cleaved in half by sprouting into two distinct plants when plowed. But there is also its immense usefulness. My permaculture-inclined friends “chop-and-drop” comfrey, creating nutrient-rich mulch for other garden plants. And, of course, the leaves and root are brewed into mucilaginous wound-healing concoctions for external or internal use. There are many tales of comfrey, in its exuberance, healing puncture wounds a little too quickly, causing the skin to heal over before the inner area is cleaned out. Comfrey is one of the medicinal plants which have been implicated recently in liver failure due to the presence of pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Still, many herbalists continue to take and recommend it internally, feeling that the benefits outweigh the risks.

Wild Lettuce

Lactuca spp, the wild lettuce, spotted outside the clinic! This is a plant used primarily for sedation and pain relief in Western herbalism. The entire above-ground parts of the plant are harvested in peak summer and blended to extract every drop of bitter sap, then concentrated by evaporating out the liquid. The resulting extract, optionally preserved with alcohol, is sedative in small doses and pain-relieving in large doses, and even reportedly hallucinogenic/toxic in very large doses. Some people smoke the leaves for a stronger effect.

Juniper

Juniper berries are growing! Juniper (Juniperus spp.) “berries” are actually modified cones on the female plants. Multiple juniper species produce edible "berries,” but some species produce tastier ones than others, with Juniperus communis being the most commonly used. Juniper berry is a powerful diuretic. It is also a strong antimicrobial. These twin properties make it valuable in a formula for UTIs, perhaps combined with gentler herbs as taken alone over time it can be irritating to the kidneys and digestive tract. The berry is being studied for use in blood sugar control in type 2 diabetes, and also in reducing heart disease risk by interacting with cholesterol in the body. Due to its high antioxidant levels, it is sometimes seen as an ally in cancer cases as well.

Red Clover in bloom!

Have you seen this flower yet? We chatted about the red clover a few weeks ago before it was in bloom. Now the pink-purple-red blossom can be seen on fieldsides all over! The flower makes a mouth-moistening trail nibble or a hot day, and can be combined as stated earlier with the leaf for a nutrient-rich and hormone-balancing tea.

Witch Hazel

Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is one medicinal herb that can still be found in drugstores today. It’s also the predominant understory shrub in many of the mountainous areas in our region. The inner bark is a topical astringent used in both acute and chronic skin conditions, from bruises to hemorrhoids to poison ivy and bug bites. Witch hazel blooms in the fall, a rarity among our regional forest dwellers.

Black Cherry

Black or Wild Cherry (Prunus serotina) is preparing its fruits on long racemes coming down from the stems. The edible fruit is sour, bitter, and sweet at the same time, with the sweetness coming out if the fruits are dried. The inner bark contains toxins and medicine, and during peak times it releases a strong and tantalizing odor when scratched-and-sniffed. Wild cherry bark is a cough syrup ingredient that can suppress an unproductive, spasmodic irritating cough, or alternately be used as an expectorant for those with heavy mucus; it also has some calming nervine properties which are also helpful when sick.

Milkweed

Milkweed (Asclepias spp.) is a wild plant that furnishes food and medicine but also toxins. The young shoots of Milkweed, when first coming up from the ground, can be eaten as an asparagus-like vegetable, and its flower buds can be tasted as a trail nibble. Later in the year, its cucumber-like fruits can be picked when small and pickled, and in the early winter one can come back to a withered milkweed and collect its stalk fibers to twine into a strong cordage. The namesake of this plant, the toxic white milky latex, has been used topically on warts and other growths. The roots of some species, such as Pleurisy root (Asclepias tuberosa), have been used as a medicine for such disparate conditions as edema and inflammation of the pleura.

St. John’s Wort

The finely perforated leaves of St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) reveal themselves when held up to the sun for examination; this is a good way for beginners to identify the plant before its yellow flowers appear. This plant enjoyed a moment of fame in the 2000s when constituents found in the plant were deemed more useful than placebo in the treatment of depression. However, traditional use emphasizes other properties of the plant. Western herbalism teaches about St. John’s Wort as a topical medicine on areas that are injured, burned or inflamed. It is also taken internally and externally in cases or nerve pain.

Spruce Tips

Spruce tips (Picea spp) are ready for the picking! Each year conifer trees grow by producing tender green shoots that eventually darken and harden into needles. Right now the bright green ends can be harvested for warming, vitamin C- and mineral-rich teas for cold and flu season. Spruce tips can soothe a cough or a sore throat or boost immune function ahead of an illness. Their antimicrobial and pain-relieving properties can also be put to use as a topical for bug bites and other skin conditions. Other conifer trees besides spruces can be used in this way too.

Raspberry

Rubus idaeus or the red raspberry has been used as a tasty, nutritive and medicinal tea for hundreds of years. Raspberry leaf tea is somewhat of a counterpart to red clover, red clover being more supportive of the estrogen part of the cycle and raspberry leaf being more supportive of progesterone. Raspberry leaf tea contains vitamin C, E, B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, and zinc. It’s tightening and astringing, good for toning the digestive tract and uterus; it’s often taken during pregnancy in preparation for childbirth.

Wild Rose

Wild rose (Rosa spp.) in our area is sometimes the multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora), and sometimes other species or crosses. The wild rose is much maligned, but the flowers can be used as food and medicine! Aromatic when picked at the right time, they can be carefully dried for tea or packed in honey or salt to capture the scent, then used in culinary pursuits. The fruits, called rose hips, are Vitamin C-rich and are a sour trail nibble in the fall. The rose is said to be medicine for the heart. In Chinese medicine, mei gui hua, the Rosa rugosa or wrinkled rose, is used to benefit circulation and break stagnation.

Goldenrod

Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) blends into the background before it flowers, but when those blooms come on in the late summer, they are an iconic upstate New York presence! Goldenrod is said to have an affinity for the urinary tract, as is often said of yellow flowers. This plant is harvested when in flower and produces a lovely tea. A spoonful of fall goldenrod honey in such a tea is an especially delight-producing way to take a medicine for the urinary tract and kidneys.

Yarrow

Not yet in flower, but preparing to unfold… Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is maybe the most common choice for an herbalist’s favorite plant. I’m no exception! This is an amazing first aid ally - the above-ground herb from leaf to flower is an unparalleled wound healer. The scientific name, of course, refers to Achilles, as his invincibility came from being dipped in yarrow up to his heel, which his mother held as she dipped him into the pot. Yarrow is a powerful diaphoretic when drunk warm, serving double duty as an antimicrobial / sweat-inducer, and is thus a fabulous choice for febrile illnesses. I recommend combining it with a sweeter, warmer and less bitter, such as hyssop or monarda/bee balm! If drunk cool, it’s a diuretic and combines well with goldenrod for urinary tract infections. Yarrow is seen as a symbol of strong boundaries, and its flower essence is used for this energetic purpose.

Dame’s Rocket

Those pink flowers belong to Dame’s Rocket (Hesperis matronis) - and the white-flowered varieties can be seen along the roadside at this time of year, too! Dame’s rocket flowers are one of my favorite salad garnishes. The flowers are sweet-tasting and so beautiful in a spring salad of arugula, radishes and green peas. The four-petaled bloom gives away this plant’s heritage as a Brassica relative, and as you might then guess, the young leaves can be eaten as a bitter green as in many other Brassica species. When in flower, the above-ground parts can be used as a diaphoretic, expectorant and diuretic.

Red Clover

Red clover (Trifolium pratense) is one of my favorite tea herbs. It’s a great nutritive, making not only vitamin-rich but tasty teas. The leaf can be used, and it’s this that we often see filling the bulk of containers when red clover is purchased in commerce. But it’s the pink flowers that are a moistening, sweet remedy that is the benefit of harvesting the herb yourself. Red clover has estrogenic properties and has a history of use in helping regulate hormones especially during menopause. It also has history as a cancer fighter and lymphatic system drainer. It is often called a “blood purifier,” assisting the body in detoxification.

Staghorn Sumac

Rhus typhina, the Staghorn Sumac (not poison sumac, Toxicodendron vernix!) occupies forest edges and is a source of striking red color in the landscape via its fruits in the summer and its leaves in the fall. This is primarily a sour and astringent medicinal. The leaf and stem contains tightening tannins and can be used externally for skin conditions or internally to stop bleeding and diarrhea, and also possess diuretic properties. The red ripe fruits are the most commonly used part of this wild plant; if the fuzzy horns of fruits are picked before bugs get to them, they can be brewed into a sour and tasty pink lemonade-like drink.

Common Mallow

Common mallow (Malva neglecta) can be used like Marshmallow, one of my favorite plants. The leaves are an edible salad green and tea herb, and the flowers are a sweet and bland-tasting garnish as well. The roots produce a epithelial tissue-healing mucilage that can be harvested by soaking the roots in cold water.