| Unfortunately, in the United States there is no official certification program for "herbalists," and technically, anyone can claim that title without any training or experience at all. Naturopathic education has filled in the gaps to some extent, as there are several accredited schools with rigorous and scientifically based programs. The Naturopathic
Degree (N.D.) though, is unfortunately also an uncertain guide since there are poor-quality programs and correspondence courses that grant the same degree without the same standard of training as the accredited schools. |
| In the Western world, herbalists from the Greek Dioscorides to the American Eclectic physicians (an important group of doctors who practiced during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries) have regarded ginger as a premier digestive remedy. Ginger has a strong traditional reputation for settling digestive upsets of all kinds and for helping to dispel flatulence and relieve gastrointestinal spasms. In numerous cultures, ginger is a staple remedy for colds and is brewed into a soothing expectorant tea for relieving coughs. |
Larry Trivieri, Jr.
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 Maitake Mushroom: Prized for centuries by Japanese herbalists for its ability to strengthen health, maitake mushroom (which means "dancing mushroom") is now being investigated in Japan and America for its healing abilities in a number of diseases, including hypertension. In over 30 cases, maitake gradually decreased high blood pressure to normal levels.44
Reishi Mushroom: Chinese herbal medicine physicians regard the reishi mushroom as an "elixir of immortality." Research confirms that reishi is an effective cardiotonic. In a study of 54 people, average age 58. |
| Demulcent herbs can alleviate these symptoms (demulcent is a term used by herbalists to describe an herb that has a protective effect on the mucous membranes by minimizing irritation).The most commonly used herbs are marshmallow, slippery elm bark, cabbage juice, okra, fenugreek, and aloe vera.
Al$k See Acupuncture, Bodywork, Detoxification Therapy, Herbal Medicine, Homeopathy, NAET.
Desensitization Techniques
Many with allergies and sensitivities will find that they require desensitization treatments to experience complete and possibly permanent remission of their symptoms. |
| Naturopathic physicians are professionally trained herbalists and know both the historical and medicinal uses of plants.
Homeopathy: The term homeopathy is derived from the Greek word homoios, meaning "similar," and pathos, meaning "suffering." Homeopathy is a system of medicine that treats a disease with dilute, potentized remedies that will produce the same symptoms as the disease when given to a healthy individual. The fundamental principle operating here is that like cures like. Homeopathic medicines are derived from a variety of plant, mineral, and chemical substances. |
| It was founded to meet the growing demands for definitive herbal education and the need for trained professional herbalists.
United Plant Savers P.O. Box 98
East Barre, Vermont 05649 Website: www.plantsavers.org
An organization committed to the preservation of medicinal plants in North America. Produces conferences, books, and operates a native medicinal plant sanctuary in central Ohio.
Recommended Reading
Magazines and Newsletters
American Herb Association Newsletter. Available from: P.O. Box 1673, Nevada City, California 95959; (530) 265-9552; Website: www.jps.net/ahaherb. |
| As in Chinese herbal medicine, Ayurvedic texts categorize all plants according to this system, so that their herbalists can prescribe herbs more easily.
Western Medicine: The use of medicinal plants is also fundamental to Western society's pharmacologically based approach to medicine. The majority of medicinal drug groups were discovered or developed from the plant kingdom (or plant kindom as some modern evolutionary biologists prefer to call it, acknowledging the kinship and interconnectedness of all living organisms), even if they are now manufactured synthetically. |
| Herbal Medicine
One of the most universal methods of relaxing is drinking a cup of hot tea. Many herbalists suggest brewing certain herbs known for their stress-relieving properties.
Daniel O. Gagnon, a medical herbalist affiliated with the Botanical Research and Educational Institute, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, recommends chamomile (German or wild, Matricaria recutita; Roman, Anthemis nobilis) to help promote relaxation. Chamomile tea is used daily by millions of people worldwide to decrease their stress level. |
Lendon H. Smith, M.D.
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| Relaxation, homeopathy can help. herbalists use adrenalinum, Carbo vegetabilis, lung, Arsenicum album, Bryonia alba, cam-phora, Atropa belladonna, Natrum muriaticum, Natrum su-phuricum, alfalfa, ephedra, garlic, lobelia, fenugreek, wild cherry, pleurisy root, mullein, horehound, and capsicum.
Bacterial Infections
The standard allopathic control is to use antibiotics. If repeated infections, the immune system is evaluated. |
| Vitamins C, B6, B12, pantothenic acid, bioflavonoids, and E can help. herbalists use nettles, adrena-linum, Magnesiaphosphorica, lymph, Apis mellifica, hydrastis, gentian, garlic, fenugreek.
Asthma
Allergist will do the above investigation for allergies, and use cortisone, cromolyn, inhalants, and epinephrine shots for temporary control. Natural methods include B12 shots, B6, C, magnesium, no milk, no wheat diet with emphasis on vegetarianism. Relaxation, homeopathy can help. |
Dr. Gary Null
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 I learned about several herbalists, and studied with Letha Hadady over the years. I took several workshops with her, where I learned about Chinese herbs and the whole philosophy of Asian medicine as well as the Ayurvedic and the Tibetan systems. Over the years, I have taken formulas of Chinese and Western herbs.
The results are difficult to show concretely. All I can tell you is that 1 don't have cancer and that ten years later, after having had a very aggressive kind of tumor, I am still fine.
I believe in natural medicine. |
John Heinerman
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 Possible Anti-Cancer Value
Some American herbalists have ascribed virtues to suma which cannot be substantiated in regular scientific literature. In addition to this, the actual ethno-botanical lore surrounding it is quite sparse. That is, there are virtually no officially recorded folk uses for it for any great length or time, une botanist, in tact, has tola me in private mat the folk uses attributed to it have all been of fairly recent vintage and, in his professional opinion, "were mostly created by a few Brazilian businessmen, to help sell more of the stuff. |
National Women's Health Network
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 There have been no clinical studies on vitex for menopausal symptoms, although many herbalists believe that it "balances" hormone levels, especially in women with unpredictable or heavy bleeding before menopause.
Scientists don't know what effect this herb has on postmenopausal women. The herb is called chaste-tree berry and monk's pepper because it is reputed to lower libido in both women and men.
The usual dose is 0.5 to 1.0 grams of the fruit three times a day or aqueous-alcohol extracts corresponding to 30 to 40 mg of the crushed fruits. |
Alan Keith Tillotson, Ph.D., A.H.G., D.Ay.
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 I draw my knowledge of herbal use from numerous sources:
• Traditional teachings (the wisdom handed down from the past)
• Scientific reports from around the world
• My personal experience
• Clinical experiences of my patients
• Reports from other professional herbalists and their patients
• Intuition
Of these, the traditional teachings of the past and the clinical results experienced by my patients have the greatest influence on my herbal choices. However, scientific findings often bring fascinating new insights into sharp focus, and I rely on them as well. |
Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.
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 It is interesting to note that surgery entered the modem world as a very disreputable procedure, little better in the eyes of the medical orthodoxy than the herbalists and quacks with whom it competed for the same lower-class clientele. Surgeons could not write prescriptions, for example, without the countersignature of a physician, nor could they perform operations except in the presence of a licensed physician.
From the start there was tension between the surgeons and other healers, particularly the folk healers. |
Gary Null
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 Many U.S. herbalists prefer 80 proof vodka.
Cover the herbs with the alcohol for a period of several hours to a few days. They will expand as they absorb the alcohol. Keep an eye on the alcohol level so that you always have a margin of a couple of inches above the dried plant material. Then leave the jar sealed in a warm place, but out of direct sunlight for four to six weeks. Some will even prefer eight weeks. Some will go by the lunar cycle, bottling it at the new moon and keeping it in the container for two full moons, which is about six weeks. Shake it every couple of days. |
James A. Duke, Ph.D.
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 Wild yam. Many herbalists recommend this herb for women's reproductive health.
Willow. The willow tree's easy-peeling bark contains the herbal version of aspirin.
Harvesting and Storing Herbs
Okay, so you've got a big peppermint patch, or whatever, growing in your garden or on your windowsill. Now what?
First you must harvest your herbs. You can snip off leaves and use them as needed. Taking a cue from the American Indians, the romantics among us like to thank the herb for serving us and apologize for mutilating it. |
| Some time later, I was invited to a meeting of herbalists in Arkansas. When I was picked up at the airport in Little Rock, the woman who drove me to the conference told me this story: A few months earlier, she and some friends had sprouted a lot of seeds for a taste test of sprouts at an herbal food fest. One of the seeds they sprouted was fenugreek.
After eating several fair-size portions of fenugreek sprouts over the course of several days, one of the women noticed that her breasts seemed somewhat larger. This is called a mastogenic effect. |
| The Scientific Validation of Herbal Medicine and Herbal Tonic Therapies, suggests a tea of bilberry, butcher's broom, centella
Bilberry M
Bilberries contain a powerful antioxidant that was once used by eighteenth-century herbalists as an ingredient in mouthwash. and ginger for the prevention and treatment of several types of macular degeneration. I agree.
I suggest using a lot of bilberries and adding the other herbs based on whatever you have on hand and how you feel about the taste. Steep the herbs in boiling water for 15 minutes; you can drink a cup of this Eye Tea up to four times a day. |
| Of course, herbalists are not alone in making the occasional error. Physicians and pharmacists make them as well. And I personally feel safer consulting a well-informed herbalist than I do consulting most doctors. As for the perils of pharmaceuticals, read the fine print on labels or in the advertisements.
As for the identities of commercially packaged herbal products, especially those that are chemically standardized, you can usually trust the labels. But even with standardized extracts, as with pharmaceuticals, there is a very small but still real chance for error. |
Alexander Hellemans and Brian Bunch
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 Radishes, garlic, and onions were eaten by the thousands who built the pyramids and temples, for the Egypmedicine tian priests believed like modern herbalists that these vegetables prevent epidemic disease, a view partially confirmed by modern scientists. At the least, these vegetables contain ingredients that have antibiotic properties: Other ingredients were less likely to be efficacious, such as Nile mud, dung, and urine. There was also a tendency to mix medicines into wine or beer; this contributed to a feeling of well-being in the patient. |
Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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 For more than five-thousand years, Chinese herbalists lave recommended ginkgo for a variety of ailments. Studies show that >atients suffering from vertigo experienced dramatic improvement after aking ginkgo, due to increased blood flow to the inner ear.
In one test, researchers studied seventy people with chronic vertigo for hree months. Patients were given either ginkgo extract or a placebo. At he end of the study, 18 percent of the people taking the placebo no longer elt dizzy, compared with 47 percent of those who took the ginkgo ¦xtract. |
| Herbs
Capsaicin—For centuries, herbalists have recommended applying a paste made with chili peppers to the skin to treat muscle and joint pains. They knew that the paste would initially sting but, once the stinging stopped, the pain would miraculously disappear, often for hours on end. These early healers did not know how this paste worked its magic. Today we know that capsaicin, the compound in chili peppers that gives them their hot, stinging taste is the same substance that relieves pain when applied directly to skin. |
John Heinerman
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| This may help to explain why some old herbalists have recommended hops tea for sexual stimulation.
HOREHOUND (Marrubium vulgare)
Brief Description
Horehound is a perennial found in waste places, in meadows and pastures and along railroad tracks and roadsides in coastal areas of the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, France and Germany. A tough, fibery rootstock sends up many bushy, square, downy stems. The leaves are somewhat distinctive, being wrinkled, rough on top and woolly-like underneath.
Real Congestion Buster
Nothing breaks up severe mucus congestion quite like horehound. |
Robyn Landis
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 These doses represent average effective and safe doses based on any one or a combination of the following:
• The experience and observation of traditional healers in their cultures
• The experience and observation of American herbalists, other natural health practitioners, and educators, including Karta Purkh
• Effects suggested by scientific studies
It is always prudent to start with smaller doses and work up as needed.
When we specify capsules, we always mean "00" size gelatin capsules. Size "0" holds about half as much herb material. Size "0" may be appropriate for children. |
John Heinerman
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| The Leading Herb for Pregnancy
A number of America's most famous herbalists concur that this herb is unexcelled in many ways for expectant mothers to take prior to delivery. Both the late Jethro Kloss and John R. Christopher regarded squawvine as the medicine par excellence to take during pregnancy in order to "make childbirth wonderfully easy.'' Michael Tierra, a practicing herbalist residing in Santa Cruz, California, recommends squawvine "to prevent miscarriages." And the late naturopathic doctor, John Lust, stated that "squawvine makes childbirth faster. |
Robyn Landis
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| The following herbs have been used traditionally in other cultures as blood cleansers and have been observed by their practitioners as effective; that experience is echoed by modern herbalists and natural healing practitioners today. These herbs will reduce symptoms of toxicity because they reduce the toxicity itself. (Many of these herbs also have other functions and have been discussed at length elsewhere in the book. |
John Heinerman
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| I also knew about the warm, sexual energies attributed to schizandra berries by ancient Chinese herbalists. But I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he included one-third ginkgo leaves and seeds along with his other one-third schizandra fruit. It was explained to me by this patient, old fellow that ginkgo helped to increase the vital "life energies" passing through the brain. He said it wasn't enough to lift a man's copulating organ—holding up a drooping, bony finger that quickly became firm and elevated as he spoke—but it was also necessary to raise his mental powers of sex as well. |
| Treat Sore Eyes to Snap Dragon
I'm really surprised that no American or Canadian herbalists have discovered the fantastic therapeutic powers of this unique and clever ornamental for all manner of eye disorders.
This book, in fact, may be the only recent herbal encyclopedia that deliberately omits eyebright altogether from its wonderful repertoire of plant medicinals. I have nothing against the herb personally. It's just that there's something much better for the eyes than this. |
Ruth Winter
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 Its astringent qualities have caused it to be recommended by herbalists for greasy skins. According to old herbal recipes, it prevents baldness when the hair is washed regularly with it. Used medicinally as an astringent, tonic, and stimulant. May cause a sensitivity to sunlight and artificial light, in which the skin breaks out and swells.
YEAST • A fungi that is a dietary source of folic acid. It produces enzymes that will convert sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide. It is used in enriched farina, enriched cornmeal and corn grits, and in bakery products. |
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