Ralph W. Moss PhD
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 Venus's-flytrap is not listed in the standard herbals as a medicinal plant.
Two reasons for this are (a) its limited geographic range and (b) concerns over possible toxicity (although such reports are often exaggerated).
An extract of Venus's-flytrap was introduced into medicine by Helmut Keller, MD, of Germany. Dr. Keller was born in 1940 in Erlangen, and received his medical degree from that city's University in February, 1970. |
James Green
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 I offer these fists and accompanying notations to you as a practical foundation for your personal home pharmacy, but I encourage you to modify the group of herbs to align with your intuitive preferences and, depending on where you live, to better fit the native medicinal plant population of your particular bio-region. Observe the actions and specific indications of the plants in this group and match them as best you can.
40 Herbal Actions to Know
Adaptogen—An action concept unique to herbal therapeutics. |
Dr. Gary Null
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 A study examined the effects of the Soviet antidiabetic medicinal plant arfazetin on type I and type II diabetics. Type I patients received the arfazetin combined with insulin. Type II patients received it via infusion in addition to hypoglycemic drugs. Results showed the arfazetin to have hypoglycemic activity.
V. D. Korotkova et al., "Arfezetin v lechenii Sakhamogo Dia-beta," [Arfazetin in the Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus], Probl. Endokrinol. (Mosk.) 34, no. 4 (July-August 1988): 25-28. |
Rudolph M. Ballentine, M.D.
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 From the tropical valleys to the arctic peaks, you can find a habitat suitable for almost any medicinal plant. This setting has provided the raw materials for the development of a highly evolved system of herbal medicine over the last several thousand years.
Western medicine is just beginning to show an interest in such remedies as gugulu, a resinous gum valued in Ayurveda for its capacity to clean arteries. Gugulu preparations for the prevention and treatment of heart disease and strokes are popping up everywhere now. |
Stephen T., M.D. Sinatra
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 Gotu Kola
Gotu kola is a quick-acting herb that comes from a medicinal plant popular in Pakistan, India, and Ceylon and is used for the treatment of fatigue. In Ceylon it is considered a brain food and is reported to stimulate the memory. I once sat on a plane next to an anesthesiologist from India. He saw me reading about gotu kola and told me that this plant is often used as a tea in his country, primarily for enhancing memory and rejuvenating energy. Gotu kola contains no caffeine. |
Gale Maleskey
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 Ginkgo, a medicinal plant with a long tradition, is mainly used to improve blood circulation to the brain. It may also aid mental alertness and memory and even relieve depression. Because it can improve blood flow throughout arteries and veins, it's been successfully used to treat many men whose impotence is caused by poor blood circulation, says Dr. Kruzel.
In a study, 60 men with erectile dysfunction who didn't respond to injection treatments with a prescription medication were given 60 milligrams of ginkgo daily for 12 to 18 months. Every four weeks, penile blood flow was evaluated. |
| Within a few decades, echinacea became the most widely used medicinal plant in the country. It got an unlooked-for marketing boost when Louis Pasteur discovered that many diseases and conditions were caused by germs. Then its advocates could say that echinacea was a germ killer.
In that era, echinacea was thought by physicians to be a treatment for many infectious diseases. By the 1930s, however, it fell out of favor, partly because some of its supporters linked it with the outdated idea that germs were generated spontaneously within the blood. i
Meanwhile, in Germany ... |
Lesley Tierra
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 Here, we are only considering the main medicinal plant constituents. This is simply a brief reference list of a few of the more potent ones, and it is not intended to fully describe the details of plant constituents or plant chemistry. Consult the bibliography for further informational sources.
Acids: Weak acids are found in plants in many different forms. Acids cleanse and detoxify, astringe the tissues and stimulate pancreatic and bile secretions. Citric and tartaric acids, for example, are most concentrated in unripe fruit and have an antibacterial property. |
Daniel B. Mowrey, Ph.D.
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 Dissertation , Institut for medicinal plant Research, Poznan, 1960.
12. Ambuehl, H. "Anatomical and chemical investigations on Passif-lora coerula L. und Passiflor incarnata L." Diss. Nr. 3830 ETH, Zurich, 1966.
13. Lutomski, J., Malek, B., Rybacka, L. "Pharmacological investigation of the raw materials from passiflora genus. 2. pharma-cochemical estimation of juices from the fruits of passiflora edu-lis and passiflora edulis forma flavicarpa." Planta Medica, 27, 112, 1975.
14. Lutomski, J., Segiet, E., Szpunar, K. & Grisse, K. "The meaning of Passion flower in the medicine. |
| Vervain, in one of its more than 300 subspecies, has been a popular medicinal plant in cultures all over the world for thousands of years, but has attracted very little attention from the scientific community, probably because it is mild acting. As part of a tonic blend, expect it to help restore vitality, gradually and mildly. See Also fevers & infections
DANDELION ROOT is another effective bitter that has been used as a tonic and blood cleanser for hundreds of years, especially in Europe and China. |
Robert S. McCaleb, Evelyn Leigh, and Krista Morien
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 Economic and medicinal plant Research. San Diego: Academic Press, 1991.
Reference Guides for Practitioners
Blumenthal M, Busse WR, Goldberg A, et al., eds. The Complete German Commission E Monographs. Austin,TX: American Botanical Council; Boston: Integrative Medicine Communications, 1998.
Bradley PR, ed. British Herbal Compendium. Vol 1. Dorset: British Herbal Medicine Association, 1992.
Bradley PR, ed. British Herbal Pharmacopoeia. Vol 1. Dorset: British Herbal Medicine Association, 1990.
McGuffin M, Hobbs C, Upton R, et al., eds. |
James Green
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| Let us refer to it as a wild medicinal plant and perceive the extract we're about to make with it as an herbal tonic. Our intention is to connect with a plant spirit and with its alliance create a nutritional preparation that is easy to assimilate and can be depended upon to help our digestion, our liver, and our kidneys to feel good. Then, while this first-born extract is macerating (soaking) in its menstruum (solvent), we'll proceed through the following chapters of this handbook and peruse the rest of the medicine-making ideas that await our attention. |
Textbook of Natural Medicine 2nd Edition Volume 1Michael T. Murray, ND
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| Economic and medicinal plant Research 1985; 1: 156-215
28. Ng TB, Yeung HW. Hypoglycemic constituents of Panax ginseng. Gen Pharmacol 1985; 6: 549-552
29. Waki I, Kyo H, Yasuda M, Kimura M. Effects of a hypoglycemic component of ginseng radix on insulin biosynthesis in normal and diabetic animals. J Pharm Dyn 1982; 5: 547-554
30. Konno C, Sugiyama K, Kano M et al. Isolation and hypoglycaemic activity of panaxans A, B, C, D and E, glycans of Panax ginseng roots. Planta Medica 1984; 51: 434-436
31. Kimura M, Waki I, Tanaka O et al. |
James Green
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| Each time you locate a medicinal plant near your home (a Dandelion here, a Plantain there, a California Poppy, a cutting or two of your neighbor's neglected Rosemary bush, a Mullein leaf, some fresh garden Thyme, autumn leaves from the Ginkgo tree that stands down the road, and so on), you can readily harvest and dry it, and place it in a storage jar for future use. In a short time you can accumulate a year's supply of medicines and spices derived from neighborhood flora. You can do the same, of course, with any garden plants and fruits that come your way. |
| The base for most salves is a mixture of a wax and a fixed od, usually mixed or infused with medicinal plant substances (see Chapter Seventeen,"Od Infusions").The od enhances the absorption of the medicinal substances into the skin, and the wax gives firmness to the finished salve for ease of application. I prefer to make my salves with vegetable oils, although some people use animal fats. Often, essential oils and/or other solid or liquid materials are incorporated during the salve-making process. |
| Please note, that as the medicinal herbs are becoming more and more popular, some wild-crafting practices are placing a great burden on a growing number of wdd plant populations; therefore it is important to begin organically cultivating many of our herbal medicines rather than over-harvesting and wiping out wdd medicinal plant communities. A good example of the destruction caused by mindless wildcrafting is the notable loss of fields of wdd Echinacea angustifolia and Echinacea purpurea due to commercial over-harvesting. OrganicaUy cultivated Echinacea purpurea is every bit as effective. |
| The urgency and consistency with which twentieth (and now twentyfirst) century medical pharmacists and herbal product marketers have acted to isolate and concentrate the "active" components as a method to establish increased "potency" in their products has heedlessly eliminated vast amounts of each medicinal plant's complementary "ballast," or so-called "inert" components. |
John Heinerman
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 I met him some years ago in London at an international scientific symposium devoted to medicinal plant research that we both happened to be attending at the same time. In comparing notes with each other on several different fruits and vegetables, he brought up something interesting with regard to pomegranate juice that I jotted in a small pocket notebook I had with me and have never forgotten since.
Dr. |
Larry Trivieri, Jr.
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 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.This publication covers a wide range of herbal topics: media coverage, research, regulatory issues, quality control, and more.
HerbalGram. Available from: American Botanical Council, P.O. Box 144345, Austin,Texas 78714-4345; (512) 926-4900 or (800) 373-7105;Website: www.herbal-gram.org. |
| EPHEDRA OR MA-HUANG (EPHEDRA SINICA)
Ephedra is a medicinal plant that has been cultivated for over 5,000 years in China, where it was used for asthma and hay fever-like conditions. Also known as tna-huang, ephedra's stems contain two primary alkaloids, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, used in OTC decongestant drugs. Ephedrine has a marked peripheral vasoconstricting action (causing constriction of the blood vessels). Pseudoephedrine is a bronchodilator (able to expand the bronchi in the lungs, necessary for proper breathing), approved for use in asthma and certain allergy medicines. |
| It was the most widely used medicinal plant of the Native Americans of this area, who often exploited echinacea for its external wound-healing and anti-inflammatory properties. Ironically, it was a German researcher, Dr. Gerhard Madaus, who imported echinacea seeds to Europe and initiated the first modern scientific research on the immuno-stimu-lating properties of this plant.
Echinacea has become one of the most important OTC remedies in Germany, where it is employed for relieving the common cold and flu. |
Daniel B. Mowrey, Ph.D.
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| Among the eclectic physicians of the last century it was a much used medicinal plant.
These doctors, more than any other group of men in history, were able to utilize the healing potential of plants. But with the advent of modern medicine, the lore of Wood Betony along with many other valuable plants became scarce. Fortunately, today's herbalists continue to sing its praises, but not many researchers have investigated the many claims. One existing piece of work demonstrated significant hypotensive activity in the glycoside constituents of Wood Betony (5). |
Schuyler W. Lininger, Jr. DC
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 In Economic and medicinal plant Research, vol 1, eds. H Wagner, HZ Hikino, NR Farnsworth. London: Academic Press, 1985, 155-215 [review].
3. Hikino H, Takahashi M, et al. Isolation and hypoglycemic activity of eleutherans A, B, C, D, E, F and G: glycans of Eleutberococcus senticosus roots. / Natural Prod 1986; 49: 293-97.
4. Wagner H, Nerr H, Winterhoff H. Plant adaptogens. Phytomed 1994; 1: 63-76 [review].
5. Farnsworth NR, Kinghorn AD, Soejarto DD, Waller DP. Siberian ginseng (Eleutberococcus senticosus) : Current status as an adaptogen. |
Textbook of Natural Medicine 2nd Edition Volume 2Michael T. Murray, ND
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| Economic and medicinal plant Research 1985; 1: 53-85
107. Sukenik S. Balneotherapy for rheumatoid arthritis at the Dead Sea. Isr Med J 1995; 31: 210-214
CHAPTER CON IbNIS
Diagnostic summary 1537
Rosacea
Michael T. Murray, ND Joseph E. |
Thomas Bartram
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 The mode by which a medicinal plant and its practical application in the treatment of disease produces an action will be determined by principles governing these three sciences.
The art of applying remedies to disease is known as therapeutics. Herbal therapeutics deal with the synergistic action between a number of complex chemical constituents present in a plant. The skilful use of remedies upon the sick is possible only after the student has acquired some knowledge of pharmacology. |
| MAYTENUS. medicinal plant which produces maytansine, a substance with anti-cancer properties. "It is a well-known Japanese remedy," says Dr Rene Haller. "You grind up the stem, mix it with vaseline. Applied to skin cancers it is effective."
M.E. Myalgic encephalomyelitis. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. See: MYALGIC ENCEPHALOMYELITIS.
MEADOWSWEET. Spireae ulmaria. Filipendula ulmaria L. German: Madesiiss. French: Ulmaire. Spanish: Ulmaria. Italian: Ulmaria. Leaves and stems. Contains salicin. The herbalist's bicarbonate of soda. |
| Wagner, "Economic & medicinal plant Research, vol 1, Pub: Academic Press (1985) UK) Uses. Chinese medicine: ulcers, infectious diseases.
Preparations. Powdered root: dose - 2-4 grams. 2-3 times daily.
Madaus: Tardolyt: a sodium salt of aristolochic acid.
BISR KHIL. The Khil plant is native to the Nile Valley. Seeds have a long traditional reputation as a kidney-stone breaker. Half an ounce seeds to 1 pint water; bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. All is drunk over the course of the day. Continue until positive response, allowing one week's rest after each three weeks.
BISTORT. |
James A. Duke, Ph.D.
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 Laying the Foundation
When I retired in 1995,1 figured that I should take my USDA medicinal plant Laboratory back home with me, at least spiritually. I'd gardened my farmette for years, introducing many medicinal herbs, but I'd never been all that organized about it. With more time on my hands, I began dreaming of a big garden filled with all the medicinal herbs that I could grow in rural Maryland. |
| REPPED: At the ripe young age of 72, after a career as a botanist with the USDA—much of it spent as chief of the medicinal plant Resources Laboratory—I have finally created my very own fountain of youth. Not a fountain, really, but a garden.
Originally, as I planned it, I called it the Green Farmacy Garden after a book I'd written, The Green Pharmacy. At the time, the play on words—-farm&cy—seemed fitting. My garden is a farm, actually a 6-acre farmette on a sunny hillside bordering a tree-lined brook in rural Fulton, Maryland. |
Kenny Ausubel
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 Stillingia, Stillingia sylvatica, also known as queen's root, is a medicinal plant of the Southeast known for its unsurpassed alterative influence on lymphatic and secretory functions. Eli Jones listed stillingia as another long-standing Eclectic remedy for internal cancer.53 An alcoholic extract of stillingia reduced tumor growth in mice with breast cancer transplants after nine days.54 According to Ward, in 1980 two German scientists discovered two new members of a chemical group with known antitumor activity in stillingia's root, the part used by Hoxsey. |
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