1. ENGLISH DAISY (Bellis perenis) Part used: flowers
These are the small white flowers growing in your lawn (right next to the dandelions – as I look out the window). Pick the flower heads and make a tea (don’t bother about the almost microscopic black bugs). The flavor is almost non-existent – rather like drinking water. This is a very safe herb, with no upper limit to dosage.
Why should I bother bending down and picking these tiny flowers? I do it mostly to help my blood vessels. Bellis is a tonic for both arteries and veins. So drink the tea (or make an alcohol extraction) for varicose veins and inflammations of the arteries or just for the general toning effect on the vessels.
English daisy (also called ‘lawn daisy’) is also used for coughs and mucus in the lungs. The sapoinins and mucilage in the plant are amphoteric for lung tissue (a big word meaning these chemicals in the plant have both a stimulating or relaxing effect, depending on what the body needs – God is so amazing!).
Caution: Since this herb is in the Sunflower family (Asteracea) try just a sip of tea at first, since many people seem to be allergic to these flowers.
Common proverb: “When you can put your foot on seven daisies, summer is come.”
2. DANDELION (Taraxicum off)
This plant has probably saved thousands of lives over the centuries. In earlier times when fresh vegetables were not available in the winter, herbalists dug up dandelion roots for healing in the winter, and recommended eating the leaves as soon as possible in the spring. But- “How the mighty have fallen.” Now we buy weed killers to extinguish dandelions from our lawns and go to the store to buy vitamin supplements!
Dandelion is an excellent source of calcium, potassium, iron, manganese, phosphorus, sodium and trace minerals. It is a good source of Vitamin A, B1, and C.
Medicinally, Taraxicum is used as a diuretic, with edema or high blood pressure (which makes it a valuable plant to use since it also replaces lost potassium from the kidneys). Since it is a bitter green, it also stimulates and aids digestion.
Dandelion is a wonderful herb for cleansing the liver, since it is gentle and does not over-stimulate the organ as many liver herbs do. It helps the gall bladder to produce and release bile and is used with any gall bladder problem.
Eat the tender leaves in salads, or dry the leaves and the root to make capsules or tea later.
You could also make a tincture (alcohol extraction) of the fresh or dried herb.
Dandelion can be used all year, except at the very end of summer because of the heavy buildup of inula in the plant. After the first frost it can be used again.
This plant is in the Asteracea family of plants, so use caution if there are existing allergies to this family.
3. HORSETAIL (Equisetum arvense)
Horsetail, sometimes called Shavegrass, is a common plant found in damp woods and gardens. Most people have trouble eradicating it from their garden, but I transplant it and hope it grows. Well, maybe not in the garden, but in our woods. This plant is easily identified because of the stem which grows in sections and can be pulled apart.
Horsetail is harvested in the spring while it is still only one foot high. As it grows it picks up too much silicon from the soil. It can be used fresh or dried. It dries quickly and can be powdered and made into capsules. The fresh plant can be juiced, tinctured, or made into a tea or infused oil.
So why would you go to this trouble? Horsetail is a wonderful herb for the joints, connective tissue, and for the urinary system. It is used for arthritis, especially if there is a fluid buildup around the joints, since it acts to relieve inflammation and remove the excess fluid.
Horsetail is used for all urinary tract disorders – infections, incontinence, blood in the urine, prostate inflammation or enlargement.
An interesting historical note, Horsetail plant has been used to polish woodwork and scour milk pails because of the abrasive quality of the stem.
