Getting the most out of herbs

Heather Little-White • Contributor

Free-growing herbs are
commonly used for health. Nature, by its very design, provides a remedy
for nearly any human disease. It is, therefore, essential to know how to
acquire and prepare these remedies. These free-growing herbs are
everywhere, but you may hardly know very much about them. The
acquisition, through gathering in the wild, is probably the most
inexpensive way to get the herbs you need.

Barkberry

Also known as oregon grape, it has berries that are golden in springtime and green during summer. The shrub grows along fences, stony pastures or rocky woodlands.

Uses

Barberry leaves are used for acne; roots and barks for ulcers, coughs, liver, cuts and bruises. It may be made into a tonic for heartburn and rheumatism.

Blackberry

Also called dewberry and raspberry, it is a shrubby, thorny perennial with thorns or prickly vines which produce edible berries.

Uses

For making jams, jellies, preserves, wines and cordials.

Dandelion

Also known as blow ball, common dandelion or red-seeded dandelion, it is easily identified by its big yellow blossoms which are really flower tubes which grow by them.

Uses

The leaves are excellent for making salads and other vegetable dishes. The roots may be used for making diuretics, tonics and laxatives. Highly recommended for snake bites.

Elderberry

Also known as sweet elder, tree of music, and scarlet elder, it grows from five-foot shrubs to 30-foot trees; found along shores, roads, around buildings and in the highest mountains.

Uses

Berries are used for pies, wines and jellies and the blossoms as tea. Flowers are known for their diuretic benefits. Bark may be used for inflammations and swellings.

Chicory

Also known as blue sailors, it is a flowering plant, growing one to four feet with roots close to the ground.

Uses

The root may be used as a coffee additive and the blanched leaves in salads. The leaves may be applied to swellings and inflammation. The root can also be used for jaundice or ailments of the liver.

Hawthorn

Also known as cockspur thorn, thorn plum or thorn bush, it is a showy bush or small tree which thrives along woodland rims and in moist ground along ponds and streams. The fruit looks like tiny apples.

Uses

May be used as a tonic for the heart and it may also be used for treating arthritis, rheumatism, arteriosclerosis and stress.

Horseradish

Also known as red cole or sting nose, it has white roots from which large, green leaves grow on long stalks. The white roots are fleshy and long, giving off a pungent smell when scraped.

Uses

A popular condiment for fish and meat. The roots and leaves are used in salads and the juice as cosmetic. Horseradish has been known to treat scurvy and worms in children.

Jerusalem artichoke

Also known as sunflower artichoke, earth apple, or sunflower root, it is a large perennial sunflower which grows in congested clusters to 10 feet tall and is found along roadsides, ditches, streams and in abandoned fields. The Jerusalem artichoke is easily identified by numerous flower heads, two or three inches in diameter, and lighter yellow than the typical sunflower.

Uses

May be eaten cooked or raw.

Milkweed

Also known as butterfly weed or cotton tree, grows from two to five feet high.

Uses

For treating ringworm, cuts and sores and for removing corns and calluses. Tea is used for coughs and mashed roots to reduce swelling.

Peppermint

Also known as penny royal and bee balm, it has several roots and forms runners underground with distinctive pointed oval leaves.

Uses

Young leaves used to make tea and added to salad greens.

Sassafras

Also known as cinnamon wood, tea tree or ague tree, it is a herbal tree with furrowed, reddish-brown bark. The leaves are aromatic when crushed. In the fall, they turn red and orange. Dark blue berries are produced and they ripen on thick red stems during fall.

Uses

Roots and bark are used for flavouring. The oil sourced from the bark is used in drug manufacturing.

Also known as giant or tall sunflower, it may range from three to 12 feet high with bright yellow ray flowers with hairy leaves.

Uses

For treating bronchial distress, colds and coughs, and for blisters and snake bites.

Stinging nettle

This is a single-stemmed perennial which grows up to seven feet tall with coarsely veined, egg-shaped or oblong 'sharply toothed' leaves. It is best to gather nettle with a scissors and gloves or paper bag.

Uses

For bronchial or asthmatic conditions. Seeds used as an antidote for poisonous stings and bites.

Red clover
Also known as broad-leaf clover, common clover or sweet clover, it is a biennial legume under two feet in height.

Uses

Blossoms used for flavouring cheese or tobacco and for making tea and bread.

Watercress

Also known as nasturtium, pepper leaf, it thrives in cold water and wet areas and is easily recognised by many white, threadlike roots. Leaves are dense and green with smooth wavy edges.

Uses

For constipation, coughs, head colds and asthma. Should not be taken by pregnant women.

Wintergreen

Also known as teaberry, mountain tea or spicy wintergreen, it is a trailing perennial with slender stems that weave through the soil. Small leaves remain on the plant during winter and become leathery with age.

Uses

Leaves used for mints, chewing gum flavouring and teas. May be used to treat rheumatism, boils, swellings and inflammation.

Willow

Also known as black willow, pussy willow or shining willow, it has saw-toothed leaves with slim, flexible twigs. Willows may be shrub-like but some become large or small trees.

Uses

Bark and berries used in aspirin production. Bark used for diarrhoea and fevers, rheumatism, headaches and dandruff.

Witch hazel

Also known as snapping hazel, spotted alder, tobacco wood or winter bloom, it is a crooked tree which may grow up to 15 feet high. It has fork-like branches with smooth brown bark. Witch hazel grows in dry to moist woods, usually on the borders of forests in rich soil or they may also thrive on rocky banks or streams.

Uses

Versatile as a mouthwash, a douche and for the treatment of piles. Leaves and twigs are used for varicose veins, inflammation, bed sores and inflamed eyes.