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A Practical Herbal - A

Practical Herbal and herbs
Helpful herb and plant notions.
Grass and other plants can grow through cement. This article shares backup knowledge about how to use them in your own body . . .

WORDS OF CAUTION: Any information given on this page is not intended to be taken as a replacement for medical advice. Any person with a condition requiring medical attention should consult a well qualified practitioner or therapist.
Besides, careful, judicious "well medleys" are presupposed throughout:

Plant knowhow

Life is an ongoing process. In times of need delicate attunements are said to offer help. Plants or parts of plants can be used

to prevent a bad cold;
to accelerate the healing process;
as body tonics and helpers of various kinds;
or for the sake of balancing in a somewhat offensive environment.

Any of these approaches may work favourably and some others too. It depends on causes, symptoms and the medical values of the herb parts involved, doesn't it?

How to use this work

A Practical Herbal contains

Very many commonly used herbs, describes their properties and explains major uses on top of herbal lore (tradition) and more recent medical research;
Can be used to favour ‘family self-help’, if one is careful;
Easy-to-follow instructions showing how to prepare herbal tinctures, describes the actions infusions and decocts may have on a body;
Goes into such as holistic treatment of specific conditions and problems; and tries to place herbal lore in a wider context and shows plants in their relationship to healing and wider concerns.
A therapeutic index indicates which herbs might be useful for particular diseases;
We let others offer advice on how and when and where to harvest and store.

We encourage no risk-taking, no hazards, but general competence that takes into view the individual in his sets of circumstances, which may differ considerably.
Many plants and plant parts have solidly documented effects, but not all of them. They may still work well, for untested doesn't have to mean failing, by all means. There are complementary, much variegated traditonal proposals or 'recipes' handed over to be tried out as perhaps "last resorts" in such areas. It should work well, theoretically speaking.

Individuals have individual needs, and then there are much common needs also

A herbal is a book about plants especially with reference to their medicinal properties. A herb is a plant or plant part valued for its medicinal, savory, or aromatic qualities. A herbalist ("herb doctor") is one who practices healing by the use of herbs and/or collects or grows herbs.
   Now, plants are in part ingenious "factories of many chemicals". There are some unknown to men today as well. Some are good for us, like those in a cabbage. Others have poisonous effects, at least if given in too large doses, or too long. Hence, plants are containers of chemical substances that demand that we get a good, broad enough picture of things and what is at stake. In addition to general competence, very much varies with the individuals. Such factors as size of inner organs and how effectively they may work in an individual need to be taken into account. Some vital organs get less effective with age as well. [Cf. Pao ch 1]
   With these and other cautions well in mind, one may get going to restore, maintain or build better well-being that should be free from side-effects.
   The gift of herbal knowhow is summarised:

"This diversity and abundance of healing plants is at once both the gift of herbalism and the frustration of every student of herbs!"
- David Hoffmann, President of the American Herbalist Guild and Director of the California School fo Herbal Studies, premier centre of herbal education in the USA. [Tih 14]

A bunch of quite needed cautions

Things depend on part on where on the globe you live, under what conditions you are. We have some "built-in", very needed cautions below; select cautiously:

Don't let your self-help gentle plant treatment interfere in any harful way with diagnosis and/or treatment by competent medical personell. It can be dangerous.
Try to get competent persons select plants, fair and fit dosages, ways of intake and length of 'plant uses' for you. That could work better than if you try it on your own for a year and half.
Don't overdo it. Get rest from plant intakes at intervals. Such intervals may vary. Know how long you should persevere in using certain plants.
Don't think your medical doctor is a herbal expert, necessarily. There are some that have acquired fair knowledge of herbs and herb uses, and perhaps a majority who haven't.

Considerations like these can be vital to health and well-being. You have to know these and many other things if you favour self-help in these waters.

Good plant uses

Fig. 1: The uses of plants, plant parts and plant products.

Food and drink: There are particulars involved in foods we eat, even at daily meals. Vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and much else.
Herbs and spices: The biodynamic agriculture movement holds that apart from the physical substances in plants, they have formative powers too, and vitality that may be ours by chewing, steaming and perhaps preparing items a bit further.
Herbal treatment: Both fresh and dried parts of plants may be used. Some plants and plant parts are poisonous. Even a common potato will become a bit poisonous if exposed to so much light that it becomes green. And potato "apples" above the ground are even worse. Apart from the specific chemical value of a herb there is a brighter side to it, according to some treatment avenues we won't go into here.
Specialist treatment: Bach flower remedies. Homeopathic treatment. Baths with herbal oils - In part aroma therapy. The two former are "derived" from the subtler essence of plants and plant parts. That is the theory.
Strolling around among them: Francis Bacon said a garden is the purest of human pleasures [Oq 163]. One may imbibe or get soaked in the influence of trees, bushes, shrubs and other plants by strolling around in nature or one's garden. This influence may be called magma, from the Greek 'thick unguent' (used figuratively here). 'Magma' also suggests being "mixed together by contact, without loss of individual existence" - go for a garden walk and let it happen . . . To try to derive benefit or increase it, one should let the influence be steady, much regular and much frequent. A suggestion: three times a day, five minutes each time. More often won't harm anyone, will it?

Poem
The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's Heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.
- Dorothy Frances Gurney (1858-1932)

There is overlapping among the five sectors. Avoid hazards.

Adjoined

Ffs: Too, Lillian: The Fundamentals of Feng Shui. Mustard/Parragon. Bath, 1999.
   Hep: Starý, Fr.: Helbredende planter fra hele Europa: særpreg - virkning - tilberedning. Schibsted. Oslo, 1975.
   Hh: Garland, Sarah: Hjemmets store bok om Helseplanter, urter og krydder. Hjemmets bokforlag. Oslo, 1980.
   Huvs: Marcussen, Marcus: Helbredende urter: Deres virkning, sammensetning og anvendelse. Bye og Børresen. Oslo, 1950.
   Mep: Pahlov, Mannfried: Mitt eget planteapotek. Kolibri. Oslo, 1986.
   Mmo: Mességué, Maurice: Mennesker og planter: (en urteleges erindringer). Gyldendal. Oslo, 1973.
   Mun: Thomson, William, hovedred.: Medisinske urter: Naturens legende planter. Teknologisk Forlag. Oslo, 1982.
   Nas: Parmann, Georg og Diesen, Tove: Naturens spiskammer: Plukkeguide fra vår til høst. Schibsted. Oslo, 1979.
   Nif: Vasshaug, Jørgen: Nyttevekster i farger. Aschehoug. Oslo, 1957.
   Nvp: Høydahl, Harald S, hovedred.: Nyttevekstboka: Ville planter til mat og drikke. Dreyer. Oslo, 1979.
   Pefs: Hale, Gill: The Practical Encyclopedia of Feng Shui. Annes Publishing Ltd. London, 1999.
   Svm: Nilsson, Anne: Spiselige vekster i skog og mark. Cappelen. Oslo, 1976.
   Tih: Hoffmann, David: The Complete Illustrated Herbal: A Safe and Practial Guide to Making and Using Herbal Remedies. Mustard/Parragon. Bath, 1999.

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