Many powerful herbs with healing properties can be found right in our local surroundings. From ancient remedies to modern wellness, these street herbs offer incredible benefits.
Chamomile, a time-honored herb dating back to Hippocrates, provides relief from a wide range of conditions, including anxiety, digestive issues, and skin irritations.
Self-Heal, with its remarkable resemblance to the mouth, has been used traditionally for sore throats and immune support.
Cleavers, often overlooked, aids in detoxification and supports lymphatic health. In this blog, we'll delve into the therapeutic qualities of these accessible herbs and how they can enhance your well-being.
Chamomile (Matricaria recuita) is a flowering plant in the daisy (Asteraceae) family. Chamomile has been used as an herbal remedy since the time of Hippocrates, the father of medicine, in 500 BC. The list of conditions for which it's been used is extensive. It includes insomnia, anxiety, mild fever, headaches, kidney, liver, and bladder problems, digestive upset, muscle spasms, anxiety, insomnia, skin irritations, bruises, gout, ulcers, rheumatic pain, hay fever, inflammation, hemorrhoids, colic, and menstrual disorders.
The benefits of chamomile are likely stem from the fact that the essential oil and flower extracts derived from chamomile contain more than 120 chemical constituents, many of which are pharmacologically active.
Self-Heal is a fantastic example of the doctrine of signatures (where the plant resembles what part of the body it may be beneficial) in this case self heal has traditionally been used for the mouth and the little purple flowers it blooms look like little mouths, another interesting fact is that the botanical prunella name comes from the German word for quinsy (a sore throat caused by a tonsil abscess) traditionally self heal was said to be one of the only available treatment for them.
They are most abundant in spring, but I just found some in my garden with the weeds, I happen to have some lymphatic oedema right now and this plant is fantastic at helping to flush and promote lymphatic drainage. If you are foraging be mindful to pick from areas away from pollutants like car fumes and pesticide spraying.
Wash the picked clevers in water and submerge in a jug with chilled water, allow to soak for around an hour and drink 3 to 4 cups daily.