Medicinal Plants

Healthy Through the Power of Nature

Dr. Angela Fetzner, GN Olsen

• Publisher: Dr. Angela Raab née Fetzner
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781547599714
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Alternative & Complementary Medicine

What Will I Find in This Book? Herbal medicine - the oldest form of treatment in the world
Natural remedies, especially medicinal plants, have long been the only remedy for doctors and pharmacists. Medicinal plants also served as important raw materials for the production of medicines.
Determine, collect and dry medicinal plants
Medicinal plants can be found almost everywhere in nature - on meadows, in the forest, on the wayside. This book explains how to collect medicinal plants and determine which plant parts to use, whether it's the flowers, leaves, fruits, roots or bark.
Herbal preparations - medicinal plants can be used in a variety of ways
The simplest usage form of medicinal herbs is tea. However, there is a far greater range of uses of medicinal plants. Known medicinal herb preparations include e.g. tinctures, ointments, creams; they can also be used in baths. The book provides an overview of the preparation and use of the individual dosage forms.

Prologue

Medicinal herbs have been used for millennia and are used in all cultures around the world. Already in antiquity, healers described the multifaceted effects of tinctures, infusions and ointments made from healing plants. In Europe, the ancient Greeks were the first to cultivate the art of healing with herbs. The experiences with medicinal herbs are mainly based on the practices of Dioscorides and Theophrastus.

The Romans also brought many plants, along with knowledge of their uses, to Central Europe. In the Middle Ages, it was the monasteries that provided for the continued cultivation and distribution of medicinal herbs from the 8th century onwards.

In the Renaissance period, the "fathers of botany" - including Leonhart Fuchs, Hieronymus Bock, and Otto Brunfels - created richly illustrated herbal books that were widely spread through the invention of book printing.

Many findings of that time can be confirmed by modern science today - on the other hand, many of the earlier uses of medicinal plants have been rejected over time.

You, too, can draw from nature's springs and harness the power of medicinal herbs. You must, however, treat the medicinal plants with the respect and care that they are due. The knowledge about medicinal herbs and their possible uses can show you how to cure yourself from diseases e.g. colds, gastrointestinal complaints, minor injuries, joint complaints as well as sleep disorders and nervousness.

The ingredients contained in medicinal herbs are widely varied. However, they often manifest their healing powers only in interaction with each other - and that is precisely what makes medicinal plants unique.

Appropriate Collection of Medicinal Herbs

Before you start planting, you should remember the most important principle: You must not pick an herb that you are unfamiliar with under any circumstances.

You should also make sure to harvest only fresh leaves, unwooded stems and unwithered flowers. Also, only choose healthy plants. Do not pick herbs from sooty, dusty slopes or from freshly fertilized fields. Medicinal plants should also not be harvested in the vicinity of intensively cultivated fields, as pesticides can reach the neighboring fields, due to e.g. strong wind. Walking trails where dogs are walked and where dog leavings ‘grace’ the fields should not be among your preferred collection areas.

Be careful when collecting plants and do not rip the plants out with the roots. If you want to reap roots, you should not dig up the entire root. Never collect excessive amounts, and give other plant lovers the chance to enjoy the medicinal plants.

Endangered plants should not be picked under any circumstances - this not only damages the stock, but it may also be a punishable offence. Information about which plants are endangered - and which must therefore be protected - is provided by the so-called Red List. Aside from this, do not enter any agricultural or other private land.

Identify the Plants Immediately

Determine the medicinal herbs as quickly and as accurately as possible. Avoid collecting plants that you cannot clearly identify. Many plants have a poisonous "double" - such plants are best left unpicked; a mix-up in such circumstances can have very dangerous - possibly fatal - consequences. Therefore, before collecting, find out about the plants you want to collect. Bring notes and photos with you to the field or forest, depending on where you collect plants. The book "Excursion Flora" by Rothmaler is a classic plant identification book. Due to its scientific thoroughness, the book is also used in pharmacy studies to determine plants.

As far as the mix-up with doppelgangers is concerned: wild garlic, for example, is one of the most popular medicinal plants that are often harvested by collectors. But the wild garlic has two dangerous doppelgangers: the lily-of-the-valley and the meadow saffron.

The wild garlic exudes an intense garlic odor, of course (due to the sulfur compound allicin), which is considered by many to be the feature that distinguishes it from the lily-of-the-valley and the meadow saffron.

Sometimes, however, a lily-of-the-valley cluster is placed within a wild garlic area, making it even more difficult to distinguish them by smell, especially since the intense wild garlic smell remains on one’s own hands, and the smell becomes less noticeable over time. In such instances, they can only be distinguished from each other based on the appearance of the leaves, ideally with the help of a plant identification book.

Even cow parsley is subject to being misidentified, as it can easily be confused with the highly poisonous hemlock. Here, too, you will need to refer to accompanying literature; when dealing with plant identification, do not simply dismiss doubts.

Only Collect on Dry Days

Harvest time is weather-dependent. The best time to harvest is at the end of a prolonged period of fine weather. If it has rained for a long time, you should wait one or two sunny days before harvesting. The most favorable collection time for medicinal plants is the morning on beautiful, rain-free days, as soon as the dew has dried off the plants. To avoid molding, the plants must not be damp.

On the other hand, roots should be harvested before sunrise, as the active substances stored overnight in the roots begin to flow back into the upper parts of the plant.

What is the Appropriate Time for the Collection of Plant Parts?

Each plant has a growing season which runs from spring to fall. For each plant part, there is a certain period in the year in which its level of active substances peaks. Buds are harvested in early spring, foliage before the flowering period, and sprouts in the fall. Fruits should always be collected when ripe, and flowers should be gathered at the beginning of the flowering period. Seeds should only be removed from the plant when the withered inflorescences are already drying and the seeds begin to detach by themselves. It is best to gather roots in early spring as soon as the plant starts growing, or in the fall when the herb begins to ripen. Bark, resin and juice, on the other hand, are collected in early summer, preferably as the moon waxes.

Depending on the latitude and longitude, flowering period deviations of up to five weeks may occur. You must account for this shift, e.g. when you wish to collect medicinal herbs in the mountains.

Of course, there are certain exceptions to these general rules. For example, tanneriferous plants (e.g. walnuts, blackberries) have the highest level of active ingredients in the leaves in summer, at which point they should be harvested.

The Following Tools Are Required for the Harvesting of Medicinal Plants

• airy wicker basket, or other woven basket

• sharp ceramic scissors

• strong, sharp ceramic knife

• string (cord or raffia, no metal)

Medicinal herbs should not come into contact with plastic or metal when harvested.

Flowers are best harvested by hand, in order to pluck the entire calyx. To harvest the leaves, cut off the leaves with the stems using the scissors, then take off the stems.

Tie Bouquets Together Immediately

If you need to dry whole plants, you can tie them up immediately and, once you get home, hang them up to dry as a bouquet of herbs. 15 to 20 plants are enough for one bouquet. When tying, do not cut the twine too short, rather, let another 30 centimeters remain for hanging later on. Use cord or raffia to tie up the bouquet; you must never use a metal wire for this.

After a certain drying time, the bouquet must be re-tied, as the plant stalks become thinner due to the evaporation of water.

Properly Dry Medicinal Plants

The medicinal herbs should be dried as soon as possible after collection to avoid mold and other problems. The length of the drying period depends on the water content of the plants. Prior to drying, medicinal plants should never be washed in order to prevent initiation of enzymatic processes. Withered and unclean leaves, on the other hand, should be removed; aside from this, plants should be dried while as intact as possible.

A space such as a dust-free, airy, dark attic is well-suited for drying. A well-ventilated, dark storage room is equally suitable. Good ventilation is necessary so that the moisture that arises from the drying process can escape. The drying temperature should neither be too warm nor too cold, so that gentle drying is possible.

You should not dry the delicate herbs in a warm oven or in the sun. If the medicinal herbs are dried in full sunlight, the ingredients will be altered (e.g. due to oxidation).

Roots and bark pieces are exceptions to this rule. They are allowed to dry in the sun. A dehydrator is also suitable for drying roots; the temperature must not exceed 50°C.

Loosely Spread Flowers and Other Plant Parts

First, the plant parts are thoroughly examined, freed from foreign bodies, and sorted appropriately. Then they are laid out loosely on a white paper or a cloth. It is best to place the cloth or paper on a grid to allow the herbs to breathe from below. From time to time. you should inspect and turn over the plant parts during the drying phase. The height of the pile of drying plant parts should not be exceed two centimeters. Fruits are dried with even more breathing space on a cloth or solely on the grid, but they should not be mixed with other plant parts.

The plant parts must dry well, but they m...

Table of contents

• What will I find in this book? 6
• Prologue 8