0Cucurmin Research and its Role in Cancer Treatment
Cucurmin is an active constituent of the spice turmeric, which comes from a plant called Cucurma longa. The plant is a member of the ginger family and produces rhizomes, which are thick underground stems that grow horizontally and send out both shoots and roots. Cucurmin is one of several compounds found in the rhizomes, called curcuminoids, that are found in turmeric and is considered the most biologically active. Curcumin has a long history in Asian medicine for the treatment of various diseases.
Curcumin has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties and there is some research that
indicates it might be helpful in some kinds of cancer. Inflammation may play a role in cancer, and
cucurmin may help counteract that effect. Some enzymes in the human body can help you eliminate potential cancer-causing substances, or carcinogens, while others are actually changed into carcinogens. Cucurmin may increase the activity of some enzymes that eliminate carcinogens.
Research on mice with breast cancer indicates cucurmin can decrease the spread of cancer to the lungs and may make the chemotherapy drug Taxol more effective. The breast cancer research was led by a team headed by B.B. Aggarwal, a professor of cancer research at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Another research group, led by Fei Ye of the MD Anderson Cancer Center has also shown that curcumin is effective in suppressing esophageal cancer cells.
Another research study on prostate cancer found curcumin may be able to prevent prostate cancer. A team of researchers in Luxembourg, led by Marie-Hélène Teiten, found that curcumin interferes with cancer cell development and prevents the cells from reproducing. Cucurmin also decreased the spread of prostate cancer. The researchers felt curcumin’s anti-inflammatory action was responsible for the beneficial effect and that curcumin showed promise as an alternative for prostate cancer treatment and prevention.
The research on curcumin, although promising, is still in its early stages. Curcumin should not be
considered a cancer treatment or preventative at this point. The research on curcumin has been done with animals or in the lab, and there are no studies on cucurmin’s effect in human cancers. More studies are being conducted to hope to find a better cure for low life-expectancy cancers. Hopefully there will emerge another favorable treatment against cancer.
Allison Brooks is fresh on the scene as a biomedical anthropologist. She recently graduated with a degree from the University of Mississippi and now travels a great deal to Bolivia to study the effects of biomedicalization on their culture. Through her studies, she has been getting into natural health and the use of herbs in healing, and in her off –time she likes to guest blog for people to spread the word.
by Allison Brooks on February 17th, 2012
Posted on January 6th, 2011
I want to follow up on my last blog by going into greater depth with some of the expectorant herbs, specifically, stimulating expectorants like Osha, Elecampane, and Grindelia. Then in the next blog we’ll discuss relaxing expectorants and anti-tussives like Wild Cherry, Mullein, and Pleurisy root.
Many of the stimulating expectorants are either aromatic and spicy or resinous and sticky, or both. Aromatic herbs have a dispersing energy and help break up thick mucus. But the resinous herbs are even stronger at breaking up stuck phlegm.
One of my favorite herbs to fight viral infections and clear mucous is Osha. With a taste like spicy celery, it has a warming and drying energy to help break up and dry out mucous. But I do try to use Osha in moderation as it only grows at high elevations in the Rocky mountains.
Osha works best for upper respiratory infections where things haven’t gone too deep in the lungs yet, where the infection is still in the nose/sinuses or just creeping into the lungs. Osha does work for allergies as well, but I usually use other herbs like Ragweed leaves or fresh Nettle leaf tincture.
The drying quality can be very useful here, and I only use it when there is some congestion, but to avoid overdoing it, Osha combines nicely with Licorice or honey as a syrup without hurting its medicinal use.
Elecampane is my favorite herb for deep lung issues like bronchitis or even pneumonia. With a bitter and a “deep” aromatic flavor with a resinous quality, Elecampane helps drag out gunk from deep in the lungs, heating things up and getting them moving like warming up refrigerated olive oil.
When I lived in upstate New York with those cold damp winters, I used this herb all the time as I would see at least a dozen bronchitis cases during the coldest months. Now that I live in North Carolina with a more variable winter, I don’t tend to use it as much. Still, a great herb for actively cleaning out the lungs, whether for acute or chronic lung issues. It was used historically for chronic “catarrhal” conditions, with catarrh meaning congested phlegm.
Gumweed (Grindelia squarrosa) is actually a stronger expectorant and good for tenacious sticky mucus. It is highly resinous, so works best as a tincture (resins are not very water soluble). Gumweed buds are so sticky the white resin is visible on the outside. It grows abundantly all across the western third of the U.S. This is a classic example of how resins tend to direct to the lungs and help break up phlegm, as seen in the classic White Pine Cough Syrup, which uses for medicine the same sticky sap you get on your shirt when you lean against a pine tree.
Next time we’ll get more into herbs that either soothe or suppress excessive coughing.
Many of the stimulating expectorants are either aromatic and spicy or resinous and sticky, or both. Aromatic herbs have a dispersing energy and help break up thick mucus. But the resinous herbs are even stronger at breaking up stuck phlegm.
One of my favorite herbs to fight viral infections and clear mucous is Osha. With a taste like spicy celery, it has a warming and drying energy to help break up and dry out mucous. But I do try to use Osha in moderation as it only grows at high elevations in the Rocky mountains.
Osha works best for upper respiratory infections where things haven’t gone too deep in the lungs yet, where the infection is still in the nose/sinuses or just creeping into the lungs. Osha does work for allergies as well, but I usually use other herbs like Ragweed leaves or fresh Nettle leaf tincture.
The drying quality can be very useful here, and I only use it when there is some congestion, but to avoid overdoing it, Osha combines nicely with Licorice or honey as a syrup without hurting its medicinal use.
Elecampane is my favorite herb for deep lung issues like bronchitis or even pneumonia. With a bitter and a “deep” aromatic flavor with a resinous quality, Elecampane helps drag out gunk from deep in the lungs, heating things up and getting them moving like warming up refrigerated olive oil.
When I lived in upstate New York with those cold damp winters, I used this herb all the time as I would see at least a dozen bronchitis cases during the coldest months. Now that I live in North Carolina with a more variable winter, I don’t tend to use it as much. Still, a great herb for actively cleaning out the lungs, whether for acute or chronic lung issues. It was used historically for chronic “catarrhal” conditions, with catarrh meaning congested phlegm.
Gumweed (Grindelia squarrosa) is actually a stronger expectorant and good for tenacious sticky mucus. It is highly resinous, so works best as a tincture (resins are not very water soluble). Gumweed buds are so sticky the white resin is visible on the outside. It grows abundantly all across the western third of the U.S. This is a classic example of how resins tend to direct to the lungs and help break up phlegm, as seen in the classic White Pine Cough Syrup, which uses for medicine the same sticky sap you get on your shirt when you lean against a pine tree.
Next time we’ll get more into herbs that either soothe or suppress excessive coughing.
by CoreyPine Shane on December 19th, 2010
Lung gunk. It’s that time of year when a simple cold can travel down into our lungs and cause problems, especially if we don’t take the time to rest and recuperate when we get sick. So prevention may be the best treatment, but what if it gets past that point? What to do when things get… well… sticky?
First thing to realize is that mucous is a good thing, but like all good things, it is best in moderation. Normally there is a thin layer of mucous coating our respiratory membranes that not only moistens and soothes the passages, but also acts like flypaper, trapping microbes, dust, pollen and other small particles so they can be brought out of the body, or (more commonly) tipped over the top of the trachea into the digestive tract to get burned up by stomach acid.
Mucous only becomes a problem when there is irritation or infection – the goblet cells produce more to protect the surface cells (epithelium) and to help get rid of the irritant. So the first stage of a respiratory infection or seasonal allergies is a runny drippy nose. After a few days of this, the goblet cells start to tire and “dry out” so that the drippy nose becomes the plugged up nose.
Now mucous doesn’t kill microbes, it just traps them so they can be disposed of. So if the body can’t effectively clear the mucous out, it can become a breeding ground for microbes. I see this happen often in people with chronic food allergies or sensitivities that then leads to chronic bronchitis or chronic sinusitis.
Often, people with chronic stuffy noses need to change their diet or lessen the amount of dairy they’re eating before even starting with herbs and supplements. The saying in Chinese Medicine is “Digestion (“the Spleen”) produces Dampness and the Lungs store Dampness.”
Which brings us to your classic winter-time bronchitis complete with thick mucous in the bronchioles, the branching tubes that bring air deep into the lungs for oxygen exchange. As should be clear by now, it’s not enough to just use herbs that kill bacteria, it is also necessary to change the underlying condition by getting rid of the excess fluid clogging things up and creating a home for infection.
So, a good question to ask is – Is the cough productive? Sometimes you want to stimulate expectoration to clear thick phlegm, sometimes you want to moisten and “water down” the mucous to make for easier passage, and sometimes you just want to stop the coughing. After all, coughing takes energy and can keep us from sleeping, our best time to heal.
Stimulating expectorant herbs include Elecampane root, Osha, Grindelia, Spikenard, Angelica, Lobelia, and Pleurisy root. Demulcent herbs used to moisten the lungs include Marshmallow, Plantain leaf, and Slippery Elm. Anti-tussive herbs that help stop coughing include Wild Cherry, Coltsfoot, and Elecampane flower.
Next blog we’ll talk about some of these herbs in greater depth.
First thing to realize is that mucous is a good thing, but like all good things, it is best in moderation. Normally there is a thin layer of mucous coating our respiratory membranes that not only moistens and soothes the passages, but also acts like flypaper, trapping microbes, dust, pollen and other small particles so they can be brought out of the body, or (more commonly) tipped over the top of the trachea into the digestive tract to get burned up by stomach acid.
Mucous only becomes a problem when there is irritation or infection – the goblet cells produce more to protect the surface cells (epithelium) and to help get rid of the irritant. So the first stage of a respiratory infection or seasonal allergies is a runny drippy nose. After a few days of this, the goblet cells start to tire and “dry out” so that the drippy nose becomes the plugged up nose.
Now mucous doesn’t kill microbes, it just traps them so they can be disposed of. So if the body can’t effectively clear the mucous out, it can become a breeding ground for microbes. I see this happen often in people with chronic food allergies or sensitivities that then leads to chronic bronchitis or chronic sinusitis.
Often, people with chronic stuffy noses need to change their diet or lessen the amount of dairy they’re eating before even starting with herbs and supplements. The saying in Chinese Medicine is “Digestion (“the Spleen”) produces Dampness and the Lungs store Dampness.”
Which brings us to your classic winter-time bronchitis complete with thick mucous in the bronchioles, the branching tubes that bring air deep into the lungs for oxygen exchange. As should be clear by now, it’s not enough to just use herbs that kill bacteria, it is also necessary to change the underlying condition by getting rid of the excess fluid clogging things up and creating a home for infection.
So, a good question to ask is – Is the cough productive? Sometimes you want to stimulate expectoration to clear thick phlegm, sometimes you want to moisten and “water down” the mucous to make for easier passage, and sometimes you just want to stop the coughing. After all, coughing takes energy and can keep us from sleeping, our best time to heal.
Stimulating expectorant herbs include Elecampane root, Osha, Grindelia, Spikenard, Angelica, Lobelia, and Pleurisy root. Demulcent herbs used to moisten the lungs include Marshmallow, Plantain leaf, and Slippery Elm. Anti-tussive herbs that help stop coughing include Wild Cherry, Coltsfoot, and Elecampane flower.
Next blog we’ll talk about some of these herbs in greater depth.
Posted on December 5th, 2009
Blood Movers – Chinese medicine idea using Western herbs
Movement, change, flexibility – It’s what makes something vibrant and alive. A still pond fills with algae but a flowing stream feeds the river and the ocean. Sit still and get bedsores and indigestion and vein problems; keep active and stay healthy. A key part of health is keeping things moving rather than letting them sit and fester.
And so in herbal medicine we have many herbs that help stimulate circulation, to get the blood and other fluids moving and help cleanse the blood. We might call these circulatory stimulants, alteratives and lymphatics in Western parlance, and in Chinese medicine either Qi movers or Blood movers. But how can we tell if we need these herbs, or even which herbs are best?
Although there are many levels of stagnation, one of the best ways to visualize blood stagnation is to imagine a bruise. Tissues get damaged, capillaries break and blood leaves the vessels and pools; soon the body walls it off until the mess can get cleaned up and reintegrated. Bruises are painful and sore and then there’s that tell-tale purple-ish color. Got that image?
Blood movers are great for bruises and other physical trauma (think Arnica or Tiger Balm), but sometimes the stagnation isn’t quite so obvious. Sometimes we don’t get the nice visual “black and blue” but just the pain and soreness. This might be the pain we experience in arthritis, in an old injury that never healed right, or in menstrual cramps as a few examples.
When blood flow slows in an area, there is less oxygen and nutrients coming in and also slower removal of waste products. Think about how twigs and leaves start to accumulate when a part of a stream becomes impeded and slows down. This stagnation of fluids creates an environment where unwanted growths can occur and so we see swollen lymph nodes, fibrocystic breasts, uterine fibroids, enlarged prostate and tumors, to name a few. Blood movers work great for these kind of growths as well.
So there are a broad range of indications for blood moving herbs because slowed circulation can manifest in many different kinds of problems. These herbs range in strength from gentle herbs that are taken for a long time to clear up long-standing stagnation like Red Clover, traditionally used in many cancer formulas, to strong and potentially toxic moving herbs like Poke root used for acute lymphatic congestion or Arnica used topically for bruises and muscle pain.
Four local herbs that all have the ability to move Blood are Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa, syn. Actea racemosa) Stone Root (Collinsonia canadensis), Sassafrass (Sassafrass albidum), and Red Root (Ceanothus americanus). Those familiar with these herbs will recognize that these plants have different uses and might not ordinarily be grouped together in western herbology.
Black Cohosh is probably the best known of these herbs. Often thought of as a “women’s herb” for menstrual cramps and hot flashes, I often use it for muscular and joint pain for everything from rheumatoid arthritis to fibromyalgia to whiplash. It is a mild vasodilator, meaning it opens up the blood vessels to allow more blood flow, which makes it useful for mild hypertension.
When you look at the old indications for Black Cohosh, you’ll see that before it was thought of as an herb for menstrual cramps and hot flashes, it was used to treat “rheumatism” – a general word for arthritic complaints – and also as a remedy for nerve pain. This is telling, since most pain relieving herbs in Chinese medicine achieve their effect by moving blood.
Stone root is a lesser known herb but is abundant in rich woods from north Georgia up through New York and deserves a better reputation. Though not a remedy for any one specific condition, and indeed it is an herb that can take some time to take effect, I find it an excellent addition to any formula to move Blood in the pelvic area. It is not as strong and quick a blood mover as Black Cohosh, but works better for long-standing conditions that have resulted in accumulations. In western terms, it is an excellent lymphatic and local circulatory stimulant.
So it ends up in formulas for uterine fibroids, enlarged lymph nodes of the pelvic/inguinal area, and ovarian cysts as well as in formulas for “congested blood” manifesting as hemorrhoids and varicose veins.
Red root has a stronger reputation but is still not as widely used as it should be. Red root has even broader uses than Stone root, being used for almost any kind of lymphatic stagnation from swollen lymph nodes during a cold to chronic swollen glands, and if anything is not quite so specific for the pelvic area.
This is another herb that is key to any treatment of uterine fibroids, fibrocystic breasts, ovarian cysts and even enlarged prostate. Unlike Stone root, it does not seem to directly affect congested veins but mainly the lymphatic tissue which would make it very useful for treatment of mono and any other disease that causes enlargement of the spleen.
And finally we have Sassafrass, that lovely tasting root that is the original taste of root beer. Well before tobacco became popular, Sassafrass was an important export from the early American colonies to a Europe desperate for a syphilis cure. By itself, I’m not sure how much this root would do for syphilis but if there ever was a time when antibiotics were no longer available, this is one of the plants I would think of as part of a larger protocol.
Just tasting this herb, you can tell that this relative of Cinnamon is a warming circulatory herb. Traditionally used a spring tonic to cleanse the blood of all the heavy starchy food of a winter devoid of California-grown produce, it is also an excellent alterative, or blood cleanser, helping the body gently cleanse out toxins. As such, it has a long tradition of use for many kinds of rheumatism, especially any kind of joint pain that is worse with cold and damp. It has also, like many alteratives, been used for chronic skin conditions and other conditions where toxins may be building up in the blood.
We can learn a lot by integrating the ideas and therapeutic approaches of Chinese herbal medicine with the use of local herbs. Looking through another lens at herbs we may or may not be familiar with, we can understand new uses of old herbs and also how to make better choices about which herb to use for what particular kinds of symptoms.
Be Well,
CoreyPine Shane
Director, Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine
Movement, change, flexibility – It’s what makes something vibrant and alive. A still pond fills with algae but a flowing stream feeds the river and the ocean. Sit still and get bedsores and indigestion and vein problems; keep active and stay healthy. A key part of health is keeping things moving rather than letting them sit and fester.
And so in herbal medicine we have many herbs that help stimulate circulation, to get the blood and other fluids moving and help cleanse the blood. We might call these circulatory stimulants, alteratives and lymphatics in Western parlance, and in Chinese medicine either Qi movers or Blood movers. But how can we tell if we need these herbs, or even which herbs are best?
Although there are many levels of stagnation, one of the best ways to visualize blood stagnation is to imagine a bruise. Tissues get damaged, capillaries break and blood leaves the vessels and pools; soon the body walls it off until the mess can get cleaned up and reintegrated. Bruises are painful and sore and then there’s that tell-tale purple-ish color. Got that image?
Blood movers are great for bruises and other physical trauma (think Arnica or Tiger Balm), but sometimes the stagnation isn’t quite so obvious. Sometimes we don’t get the nice visual “black and blue” but just the pain and soreness. This might be the pain we experience in arthritis, in an old injury that never healed right, or in menstrual cramps as a few examples.
When blood flow slows in an area, there is less oxygen and nutrients coming in and also slower removal of waste products. Think about how twigs and leaves start to accumulate when a part of a stream becomes impeded and slows down. This stagnation of fluids creates an environment where unwanted growths can occur and so we see swollen lymph nodes, fibrocystic breasts, uterine fibroids, enlarged prostate and tumors, to name a few. Blood movers work great for these kind of growths as well.
So there are a broad range of indications for blood moving herbs because slowed circulation can manifest in many different kinds of problems. These herbs range in strength from gentle herbs that are taken for a long time to clear up long-standing stagnation like Red Clover, traditionally used in many cancer formulas, to strong and potentially toxic moving herbs like Poke root used for acute lymphatic congestion or Arnica used topically for bruises and muscle pain.
Four local herbs that all have the ability to move Blood are Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa, syn. Actea racemosa) Stone Root (Collinsonia canadensis), Sassafrass (Sassafrass albidum), and Red Root (Ceanothus americanus). Those familiar with these herbs will recognize that these plants have different uses and might not ordinarily be grouped together in western herbology.
Black Cohosh is probably the best known of these herbs. Often thought of as a “women’s herb” for menstrual cramps and hot flashes, I often use it for muscular and joint pain for everything from rheumatoid arthritis to fibromyalgia to whiplash. It is a mild vasodilator, meaning it opens up the blood vessels to allow more blood flow, which makes it useful for mild hypertension.
When you look at the old indications for Black Cohosh, you’ll see that before it was thought of as an herb for menstrual cramps and hot flashes, it was used to treat “rheumatism” – a general word for arthritic complaints – and also as a remedy for nerve pain. This is telling, since most pain relieving herbs in Chinese medicine achieve their effect by moving blood.
Stone root is a lesser known herb but is abundant in rich woods from north Georgia up through New York and deserves a better reputation. Though not a remedy for any one specific condition, and indeed it is an herb that can take some time to take effect, I find it an excellent addition to any formula to move Blood in the pelvic area. It is not as strong and quick a blood mover as Black Cohosh, but works better for long-standing conditions that have resulted in accumulations. In western terms, it is an excellent lymphatic and local circulatory stimulant.
So it ends up in formulas for uterine fibroids, enlarged lymph nodes of the pelvic/inguinal area, and ovarian cysts as well as in formulas for “congested blood” manifesting as hemorrhoids and varicose veins.
Red root has a stronger reputation but is still not as widely used as it should be. Red root has even broader uses than Stone root, being used for almost any kind of lymphatic stagnation from swollen lymph nodes during a cold to chronic swollen glands, and if anything is not quite so specific for the pelvic area.
This is another herb that is key to any treatment of uterine fibroids, fibrocystic breasts, ovarian cysts and even enlarged prostate. Unlike Stone root, it does not seem to directly affect congested veins but mainly the lymphatic tissue which would make it very useful for treatment of mono and any other disease that causes enlargement of the spleen.
And finally we have Sassafrass, that lovely tasting root that is the original taste of root beer. Well before tobacco became popular, Sassafrass was an important export from the early American colonies to a Europe desperate for a syphilis cure. By itself, I’m not sure how much this root would do for syphilis but if there ever was a time when antibiotics were no longer available, this is one of the plants I would think of as part of a larger protocol.
Just tasting this herb, you can tell that this relative of Cinnamon is a warming circulatory herb. Traditionally used a spring tonic to cleanse the blood of all the heavy starchy food of a winter devoid of California-grown produce, it is also an excellent alterative, or blood cleanser, helping the body gently cleanse out toxins. As such, it has a long tradition of use for many kinds of rheumatism, especially any kind of joint pain that is worse with cold and damp. It has also, like many alteratives, been used for chronic skin conditions and other conditions where toxins may be building up in the blood.
We can learn a lot by integrating the ideas and therapeutic approaches of Chinese herbal medicine with the use of local herbs. Looking through another lens at herbs we may or may not be familiar with, we can understand new uses of old herbs and also how to make better choices about which herb to use for what particular kinds of symptoms.
Be Well,
CoreyPine Shane
Director, Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine
Posted on June 29th, 2009
Still getting the hang of blogging, and now I’ve got some stored up I’ll publish a few in a row. Today’s blog is about the plants blooming right now, and my next one will be about local herbs that are blood movers.
I’ve been watching flower colors this year, wondering if different colors represent the pollinators of different seasons. But so far, it seems that at least white flowers go through all the seasons.
Back in May we had a few white-flowered trees – the famous Dogwoods (Cornus florida) of course, and the beautiful off-white umbels of Black Haw (Viburnum prunifolium), truly a stronger antispasmodic than the closely related Cramp Bark (Viburnum opulus), with an action deeper in the body.
Then came the cherry blossoms, not the much-photographed flowers of Tokyo and Washington DC fame, but the Wild Cherry (Prunus serotina) with bottle-brush bundles of small white flowers that lined the highways and streets. I often wait for a windstorm then check to see if some of the fragile cherry limbs have come down to make medicine with. The bark is one of the best cough suppressors, but usually used after flower because of the potential for cyanide-like compounds in the bark during flowering time. Wild Cherry can make a great cough syrup or tincture.
But now we have the Elder blossoms (Sambucus canadensis), still blooming after weeks open. Elder is blooming all over my land, especially where there’s partial shade over a stream. Look for a small tree/shrub with big umbels of cream-colored flowers with a peculiar smell.
Although the berries are used most often as an anti-viral, I use the Elder flowers when I want a more drying effect, for example as an added herb during a sinus infection or drippy allergy noses. Made as a hot tea, it makes a great sweating herb for low-grade fevers. Drink a hot tea of Elder flowers, Yarrow flowers and Peppermint while sitting in a hot bath. When you’ve had enough and start getting woozy, get out and go lie in bed on some towels and you’ll probably fall fast asleep. Nine times out of ten, you’ll wake up with no fever whatsoever.
In the woods, we have more white flowers – Wild Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) and Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa, syn. Actea racemosa). Black Cohosh is one of the most popular herbs in modern herbal medicine and is the subject of a future article, but for now lets think about it as an anti-spasmodic, nervine, and hormone balancer.
Hydrangea is an under-rated and under-used herb that is excellent as an anti-inflammatory for the urinary tract. I most often use it combined with Stone Root (Collinsonia canadensis) and Gravel Root (Eupatorium purpureum) for kidney stones. But it can also be used for chronic irritation of the urinary tract, which could make it seem like one has a constant urinary tract infection. Hydrangea root, by itself or combined with the other herbs, could be a useful herb for just such a situation, even if it’s Interstitial Cystitis.
So that’s all the white flowers I can see from my window, so I’ll end here for now. In a month we’ll talk about some of the red flowers. But look for my next blog on blood movers.
Be Well,
CoreyPine Shane
Director, Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine
I’ve been watching flower colors this year, wondering if different colors represent the pollinators of different seasons. But so far, it seems that at least white flowers go through all the seasons.
Back in May we had a few white-flowered trees – the famous Dogwoods (Cornus florida) of course, and the beautiful off-white umbels of Black Haw (Viburnum prunifolium), truly a stronger antispasmodic than the closely related Cramp Bark (Viburnum opulus), with an action deeper in the body.
Then came the cherry blossoms, not the much-photographed flowers of Tokyo and Washington DC fame, but the Wild Cherry (Prunus serotina) with bottle-brush bundles of small white flowers that lined the highways and streets. I often wait for a windstorm then check to see if some of the fragile cherry limbs have come down to make medicine with. The bark is one of the best cough suppressors, but usually used after flower because of the potential for cyanide-like compounds in the bark during flowering time. Wild Cherry can make a great cough syrup or tincture.
But now we have the Elder blossoms (Sambucus canadensis), still blooming after weeks open. Elder is blooming all over my land, especially where there’s partial shade over a stream. Look for a small tree/shrub with big umbels of cream-colored flowers with a peculiar smell.
Although the berries are used most often as an anti-viral, I use the Elder flowers when I want a more drying effect, for example as an added herb during a sinus infection or drippy allergy noses. Made as a hot tea, it makes a great sweating herb for low-grade fevers. Drink a hot tea of Elder flowers, Yarrow flowers and Peppermint while sitting in a hot bath. When you’ve had enough and start getting woozy, get out and go lie in bed on some towels and you’ll probably fall fast asleep. Nine times out of ten, you’ll wake up with no fever whatsoever.
In the woods, we have more white flowers – Wild Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) and Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa, syn. Actea racemosa). Black Cohosh is one of the most popular herbs in modern herbal medicine and is the subject of a future article, but for now lets think about it as an anti-spasmodic, nervine, and hormone balancer.
Hydrangea is an under-rated and under-used herb that is excellent as an anti-inflammatory for the urinary tract. I most often use it combined with Stone Root (Collinsonia canadensis) and Gravel Root (Eupatorium purpureum) for kidney stones. But it can also be used for chronic irritation of the urinary tract, which could make it seem like one has a constant urinary tract infection. Hydrangea root, by itself or combined with the other herbs, could be a useful herb for just such a situation, even if it’s Interstitial Cystitis.
So that’s all the white flowers I can see from my window, so I’ll end here for now. In a month we’ll talk about some of the red flowers. But look for my next blog on blood movers.
Be Well,
CoreyPine Shane
Director, Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine
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