Posted by Les Mauvaises Herbes
Spring is full of promise, and your head is overflowing with dreams and plans for the beautiful season ahead. This column will allow you to develop your own natural pharmacy, so that you can explore natural remedies using four plants from the traditional pharmacopoeia:
- American arnica (Arnica chamissonis)
- Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
- St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum)
- Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Cultivating your natural pharmacy
These four plants produce splendid, vibrant flowers. They are sure to brighten up your garden, your flower beds, or even your balcony planters! These flowers are not only beautiful but also harbor therapeutic powers for the prevention and relief of everyday minor ailments.
Working the soil allows you to take a moment to slow down and connect with nature and yourself. It has even been scientifically proven that gardening has an antidepressant effect! You will never look at plants the same way again after growing them yourself and witnessing their growth from seed to flower! Afterward, you are free to explore the thousand and one ways to transform them into your own medicinal potions: tinctures, syrups, infused oils, and ointments, just to name a few.
A significant bonus: the four varieties offered in our kit are melliferous plants that attract pollinators like bees, bumblebees, and even hummingbirds! We know that the role of pollinators is crucial to the balance of our ecosystem, so sowing plants that feed them is a way to contribute to the diversity of flora and fauna.
Without further ado, here are our four favorite plants for developing your natural pharmacy at home!
Important: Unless otherwise indicated, it should be noted that the internal use of these plants is intended for healthy adults. We recommend follow-up with a qualified herbalist or naturopath in case of health issues, medication use, or pregnancy.
American arnica
Arnica is well-known to the athletes of this world! It is a must-have for any natural pharmacy. It helps reduce inflammation and pain in joints and muscles and is useful in cases of trauma such as bruises, sprains, dislocations, and repetitive stress injuries: tendonitis, bursitis, and capsulitis. It can be used before and after physical exercise. It helps tone blood vessels and relieve heavy legs and edema.
Arnica produces small, easy-to-grow plants teeming with beautiful yellow flowers. The plant can reach 50 cm. Arnica chamissonis (American arnica) has the same properties as Arnica montana (mountain arnica), which is better known but unfortunately over-harvested. Moreover, American arnica is better adapted to our North American climate than its cousin.
Cultivation
We recommend starting arnica seeds indoors, 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost, at the end of March or early April in Quebec. However, you should know that arnica germination can take a long time; it varies from 10 to 60 days. Arnica loves light; the seeds must be planted on the surface.
Arnica is a perennial that will return every year if grown in the ground. It can be propagated by replanting part of its rhizome. It loves the sun but appreciates partial shade during heat waves, and it needs moist soil free of standing water. It can be grown in a pot or planter if you do not have access to a garden patch.
Flowering and harvest
Arnica blooms in August and September. Its flowers are harvested quickly after blooming and dried in a warm, dry place.
Use
Arnica flowers can be prepared in several ways before being applied to the skin: infused in hot water, macerated in alcohol, vinegar, or oil. The infused oil is very versatile; it can be used pure or mixed with essential oils as a massage oil or as a local rub on a painful part of the body. It is also possible to use it as a base to make a therapeutic and muscle-relaxing ointment or body butter, like our magic ointment for sore bodies.
Tip: infuse arnica flowers in hot water for about ten minutes and apply a cooled compress of the infusion to your joints after intense exercise.
Precautions for use
External use only.
Photo: Jacinthe MorinPurple coneflower
Echinacea is another must-have for the natural pharmacy because of its anti-cold properties! It is traditionally used in herbalism for its ability to reduce the intensity of symptoms and the duration of colds and other respiratory infections. It should be consumed at the very first sign of symptoms—no time to waste!
Echinacea is an ornamental plant well known for its large purple flowers with a center that looks like a little hedgehog. In fact, its name comes from the ancient Greek ekhinos, which means sea urchin or hedgehog. The stems easily reach more than a meter in height.
Cultivation
The seeds must go through a cold stratification treatment for a period of 30 days, because it is the cold temperatures that "wake up" the seed! Once the cold stratification is finished, start sowing indoors at the end of March, or plant directly in the ground in April. Echinacea germinates quickly: only one to two weeks are needed before shoots appear. It is also possible to plant the seeds outdoors in the fall to avoid the cold treatment; winter will take care of activating germination.
Echinacea can be grown in a pot but prefers the ground. It likes to be in the sun. Young plants must be watered regularly, but mature flowers do not need much water.
Unlike other species of echinacea, purple coneflower can bloom from the first year, from August to September.
Flowering and harvest
Its roots are harvested starting from its second year of life (it is better to wait for the third or fourth year for a more fruitful harvest!), at the end of autumn, after the first frost, when the aerial parts have died. A portion of the roots can be replanted so the plant returns the following spring. The roots must be washed and well dried before being processed.
The flowers are harvested shortly after blooming.
Use
The most commonly used part is the root, which is often processed into a mother tincture (hydro-alcoholic extract) or a glycerite for children. Echinacea tincture should tingle on the tongue due to its content of isobutylamides, which are alcohol-soluble components. You can combine echinacea with other anti-cold or emollient plants like plantain, marshmallow root, or elderberries. You can also use dried roots to make vinegars, decoctions, or syrups. The flowers also have some properties, and we highlight them in our echinacea glycerite recipe.
Tip: add a few echinacea roots to your homemade vegetable broth (use peelings and kitchen scraps for a zero-waste broth!).
Precautions for use
Do not use in case of autoimmune disease. Do not combine with immunosuppressant drugs.
Photo: Jacinthe MorinSt. John's wort
St. John's wort owes its French name ("millepertuis," meaning "thousand holes") to its leaves, which are dotted with secretory vesicles that create the illusion of multiple tiny holes letting light through. It has cute little 5-petaled yellow flowers. St. John's wort is sometimes nicknamed "the arnica of the nerves." While arnica has impressive properties for soothing muscle and joint pain, St. John's wort in external use shines through its ability to relieve pain of nervous origin and trauma affecting the nerves, such as sciatica and carpal tunnel syndrome.
Its anti-inflammatory properties make it an essential ally for the relief of minor injuries, light burns, and sunburns.
A versatile ally of the natural pharmacy!
Cultivation
St. John's wort seeds require a cold treatment for 3 days before starting indoor sowing at the end of March or early April in Quebec. They can also be sown directly in the ground in the fall. Germination takes 10 to 14 days. St. John's wort is a plant that loves the sun; its seeds must be planted on the surface because they need light to germinate. For the same reason, they are sown in full sun so that the plants reach their full potential! St. John's wort blooms from June to August starting from its second year of life.
Harvest
The flowering tops (stem, leaves, flowers, and flower buds) are harvested while the plants have a good quantity of flowers still in bud. We pick all the tops: the buds as well as the open flowers. Dry them in a dark, dry place. Be careful! The closed buds will take longer to dry than the leaves and open flowers.
Use
Did we tell you that St. John's wort loves the sun? It lends itself perfectly to solar maceration: an infused oil made in direct sunlight for about forty days. You must absolutely use a carrier oil that is not very prone to rancidity and ensure that the tops, especially the buds, do not contain any moisture to prevent mold from developing. The hypericin contained in freshly picked St. John's wort gives a bright red color to the carrier oil.
St. John's wort infused oil is highly prized for massage, alone or combined with arnica, and for relieving irritated skin, skin prone to redness, or minor burns. To complete the close relationship between St. John's wort and the sun, note that St. John's wort is particularly appropriate for relieving sunburns and skin that is hot after spending too much time outside. We even use it in our after-sun moisturizing butter!
In internal use, it is traditionally used to stabilize mood, relieve the respiratory tract in case of infection, and as digestive support.
Tip: Combine arnica and St. John's wort flowers to make a doubly effective pain-relieving ointment!
Precautions for use
St. John's wort in external use is photosensitizing (it can cause irritation or a mild burn upon sun exposure) in some people. We therefore avoid applying it to the skin just before sun exposure.
The internal use of St. John's wort requires several precautions; we strongly advise a follow-up with a healthcare professional before getting started.
Wild bergamot
Not to be confused with Monarda didyma, the one used in cooking for making lemonade! The different varieties of monarda are increasingly present in gardens and flower beds, and for good reason. The flowers are spectacular and look like small fireworks. Their nectar attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Wild bergamot (or Monarda fistulosa) flowers have also been used for a long time by the Ojibwe, Iroquois, Cherokee, Dakota, and Menominee in infusions, steam baths, or poultices for their antiseptic and carminative properties. An essential plant for the natural pharmacy. Wild bergamot is sometimes nicknamed "Quebec oregano" because the profile of its essential oil is similar; it contains a high content of carvacrol, one of the molecules responsible for the strong antiseptic power of various oregano essential oils.
Cultivation
Sowing is done directly in the ground after the risk of frost, or indoors from the end of February to mid-March. The seed germinates after 10 to 30 days. Plant in sun or partial shade.
Harvest
Dried flowers do not keep very well since they are very delicate and wilt quickly; therefore, they should be harvested as they reach maturity and according to your needs throughout the flowering period.
Use
Bergamot flowers are perfect for herbal teas, but they also lend themselves to tinctures, vinegars, and glycerites. You can also use bergamot flowers in cooking to flavor meats and desserts; its flavor is rather floral with a hint of mint and pepper.
Tip: place a few bergamot petals on a salad to enhance the taste and add a touch of color.
Precautions for use
No drug interactions known to date. We avoid it as a precaution during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
References
www.creapharma.ch
www.passeportsante.net
www.laboiteagraines.com
www.altheaprovence.com
www.ansm.sante.fr
www.compagnie-des-sens.fr
www.epicesdecru.com
www.jaime-jardiner.ouest-france.fr
www.agrireseau.net
www.naturalmedicines.therapeuticresearch.com
