Mountain Mint aka Hoary Mint aka Wild Basil aka Pycnanthemum incanum
Its been used in southern folk medicine for a couple hundred years. The Cherokee used it much longer than that. This plant has several closely related cousins around the country. I’m sure native peoples everywhere used it. I just don’t have the documentation in my small library.
To quote Tommie Bass “a good medicine for sinuses and for allergies you get in the Fall of the year. You can smoke it like rabbit terbakker or you can put it in boiling water and inhale the steam. It’ll open you right up but mind you it’s just a temporary relief. I usually put it in my cough and cold tonic for things like asthma and bronchitis. It’s real wonderful for that.”
I know several people who use it in cold/flu type medicines. I keep track of where its growing and harvest leaves in small amounts to dry and keep on hand each year. I’ve also harvested the blooms, dried them and used them in my clothes dryer (sealed in cheese cloth) they smell wonderful as does the whole plant.
Darryl P has a write up in the book about Tommie. Patricia K. Howell has a nice write up in her book.
See - https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/herbal-medicine-books-peanut-recommends.6745/
In august the top of the plant turns white, it really stands out. I usually find it growing at the edges of fields, clearings and gravel roads. The tops of the lower leaves remain green but their underside turn white.
I took a couple of these photo’s last August but wasn’t feeling up to posting until now. I added a few I’ve taken in previous years.
Its been used in southern folk medicine for a couple hundred years. The Cherokee used it much longer than that. This plant has several closely related cousins around the country. I’m sure native peoples everywhere used it. I just don’t have the documentation in my small library.
To quote Tommie Bass “a good medicine for sinuses and for allergies you get in the Fall of the year. You can smoke it like rabbit terbakker or you can put it in boiling water and inhale the steam. It’ll open you right up but mind you it’s just a temporary relief. I usually put it in my cough and cold tonic for things like asthma and bronchitis. It’s real wonderful for that.”
I know several people who use it in cold/flu type medicines. I keep track of where its growing and harvest leaves in small amounts to dry and keep on hand each year. I’ve also harvested the blooms, dried them and used them in my clothes dryer (sealed in cheese cloth) they smell wonderful as does the whole plant.
Darryl P has a write up in the book about Tommie. Patricia K. Howell has a nice write up in her book.
See - https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/herbal-medicine-books-peanut-recommends.6745/
In august the top of the plant turns white, it really stands out. I usually find it growing at the edges of fields, clearings and gravel roads. The tops of the lower leaves remain green but their underside turn white.
I took a couple of these photo’s last August but wasn’t feeling up to posting until now. I added a few I’ve taken in previous years.
