Medicine plant of the Day

[joel]

Yup, if I’d have read the info on the box I’d have known.
Good for joint health it reads. I need to drink more of it, my hands have been hurting a lot.

It is my understanding it is one of the best all a round plants in North America.
It can be added to soups, greens as a supplement.

 

[LadyLocust]

Stinging nettle and its bad reputation! It stings, it burns, it’s dangerous, it’s invasive… And yet, it’s also an absolutely incredible plant for your health and cooking. It’s undoubtedly one of the most interesting edible plants, and because it’s fairly invasive, it’s also virtually inexhaustible in nature! The Plant​ Native to Eurasia, the stinging nettle, or Urtica dioica, has made its home all over the world (except perhaps at the poles, because there’s not much growing there). It likes nitrogen-rich soil and part shade. That’s about all there is to know about this plant if you want to grow it. To get rid of it, I’ve heard that planting a few potatoes at its feet it will be enough to starve it of nitrogen, but well, I read that on an unsourced website, so I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the information. Personally, I’d rather eat it to control it. In Mother Nature’s Garden: Stinging Nettle​

I am drinking nettle tea as I type this. It’s supposed to be good for allergies, hay fever, etc and my sinuses have been throwing a fit since Saturday so thought it a good choice this evening.

 

[joel]

 

[Peanut]

On the way back from lunch I did a little plant hunting. I found a big patch of mtn mint. The upper leaves turn white just before blooming. Wish ya’ll could have smelled this place. A little road, no wind, thick trees and brush on the sides trapping the scent.

It’s blooms are just starting to form. At this stage it puts an incredible scent in the air. I could find it in the dark just from the smell.

 

[Bacpacker]

One of my favorite "wildflowers"

 

[joel]

On the way back from lunch I did a little plant hunting. I found a big patch of mtn mint. The upper leaves turn white just before blooming. Wish ya’ll could have smelled this place. A little road, no wind, thick trees and brush on the sides trapping the scent.

It’s blooms are just starting to form. At this stage it puts an incredible scent in the air. I could find it in the dark just from the smell.

View attachment 113171View attachment 113172

I saw it in a seed catalog, is it hard to grow?

 

[Peanut]

I saw it in a seed catalog, is it hard to grow?

YES!!!! In the wild the seeds go dormant for years at a time waiting for the right conditions before sprouting. I've never gotten it to grow where I want it on a continuing basis. A few plants might come up for a couple or 3 years then nothing...

Locally this is a better than average year. I've only seen one great year in the last 15.

 

[Peanut]

I saw this one last week, Late Boneset aka Eupatorium serotinum. There are several species of Boneset growing here, i see them fairly often.

They have very similar medicinal properties... but only one is used. The rest are far weaker but can be used in a pinch.

Sometimes 'Joe Pye Weed' is referred to as 'Boneset'. It is in the same genus and a wonderful medicine but it's not boneset.

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Eupatorium perfoliatum is the herb used... a power house when it comes to treating a virus. Also an effective treatment for malaria. Posted about it here..

https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/boneset.9477/-------------------------------------------

Below is Late Boneset... not normally used as medicine but can be in a pinch. The dark stem gives it away...

 

[Pearl]

I saw this one last week, Late Boneset aka Eupatorium serotinum. There are several species of Boneset growing here, i see them fairly often.

They have very similar medicinal properties... but only one is used. The rest are far weaker but can be used in a pinch.

Sometimes 'Joe Pye Weed' is referred to as 'Boneset'. It is in the same genus and a wonderful medicine but it's not boneset.

--------------
Eupatorium perfoliatum is the herb used... a power house when it comes to treating a virus. Also an effective treatment for malaria. Posted about it here..

https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/boneset.9477/-------------------------------------------

Late Boneset... the very dark stem gives it away...

View attachment 114049

This will be one to keep handy! The new varient will be here soon!!

 

[Patchouli]

The Joe Pye Weed I grew back east looked like this, has purple/lavender flowers.

Boneset flowers are white.

 

[joel]

The Joe Pye Weed I grew back east looked like this, has purple/lavender flowers.
View attachment 114530

Boneset flowers are white.
View attachment 114531

Joe Pye weed is also a honey plant.

 

[Patchouli]

Joe Pye weed is also a honey plant.

What do you mean? High nectar? It is valuable to butterflies and bees as I remember. They were all over it. It got rather tall too. I really should go back to a more truly temperate zone.

 

[joel]

Joe-Pye weed, boneset, white snakeroot[4]

Eutrochium spp., "Eupatorium spp., Eupatorium purpureum; Eupatorium perfoliatum; Eupatorium ageratoides

Perennial

8

9

no

feral

minor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Northern_American_nectar_sources_for_honey_bees

 

[Peanut]

For clarification, Joe pye weed is in the same genus as the bonesets. But in herbal medicine it is not considered to be a boneset. It's very different medicinally speaking, a powerful medicine for kidney stones and it's known simply as 'joe pye weed', not as 'boneset'!

I found these today, 2 of the lesser bonesets, not used as medicine (but can be in a pinch). Late boneset in red (right) and Round-leaved boneset in yellow (left). They often grow side by side, usually in dry places. Round leaf usually blooms before Late boneset, sometimes they overlap a little.

There are thousand blooming right now..

A close up of round leaf boneset, it's also called heart leaf boneset.

If you want to read more...

Round-leaved boneset aka Eupatorium rotundifolium aka Heart-leaved boneset

https://uswildflowers.com/detail.php?SName=Eupatorium rotundifolium
Late Boneset aka Eupatorium serotinum

https://uswildflowers.com/detail.php?SName=Eupatorium serotinum

 

[Peanut]

Today... Clematis sp, a vine, to many common names to list. It’s very good medicine for migraines. I’ve never taken it or made medicine from it but know several people who do. It’s a vasodilator which makes it great for headaches. I see 4 species growing wild in this part of the south, it’s fairy common. Devils Darning needles is the most common locally.

Worldwide there are over 400 species. Since it’s used as an ornamental there are also dozens, if not hundreds of varieties. I know of one species native to Australia that was named ‘headache vine’ by the aboriginals.

Butterflys love it...
-------------------------------------------------------------------

This from the national institute of health...

The genus Clematis (Ranunculaceae): chemical and pharmacological perspectives - PubMed

Twenty six species of the genus Clematis (Ranunculaceae) have been traditionally used in various systems of medicine for the treatment of ailments such as nervous disorders, syphilis, gout, malaria, dysentry, rheumatism, asthma, and as analgesic, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, antitumour, antibacterial and anticancer.

--------------------------------------------

 

[Peanut]

Also today, one of the lobelia's, red cardinal flower. Common as an ornamental, I see it growing wild time to time. Big with butterfly's...

 

[Peanut]

~Big score today!!! A bucket full of crossvine and 2 buckets of boneset!!! guess I'll be making tinctures for a couple days. It was a beautiful location but hot! Temp near 100, high humidity. To bad i was teaching a plant class. Had just met 2 of the ladies else i'd have gone skinny dipping in that creek!!!

 

[Peanut]

Found this today, it’s Lycopus americanus aka water horehound. It's not related to white horehound aka Marrubium vulgare which is good for chest colds and coughs.

However, water horehound can be used interchangeably with white horehound/m. vugare.

 

[Peanut]

Yellow root is looking old, turning yellow. Stopped and checked a place i harvested last year. It didn't come back as strong as i expected. Don't intend to harvest there again for years. It has plenty of time.

Saw castor bean growing today. It was growing at this spot in 2019 but vanished for a couple years. It came back in force.

Funny castor beans were brought here for their oil. Going to harvest and process to run diesel engines around the year 1900. It's vegetable oil.

Instead kids every where thought they were getting poisoned by castor oil. Funny, maybe they were right!!! Also made from the castor bean plant... Ricin, the favorite poison used by russian spies.

yelrt

Castor Bean

 

[Magus]

One of my all-time favorite bio-toxins! Rhubarb leaves and nicotine sulfates run a close second.

 

[Peanut]

Found this a couple days ago... Cuphea carthagenensis aka Sete Sangrias aka Colombian Wax Weed. It's from Brazil, an invasive but very rare, only a few locations in a few states. It grows down in my bottoms, i see it once or twice a year. Usually about 8 inches high, has tiny pink blooms. Seems to like boggy ground close to water.

In Brazil they call it Sete Sangrias which also a drink made from the plant. It's one of those 'tonic plants', good for the heart in this case. I don't use it, don't know anyone who does.

 

[Magus]

My kid AMC could probably tell you all about it.

 

[LadyLocust]

Found this today, it’s Lycopus americanus aka water horehound. It's not related to white horehound aka Marrubium vulgare which is good for chest colds and coughs.

However, water horehound can be used interchangeably with white horehound/m. vugare.

View attachment 117048

Nice! I tried growing some but my starts didn't do very well this year (it was me). It sprouted but didn't live. I should try again and see if I can get some going in a pot.

 

[Peanut]

Had a wonderful afternoon in the woods hunting yellow root (friend's cow has a staph infection).

Stopped at 4 locations but didn't find nearly as much as i need. I even scouted a new location upstream from a church. I stopped at a house and spoke with the lady living there. I like meeting new people, we talked a bit. Then she gave me permission to scout the backside of her farm. No yelrt but i found self heal that had gone to seed. I collected seed pods and gave them to the lady so she could start growing it in her yard.

Not sure what i'm going to do yet. I could hunt again tomorrow or i might take the yelrt i found and make a tincture. Then give tincture I already have in storage to use on the cow.

Anyway, i'm completely exhausted but i had a great time in the woods... Creeks are down to a trickle, didn't even get my boots muddy.

I found a few small patches of yellowroot like this one. I only harvest a few plants at each location.

 

[Peanut]

Got curious today, did a little research. Yesterday i saw a plant i've never seen before, Dutchman's Pipe. It has a closely related cousin called Ghost Pipe.

They look like mushrooms but they are not. They are herbs but they have no chlorophyll. They have a ghostly white appearance. But the colors do vary to red and brown, soil dependent.

If you research them you'll find they are both widely distributed in North america. But you'll almost never see one. It's been more than a decade since i last saw a ghost pipe. I've never seen a dutchman's pipe, until yesterday. And I spend a lot of time in the woods.

Their locations are closely guarded by the few folks who find them fearing they'd be destroyed by looky lu's. I would never have expected to see one where i did. But it was there none the less. It will stay a secret with me. Given the circumstance it'll probably never be disturbed, hopefully. I'm the only person that's been there in decades.

Here's a stock photo from the net, almost exactly what i saw yesterday. Monotropa hypopitis aka Dutchman's Pipe. Tiny little things, less than 3" tall.

 

[Bacpacker]

Got curious today, did a little research. Yesterday i saw a plant i've never seen before, Dutchman's Pipe. It has a closely related cousin called Ghost Pipe.

They look like mushrooms but they are not. They are herbs but they have no chlorophyll. They have a ghostly white appearance. But the colors do vary to red and brown, soil dependent.

If you research them you'll find they are both widely distributed in North america. But you'll almost never see one. It's been more than a decade since i last saw a ghost pipe. I've never seen a dutchman's pipe, until yesterday. And I spend a lot of time in the woods.

There locations are closely guarded by the few folks who find them fearing they'd be destroyed by looky lu's. I would never expected to see one where i did. But it was there none the less. It will stay a secret with me. Given the circumstance it'll probably never be disturbed, hopefully. I'm the only person who been there in decades.

Here's a stock photo from the net, almost exactly what i saw yesterday. Monotropa hypopitis aka Dutchman's Pipe. Tiny little things, less than 3" tall.



View attachment 118481

We've saw those a few times while hiking in the Smokies. They are easy to miss. But really a cute plant.

 

[Pearl]

What are the weird little things that look like mushroom penises?? 4" tall pinkish, looks like penis???

 

[Peanut]

What are the weird little things that look like mushroom penises?? 4" tall pinkish, looks like penis???

Do you have a picture? That'd help a lot.

 

[Patchouli]

@Pearl I obviously have too many photos to go through but I took a photo of what you are describing here in Texas. If I could find them I would post them.
Stinkhorn fungi. There are several different colors and there is one other one that well ...never mind. I'm not going to write about it. This is a fairly gross and disgusting looking photo of one, others don't look quite as bad. If we could just not let our thoughts lead us in that direction...would we even be able to discuss it here. no. I do not think so.

 

[Peanut]

I haven't seen it here. I don't know much about mushrooms, only a few medicinal or edibles. I see a lot of different species in woods around here but haven't studied them as a group. But i do know mushrooms are some of the most dangerous plants in the woods. And there's a lot of bad ones.