Table Of ContentHealing Herbs
A BEGINNER'S GUIDE
TO IDENTIFYING,
FORAGING, AND USING
MEDICINAL PLANTS
Tina Sams,
editor of The Essential Herbal
Fair Winds Press
100 Cummings Center, Suite 406L
Beverly, MA 01915
fairwindspress.com %bodymindbeautyhealth.com
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For Molly and Maryanne, my fellow woods walkers, and to all the
weed workers out there who have so graciously shown me the way.
© 2015 Fair Winds Press
First published in the USA in 2015 by Fair Winds Press, a member of
Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc.
100 Cummings Center, Suite 406-L
Beverly, MA 01915-6101
www.fairwindspress.com
Visit www.bodymindbeautyhealth.com.
It’s your personal guide to a happy, healthy, and extraordinary life!
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized, in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
18 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN: 978-1-59233-650-0
Digital edition published in 2015
eISBN: 978-1-62788-194-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sams, Tina.
Healing herbs : a beginner's guide to identifying, foraging, and using medicinal
plants / Tina Sams.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-59233-650-0 -- ISBN 978-1-62788-251-4 (eISBN)
1. Herbs--Therapeutic use. 2. Herbs--Identification. I. Title.
RM666.H33S256 2015
615.3'21--dc23 2014025085
Photography by Shutterstock and iStock with the exception of page 31, Susan Hess; pages 66, 113, Tina Sams
Cover and book design by Laura Shaw Design, lshawdesign.com
Printed and bound in China
The information in this book is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace the advice of a
physician or medical practitioner. Please see your health care provider before beginning any new health program.
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Contents 5
INTRODUCTION ............................ 7
YARROW .......................... 15 SAGE ............................. 109
1 (Achillea millefolium) 12 (Salvia spp.)
GARLIC ........................... 23 E LDER ............................ 119
2 (Allium sativum) 13 (Sambucus spp.)
C ALENDULA ..................... 33 CHICKWEED ..................... 131
3 (Calendula ofcinalis) 1 4 (Stellaria media)
LAVENDER ....................... 41 COMFREY ....................... 139
4 (Lavandula spp.) 15 (Symphytum ofcinale)
CHAMOMILE ..................... 49 DANDELION ..................... 147
5 (Matricaria recutita) 16 (Taraxacum ofcinale)
MINT ............................... 57 THYME ........................... 157
6 (Mentha spp.) 1 7 (Thymus vulgaris)
BASIL .............................. 67 S TINGING NETTLE ............. 165
7 (Ocimum spp.) 18 (Urtica dioica)
PASSIONFLOWER. .............. 77 SWEET VIOLET ................. 173
8 (Passiflora spp.) 19 (Viola odorata)
PLANTAIN ........................ 85 GINGER ........................... 181
9 (Plantago major and Plantago lanceolata) 2 0 (Zingiber ofcinale)
ROSE .............................. 93 INDEX .................................... 189
1 0 (Rosa spp.)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................... 192
R ASPBERRY/BLACKBERRY ... 101 ABOUT THE AUTHOR .................... 192
11 (Rubus spp.)
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world, as conventional medicine was embraced.
Introduction 5 Only in the last decade have individuals begun
to work on preserving and protecting these
traditions. Although some herbal healing
modalities in countries such as India and China
have flourished, even there the rural herbal-
ists are currently working with people who are
HE ROOTS OF HERBALISM extend deeper documenting their work and the herbs they use.
than the history of humankind. Every- In the Amazonian rainforests, researchers are
T thing that we know today follows racing to learn from the village herbalists before
the threads from the very beginning, woven time runs out. This work is being carried out
together into a tapestry of knowledge that we around the world as our elders pass on and we
tend to take for granted. Yet it is natural to seek realize how very soon it can be lost forever or
out plants for medicine, as animals do. From lost to deforestation.
the family dog eating grass for a sour stomach As a child, I spent every possible moment
to chimps choosing medicinal plants for spe- outside. The plants were our toys, our com-
cific purposes (pain, parasites, etc.), there is a panions, and our building materials. We knew
good deal of evidence that animals and humans what we could eat, what was poisonous, and
alike turn to plants for healing. We hold innate what would cause our skin to blister. Despite
knowledge that is often forgotten and ignored. the distractions of television, the Internet, and
With the modernization of medicine, village other technology, it gives me hope to see young
herbalists were shunned. As an example, herbal parents encouraging their children to appreci-
healers in my own Pennsylvania-German region ate and enjoy the natural world. More and more
followed what is locally known as Pow-wow, or parents are teaching children to find wild foods
more properly, Braucherei. It is a combination to nibble, plants to soothe a sting, and how a
of Native American healing, old German medi- soft bed of pine needles on the forest floor can
cine, and prayer that many of the old-timers be the perfect place to while away an afternoon,
around here remember as a life-saving medici- watching the birds and the clouds.
nal method, when conventional medicine failed. Herbal traditions have been passed down
In the 1950s it was driven underground, as were through generations as parents and grandpar-
most regional healing traditions around the ents teach it to their children. That is how it
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has been sustained. Currently, there are many education is ongoing. You can never know
learning opportunities available without the “everything,” but knowing five or ten herbs well
barriers of space and time, thanks to herbalists is enough to make a diference, and will set you
using the Internet as a teaching tool. There on the endless quest to know more.
is no substitute for hands-on work with the If you are a person who loves plants, I can
plants, however. promise you that there will be few things in life
I started out with a good background from as rewarding as learning how to use herbs in all
growing up in an agrarian region with an of their aspects.
unquenchable desire to learn what herbs could
do. My sister and I would each read a diferent
GETTING STARTED
book on herbs, switch and read the other, and
then spend a week or two discussing them. I One of the most difcult things about learning
spent winters pouring over piles of field guides how to use herbs, whether for cooking, medi-
until the information was memorized and the cine, or a combination, is the sheer number
pictures were as familiar as those of friends and of them. You decide to start learning about
relatives. Next came years of working with the herbs and are faced with hundreds of unfa-
various kinds of preparations that are made miliar plants, some with strange names that
with herbs—teas, tinctures, salves, soaps, and you’ve never heard. How will you ever learn
all kinds of infusions using diferent menstru- all of those plants without confusing a poison-
ums (solvents). Rounding up guinea pigs was ous lookalike? How will you learn all of those
not always so easy, but gradually getting to quaint terms and concoctions? Where does
witness the miraculous healing properties of the one even begin?
herbs and the things I made with them gave me The most important thing to remember is
more and more confidence to continue learning that most herbalists use ten or fewer herbs
and using them. It wasn’t long before people 90 percent of the time. Getting to know one
would come looking to me for a salve or a syrup. or two really well at a time can make a huge
After opening an herb shop with my sister in diference. It’s the same with wild food forag-
the early 1990s, the education began in earnest, ing. Think of all the vegetables available to us.
as we were immersed in herbs all day, every day, How many do you really eat, though? For most
and found ourselves surrounded by other herb- people, that’s close to ten. Adding three or four
alists with new ideas and inspirations. Herbal wild vegetables expands the palate immensely.
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HEALING HERBS
