BAYBERRY

Myrica cerifera

Liquid extract of dried root bark (no adhering wood).

Actions: Stimulating, warming astringent.

Uses: Atonic, sluggish mucous membranes and excessive mucous discharge; atonic leucorrhea; chronic catarrh of sinuses, stomach and intestines, and the urinary tract; stomach and intestinal ulcers; gargle or rinse for sore throat, mouth sores and bleeding, spongy gums.

Cautions: Avoid or moderate use in acute inflammatory conditions and fever.

Bayberry contains Vitamin C. Bayberry is a blood tonic. Bayberry will help to rejuvenate the adrenal gland, and help to clear the sinus on both sides of the nose. Bayberry will aid digestion and circulation. Bayberry can ward off cold-like symptoms if taken at the first sign of the symptoms.

Bayberry when combined with Ginger has successfully combatted Cholera. A douch made with Bayberry tea can be used to treat excessive menstrual bleeding, vaginal infections, and prolapsed uterus. Bayberry tea gargle can soothe a sore and infected throat. A bayberry tea mouthwash can arrest bleeding gums.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

BAY Leaf

Laurus nobilis

Actions: insulin regulating, antimicrobial

Indications: Besides flavoring food, bay leaf has been found to assist the body in processing insulin at doses as low as 1/2 teaspoon. Therefore, diabetics can easily include bay leaves in their cooking to help them control blood sugar levels.

Preparation and dosage: In cooking, place 2-5 leaves (to taste) in soups or beans and allow to cook 1 hour or more.

Tea: blend 1 teaspoonsful of the crushed leaf into 1 cup boiling water. Steep 10 minutes. Drink 3 x daily before meals.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Basil

Ocimum basillicum

Actions: Soothing to stomach. Mildly sedative. Soothing expectorant.

Diaphoretic. Aromatic, flavorful corrigent.

Uses: Nausea; morning sickness or motion sickness. Flatulence.

Nervousness. Thick coughs. Withdrawal from marijuana addiction

Cautions: None known.

Basil contain Vitamins A, D and B2 as well as Calcium, Phosphorus, Iron and Magnesium.

Basil when taken internally can help stop stomach cramps because it is an antispasmodic. Basil will also alleviate constipation. Basil will help indigestion. Basil when applied externally can draw out insect, bee, wasp or snake venom when so bitten.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

The herb Sweet Basil (_Ocymum Basilicum_) is so called because
“the smell thereof is fit for a king’s house.” It grows commonly in
our kitchen gardens, but in England it dies down every year, and
the seeds have to be sown annually. Botanically, it is named
“basilicon,” or royal, probably because used of old in some regal
unguent, or bath, or medicine.

This, and the wild Basil, belong to the Labiate order of plants. The
leaves of the Sweet Basil, when slightly bruised, exhale a
delightful odour; they gave the distinctive flavour to the original
Fetter-Lane sausages.

The Wild Basil (_Calamintha clinopodium_) or Basil thyme, or
Horse thyme, is a hairy plant growing in bushy places, also about
hedges and roadsides, and bearing whorls of purple flowers with
a strong odour of cloves. The term _Clinopodium_ signifies “bed’s-foot
flower,” because “the branches dooe resemble the foot of a
bed.” In common with the other labiates, Basil, both the wild and
the sweet, furnishes an aromatic volatile camphoraceous oil. On
this account it is much employed in France for flavouring soups
(especially mock turtle) and [46] sauces; and the dry leaves, in the
form of snuff, are used for relieving nervous headaches. A tea,
made by pouring boiling water on the garden basil, when green,
gently but effectually helps on the retarded monthly flow with
women. The Bush Basil is _Ocymum minimum_, of which the leafy
tops are used for seasoning, and in salads.

The Sweet Basil has been immortalised by Keats in his tender,
pathetic poem of _Isabella and the Pot of Basil_, founded on
a story from Boccaccio. She reverently possessed herself of
the decapitated head of her lover, Lorenzo, who had been
treacherously slain:–

“She wrapped it up, and for its tomb did choose
A garden pot, wherein she laid it by,
And covered it with mould, and o’er it set
Sweet Basil, which her tears kept ever wet.”

The herb was used at funerals in Persia. Its seeds were sown by the
Romans with maledictions and curses through the belief that the
more it was abused the better it would prosper. When desiring a
good crop they trod it down with their feet, and prayed the gods it
might not vegetate. The Greeks likewise supposed Basil to thrive
best when sown with swearing; and this fact explains the French
saying, _Semer la Basilic_, as signifying “to slander.” It was told
in Elizabeth’s time that the hand of a fair lady made Basil flourish;
and this was then planted in pots as an act of gallantry. “Basil,”
says John Evelyn, “imparts a grateful flavour to sallets if not too
strong, but is somewhat offensive to the eyes.” Shenstone, in his
_School Mistress’s Garden_, tells of “the tufted Basil,” and
Culpeper quaintly says: “Something is the matter; Basil and Rue
will never grow together: no, nor near one another.” It is related
[47] that a certain advocate of Genoa was once sent as an
ambassador to treat for conditions with the Duke of Milan; but the
Duke harshly refused to hear the message, or to grant the
conditions. Then the Ambassador offered him a handful of Basil.
Demanding what this meant, the Duke was told that the properties
of the herb were, if gently handled, to give out a pleasant odour;
but that, if bruised, and hardly wrung, it would breed scorpions.
Moved by this witty answer, the Duke confirmed the conditions,
and sent the Ambassador honourably home.

Barley Grass Sprouts (Hordeum vulgare L.) Graminaceae

Parts Usually Used: Grain, germinate seeds (barley sprouts).

Barley grass is one of the green grasses – the only vegetation on the earth that can supply sole nutritional support from birth to old age. Barley has served as a food staple in most cultures. The use of barley for food and medicinal purposes dates to antiquity. Agronomists place this ancient cereal grass as being cultivated as early as 7000 BC. Roman gladiators ate barley for strength and stamina. In the West, it was first known for the barley grain it produces.

Astounding amounts of vitamins and minerals are found in green barley leaves. The leaves have an ability to absorb nutrients from the soil. When barley leaves are 12-14 inches high, they contain many vitamins, minerals, and proteins necessary for the human diet, plus chlorophyll. These are easily assimilated throughout the digestive tract, giving our bodies instant access to vital nutrients. These include potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, phosphorus, manganese, zinc, beta carotene, B1, B2, B6, C, folic acid, and pantothenic acid. Indeed, green barley juice contains 11 times the calcium in cows’ milk, nearly 5 times the iron in spinach, 7 times the vitamin C in oranges, and 80 mg of vitamin B12 per hundred grams.

Barley also contains a -glucan, a fiber also found in oat bran and reported to reduce cholesterol levels. The root contains the alkaloid hordenine which stimulates peripheral blood circulation and has been used as a bronchodilator for bronchitis. Barley bran, like wheat bran may be effective in protecting against the risk of cancer.

Medicinal Properties: Demulcent, digestant, carminative, nutritive Back to TopCommon Use: Barley is widely cultivated grain used as a food and in the brewing process. It is an additive for human and animal cereal foods. It also makes a flavorful flour for use in baking breads and muffins.

Uses: A mucilaginous substance is obtained when hulled barley (pearl barley) is cooked; good nutritional source for throat or stomach problems. The demulcent properties of cooked barley is useful in external treatment of sores, fevers, diarrhea, gout, and tumors. Used as a tonic during convalescence.

Barley water is a skin freshener, cleanses and softens skin. Made by simmering 3 tbsp. barley in 3 cups water for an hour. Strain and cool. Rinse off face after using and refrigerate the barley water. This is best for normal skin. Drinking barley water is also supposed to clear and beautify the skin; sweeten with honey and orange juice.

Barley shoots are used to dry mother’s milk, treat food stagnation, weak stomach, weak digestion, loss of appetite, and hepatitis.

Care: It is a very hardy plant and can be grown under a greater variety of climatic conditions than any other grain, and a polar variety is grown within the Arctic Circle in Europe.

Bibliography

Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician, by Nicholas Culpeper, pgs., 16-17.
The Herb Book, by John Lust, pgs., 4, 107, 193, 495, 497, 497, 500, 502, 503, 504, 506, 507, 529, 531, 567, 573, 574.
Chinese Medicinal Herbs, compiled by Li Shih-Chen, pgs., 207.
Indian Herbalogy of North America, by Alma R. Hutchens, pgs., 25-27.
The Magic of Herbs, by David Conway, pg., 85.
The Yoga of Herbs, by Dr. David Frawley & Dr. Vasant Lad, pgs., 61, 193, 227.
Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, pg., 112.
Planetary Herbology, by Michael Tierra, C.A., N.D., O.M.D., pgs., 34, 130, 259-260, 296.
The Nature Doctor, by Dr. H.C.A. Vogel; pgs., 41, 520.
Old Ways Rediscovered, by Clarence Meyer, pg., 78.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.