HORSETAIL - ANCIENT HERB: HEALTH BENEFITS AND USES OF HORSETAIL

HORSETAIL, EQUISETUM ARVENSE

This small plant has its origins millions of years ago, as does ginkgo biloba. It is descended from huge tree-like plants that were around in the Paleozoic era, about 400 million years ago. It is a close relative of ferns such as bracken, and is viewed as a non-flowering weed. It is native to parts of Europe including the British Isles, Asia, the Middle East and North America. It has hollow stems and shoots and looks a little like asparagus when it first appears from the soil, but this resemblance doesn’t last as you can see from the photos.

   It grows “bristles” and to me looks like a small Christmas tree - or that’s what I thought when I first found a clump of them growing in my local park when I was a child. My biology teacher was very interested in them and explained that they were plants from prehistoric times and very simple ones. That was where his explanation ended.

  The bristly appearance gives rise to one of its names, bottle brush, and setum means bristle in Latin too. The name Equisetum means horse bristle, (equus means horse in Latin) and arvense means of the fields. The feathery green parts of this plant have a scratching or scouring effect and it was once used to clean metal, hence another name for it, pewterwort. The feathery tails which form as the plant dries are made from silica crystals which give this effect.

  In some places it is believed that the plants indicated that there is a subterranean source of water, so if you see a clump of horsetail you won’t need a hazel twig divining rod.

  The above ground parts of the plant are used in traditional medicine systems, but if you are tempted to take any medicines made from horsetail you need to supplement your intake of B-complex vitamins, as the plant contains thiaminase which can deplete these vitamins in the body. It should be treated with caution as it also contains equisetic acid which is thought to be identical to aconite acid, which is a potent heart and nerve sedative which can be fatal in large doses. It shouldn’t be taken over a prolonged period of time.

  The plant also contains flavonoids such as quercetin and kaempferol as well as saponins along with phenolic compounds which give it its antioxidant properties. Alkaloids are present too one of them being nicotin, making it unwise to give any medication made from this plant to children. The Asian and North American horsetail contain luteolin-5-glycosides although these are not contained in the European plant.

  In Germany the horsetail is used for problems of the lower urinary tract and for gravel in the kidneys, and topically it is used to promote wound healing. The horsetail is taken dried in an infusion, 1 teaspoon of the herb steeped in 250 ml. boiling water for 20 minutes and drunk three times a day. If you take horsetail internally you should increase your intake of fluids.

  To make a compress to place on a wound you need 10 grams of the herb to 1 litre of water.

  Horsetail extracts are used in cosmetics and are said to help prevent or smooth out wrinkles by repairing cell damage and increasing collagen production.

  It is thought that the plant may be a useful treatment for osteoporosis because of its silica content. However few studies have been conducted on this plant. It is possible that it may have anti-cancer properties but this is still under investigation.

  Traditionally horsetail has been used for minor wounds and burns when it has been applied as a compress or poultice, stomach ulcers when the infusion is taken internally and to get rid of kidney stones.

   Writing in the 17^th century, the English herbalist, Culpeper has this to say about horsetail, and perhaps he should be given the last word on this curious plant.

    “It is powerful to staunch bleeding either inward or outward, the juice or the decoction thereof being drunk, or the juice, decoction or distilled water applied outwardly. It also stays all sorts of lasks and fluxes in man or woman and bloody urine; and heals not only the outward ulcers, the excoriation of the entrails, bladder &c., but all other sorts of foul, moist and running ulcers, and soon solders together the tops of green wounds. It cureth all ruptures in children. The decoction thereof in wine being drank provokes urine, and helps the stone and stranguary; and the distilled water thereof drank two or three times a day  and a small quantity at a time also eases the bowels and is effectual against a cough that comes by distillation of the head. The juices or distilled water being warmed, and hot inflammations or pustules or red wheals and other breakings-out in the skin, being bathed therewith, doth help them and doth no less the swelling heat and inflammation of the lower parts in men and women.”

  

HOT HALLOWEEN HALVA - PUMPKIN AND ORANGE

PUMPKIN HALVA

It’s almost Halloween when kids want to hollow out pumpkins to make Jack o’Lanterns, and you have a load of wonderful pumpkin flesh to do something with. This is a traditional Pakistani dessert recipe made with ingredients that are easy to find in the West. It’s an adaptation, but none the worse for that. It’s quick and comparatively easy. Don’t throw away the pumpkin seeds, these are good dried, just wash the pulp off them and dry them on absorbent paper, then roast them with a sprinkling of sea salt for a delicious healthy snack.

PUMPKIN HALVA

Ingredients

1 kilo diced pumpkin flesh

1 inch stick of cinnamon

6 green cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground

75 ml orange juice

75 ml water

4 tbsps butter or oil or pure ghee

150 gr of sugar or less according to taste

50 gr sultanas

Garnish

grated coconut,

slivered almonds, toasted

12 cashew nuts

unsalted pistachio nuts, shelled (optional)

zest of 1 orange, grated

Method

Put the pumpkin, cinnamon stick, cardamom powder, orange juice and water in a pan, cover it and boil until the pumpkin is tender.

Drain and mash the pumpkin.

Heat the butter in a large frying pan and when hot add the pumpkin mixture and the sultanas. Stir constantly, allowing the puree to thicken and get darker, for about 10 minutes.

Stir in the sugar and continue stirring, until the mixture reduces and becomes a rich, glossy amber colour.

Spoon into individual serving dishes and serve hot decorated with the coconut, orange zest and nuts.

This has Taste and is a Treat.

BUTTERFLY PEA - GOOD FOR SOIL AND HEALTH

BUTTERFLY PEA, APARAJITA, CLITORIA TERNATEA

The Butterfly Pea may look like Field Bindweed at first sight, but it is not a member of the borage family but of the Fabaceae or Leguminoseae family and so related to the carob, Indian laburnum (amaltas) and kachnar trees as well as to the green bean, peas, Astralagus and senna. The flowers can be white, mauve and range from light to dark blue, and as you can see from the photographs resemble a female’s external sexual organs, hence the Latin name Clitoria. The name ternatea relates to a place, Ternate in Indonesia, where they must be prolific. It is also called the Blue Clitoris and The Asian Butterfly Pea.

  Studies have been conducted on it as it has many uses in traditional medicines in Asia, Indonesia and the Middle East. It has also been found to be useful in enriching the soil in which it grows, helping it to become richer in minerals, fixing nitrogen and preventing some soil erosion.

  One study by Shekhawat, Neha et al, 2010 “Assessment of Free Radical Scavenging Ability of Crude Extracts of Some Medicinal Plants” Middle-Eastern Journal of Scientific Research Vol. 5 (4) 298-30 investigated plants including Clitoris ternatea and concluded that all the plants in the study had “remarkable antioxidant activities.”

  In Australia the plant is grown for animal fodder and to regenerate land that was once the site of mines. It is also grown as an ornamental, as it is in many other countries including the US.  It originated in Asia but is now naturalized in the Indian subcontinent, South and Central America and China.

  All parts of the plant are used in medicine in different countries, and the flowers or the blue variety are dipped in batter and fried in Burma. They are edible and would make good garnishes for salads, as do nasturtium flowers and lavender. In Thailand a syrupy sherbet drink is made from the blue flowers, and a tea or tisane which is a rich blue colour. You make the tisane by pouring boiling water over the petals and leaving them to infuse for 15 minutes before straining and drinking, flavoured with honey if necessary. In the Malaccan islands the flowers and seeds are used to make a blue dye. The seeds (there are between 8 and 11 per pod) contain tannins.

  In Ayurveda in the Indian subcontinent the whole plant is used to treat a number of illnesses, and the ones with white flowers are used to treat specific illnesses with the blue flowered plants being used to treat others.  The roots and seeds have purgative qualities and are used as a mild laxative. The cliotides found in the plant may have antimicrobial properties against E.coli in particular, and may also be able to kill cancer cells. However as yet there is insufficient evidence to state that these findings are true at the present time.

  For centuries in the subcontinent the plant has been used as a memory enhancer, to lessen stress and anxiety, as an antidepressant, anticonvulsant and as a sedative as it has tranquillizing effects. The whole of the top of the plant is smoked to relieve respiratory diseases such as asthma.

  The flowers and seeds contain oil which is heated and used to massage inflammation from arthritis and rheumatism, and to treat piles. A decoction of the whole plant is also used to wash piles and the leaf juice is given in the form of nasal drops for headaches. The oil is also used to clean wounds and to stop infection.

  Internally the infusion of the whole plant is used for its tranquillizing effects, and the decoction is a diuretic and used as a gargle for sore throats. The infusion or tisane may be administered to cure constipation, indigestion, coughs and colds, and as a blood purifier. The juice from the petals mixed with an equal amount of honey is given for liver and skin problems, while when the juice is mixed with expressed juice from the ginger root, it controls excess sweating and acts as a coolant, but has to be taken morning and night for a week to be really effective. Fresh petals boiled in water and made into sherbets and syrups are said to improve the quality of sperm and to banish fatigue and give the whole body vigour and vitality.

  The powdered root and seeds are used for fevers, so it is a useful plant, not just for the soil in which it grows, but also for our health.

  

VIPER'S BUGLOSS - MOOD ENHANCER: BENEFITS AND USES OF VIPER'S BUGLOSS

VIPER’S BUGLOSS, ECHIUM VULGARE

Viper’s bugloss is closely related to the common bugloss and the alkanets, and to borage as it is a member of the Boraginaceae family of plants. It has similar properties to borage and is used as a mood enhancer in some countries such as Iran. It can grow to heights or between 2 and 3 feet and like wallflowers, often grows on old walls. It is native to Europe including the British Isles. Scandinavia and western Asia. The name bugloss comes from the ancient Greek and means ‘ox’s tongue’ and it is so named, we think, because of the roughness and shape of its leaves. Its stems and leaves sometimes have red spots on their stems and leaves, and although the flowers are normally violet-blue, white ones are possible, but rare. Nicholas Culpeper says that they grew in Sussex in Lewes around a castle but that was in the 17^th century. The roots of the plant go deep into the soil and these are believed to be diuretic and to promote sweating in fevers, so reducing the body temperature. There are seeds, which are said to resemble vipers’ heads, and so they were used to treat bites of serpents, and as the only indigenous British snake is the viper or adder, this is how the plant got its name. The old herbalists believed that a decoction of the seeds, preferably in wine, banished melancholy and lifted the mood.

  This is what John Gerard, writing in his Herball in the 16^th century has to say about the plant:-

  “The physitions use the leaves, floures and rootes and put them into all kindes of medecines indifferently, which are of force and vertue to drive away sorrow and pensiveness of the minde, and to comfort and strengthen the heart.”

  It was Culpeper, writing a century later who mentions this property of the seeds, as well as waxing lyrical about the plant’s other properties.

   “It is a most gallant herb of the Sun; it is a pity it is no more in use than it is. It is an especial remedy against the biting of the Viper, and all other venomous beasts, or serpents; as also against poison, or poisonous herbs. Dioscorides and others say, That whosoever shall take of the herb or root before they be bitten, shall not be hurt by the poison of any serpent. The root or seed is thought to be most effectual to comfort the heart, and expel sadness, or causeless melancholy; it tempers the blood, and allays hot fits of agues. The seed drank in wine, procures abundance of milk in women's breasts. The same also being taken, eases the pains in the loins, back, and kidneys. The distilled water of the herb when it is in flower, or its chief strength, is excellent to be applied either inwardly or outwardly, for all the griefs aforesaid. There is a syrup made hereof very effectual for the comforting the heart, and expelling sadness and melancholy.”

  The leaves from low on the ground near the roots are he ones to be harvested, and can be dried for later use. They can be made into a tisane and this is diuretic and diaphoretic (promoting sweat). It is said that this will relieve a headache, and the pain caused by inflammation as well as soothing the nerves. You use 1 ounce of the dried leaves to 1 pint of boiling water and leave to infuse for 15 to 20 minutes. Strain and drink in small cupfuls when needed. However there are a few reports of the leaves being toxic, and if you collect them, wear gloves just in case of an allergic reaction.

  John Parkinson (1567-1650), apothecary to James I of England and James VI of Scotland, writes,

   “…the water distilled in glasses of the roots or the root itself taken is good against the passions and tremblings of the heart as also against swoonings, sadness and melancholy.”

  One study published in the Iranian Journal of Basic Medicine Vol 10 (3); autumn 2007 pp 189-196. “Evaluation of the Antidepressant Effects of the Aerial Parts of Echium vulgare in Mice,” Seyed Adel Moallem, H.Hosseinzodleh and Fatemah Ghancheh.

concludes that the extracts of the Viper’s Bugloss have “significant antidepressant effects” and end by saying “this herb might be considered a useful drug in the management of depression.”

  Interestingly it has been thought that viper’s bugloss is an aphrodisiac and perhaps it does actually lower inhibitions while enhancing the mood. In Iran it has been used for centuries to stimulate the mood and as an aphrodisiac.

  The leaves and flowering tops are used in infusions and decoctions for coughs and other respiratory problems and are also used to soften the skin and relieve inflammation and redness. In poultices the fresh leaves and flowers are apparently useful for getting rid of boils and hard skin. The tisane can be used on wounds to speed healing and it has been found that the roots contain allantoin which is known to be a wound healer, so a poultice of decoction of the roots may be good for wounds.

  Like borage this cheerful-looking plant has many benefits for our health, both physical and mental.