SLIMBRIDGE DOWSING GROUP REPORTS
Medicinal Herbs and Other Weeds - Ben Stiles
Ben Stiles addresses a full house on the subject of medicinal herbs.
Ben Stiles is good value, not just as a speaker but also to the NHS - she must save them a fortune. Long before the drugs companies ruled the world, people still became ill, and still needed medication. They turned to the herbs, plants and weeds that grew naturally in their gardens and hedgerows, and those leaves, flowers and roots are just as efficacious today.
For her talk on 11th February, Ben from Ledbury had brought along a selection of plants that remain available during the winter months. Mostly indigenous to this country and therefore relatively hardy, mallow, comfrey and green alkanet are good for coughs, colds and sore throats. Herb Robert and elderberry leaves can be helpful too. Plantain, dock leaves, stinging nettles and dandelions are highly versatile and can help with a variety of maladies.
Ben is a living monument to the curative properties of many a plant. She claims foxgloves (digitalis) helped her heart condition, plantain stopped her nose bleeds (a symptom of high blood pressure), willow trees were the original - and natural - source of aspirin, and Shepherd's Purse cured her of just about everything else. She finds camomile calming, and the greater celandine is good for cataracts and glaucoma, applied in different ways.
You can use all the different parts of a plant, and apply it in teas, tinctures, warmed oils or simply a leaf dipped in cold water. Generally speaking, alpine plants and wild versions are more compact and therefore more concentrated than their larger cousins. Using the leaves, flowers, bark and roots, albeit in different forms and for different applications, makes for a good balance.
Ben warned that parts of some plants can be poisonous, for example mistletoe berries, but other parts of the same tree can be used to treat cancer and heart problems. Ragwort can be fatal for horses, it affects their liver; and some perfectly innocent plants such as St John's wort, gingko biloba and even garlic can cause problems if consumed while you are on Warfarin.
Ben is not above experimenting on herself but, unless you know what you are doing, don't try this at home! Either look it up in a good book or consult an expert on the subject. Either way, it's good value.