Herbs of Utnapisjtim: Agrimonia Eupatoria

A common plant of the Rosaceae (rose) family found throughout Europe, common agrimony, often found near farm fields, is a very useful medicinal plant. Traditionally used to treat different liver conditions like hepatitis, liver-spots and jaundice (yellowing of the skin due to liver failure) and being rich in tannins also digestion problems like diarrhea and stomach pains as well as for urinary and kidney infections. For these uses, prepare a cup of tea with 1-2 teaspoons of dried flowers, and since it is quite bitter, mix in some honey for flavour.

The plant can also be effective for treating acne and other skin problems like oily skin, use as fomentation or prepare a boiled down wash solution. It's a natural anti-sceptic and good for treating insect bites (reducing itches), scratches, wounds, cuts and burns. It's also a friend to the singer too: if you have a sore throat, pharyngitis or hoarseness, drinking or gargling agrimonia tea can help restoring the voice. For the ladies: It's also worth a try if you suffer from excessively heavy menstruation.

Prepare the tea in the evening, good for sleep too. It has also been used to ward off majick.

Sources:
www.amazon.com...
www.botanical-online.com...
www.botanical.com...
agrimonia at witchipedia.com

I've never heard of this but am learning that a different variety (Agrimonia gryposepala) grows in North America that seems to have the same medicinal purposes. A link to a wiki and a link more info about it including a map further down the page that shows where it can be found. Basically you're out of luck in Texas, Florida and the Rockies.

reply to post by aboutface


Thanks for adding

Those burr berries or seed-capsules are bad news for the cat owner. They stick to their fur and can be annoying as hell for the cat, being both hurtfull and turning the fur into dreadlocks. Anyone trying to help the cat getting rid of them would typically invent new cuss words and end up full of scratches and bite marks from the cat, a good oportunity to try out boiled down agrimony to treat the wounds

reply to post by Utnapisjtim


Oh is THAT the stuff that made me appreciate the invention of scissors? Poor Kitty got a new look and he looked unbalanced for a while with shorter fur on one side. True enough, I did invent new cuss words that would have made a sailor blush.

reply to post by aboutface


Hehe, reminds me of my old cat who is now dead unfortunately, whom I called the gardener since he came home with a lot of strange seeds in his fur I tried planting from time to time expecting all kinds of yields. One of them being agrimonia, which grows in my parents' garden still. Dad calls it Borre, a name he learned as a child.

The yellow flowers also contain a useful pigment that can be used for dyeing fabrics and in paints. Early in the season it's bright and light yellow, getting deeper in colour later in the season.

very similar to Yarrow


Yarrow

Botanical: Achillea millefolium (LINN.)
Family: N.O. Compositae

---Synonyms---Milfoil. Old Man's Pepper. Soldier's Woundwort. Knight's Milfoil. Herbe Militaris. Thousand Weed. Nose Bleed. Carpenter's Weed. Bloodwort. Staunchweed. Sanguinary. Devil's Nettle. Devil's Plaything. Bad Man's Plaything. Yarroway.
(Saxon) Gearwe.
(Dutch) Yerw.
(Swedish) Field Hop.

---Part Used---Whole Herb.
---Habitat---Yarrow grows everywhere, in the grass, in meadows, pastures, and by the roadside. As it creeps greatly by its roots and multiplies by seeds it becomes a troublesome weed in gardens, into which it is seldom admitted in this country, though it is cultivated in the gardens of Madeira.
The name Yarrow is a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon name for the plant - gearwe; the Dutch, yerw.
---Description---The stem is angular and rough, the leaves alternate, 3 to 4 inches long and 1 inch broad, clasping the stem at the base, bipinnatifid, the segments very finely cut, giving the leaves a feathery appearance.

It flowers from June to September, the flowers, white or pale lilac, being like minute daisies, in flattened, terminal, loose heads, or cymes. The whole plant is more or less hairy, with white, silky appressed hairs.

Yarrow was formerly much esteemed as a vulnerary, and its old names of Soldier's Wound Wort and Knight's Milfoil testify to this. The Highlanders still make an ointment from it, which they apply to wounds, and Milfoil tea is held in much repute in the Orkneys for dispelling melancholy. Gerard tells us it is the same plant with which Achilles stanched the bleeding wounds of his soldiers, hence the name of the genus, Achillea. Others say that it was discovered by a certain Achilles, Chiron's disciple. It was called by the Ancients, the Herba Militaris, the military herb.

Its specific name, millefolium, is derived from the many segments of its foliage, hence also its popular name, Milfoil and Thousand Weed. Another popular name for it is Nosebleed, from its property of stanching bleeding of the nose, though another reason given for this name is that the leaf, being rolled up and applied to the nostrils, causes a bleeding from the nose, more or less copious, which will thus afford relief to headache. Parkinson tells us that 'if it be put into the nose, assuredly it will stay the bleeding of it' - so it seems to act either way.

It was one of the herbs dedicated to the Evil One, in earlier days, being sometimes known as Devil's Nettle, Devil's Plaything, Bad Man's Plaything, and was used for divination in spells.

Yarrow, in the eastern counties, is termed Yarroway, and there is a curious mode of divination with its serrated leaf, with which the inside of the nose is tickled while the following lines are spoken. If the operation causes the nose to bleed, it is a certain omen of success:
'Yarroway, Yarroway, bear a white blow,
If my love love me, my nose will bleed now.'
An ounce of Yarrow sewed up in flannel and placed under the pillow before going to bed, having repeated the following words, brought a vision of the future husband or wife:
'Thou pretty herb of Venus' tree,
Thy true name it is Yarrow;
Now who my bosom friend must be,
Pray tell thou me to-morrow.'
---(Halliwell's Popular Rhymes, etc.)
It has been employed as snuff, and is also called Old Man's Pepper, on account of the pungency of its foliage. Both flowers and leaves have a bitterish, astringent, pungent taste.
In the seventeenth century it was an ingredient of salads.

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---Parts Used---The whole plant, stems, leaves and flowers, collected in the wild state, in August, when in flower.

---Constituents---A dark green, volatile oil, a peculiar principle, achillein, and achilleic acid, which is said to be identical with aconitic acid, also resin, tannin, gum and earthy ash, consisting of nitrates, phosphates and chlorides of potash and lime.

---Medicinal Action and Uses---Diaphoretic, astringent, tonic, stimulant and mild aromatic.

Yarrow Tea is a good remedy for severe colds, being most useful in the commencement of fevers, and in cases of obstructed perspiration. The infusion is made with 1 OZ. of dried herb to 1 pint of boiling water, drunk warm, in wineglassful doses. It may be sweetened with sugar, honey or treacle, adding a little Cayenne Pepper, and to each dose a teaspoonful of Composition Essence. It opens the pores freely and purifies the blood, and is recommended in the early stages of children's colds, and in measles and other eruptive diseases.

A decoction of the whole plant is employed for bleeding piles, and is good for kidney disorders. It has the reputation also of being a preventative of baldness, if the head be washed with it.

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---Preparations---Fluid extract, 1/2 to 1 drachm. An ointment made by the Highlanders of Scotland of the fresh herb is good for piles, and is also considered good against the scab in sheep.

An essential oil has been extracted from the flowers, but is not now used.

Linnaeus recommended the bruised herb, fresh, as an excellent vulnerary and styptic. It is employed in Norway for the cure of rheumatism, and the fresh leaves chewed are said to cure toothache.

In Sweden it is called 'Field Hop' and has been used in the manufacture of beer. Linnaeus considered beer thus brewed more intoxicating than when hops were used.

It is said to have a similar use in Africa.

Culpepper spoke of Yarrow as a profitable herb in cramps, and Parkinson recommends a decoction to be drunk warm for ague.

The medicinal values of the Yarrow and the Sneezewort (A. millefolium and A. ptarmica), once famous in physic, were discarded officially in 1781.

Woolly Yellow Yarrow (A. tomentosa) is very rare, and a doubtful native; its leaves are divided and woolly, the flowers bright yellow.

www.botanical.com...
this plant is kings foil in the LOTR and the hobbit
it works on tooth aches/ abscesses, food poisoning, gangrene, wound infection, strep, ecoli type stuff, calming tea, blood purifier....etc
if you take it during a cold it can turn your mucus to concrete

it is used in the sweat lodge it produces sweating while it purifies the blood...way cool

ixcellent thead btw fands

reply to post by Utnapisjtim


Sadly, a lot of nature is being built over so we may soon not have any flowers on our lands just concrete, glass, metal...

reply to post by Danbones


Indeed, in Norway we call it 'ryllik' and it grows just about everywhere, along the road, along gardens and fields... everywhere. I intend to continue 'Herbs of Utnapisjtim' as a series, and yarrow is one of the most important ones.

It's a brilliant medicinal plant. Early in spring it tastes kinda sweet, but later in the season it becomes more and more bitter. However I like the taste and chew it straight up whenever I pass it. Rich in vitamin-C so it was used to cure skurvy, and is a good supplement in cases of colds and the flu. Also rich in anti-bacterial agents (documented), so it's good for healing wounds etc. and it has some pain releaving properties and was often used for toothache. It clogs blood, so if you get a bleeding nose, stuff some up and the bleeding stops.

Yarrow was even used as a replacement for hops in beer, due to it's bitterness and was rumoured to making beer stronger, containing some thujone (atleast it's believed), same as wormwood, a main ingredient in absinthe.

Good for tea, either for it's healing properties, or simply for it's great taste.

TruthxIsxInxThexMist
reply to post by Utnapisjtim

 

Sadly, a lot of nature is being built over so we may soon not have any flowers on our lands just concrete, glass, metal...

Then I suggest helping nature spreading seeds and strikings (plant cuttings) and gather traditional medicinal herbs in your garden or in your window post or balcony A great hobby!

reply to post by Utnapisjtim


Wow...another one perfect for the Yorkshire climate. Cheers

reply to post by KilgoreTrout


Indeed. Gather seeds in late summer or autumn, you'll find them inside those sticky fur-destroyers at the top of the plant