I am interested in compiling a list of plant based remedies

I think I mentioned a medicinal garden we found when we visited Bristol. It's the Chinese Medicinal Herb Garden "developed as a collaborative project between the University of Bristol Botanic Garden and the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine."

We found this fascinating.

Your post interested me also because at the moment I have Robertson's New Family Herbal and Culpeper's British herbal on my desk as part of my de-cluttering programme.

I've just opened one at random and found "hysteric complaints" mentioned. That dates it!

You are very welcome to one, or both of these books if you would like it/them.

Thank you Eirlys . I will send my postal address p.m. and pay postage.

an interesting project Diane but please bear in mind some early herbals didn't actually work. they were thought to help because they looked like parts of the body. Pulmonaria is a case in point. Some plants are ok in their own right but when taken in conjunction with others can have serious side effects.

I have several modern herbals Diane and would be glad to send you the details if you like. It would be much quicker than compiling your own, or would be a useful reference if you still wanted to do it.

I have a couple reprints of very old ones too - Gerard's herbal has a remedy for bruising on wives who have "accidentally fallen on their husbands fist..."

Yes SBG - I know about Celandines !

I am just looking for plant remedies that members have used successfully.

yes but the greater celandine. commonly used in Russia for a range of ailments.

The more you do your research - I think you will find that nearly all plant groups and other groups such as bees and reptiles have some way of helping humans it is just over time we have lost the skills and the inclination to use them.

Like all medicines herbal remedies need great care. Many do work. My grandmother used some "funny" but effective remedies including cheese mould!!!

Antibiotics are the wonders of the modern age but we have tended to rely too much on them, and have overused them.

Seaburngirl: I took statins for years before being told that one should not drink grapefruit juice. It's mentioned now in the blurb that comes with the tablets.

Only this week I read that Ramipril(B.P.) tablets exacerbate the symptoms of acid reflux! Doesn't say that in the blurb!

One plant we grew and I used successfully was COMFREY. My Grandmother called it knitbone. She liked this plant and used it a lot externally(ulcers, broken bones).

She used to say that ingesting this plant could damage one's liver.

some cheese moulds are in the penicillium family of moulds.
That contraindications for all drugs is really what I was trying to say. Ramipril causes an irritating cough too that I don't think is in the blurb. my OH coughed for years until his sister told him to get it changed. She is a nurse and therefore he listened to her even though I told him he needed to go back to the dr.

If you only want ones we've actually used I'll confirm comfrey poultices for sprains, bread poultices for extracting splinters, lemon balm tea for calming stress,
cammomile tea for that and also calming upset stomachs, ginger root for nausea, peppermint tea for flatulence. I haven't tried lesser celandine for piles (that was just based on the shape of the root), but I can vouch for the bright orange sap of the greater celandine for warts. (Though I've only ever once found it growing wild) Not forgetting elderflower tea just for pleasure...
Hope this is useful./

And an addition to Eirlys's warning - if you take Warfarin don't drink cranberry juice. Otherwise its useful for kidney problems.

A simple glass of lemon-water will cleanse your liver and kidneys and prevent all kinds of problems, including early death.

Echinacea tea (purple coneflower) is a powerful immune booster. Adding honey, mint, lemon makes it even better.

Ginger and garlic both important for general good health.

The pharmaceutical companies play it down and don't want you to know this, so you can buy their expensive drugs/cold remedies.

Seaburngirl: Now I didn't know that about Ramipril and an irritating cough! I do have the odd urge but nothing like THAT Christmas cough that everyone round here had. I found Linctus cough sweets and Manuka honey the only things that helped.

Does honey count, Diane?

Manuka plants are grown in this country. See:

http://www.countryfile.com/news/only-manuka-plantation-britain-bloom-six-months-early

If I were younger I would try and grow some, also Ginseng, which I have mentioned in a previous post. I used to take Ginseng tablets and they really helped.

A pharmacist recommended honey and lemon juice in hot water, Bathgate. He told me not to waste my money on cough remedies.

Garlic really is a marvel. NO wonder it worried Dracula.

I believe Turmeric is the latest "fad". Seems to have a lot going for it.

I was thinking of "Big Pharm" that is driven by profits and who send lobbyists to Washington, D.C. and start rumors of a possible flue pandemic and the only thing that could save you is TheraFlu and a vaccine which they manufacture. But there was never a pandemic to begin with.

Eirlys, someone on here recently said don't take Ginseng if you are on tabs for BP.

Steragram: I don't take them any longer because of that. Thanks.

I used to like mustard foot baths when I was small. Another old remedy?