Botany Bee Botanicals

Just one reason I love to forage the finger lakes!

DYK? Skaneateles Lake is one of the ten cleanest large bodies of water in the US. It supplies unfiltered drinking water to more than 200,000 people, including residents of the city of Syracuse…20 miles away!

Available as tea or tincture.

Motherwort, Leonurus cardiaca, is an herbaceous plant native to Southeastern Europe, and Central Asia. It is the aerial parts that are used medicinally. It was used as a nervine, or nerve tonic in the Middle Ages. It was said to remove sorrow and melancholy, improve cheerfulness, and ease labor. It was believed to protect against evil spirits. This is a photo of my organically grown motherwort, which is almost done blooming.

The aerial parts of motherwort contain many bioactive compounds including alkaloids such as leonuride as well as terpenoids, glycosides, phenolics, tannins, essential oils, and flavonoids including rutin and quercetin. These substances are anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial, and analgesic.

Motherwort is traditionally used for its calming effects, as a relaxant, and antispasmodic. It is used to stop bleeding, and for and symptoms of menopause. Because of its alkaloids it is used to promote labor and induce menstruation. There is research that suggests injecting motherwort along with oxytocin can help reduce postpartum bleeding.

Traditional Chinese Medicine uses it for heart failure, irregular heartbeat, arrhythmia due to anxiety, and high blood pressure. Motherwort is a bitter herb, with a strong taste.

Suggested dosing: Tincture 3-12 ml per day. It is bitter. Try mixing motherwort with another strong-tasting beverage such as orange juice.

Possible Side Effects: Gastrointestinal disturbance, sleepiness, uterine bleeding, allergic reaction.

Contraindications: It can interact with sedatives and central nervous system depressants. Consult your physician and pharmacist. Do not use it in pregnancy. Do not use it if taking Warfarin.

Click here for an excellent scientific paper on the possible uses of motherwort. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/4303215

Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose or treat any illness. I am not a medical professional and cannot diagnose or treat any illness.

Rev 7/26 © Botany Bee Botanicals

Pleurisy Root, Asclepias tuberosa, is known to gardeners as butterfly milkweed. It grows in dry, sandy areas and has bright orange flowers perched on top of a leafy stem. It is native to North America and was used extensively by indigenous peoples. This photo was taken by me in an area I forage.

It has been used traditionally for respiratory ailments, diarrhea, snow blindness, swelling, rash, tapeworm, snakebite, and sore throat. In contemporary times it is used to relieve lung inflammation. It is a bronchodilator. It may have a diaphoretic effect, inducing sweating to lower fevers. It contains flavonoids, which are antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory.

Pleurisy root was one of the herbs used by physicians to fight the 1918 influenza pandemic. They found it to be safe and effective in small to moderate doses.

Suggested dosing: Tincture: 1-3 ml 2-3x day.

Possible side effects: Skin rash, nausea, vomiting. May have an estrogenic effect. May interfere with the action of diuretics (water pills).

Contraindications: Do not use it if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Do not use it if you are a cardiac patient as it contains cardiac glycosides.

For more scientific info google "Herbal Treatments for Pandemic Influenza: Learning from the Eclectics' Experience".

Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose or treat any disease. I am not a medical professional and cannot diagnose or treat any medical conditions.

Rev 7/26 © Botany Bee Botanicals

Beautiful native reishi, aka hemlock varnish shelf. Almost ready for harvest! We will offer it in tincture.

Mid-summer harvest and foraging is going very well! We had some outrageous high temps and there was concern that the essential oils can evaporate right out of the plants, especially mugwort. But it looks like we avoided that. This week we harvested stinging nettle, feverfew, yarrow, horehound, plantain, dandelion, and vervain! The black cohosh, bloodroot, and stoneroot are flourishing.

Foraging on beautiful, unspoiled land yielded an abundance of self-heal, oregano, wild basil, ground ivy, lemon balm, and chickweed. I drove north to a hidden Adirondack hemlock bog and found some beautiful, large reishi. It's important not to harvest it too early before it has released its spores. I want to be able to return and find more next year.

My friend's organic garden gave us comfrey leaf, mint and catnip. The drying nets are full! I am fortunate to be able to forage the edges and pathways of this very large garden and find all sort of plants that others say are "just weeds". There is no such thing.
There is quite a bit of Oregon grape that has volunteered around this garden but getting the roots out of the soil isn't easy as it tends to grow with other woodland shrubs that have shallow roots. Untangling them can be challenging. One of the things Oregon grape gives us is berberine in the yellow roots.

I'm looking forward to another trip north soon and a new adventure at another possible foraging site.

Try some forest bathing if you are feeling stress. It really works. The trees release beneficial substances into the air so breathe deep and just absorb all the goodness.

Lynn

Chickweed! A tender anti-inflammatory.

Stellaria media, chickweed, is an annual flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. It is native to Eurasia and naturalized throughout the world.
Chickweed contains; ascorbic-acid, beta-carotene, calcium, coumarins, genistein, gamma-linolenic-acid, flavonoids, magnesium, niacin, oleic-acid, potassium, riboflavin, rutin, selenium, triterpenoid saponins, thiamine and zinc.
Chickweed is laxative, demulcent, and anti-inflammatory. A poultice of chickweed may be useful topically for inflammation, abscesses, eczema, boils, psoriasis, ulcers, and itching. Internally, it's a demulcent and is a gentle laxative and may be soothing to the digestive tract. Chickweed may help protect against diabetes induced cardiac dysfunction, but more research is needed. It is full of antioxidants, which are protective for all of the body’s systems. It contains natural lecithin which specifically aids in fat metabolism. It may help balance beneficial bacteria in the gut, providing the optimum environment for healthy digestion. It is traditionally used in tea to help prevent scurvy and to fight upper respiratory illnesses.

Suggested dosing: Tincture 2-3 ml two to three times a day.
Possible side effects: Allergy

Contraindications: Generally considered safe but always consult your physician if you are using herbal supplements.
Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose or treat any illness. I am not a medical professional and cannot diagnose or treat any illness.

Rev 6/26 Botany Bee Botanicals

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Just harvested the first of black medick from a local field. It's a habitat where honeybee hives are placed and the field isn't sprayed. It's on high ground and the water comes from a spring.

Black Medick, Medicago lupulina, is also commonly known as nonesuch, trefoil, or hop clover. It is native to Asia but has spread throughout North America and grows in sunny, disturbed, alkaline soil and acts as a good nitrogen fixer. It may be annual, or perennial, depending on your microclimate. It is edible raw or cooked but is somewhat bitter.

In herbalism it is traditionally used as an antibacterial and styptic wound dressing. Studies have shown that it is active against Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, and Staphylococcus aureus, as well as some fungal infections.

It is used as a very mild laxative due to its high fiber and mildly stimulating properties. It has been used to treat respiratory infections due its expectorant, anti-spasmodic, and antiseptic actions. It contains mucilage, which is used to loosen phlegm. It is thought that the anti-spasmodic qualities help with asthma and respiratory tightness.