Hawthorn

Botanical Name: Crataegus monogyna Jacq. · Crataegus laevigata (Poir.) DC. (older name Crataegus oxyacantha)

Family: Rosaceae (Rose family)

Other Names: May · Mayblossom · Whitethorn · Thorn · Haw · Red Haw · Quick

Parts Used: Berries (haws), leaves and flowers

Quick Look

Hawthorn is the thorny hedge tree whose berries, leaves and flowers are the herbalist's first remedy for the heart. It is a gentle, food-like tonic that strengthens a tired heart, steadies the blood pressure and calms a heart upset by nerves or sorrow. It works slowly and is taken daily for months.

Actions, Energetics & Taste

How It's Been Used

The heart. Herbalists count it one of the best tonics for the whole heart and circulation. It is given for a weak or tired heart, for pain and tightness in the chest, for shortness of breath, and for a rapid, feeble or irregular beat.

Blood pressure & circulation. Taken daily to steady the blood pressure and open the vessels, and used for poor circulation with cold hands and feet.

A nervous or heavy heart. Used when the heart races or flutters from nerves, for worry and sleeplessness, and in times of grief. Relief of nervous palpitations, and of mild stress and poor sleep, are the official traditional uses of the leaf and flower in Europe.

Digestion. The Greeks used the fruit to stop diarrhea, and in China the berry is a remedy for a stomach heavy with rich food. A hawthorn cordial after dinner is a pleasant way to settle the stomach.

Water & stone. An old remedy for dropsy and for kidney troubles.

Sore throat. A decoction of the flowers or berries is an astringent gargle.

Food. The berries are made into ketchup and a brandy liqueur, and the leaves were once used to stretch tea.

How to Make & Take It

Preparations: Tea · Decoction · Tincture · Elixir · Gargle

• Leaf and flower tea: 1–2 teaspoons dried leaf and flower to a cup of boiling water. Cover and steep 10–15 minutes. Up to 3 cups a day.
• Berry decoction: 1 teaspoon dried berries, lightly crushed, to a cup of water. Simmer, covered, 15–20 minutes. Up to 3 cups a day. Cooled, it is also the gargle.
• Tincture: 1:5 in 45% alcohol, ¼ to 1 teaspoon, three times a day. The old American physicians gave 5 to 60 drops and found the smaller doses worked best.
• Berry cordial: Put 1 cup dried berries, 2 cups brandy and ½ cup honey in a jar. Shake it daily for four weeks, then strain. Take 1 to 2 tablespoons in a glass of water.
• Give it time. Allow at least two months. It is safe to take for a long time.

Cautions

• If you take medicine for the heart or blood pressure, talk with your doctor before adding Hawthorn. It may add to the effect of those medicines.
• Use care with low blood pressure.
• Herbalists differ on its use in pregnancy and nursing, and its safety then has not been established. Talk with a knowledgeable herbalist or care provider first.
• Large amounts can upset the stomach or cause dizziness.
• Chest pain, shortness of breath or an irregular heartbeat should be checked by a doctor. Hawthorn is a slow tonic, not a remedy for an emergency.

Know the Plant

Hawthorn is a thorny shrub or small tree that can reach thirty feet and live to a great age. It has small, lobed leaves and, in May, clusters of white or pink five-petaled flowers. In fall it bears bright red berries, each one like a tiny, stony apple.

These two hawthorns are the common hedge trees of Europe. North America has many native hawthorns of its own, and the old American physicians used the native Red Haws along with the English Hawthorn.

A Little History

Haw is an old word for hedge, and Crataegus comes from the Greek kratos, hardness, for the tree's tough wood. An old tradition held that the Crown of Thorns was woven from it. The Greek physician Dioscorides used the fruit for the bowels, but Hawthorn's fame as a heart herb is modern. Dr. Greene of Ennis, in County Clare, Ireland, was famous for curing heart disease with a secret remedy; when he died in 1894 his daughter revealed that it was a tincture of ripe hawthorn berries. In 1896 Dr. Jennings of Chicago wrote that it "seems to cure while the other remedies are only palliative," and American patients soon asked for "a bottle of that brown heart medicine." Harvey Felter thought its admirers overrated it, yet agreed that it was not poisonous and did not build up in the body.

Hibiscus

Botanical Name: Hibiscus sabdariffa L.

Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)

Other Names: Roselle · Jamaica Sorrel · Red Sorrel · Flor de Jamaica · Karkade

Parts Used: The dried red calyx, the fleshy cup that holds the flower. The leaves and seeds are eaten.

Quick Look

Hibiscus is the tart, ruby-red tea drunk all over the warm parts of the world. It is a cooling, thirst-quenching herb and a daily tonic for the heart. Reach for it to support healthy blood pressure, to cool down in hot weather or a fever, and to flush the kidneys and bladder.

Actions, Energetics & Taste

How It's Been Used

Heart & blood pressure. Its chief use today. Herbalists drink it daily as a heart tonic and to support healthy blood pressure and cholesterol, and it is an old remedy for high blood pressure in Iran and Mexico. Several studies of the tea have found that it lowers blood pressure.

Heat & thirst. A cooling drink for hot weather. Its sourness quenches thirst, and it suits a hot, dry day or a hot, dry person.

Fevers. A traditional cooling drink in fevers, in Africa and in the West Indies, where it was given in fevers to cool the body and quench thirst.

Water & kidneys. Used to increase the flow of urine and to soothe an irritated bladder.

Coughs & sore throat. In Africa and India it is taken for coughs and sore throats.

Nourishment. Rich in vitamin C, and traditionally taken to help build the blood where iron is low.

Food. The calyces are made into jellies, tarts, sauces and pickles, and the leaves are eaten as greens.

How to Make & Take It

Preparations: Tea

• Tea: 1–2 teaspoons dried hibiscus to a cup of boiling water. Cover and steep 5–10 minutes. Drink 2 to 3 cups a day.
• Cold tea: About 1 ounce of dried hibiscus to 2 quarts of cold water. Let it stand in the refrigerator for a day, then strain.
• In a blend: It pairs well with peppermint, lemon balm, ginger, rose hips and cinnamon.
• Not as a tincture: Its soothing mucilage does not draw out well in alcohol, so tea is the way to take it.

Cautions

• It can lower blood pressure. Use care with low blood pressure or with blood pressure medicine, and do not change a medicine on your own.
• Avoid medicinal amounts in pregnancy; herbalists list it among the herbs that bring on menstrual flow.
• Safety while nursing has not been established. Talk with a knowledgeable herbalist or care provider first.
• Take it three hours apart from acetaminophen. Use care with water pills and diabetes medicine, and it may weaken the malaria drug chloroquine.
• A sour tea drunk every day can wear on tooth enamel. Rinse or brush afterward.

Know the Plant

Hibiscus is a tall, frost-tender annual, up to five feet high, with lobed leaves and yellow flowers with a dark center. When the petals fall, the calyx swells into a fleshy, bright red cup around the seed pod, and this is the part that is dried.

It is thought to be native to Africa and is now grown throughout the tropics. In America it has long been a garden plant in Florida and the warm South. It is not the showy garden hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), which is a different plant.

A Little History

Hibiscus has been grown for food and drink for thousands of years, and each country has its own name for the red tea. In North Africa it is karkade, in Mexico agua de Jamaica, and in the Caribbean sorrel, simmered with ginger, clove and cinnamon at Christmas. The physician Hans Sloane found it in the gardens of Jamaica in 1707, made into "Tarts, Gellies, and Wine." King's American Dispensatory (1898) listed it beside Marshmallow as Red Sorrel, known along the Texas border as Jamaica, and by 1919 it was commonly grown in Florida, where cooks used it like cranberries.

Holy Basil

Botanical Name: Ocimum tenuiflorum L. (older name Ocimum sanctum)

Family: Lamiaceae (Mint family)

Other Names: Tulsi · Tulasi

Parts Used: Leaves and flowering tops

Quick Look

Holy Basil is a spicy, clove-scented basil from India, where it is the first household herb for coughs, colds and fevers. Herbalists here prize it most as a calming tonic for a body and mind worn down by stress. Reach for it when someone is frazzled, anxious and foggy-headed, and as a warming tea when a cold is coming on.

Actions, Energetics & Taste

How It's Been Used

Stress. Its chief use among herbalists today. It helps the body meet strain steadily and is taken daily by people who are worn down, frazzled or stretched thin.

Nerves & mood. Used to quiet anxiety, lift low spirits and ease grief, while leaving the mind clear.

Mind & memory. Taken for mental fog and poor focus. Herbalists often pair it with Rosemary, Bacopa and Ginkgo.

Colds, coughs & fevers. The great household use in India. The warm tea, often taken with honey, brings on a gentle sweat, loosens mucus in the chest and speeds recovery from colds, coughs and flu.

Digestion. A warming herb for gas, bloating, nausea and poor appetite, often combined with ginger.

Blood sugar. Herbalists use it to help keep blood sugar steady.

Holy Basil or kitchen Basil? They are different plants. Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum) is the cooking herb; Holy Basil is spicier and more peppery, and it is the one used as a tonic.

How to Make & Take It

Preparations: Tea · Tincture

• Tea: 1–2 teaspoons dried herb, or twice that of fresh, to a cup of boiling water. Cover and steep 5–10 minutes. Up to 3 cups a day.
• Cold tea: A handful of fresh flowering tips in a quart of water, left overnight. Strain and sip through the day.
• Tincture: 1:5 in 45% alcohol, ½ to 1 teaspoon, two or three times a day.
• In a blend: It pairs well with ginger, cinnamon and hibiscus.

Cautions

• Avoid it in pregnancy and when trying to conceive. Herbalists report that it may lower fertility in both men and women.
• Herbalists differ on its use while nursing, and its safety then has not been established. Talk with a knowledgeable herbalist or care provider first.
• It can lower blood sugar. Those on insulin or diabetes medicine should watch their numbers.
• Use care with blood-thinning medicine.
• It is warming and drying, so it may not suit someone who runs hot and dry or is prone to heartburn.
• A fever that is high or lasting, or trouble breathing, needs medical attention.

Know the Plant

Holy Basil is a bushy, strongly scented plant of the mint family, with square, hairy stems and toothed leaves that are green or purple. Slender spikes of small pink to purple flowers rise above the leaves.

It is native to the lowlands of India and grows across tropical Asia to northern Australia. In America it is grown as a garden annual and can be wintered indoors.

A Little History

Holy Basil has been a household medicine in India for some three thousand years, brewed for coughs, colds and fevers. The old American medical books knew only its cousin Sweet Basil, which King's American Dispensatory (1898) noted was "used in mild nervous disorders." Holy Basil itself came to American herbalists only in recent decades, as one of the adaptogens. The herbalist David Winston uses it to clear a foggy mind.

Hops

Botanical Name: Humulus lupulus L.

Family: Cannabaceae (Hemp family)

Other Names: Hop · Common Hop

Parts Used: Strobiles, the papery cones of the female plant

Quick Look

Hops are the bitter, fragrant cones that flavor beer, and one of the great old remedies for sleep. The herb itself is not intoxicating. Hops cool and quiet a body that is hot, tense and wound up. Reach for them when someone cannot switch off at night, when nerves upset the stomach, and as a warm application for an aching tooth, ear or joint. One word sums them up: unclench, in mind, body and digestion alike.

Actions, Energetics & Taste

How It's Been Used

Sleep. Its great use. Hops are for the person whose body is tired but whose mind will not power down: still planning, organizing and making tomorrow's list when the day is over. They suit best the person who is hot and all wound up. They are often blended with valerian, passionflower or chamomile.

Nerves & tension. Used when the mind is overactive and the person tense, irritable and heated, and for restlessness and nervous headaches. The old physicians gave them to calm the agitation of heavy drinkers drying out.

Nervous stomach & digestion. A bitter tonic, taken before meals, for poor appetite and indigestion, and a soother for a stomach or bowel knotted by nerves. They suit best a hot, acid, churning stomach that gets worse under stress. In spring, hop tea was drunk for a sluggish liver.

Pain. A bag of warm hops was held to an aching tooth, ear or face. A hot hop fomentation, often with chamomile, was laid on painful swellings, bruises, boils and rheumatic joints. Herbalists today also rub the tincture into sore joints and muscles.

Men. Used to quiet sexual overexcitement and nervous irritability.

Women. Used for painful periods and for the hot flashes of the change of life. Hops have a hormone-like action; women picking hops were long known to come into their monthly flow early.

Bladder. An old remedy for quick ease of an irritable bladder.

Food & drink. Hops give beer its bitterness and keep it from spoiling. The young spring shoots are eaten like asparagus.

How to Make & Take It

Preparations: Tea · Tincture · Fomentation

• Tea: 1 teaspoon dried hops to a cup of boiling water. Cover and steep 10–15 minutes. Drink a cup at bedtime, or up to 3 cups a day for nerves. It is very bitter and blends well with chamomile or lemon balm.
• Tincture: 1:5 in 40–60% alcohol, ¼ to ½ teaspoon, at bedtime or up to three times a day. It can also be rubbed on sore joints.
• Hop pillow: Fill a small cloth bag loosely with dried hops and tuck it beside the pillow.
• Fomentation: Make a strong, hot tea of hops, alone or with chamomile. Wring out a cloth in it and lay it on the painful part as warm as is comfortable, never hot enough to burn. Re-warm it as it cools.
• Warm hop bag: Warm a small bag of hops and hold it to an aching ear, tooth or face.
• Buying: Choose hops that are green and strongly scented. Old, brown hops have lost their strength.

Cautions

• Do not use Hops with depression. Herbalists agree that it can deepen a low mood.
• Avoid it in pregnancy, because of its hormone-like action.
• Herbalists differ on its use while nursing, and its safety then has not been established. Talk with a knowledgeable herbalist or care provider first.
• With a hormone-sensitive cancer, such as breast cancer, speak with a doctor before using it.
• It adds to the effect of alcohol, sleeping pills and other sedating medicines. Do not drive after taking it.
• Handling the fresh plant gives some people a rash, and the smell gives some people a headache.
• Sleeplessness that goes on for weeks needs medical attention.

Know the Plant

Hops are a perennial climber. Each spring the rough, prickly stems twine up anything they can reach, to thirty feet, and each fall they die back to the root. The leaves are heart-shaped and lobed. Male and female flowers grow on separate plants, and only the female bears the cones: soft, pale green and papery, an inch or more long, with sticky yellow grains at the base of each scale that hold the scent and the bitterness.

Hops are native to the temperate parts of North America, Europe and Asia, and are widely grown for brewing.

A Little History

The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon hoppan, to climb, and lupulus is Latin for a little wolf, because the Romans thought the vine strangled the plants it climbed. The Romans ate the young shoots, and Dutch brewers were using the cones by the 1300s. England resisted: Parliament was petitioned against the Hop as "a wicked weed that would spoil the taste of the drink and endanger the people." Legend says King George III slept on hops, and the old American physicians recorded that a pillow stuffed with hops had long been a favorite help for sleep.