Thuja

Botanical Name: Thuja occidentalis L.

Family: Cupressaceae (Cypress family)

Other Names: Arborvitae · Tree of Life · White Cedar · Swamp Cedar · Hackmatack

Parts Used: The leafy young twigs

Quick Look

Thuja is the familiar evergreen of hedges and yards, with flat, fragrant sprays of scaly leaves. It is a strong herb, used mostly on the outside of the body. Reach for it for warts, for fungal skin trouble such as ringworm and athlete's foot, and as a rub for aching joints. Herbalists sometimes give small amounts inside for a stubborn chest cold or a lingering infection, but only for a short time. Its oil contains thujone, which is harmful in large amounts, and it must never be used in pregnancy.

Actions, Energetics & Taste

How It's Been Used

Warts. Its best-known use. The tincture is dabbed on warts and other small skin growths day after day until they go.

Fungal skin trouble. A wash, oil or salve is used for ringworm, athlete's foot, jock itch and other fungal infections of the skin.

Other skin trouble. Used on slow-healing ulcers, bedsores, psoriasis, eczema and scabies.

Aching joints. The bruised leaves, or an ointment made from them, were laid on rheumatic joints and sore muscles, and hot compresses and steam baths of it were used for the same.

Coughs & chest. In small amounts, for a stubborn cough, bronchitis and congestion in the nose and sinuses, often in a blend with Echinacea.

Lingering infections. Herbalists use it, briefly and in blends, to stir the body's defenses against stubborn or recurring infections, including cold sores.

A weak bladder. The old physicians gave it in small doses for a weak bladder that dribbles, leaks with a cough or sneeze, or gets one up at night.

How to Make & Take It

Preparations: Tincture · Salve · Wash · Tea

• For warts: Dab a little tincture on the wart two or three times a day. Keep it up for several weeks.
• Salve or oil: Infuse the leafy tips in oil, strain, and thicken with beeswax. Rub it on fungal skin, rough patches or aching joints.
• Wash or soak: Pour 3 cups of boiling water over ½ cup of the leafy tips, cover, and steep 15 minutes. Cool, strain, and use it to bathe fungal skin or soak the feet.
• Inside: Herbalists use only small amounts, for a short time, usually in a blend. Do not drink it daily. Take it inside only with the guidance of a knowledgeable herbalist.

Cautions

• Never use Thuja in pregnancy, inside or out. It can bring on miscarriage and may harm the baby. Avoid it while nursing as well.
• Its oil is rich in thujone, which harms the nerves in large amounts. Never take the essential oil by mouth: even a few drops have caused convulsions.
• Taken inside, it is for short-term use only, in small amounts. Do not combine it with other thujone herbs such as Sage, Wormwood or Tansy.
• Avoid it with epilepsy or any tendency to seizures.
• Large doses inside can badly upset the stomach and bowels.
• Handling the branches, or using the oil on the skin, gives some people a rash.
• Be sure of the tree. Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is a different plant whose oil has caused deaths.
• A growth that bleeds, changes, spreads or does not go away needs a doctor's attention. Warts in private areas need medical care.

Know the Plant

Thuja is an evergreen tree, usually twenty to forty feet tall, with a narrow, cone-shaped crown. Its tiny, scale-like leaves overlap in flat, fan-like sprays, paler underneath, and smell resinous and a little like apples when crushed. The small cones are about half an inch long, and the reddish bark peels in long strips. Trees can live for centuries.

It is native to northeastern North America, from Pennsylvania north into Canada, where it grows in cold, wet swamps and along rocky streams and lakeshores. It is widely planted for hedges. Despite its name it is not a true cedar but a cypress. The Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata) is a close cousin used in the same ways.

A Little History

The botanist Clusius saw the tree in the royal garden at Fontainebleau, where it had come from Canada, and called it arbor vitae, the tree of life. It reached England about 1566. The Iroquois used a decoction for coughs and fevers, settlers used it for scurvy and wounds, and in Canada the bruised leaves were laid on rheumatic joints. In America the Eclectic physicians took it up after 1862 for ulcers, swollen glands, polyps, a weak bladder and, above all, warts, and it was listed in the United States Pharmacopoeia. They also learned to respect it: King's American Dispensatory warned that its oil was dangerous inside because of the violent irritation it causes.

Thyme

Botanical Name: Thymus vulgaris L.

Family: Lamiaceae (Mint family)

Other Names: Garden Thyme · Common Thyme

Parts Used: Leaves and flowering tops

Quick Look

Thyme is the tiny-leaved, fragrant kitchen herb of soups and stews, and one of the best herbs for a cough. It is warming, drying and strongly antiseptic. Reach for it for a spasmodic or wet cough, a cold with thick mucus, a sore throat, gas and a sluggish stomach, and as a wash for fungal skin and sore gums. A spoonful of thyme honey is an old household standby through the winter.

Actions, Energetics & Taste

How It's Been Used

Coughs & chest. Its great use. Thyme is given for coughing fits and spasmodic coughs, for bronchitis and chest congestion, and was long the household remedy for whooping cough, taken as a sweetened tea or syrup. It loosens thick phlegm so it can be coughed up.

Colds, flu & sore throat. The hot tea brings on a sweat at the start of a cold. A steam opens a stuffy head, and a gargle of the tea soothes a sore throat, tonsils and a hoarse voice.

Digestion. For gas, bloating, belching, colic and cramping of the bowels, and as a tea after a heavy meal. Its astringency helps loose bowels.

Worms & lice. An old remedy for worms, and the tincture is put on the skin and scalp for lice.

Mouth & gums. A mouthwash for sore or inflamed gums, mouth sores and bad breath.

Bladder. Used for bladder infections.

Skin. A wash or soak for fungal infections such as ringworm and athlete's foot, and for cuts and wounds.

Aching joints. Rubbed on in a liniment or oil for sore muscles and aching joints.

Weariness. A warming tonic for the tired and worn out, and to help in getting well after illness.

How to Make & Take It

Preparations: Tea · Honey · Steam · Gargle · Wash · Tincture

• Tea: 1–2 teaspoons dried herb to a cup of boiling water. Cover and steep 10 minutes. Up to three cups a day. Sweeten with honey for a cough.
• Thyme, onion and garlic honey: Layer 1 part fresh thyme sprigs, 2 parts sliced onion and 1 part sliced garlic in a clean, dry jar (for example ½ cup thyme, 1 cup onion, ½ cup garlic). Cover completely with raw honey. Put a square of parchment under the lid and let it infuse at least a week. Strain, refrigerate, and use within three months. Take a teaspoonful for a cough, cold or sore throat.
• Steam: Put a handful of thyme, alone or with Rosemary, in a bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let the steam cool a little, tent a towel over the head, and breathe deeply for 10 to 20 minutes, two or three times a day.
• Gargle or mouthwash: Use the cooled tea several times a day.
• Foot soak or wash: A strong, cooled tea for fungal feet or skin.
• Tincture: 1:5 in 35–45% alcohol, ½ to ¾ teaspoon, three times a day.
• Gather it just before it flowers, cutting the stems a few inches above the ground.

Cautions

• As a kitchen herb, Thyme is safe for everyone.
• In pregnancy and while nursing, keep to the amounts used in cooking and avoid the essential oil. Larger amounts have long been used to bring on the menses.
• Do not give honey to babies under one year old.
• Thyme essential oil is very strong. Taken by mouth it can cause headache, vomiting and diarrhea, and it can harm the kidneys. Use it only well diluted on the skin.
• Those allergic to plants of the mint family may react to it.
• Be careful with hot steam: let it cool enough to be comfortable.
• A cough with high fever, trouble breathing or blood, or one that lasts for weeks, needs medical attention.

Know the Plant

Thyme is a small, woody perennial, six inches to a foot tall, with many wiry, branching stems and tiny gray-green leaves. From late spring through summer it bears small pale pink, lilac or white flowers in little clusters at the tips, and the bees love it. Rub a leaf and the warm, sharp scent tells you what it is.

It is native to the rocky, sunny hillsides of the Mediterranean and grows in gardens everywhere in sun and light, well-drained soil. There are hundreds of kinds, including Lemon Thyme and the low, creeping Wild Thyme, and most can be used the same way. Wild thyme is often stronger than garden thyme.

A Little History

The name is usually traced to the Greek thymos, strength or courage. The Greek physician Dioscorides gave thyme with salt and vinegar to bring up phlegm, and the Romans flavored cheese with it. In the Middle Ages it stood for courage: ladies embroidered a bee on a sprig of thyme on the scarves they gave to knights. It was a common English garden herb long before the 1500s, and the honey of Mount Hymettus in Greece owed its fame to the wild thyme the bees fed on. In the 1800s its oil gave thymol, an antiseptic used in surgical dressings and mouthwashes.

Turmeric

Botanical Name: Curcuma longa L.

Family: Zingiberaceae (Ginger family)

Other Names: Indian Saffron · Haldi · Curcuma

Parts Used: The rhizome (root)

Quick Look

Turmeric is the bright orange root of the ginger family that colors curry and mustard yellow. It is a warming, drying herb that calms inflammation. Reach for it for stiff, aching joints, for a sluggish liver and heavy digestion, for skin trouble, and as a paste for bruises and a gargle for a sore throat. It works best taken with a little fat and black pepper. In the kitchen it is safe for nearly everyone; the strong supplements are another matter.

Actions, Energetics & Taste

How It's Been Used

Joints & inflammation. Its best-known use today. Turmeric is taken for arthritis, stiff and aching joints, tendons and general aches, and a paste of it is laid on sprains, bruises and swellings.

Digestion. For bloating, gas and a heavy feeling after meals, and for loose bowels. Herbalists also use it for an inflamed stomach and bowels, and it is said to help protect the stomach lining.

Liver & gallbladder. It stirs the flow of bile and has long been used to support the liver. It was once a remedy for jaundice.

Skin. Used inside and out for acne, eczema and psoriasis, and on fungal skin such as ringworm and athlete's foot.

Cuts & scrapes. The powder, sprinkled on a small cut, helps stop the bleeding, and a paste with salt is put on scrapes.

Sore throat. A pinch of turmeric and salt in warm water makes a soothing gargle.

Heart & circulation. Its warming, inflammation-calming action is used to support the heart and blood vessels.

Women's cycles. Used for menstrual pain and the discomfort before a period.

Kitchen & dye. The main spice of curry powder, it colors mustard, rice and butter, and has long been used to dye cloth yellow.

How to Make & Take It

Preparations: Powder · Poultice · Gargle · Tincture

• In food: Cook it with a little oil, butter or coconut oil and a pinch of black pepper, which help the body take it up. About ½ to 1 teaspoon of powder a day is a common amount.
• Golden paste: Simmer ¼ cup ground turmeric with ½ cup water, stirring, until it makes a thick paste. Cool and keep it in the refrigerator.
• Golden milk: Blend or warm 1 cup of milk (dairy, coconut or almond) with ¼ to ½ teaspoon of golden paste or powder, 1 teaspoon coconut oil, a few shakes of black pepper and a dash of vanilla. Sweeten with honey or maple syrup and sprinkle with cinnamon.
• Gargle: A pinch or two each of turmeric and salt in a cup of warm water.
• Poultice: Mix turmeric and salt with a little water to a paste and lay it on a bruise, swelling or scrape.
• Tincture: ¼ to 1 teaspoon, three times a day. Alcohol draws out turmeric poorly, so food and golden milk are usually the better way to take it.
• Mind the stain. It turns skin, cloth, counters and cutting boards yellow.

Cautions

• In the amounts used in cooking, Turmeric is safe for nearly everyone.
• Avoid medicinal amounts with gallstones or a blocked bile duct, because it makes the gallbladder squeeze.
• Use care with stomach ulcers or a sour, acid stomach.
• Herbalists advise against medicinal amounts with blood thinners or a bleeding disorder. Stop it two weeks before surgery.
• In pregnancy and while nursing, keep to the amounts used in cooking. Large amounts were traditionally used to bring on the menses.
• Strong curcumin supplements made to absorb better have been linked to liver injury. Stop and see a doctor if you notice tiredness, nausea, dark urine or yellowing skin or eyes.
• Large doses can upset the stomach and bowels. Large supplement doses may add to the risk of kidney stones in those prone to them.
• Black pepper, often taken with it, changes how the body handles some medicines. If you take prescription medicine, check with a pharmacist before taking medicinal amounts.
• Buy powder from a trusted source; cheap powder has sometimes been colored with lead.
• Joint pain with heat, redness and swelling, or pain that keeps getting worse, needs medical attention.

Know the Plant

Turmeric is a tall, leafy perennial of the ginger family, three to five feet high, with large, long, pale green leaves rising straight from the ground and spikes of pale yellow flowers. Beneath the soil it forms knobby, fingered rhizomes, brown outside and deep orange within. It looks much like Ginger, its cousin.

It is native to South Asia and grows in warm, wet tropical lands, especially India. In America it can be grown outdoors only in the warmest parts of the South, or in a greenhouse. Fresh roots are now sold in many grocery stores. Good powder is a bright orange-yellow.

A Little History

Turmeric has been used for thousands of years in India, China and Africa, as spice, dye and medicine. In the traditional medicine of India it is a heating, drying herb for digestion, the skin, the liver and the joints, and it has long been taken with black pepper. In the old English and American books it was chiefly a spice and a dye: King's American Dispensatory (1898) noted that it was seldom used as medicine, but that paper soaked in it turned red-brown in the presence of alkalies and served as a chemist's test paper. In recent decades it has become one of the most studied herbs in the world.