Plants with healing properties

This thread is for any plants that we might be growing, or thinking about growing, that also are said to have medicinal properties. We know that many of the plants we think of as weeds were brought over by early settlers to America because they were considered healing medicinal plants.
This included plants like dandelion and Plantago (also called plantain); but there are also plants, shrubs, and trees that are native to an area that have been used for centuries , and some of those were eventually patented into a medicine .

Aspirin is one of the most common medicines that comes from a plant.
It is found in its natural state in willow trees. Some willows have more natural aspirin than others, but all of them have some of it.
Using the natural willow to make aspirin does not have any of the side effects that taking as aspirin tablet has, so it is safer in that respect. This video explains how to take willow bark and steep it for pain relief.

Bobby and I have been talking about having a weeping willow in the back yard, and keeping it pruned so it does not get too large. I ordered cuttings from Amazon for weeping curly willow trees.
I will get two cuttings to root, so we should at lest get one good cutting to plant. We can also use the tree to help root other cuttings since willow is supposed to be great for helping any kind of cuttings to root, as well as trying it out as a pain medicine.

I know a few plants that heal, but @Mary Stetler. We grow Arnica montana here, We also have "Toothache plant", and, of course, Aloe vera. I know we grow a lot of things that heal but that is largely my wife's department and she makes tinctures, extracts, and a few salves and such as well. Lemon balm, bee balm, and we have some Balm of Gilead here that is made from local poplar trees, in addition to willow, of which I think Alaska has 26 types of willow.

Lots of things in nature have healing properties

A good thread!!

I grow marijuana...... Legally I am allowed to grow 4 plants for my personal use, but only one plant is enough for me.. We don't consume it but I make an ointment for mainly arthritis and pain.. Some years I will grow 2 plants, depending on how many containers I have left over from last year..
One plant yields me about 25 to 30 containers of ointment, mainly depending on how large the plant grows.. Each container is almost a cup.. Just a bit does the trick and it lasts for hours and hours.. There isn't any other ointment on the market that is that potent.. I've been doing this for the past 5 or more years and it is very good..
Easy recipe but time consuming once a year in the fall.. Well worth the effort and very cheap..

Steve North said:

I grow marijuana...... Legally I am allowed to grow 4 plants for my personal use, but only one plant is enough for me.. We don't consume it but I make an ointment for mainly arthritis and pain.. Some years I will grow 2 plants, depending on how many containers I have left over from last year..
One plant yields me about 25 to 30 containers of ointment, mainly depending on how large the plant grows.. Each container is almost a cup.. Just a bit does the trick and it lasts for hours and hours.. There isn't any other ointment on the market that is that potent.. I've been doing this for the past 5 or more years and it is very good..
Easy recipe but time consuming once a year in the fall.. Well worth the effort and very cheap..

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If I had some seeds, I would grow some, too. I am not sure if it is legal to do that yet in Alabama, but I think that it is.
People grew the hemp plant to make ropes, tents and other products with the fiber, and the name cannabis is where we get the word “canvas” from.
Once people started using it as a drug, it became illegal., and was developed for the psychoactive benefits; but there are a lot of varieties which have the same healing properties and not mind-altering.

People add the fresh leaves to smoothies for health benefits, and since it is the flower bud that is used as a drug, the leaves have very little of the THC in them, and can be used for medical and not as a drug.
I remember trying smoking pot, way back in the 70’s, and I hated it, but I do not like anything that messes with my mind. Even so, I would like to grow some and make an ointment like you do, @Steve North .

My daughter makes all sorts of ointments. I'm not sure if marijuana is generally legal here but if it is maybe she could try some for me. She makes a jewel weed, plantain etc salve that is fabulous for bites and stings. but it doesn't make it down to the joints.

In the marijuana plants, there is a male plant and a female plant.....
The male is mostly CBD which is more for healing but it also has some THC in the buds....
The female plant has mostly THC in the buds which is what I use for my ointment.. The leaves as well.. A more potent plant..
Like i said, i have a formula to make the ointment using both leaves and buds from the female plant....

I remember my Aunt Hazel kept Aloe vera plants on the cellar window sills, and when someone got a burn, she would clip of a piece and treat it. Easy Peasy!

Don Alaska said:

I know a few plants that heal, but @Mary Stetler. We grow Arnica montana here, We also have "Toothache plant", and, of course, Aloe vera. I know we grow a lot of things that heal but that is largely my wife's department and she makes tinctures, extracts, and a few salves and such as well. Lemon balm, bee balm, and we have some Balm of Gilead here that is made from local poplar trees, in addition to willow, of which I think Alaska has 26 types of willow.

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Thanks @Don Alaska !

Joe Riley said:

Thanks @Don Alaska !

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There is a red bud on the prickly ash that you can used for toothache too. It won't fix the tooth but dulls the pain.

30+ years ago I read an article about women in the Appalachian Mountains still brewing tea out of Queen Anne's Lace as a method of contraception. I take supplements but never OTC herbals because there's no way to know the potency of the mass-harvested ingredients, but if I were in a region with generations of herbalists who knew the plants of the region and their uses, I would not think twice about taking what they provided as a remedy.

Tonite at Bible study pastor asked when the cattails would be ready. Originally I told him second week of June, like clock work. But with the very cold spring, I think they might be late; maybe the third week. I promised to bring some, cooked and ready to eat and that all would survive.

My corkscrew weeping willows arrived, and they are really LARGE cuttings, they are almost as large around as a garden hose. I was expecting small cuttings.
The directions said to put the cuttings in a glass jar and set it in a window where it gets light but not direct sun, so they are now in my kitchen window. Once they have roots, they can go into a container until they are developed enough to plant, which will probably be this fall.
I have read that anything you are trying to root will do better if there is some willow in the container.
WOW ! I just checked and there are already tiny roots starting on those huge willow cuttings !

For a couple of years now I have been growing Perilla, also called Japanese basil. It is from the mont family, and has a distinctive taste, and I have been adding the leaves into cooked foods as well as in salads, anyplace where i would use regular basil. This plant grows like crazy, and if anyone wants seeds this fall, just PM me and I can send you some. Once you have it one season, it will go to seeds and you will have bunches of perilla. The bees love the flowers, and both the leaves and seeds are edible and very healthy. Mine is a mixture of green and purple and rally pretty growing under the cedar trees in the font yard.
It gets around 3 feet tall, and I can harvest it all summer, and usually dry some for winter use.

Mary Stetler said:

Tonite at Bible study pastor asked when the cattails would be ready. Originally I told him second week of June, like clock work. But with the very cold spring, I think they might be late; maybe the third week. I promised to bring some, cooked and ready to eat and that all would survive.

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What part of thee cattail do you use medicinally @Mary Stetler. As a kid, we would sometimes eat the root, but cattails are rare here although they can sometimes be found around highways for some reason.

I think nearly every part of the cattail is edible, depending on the season. What puts me off is that cattails act much like a natural sewer system, judging from the places they are commonly seen.

Yvonne Smith said:

My corkscrew weeping willows arrived, and they are really LARGE cuttings, they are almost as large around as a garden hose. I was expecting small cuttings.
The directions said to put the cuttings in a glass jar and set it in a window where it gets light but not direct sun, so they are now in my kitchen window. Once they have roots, they can go into a container until they are developed enough to plant, which will probably be this fall.
I have read that anything you are trying to root will do better if there is some willow in the container.
WOW ! I just checked and there are already tiny roots starting on those huge willow cuttings !

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A friend brought me two soft wood maybe 10 inch clippings in April. Two weeks in water in the sun on a work bench. Good soil and a gallon pot for six weeks. Now one is around four foot plus and the other one almost there. We had a big one in our yard in Texas. After five years it took a big man to reach around the trunk. So pleasant in the constant wind. New owners took it down.

Yvonne Smith said:

For a couple of years now I have been growing Perilla, also called Japanese basil. It is from the mont family, and has a distinctive taste, and I have been adding the leaves into cooked foods as well as in salads, anyplace where i would use regular basil. This plant grows like crazy, and if anyone wants seeds this fall, just PM me and I can send you some. Once you have it one season, it will go to seeds and you will have bunches of perilla. The bees love the flowers, and both the leaves and seeds are edible and very healthy. Mine is a mixture of green and purple and rally pretty growing under the cedar trees in the font yard.
It gets around 3 feet tall, and I can harvest it all summer, and usually dry some for winter use.

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Japanese neighbors went wild over a purple variety I had for decorative purposes and for pollinators. Then I added plain wide leaves green and curly leaf green. To me it is a not overly pleasant pungent smell and rather invasive if you let it set seeds. Very drought resistant and no self respecting deer will touch them.

Don Alaska said:

What part of thee cattail do you use medicinally @Mary Stetler. As a kid, we would sometimes eat the root, but cattails are rare here although they can sometimes be found around highways for some reason.

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We use them for food not medicinal. Mostly the flower buds in june. They come in a husk like corn and you kind of eat them like corn on the cob too because they have a tough stem running through the middle. The tender part of the main stem, when you pull it out gently, tastes like cucumber. The root is starchy and can be made into flour but that is a bit too labor intensive for me. But if the flower buds turn yellow, you can shake some goodly amount into bags and add to normal flower for some vitamin a, a lovely color for muffins etc....They are like a grocery store in a plant.