Chamomile, Chives, Comfrey, Cleavers, Dear tongue, Dusty Miller

HERBS & OTHER PLANTS

Castor beans are about as tropical looking as a plant can get being originally from Africa and the East Indies. They are considered as unwanted weeds in the tropical areas of the United States, such as Florida. In Missouri, Momma used to plant them as a screen by the chicken house and also as wind breaks on the windy side of the garden.

We children knew the plant to be poisonous because that is what Momma taught us , and we had sense enough not to test them out. Just one seed can kill a child. The whole plant contains a blood clotting agent; the oil, however, has been used for years as a laxative. Other than Castor Oil from the drugist, this plant should not be used in any way as a medicinal home remedy. Use ONLY the commercially produced Castor Oil. Some people will have an allergic rash just by touching the leaves.

The tall plants with the colorful leaves and seed pods were supposed to help keep moles out of the garden, too. When ripe, the seeds always put me in mind of a big tick. Many people today have never seen a tick, but they start out little itty tiny spots of life and when filled with the blood of its host, swell up 'til it took me years to realize they were the same creature.

This plant likes full sun , wants its seeds planted about an inch deep after the last frosts and kept watered well. They can be started in pots in December for after frost transplants.

CHAMOMILE

Roman Chamomile An infant.It will get higher but is a prostrate plant and if kept clipped, it will stay low. The tiny daisy like blooms are born by taller slender stems above the leaves.

An excellent strewer and Chamomile makes an excellent tea, is relaxing and soothes the stomach and nerves. Remember in the Mother Goose stories how Peter Rabit's mother fixed him a brew of camomile tea to settle him down after his terrible adventure in Farmer Brown's garden?

There are two species available from seed houses and most herb nurseries. One is The German Chamomile and the other Roman chamomile.The German (Matricaria Recutita) is an annual and is an upright plant where as the Roman is a prostrate plant and a perenniel. Both have uzzy ferny soft green leaves and tiny white yellow centered daisy like blooms. Very tiny. Smaller than a dime. Both are quite pretty. Both have a delightful apple like scent. The Roman makes a nice turf or ground cover if it is kept mowed occasionally. I've had a difficult time getting mine started, but once it gets going it is worth the effort. I am probably the only person alive that has trouble with it!...In England, I've read, it is sometimes used for lawns. When it is trod upon, the perfume fills the air. How pleasant!

Both types can be used, usually the little flowers, for tea, pillows, potpourri, and medicinally for stomach and nerves, to relax.

CHIVES

A pot of chives can in the yard or in a sunny window can mean the difference between a plain baked potato or a great baked potato! Chives whether regular Chives as pictured or Vietnamese Chives or Garlic Chives, they are all excellent garnishments for a superior dish. Being of the Allium family, they are also beneficial in that they aid in lowering blood pressure, though not as well as onions.

CLEAVERS

Cleavers, also known as Bedstraw, Galium spp., is a perennial The plant shown at the top of this page is a piece of Cleaver.Cleavers are sticky, not like molasses, little vining plants that grows wild in most yards that aren't totaly steril and really, rather a pretty, airy little things. It can't stand up by itself, so it 'cleaves' to what ever is close by. It has another name..can't think of it right off the top of my head.. later it will come to me. anyway..this little plant is a good 'greens' vegetable if picked in early spring when the hairy parts of the leaves have not matured. I am telling you these wild things, because some day it may save your life! I hope you never have the need for it, however.

It is neat to be able to use things that our forefathers took for granted and used each spring.

Mother used to take me, in the early 1930's, to the woodlands and meadows for 'greens'. It was a delightful trip; learning of the plants that Nature provided. We'd take brown paper bags and when we got home, we would have cress, dock, lambs quarter, wild lettuce, dandilion, sorrels, deer tongue..I can no longer remember all of them but I remember mother pointing out the ones we didn't gather to eat; butter cups, the Dutchman's britches, lady's slippers, sweet williams, may apples, primroses, day flowers, mullien, horse weed, dog fennel, wild oats, poor man's pepper..you could eat that (poorman's pepper) but we didn't, except to chew on it a bit just for the heck of it..like chewing on a piece of straw....

She showed me the prickley pears. At that time neither of us thought about eating prickley pears. She did tell me the Native peoples knew how to fix them but she didn't. Nopalitos! Check my recipe page and I will get a recipe for nopalitos in ASAP. At this moment my mind is blank..can't remember how to spell it for sure!

Try the cleavers chopped finley in with your spinach or in a salad. You might like it. Don't cost anything!

COMFREY the HEALER

Comfrey is a perennial, so it is sort of an investment! Perennials cost more at the nursery, but they do not have to be replaced every year. You can divide the roots to get more plants. [Those of us in the 'know', : ) call these 'starts'!] Plant it in an area where it will have plenty of room as rough, dark green leaves can grow to be as long as 18 - 24 inches.

Little hanging bells of white blooms bolt up from the center of the plant and if there is a lot of wind, will appreciate some kind of protection. [Maybe a wire tomato frame.] It wants sun, but will be fairly forgiving of poor soil. Does best, however, in good loam. Incidentally, the bumble bees like the nector.

When your plants have matured, late in the fall, and the roots have grown nice and fat, that's the time to get the roots for drying. Clean them well, slice them very thin, and dry them so you will have them ready when the need arises. Store them in an air-tight container. As with my other herbs, I use glass containers and label them with the name of the plant and the date.

The leaves can be harvested at any time as long as you don't take so many at a time as to place a hardship on the plant. Probably best to take the lower matured leaves first. The lowest leaves will begin to get ugly. I don't know if the experts will agree with me, but the old leaves can be crumpled, being sure that there are no harmful little visitors on them, and placed as mulch under the canopy of another plant. This helps in hot dry weather to keep roots cooler. I also use the leaves to make a fertilizer tea.

Comfrey can be used the same as Dock or sorrel or mustard greens, but I would suggest using them minimally in that way as they could be somewhat toxic. From what I've read, most of the docks and sorrels are a bit toxic, too. It has a somewhat cucumber scent and flavor. It can be used minimally as a salad green, however many people do not care for the rough hairyness of the leaves.

Comfrey, as a healing herb, worked for my family. The roots are supposed to be quite healing, but I have used the leaves in a poultice and it was amazing. Ivan had a strange, hard, inflamed bump on the edge of his ear. He wanted me to see if it had something that needed lancing. I noted that if it was something coming to a head like a boil, it wasn't ready to be lanced. We decided to try a comfrey poultice on it. It completely disapeared by evening. Couldn't even tell where it had been!

Some time before that,I slipped on the wet wooden steps and nearly broke my leg, having bent it between the risers on the steps. Ivan helped me to the patio and asked what he could do. I don't know why, but I thought of the comfrey and said, 'Just go get me a large comfrey leaf!'

I laid the leaf on my leg which by now was turning colors. Ivan got a towel and wrapped it around the leg over the comfrey. I think he did that as he was scared to look at what it would look like! Besides, he felt had to do SOMETHING! We sat back and rested until the pain subsided.

Later when I took the towel off, the leg looked normal where the leaf had been. except the leaf left a red line of little dots from the rough hairs on the edge of the leaf. The other part of the leg that the leaf hadn't covered was still discolored. A bit later, I made a strong decoction and smoothed it on the whole area. By evening, the color was nearly normal all over.

The leg stayed sore for a long time but I'm convinced it would have been worse had we not used the comfrey.

A very young comfrey leaf, scanned Feb 27, 1996 directly from the garden. It is new growth, not quite 4 inches long. It would have matured at about 2 feet long and a width to conform with the shape. It would have developed rough 'hairs', particularly along the edges and back of leaf.

I talked to a Wise Woman at Caddo about it and she said that the red line that occured on my leg where the edge of the leaf lay was because the roughness of the leaf irritated it. She said it would have been better had I used the root made into a poultis with another cloth between it and my skin. Fortunatly I haven't had an opportunity to try that method, but will if the occasion arises!

I just take a bit of the green OR DRIED leaf and smush it up real well and add a bit of cold cream or body lotion to hold it together and plaster it on the offending area. It works for us!