What Is Horsetail {Equisetum arvense}

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Also, Known As:

  • Bottlebrush
  • Horsetail
  • Mare’s Tail
  • Scouring Rush
  • Shave Grass

Horsetail is a well-known herb; it is a perennial herb growing in moist loamy or sandy soil found in much of the North American continent, as well as in similar climates in Europe and Asia. The morphology of the horsetail herb is very strange and the plant has a creeping or string-like root name. The roots at the nodes are turned into numerous hollow stems of two kinds. Horsetail begins growth in two stages, initial growth of the plant is through a fertile and flesh-colored stem, this stem can grow to a height of four to seven inches and comes out a cone like a spike – this spike contains spores of the plant. The initial stem does not last long and withers away. The second stem is a green and sterile structure reaching a length of eighteen inches in height…

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What Is Licorice Root?

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Glycyrrhiza glabra

Also, Known As:

  • Chinese Licorice
  • Gan Cao
  • Kan-ts’ao
  • Kuo-lao
  • Licorice
  • Licorice Root
  • Ling-t’ung
  • Liquorice
  • Mei-ts’ao
  • Mi-kan
  • Mi-ts’ao
  • Sweet Licorice
  • Sweet Wood
  • Yasti Madhu

Licorice refers to the roots and rhizome of a variety of plants belonging to the species Glycyrrhiza glabra L. of the family Fabaceae. This is a European species and possesses a sweet yellow wood. There are also Asian species of the plant like Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. and others. In the commercially available licorice in the US markets, all these species are included since a significant part of licorice is imported from China and other Asian countries.

licorice root plant
The herb has expectorant and demulcent properties and has been used traditionally in the treatment of common cold and coughs. The medication is commonly called licorice root or Glycyrrhiza and has also been in use as a flavoring agent. Licorice has been popular for long, in many parts of the…

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What Is Borututu Bark?

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Deep in the jungles of Africa, the bark of the borututu tree (Cochlospermum angolensis) holds many treasures. A tea made from this interesting substance has traditionally been used to manage ailments related to liver function, indigestion, and fatigue. Indeed, borututu bark tea as a broad spectrum tonic is an old-world tradition. A natural and powerful broad spectrum cleansing agent, traditional African medicine favors borututu for the management of problems of the liver and gallbladder.

Beneficial Compounds in Borututu Bark

Rich in active ingredients such as quinones, catechins, phenols, and bio-flavonoids, borututu has a wealth of substances shown to benefit the liver and gallbladder. For problems related to the digestive system and gallbladder, hands down, borututu bark is one of nature’s most powerful tonics. This is why borututu bark is one of the ingredients used to create Livatrex®, a powerful blend of herbs that support detoxification and normal function of…

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What Is Elecampane?

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Inula helenium

Also, Known As

  • Elecampane
  • Horseheal
  • Scabwort

Elecampane (botanical name Inula helenium) is a tall, bristly perennial plant that is native to south-eastern Europe and western Asia. This herb, which bears yellow flowers resembling the daisy, has been naturalized in North America and is found growing in abundance in the moist meadows, fields and along the roads in the central and eastern regions of the United States and neighboring Canada. Elecampane belongs to the Asteraceae family and grows up to a height of four to six feet. The herb has a heavy branching stem that emerges from a basal rosette (a circular arrangement of leaves at the base) with leaves that are large, oval-shaped and pointed at the end. The herb bears vivid yellow flower heads during the period between the middle to the end of the summer. The flower heads of elecampane are generally four inches in diameter…

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What Is Eleuthero Root?

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Latin Name

Eleutherococcus senticosus, Acanthopanax senticosus

Common Names

Ci Wu Jia, Devil’s Bush, Eleuthero, Eleutherococcus senticosus, Russian Ginseng, Siberian Ginseng, Russian Root, Shigoka, Taiga, Thorny Pepperbush, Touch-Me-Not, Wild Pepper

Properties

Adaptogenic, anti-aggregatory, anti-diabetic, anti-edema, anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative effects on leukemia cells in vitro (Bradley, 1992; Hacker and Medon, 1984), anti-stress (Takasugi, 1985), endocrine, endurance-enhancing, hypoglycaemic, hypertensive, immunomodulator, immunoprotective, immunostimulant, platelet aggregation-inhibiting, radiation protection (Yonezawa, 1989), restorative, stimulant, tonic, vasodilator.

Indicated for

Addictions, Alzheimer’s disease, athletic support, bone cancer, boosting immune system, breast carcinoma, bronchitis, cardiovascular health, chemotherapy support, chronic fatigue syndrome, countering athletic fatigue, depression, diabetes mellitus, energy and vitality, enhancing vision,enhancing resilience, exhaustion and debility, fatigue, fibromyalgia, hantavirus, heart ailments, herpes, HIV support, Hodgkin’s disease, impotence, improving athletic working capacity, general health & mental resilience, increasing stamina, physical endurance under stress & mental alertness, infections, influenza, kidney cancer, lung ailments, maintaining well-being, malignant tumours, memory, myopia, neural diseases, oral cavity…

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What Is Ashwagandha {Withania somnifera}?

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Also, Known As:

  • Ashwagandha
  • Indian Ginseng
  • Withania

The herb known as the ashwagandha is a small plant in the same plant family as the common garden tomato. This plant is a stout shrub which can grow to a height of about five feet-170 centimeters when fully matured. The ashwagandha is similar to the tomato, in that it too bears yellow flowers and has a red colored fruit, the fruit is, however, berrylike in size and shape and the resemblance to the berry of tomato is not very easy to recognize. This herb is endemic to South Asia, and the ashwagandha grows abundantly in the wild in countries like India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka-all of which are in South Asia and share a similar climate. Herbal remedies make use of all the parts of this particular herb and many different herbal medicines are prepared from this herb.

The meaning of the…

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The Wonders of Mugwort {Artemisia vulgaris}

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarGood Witches Homestead

Also, Known As:

  • Cingulum Sancti Johannis
  • Mugwort
  • St. John’s Plant

The mugwort is a shrubby perennial, with dark green deeply indented leaves and with several clusters of small reddish or yellow flower heads. The herb can grow up to three ft, or one m in height.

mugwort

This amazing shrub has been known since the ancient times, and reportedly, Roman centurions used mugwort inside their sandals so that their feet could remain in great shape. The shrub was also used by ancient Europeans and Asians in treating various ailments. The Greek physician Dioscorides of the 1st century AD supposedly stated that the Goddess Artemis, who gave inspiration to the plant’s genus name, used the herb to offer succor to women in the throes of labor and childbirth. The Physicians of Myddfai, a thirteenth-century Welsh herbal remedy collection, contains these important words, “”If a woman is unable to give birth to her child…

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Your Apothecary Cabinet: Calendula Oil

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Marigold has much value today and in traditional cultures as a homeopathic remedy, but the oil extracted from the flowers, called calendula oil, is not far behind in providing benefits. Learn more about this oil distilled from the petals of the pot marigold or Calendula officinalis, and how you can harness its health and practical everyday uses.

What Is Calendula Oil?

Marigold is a genus of about 15 to 20 species of plants in the Asteraceae family. This flower is native to Southwestern Asia, as well as Western Europe and the Mediterranean. The common name “marigold” refers to the Virgin Mary, to which it is associated in the 17th century.

Apart from being used to honor the Virgin Mary during Catholic events, marigold was also considered by ancient Egyptians to have rejuvenating properties. Hindus used the flowers to adorn statues of gods in their temples, as well as to color their…

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Your Apothecary Cabinet: Herbal First Aid Kit…

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Being prepared with my favorite remedies gives me peace of mind on the road or trail, and keeps me from having to search out herbal products in an unfamiliar town — or from having to resort to padding my heels with mullein leaves to ease the agony of a broken blister while on a backpacking trip.

I’ve had plenty of opportunities to put my first-aid kit to use, from treating blisters and bug bites to motion sickness and colds. I choose simple, multipurpose remedies and store them in a small padded nylon lunch box that’s always ready to toss into the car. For backpacking trips, I pare my kit down to arnica gel, echinacea, peppermint and chamomile tea bags, crystallized ginger, insect repellant, a tin of herbal salve, a tiny bottle of lavender essential oil, and an assortment of bandages and moleskin.

With the following herbs and essential oils, you…

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Your Apothecary Cabinet: The Healing Properties Of Herbs

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

There have been lots of pharmaceutical studies to evaluate the active elements present in herbs to discover the reason as well as the manner in which they work. A relatively outmoded method is to classify the herbs by exploring the types of health conditions that they can aid in curing. Identifying the actions of the herbs and the manner in which they may be employed together forms the basis of a comprehensive approach.

For example, in a number of instances, the action of herbs is owing to certain chemical or a blend of chemicals present in them – the sedative herb valerian is a perfect example of this. Alternatively, the action may also be owing to a multifaceted synergetic interaction between the different elements of the herbs. Nevertheless, the best way to comprehend the actions of the herbs is to consider them as characteristics all together and to interpret the chemical…

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