Milk Thistle // Carduus Marianus

Several weeks ago, I happened upon this lovely thistle flower next to a pond. I love thistles. Part of my love of thistles may have to do with my Celtic heritage, as the thistle is a strong Celtic symbol. I love the story about Scotland being saved from a Viking invasion by a single thistle...

One night, when approaching for a surprise attack in the dark, a Viking stepped on a thistle and his cry woke the sleeping Scotsmen. King Kenneth III adopted the thistle as a symbol of Scotland which continues to endure today. 

In general, I am a big fan of weeds; the wild and free plants growing all around us that we so often consider to be a nuisance. There is so much to learn about them and from them. And I notice that the weeds that are the least liked in one's lawn, such as thistles and dandelions for example, are so often the ones that contain the most potent medicine for us. 

Milk Thistle (Silybum Marianum) is a potent detoxifier. It can actually assist in repairing liver cells! And it protects the liver against the damaging effects of alcohol and other poisons. Although my practice focuses on homeopathic medicine, I will quite often suggest a few other beneficial natural health supplements to my clients that I know will assist in their treatment. I recommend milk thistle to any of my patients who appear to have a sluggish liver and need some additional support. In our modern age, I feel that many of us can benefit from additional support for our over-worked livers. If you are considering a cleanse, which I think is a good idea in the spring and fall, think about taking milk thistle tincture as part of your cleanse.

St. Mary's Thistle (another name for milk thistle) is also a lesser known homeopathic remedy. Carduus Marianus, is not surprisingly used as an organ specific remedy for the liver. This remedy is used to treat inflammation of the liver (especially the left lobe) that is worse from lying on the left side and from motion but better from pressure. Terrible attacks of gallstone colic, fullness and soreness in the hepatic region and cirrhosis with it's characteristic jaundice with clay coloured stools and dark urine can be treated with this great homeopathic remedy. But please don't treat yourself or others for advanced or chronic ailments. Contact a trained homeopath.

Didn't I tell you this plant is amazing? So next time you get pricked by a thistle or find one growing in your garden, please remember how fortunate we are to have such a powerful ally, growing wild and free among us!

♥ Andrea ♥

*The information in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be used as a substitute for medical advice from a qualified health care practitioner.*

Harvesting Herbs With Kids: Horsetail

A couple of weeks ago, my son pulled some horsetail out of the ground and asked me what it was. I had been looking at the horsetail and thinking that we should harvest some. It's a lovely herb, high in silica, an essential trace mineral important for the formation of bone, connective tissue, as well as healthy hair, skin and nails. We have a nice big patch of horsetail in our yard and it was the perfect time to harvest it, so that's just what we did! We cut our horsetail a few inches above the root. This ensures that they will grow back.

After we collected all of our horsetail, we spread them out in a single layer to dry. Using a sheet tacked to the ceiling works really well. After a few days, the horsetail is ready to be placed in a sealed jar for storage.

I didn't know that much about horsetail, just how to identify it, that it is high in silica and can be used as a diuretic. I enjoyed reading about horsetail on herbwisdom.com and in a few of my herbals here at home. I think it's really neat to note that horsetail used to be a big tree and reproduces by spores and not by seed. After millions of years of evolution, it is now just a little tree-like herb instead of the towering tree it was hundreds of millions of years ago.

I love introducing the children to herbs this way. They think it's so exciting to make a tea of the horsetail we picked ourselves. And so do I.

♥ Andrea ♥

Drosera Rotundifolia

*image courtesy of big portage*

Drosera is known as the common sun dew and is a carnivorous plant. The sticky fluid is how it catches it's prey and then the plant secretes enzymes to dissolve them into nutrients. Sun dews grow in poor soil and lack the enzymes needed to uptake nitrates from the soil like other plants do. Catching and digesting insects ensures they get the nutrients they need. Fascinating isn't it? Drosera has been used for centuries as an herbal treatment for coughs, bronchitis, whooping cough and asthma.

The reason I've decided to write about Drosera Rotundifolia today is because the whole family was sick a little while back with a very intense chest congestion and cough and each and every one of us required this little homeopathic remedy. Though I was familiar with drosera, I had never actually had to prescribe it before. I was really alarmed by how intensely ill we all were when in need of this remedy. And I don't ever recall a time when our whole family or another whole family that I was treating all required the same remedy.

See all the sticky fluid on the spindles? Doesn't it look like bronchiol tubes and aveolea covered in fluid? That is exactly what it felt like to be in need of this homeopathic remedy. We all had a chest congestion that caused difficult expiration. You could hear the sound of the fluid with each expiration which was the pointer to the remedy for me. The continuous coughing from that congestion was unbearable. This chest congestion and cough held on for a long time but each time any of us took drosera we noticed an immediate amelioration.

While each homeopathic remedy can be indicated for a number of issues and can present itself in different ways, this was our particular drosera experience. If you would like to learn more about the specific symptoms associated with this homeopathic remedy check out the drosera page on ABC Homeopathy.

Now I think I need a few of these crazy carnivores for the home- for catching flies and in case I need to make drosera tea again any time in the near future!

I hope you enjoyed reading about this fascinating plant and remedy!

*The information in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be used as a substitute for medical advice from a qualified health care practitioner.* 

♥ Andrea ♥