Informative Articles

[ElisaTheDuck]

If no one minds, I would like to go through all the medicinal plants that I know and write an article about each one here. It's just so people who don't know much about common medicinal plants that they think are weeds can learn more in depth about some of the plants that I have studied and use. Of course I wouldn't be posting them all in a row; maybe one a day if I have the time. I already wrote one titled Spotted Jewelweed: An Important Medicinal Plant, and you can find it here too. Oh, and don't get me wrong, I'm not an expert at all and I don't think I'm one either; I just like writing. Please give me your thoughts and feedback. (:

[crashdive123]

I don't see a problem with it. It would be helpful to footnote your posts or provide links to definitive sources so that the uninformed can learn more and verify the postings.

[ElisaTheDuck]

Ok thanks for the ideas.

[hunter63]

Sounds like a plan.

Sources, if used, should be posted with links, to that information, will help verify the posted information.

[ElisaTheDuck]

Okay---will do that. Thanks for the feedback!

[TXyakr]

A caution that most of my master gardener friends and other experienced gardeners and herbalists alway say about medicinal herbs is that you should consider the side effects and possible overdoses. Also that even if exact cultivars are grown in controlled conditions and harvested at exact times the amount of active ingredients can vary a lot. Foraging for wild herbs is even less certain. If you are reasonably cautious these herbs can be useful but it requires an in-depth knowledge to be safe. Also be very careful plants are correctly identified.

[ElisaTheDuck]

That is very true about the side effects and warnings and I'll add that to my list. I myself starting learning about medicinal plants just at the beginning of this summer, but since then I have spent pretty much every single day learning all I can about each plant, and I currently have a large collection of dried plants in herb jars that I frequently use and study their effectiveness. I learned a lot in a very short time, but I guess that doesn't make up for the years of experience that most people have. And when it comes to identification, believe me when I say that I take every precaution possible, and I also learn very quickly so I'm not too bad. I don't cultivate any plants yet though; I've been sticking to foraging. Anyways, thanks for the feedback!