Healing Properties Of Common Weeds

Many plants that are considered weeds are actually quite helpful from the point of view of a natural healer. Which makes sense, because those plants that are used for natural healing came to be used due to the fact that they were what grew easily back before humans tried to control every inch of the planet or had laboratories to make drugs.

Many commonly used herbs can be found growing wild in different parts of the world, such as echinacea, butcher’s broom, chamomile, goldenrod, hawthorn, hops, juniper berries, lady’s mantle, lavender, milk thistle, primrose, watercress, wild thyme and many more.

Just because something is called a weed doesn’t mean it is harmful or bad. All the word “weed” means is something that’s growing in a place someone doesn’t want it. But one person’s “weeds” are another person’s fabulous remedies. Lets take a look at the uses for some of the most common weeds.

Common Edible Weeds and Health Benefits.

• Red clover flowers can be crushed and applied to insect bites or stings. A tincture can be taken internally to treat eczema, compresses treat arthritis and gout, and a diluted tincture can even be used as an eye rinse to treat conjunctivitis which is very effective.

• Dandelion is another common weed with strong healing powers. Some interesting Dandelion facts include… It is a powerful blood purifier and diuretic. The root is a liver detox herb while the leaves are mostly diuretic. Also, the leaves are high in iron so they are great for treating anemia.

The flowers and leaves can help tone your liver, gallbladder and kidneys as well. Steep a handful of fresh flowers (when they are yellow, not gone to fluffy white seed) in a pint of water and drink this tea twice daily.

Young dandelion leaves can also be eaten on their own or mixed into a salad. They are rather bitter (property that stimulates the bile flow) so you’ll probably want to eat them with other greens. Leaves should be picked before the flowers have bloomed, and they can also be dried and used in tea.

• Burdock, a member of the thistle family that has reddish-purple flower heads with little burrs that stick to clothing or animal fur, is a great blood purifier as well. It can help eliminate toxins from the body, and the root is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine as a treatment for sore throats, colds, tonsillitis and measles. A tea made from the root or seeds can reduce swelling caused by gout or arthritis, while a topical treatment can help dandruff or eczema. Burdock seeds are an important supplement for people with diabetes.
•  Yarrow grows in many nations of the world and is an insidious creeping plant. Also known as bloodwort, is it traditionally used to stop minor bleeding. Its scientific name, Achillea, comes from the legend that Achilles used yarrow to help stop bleeding when his soldiers were wounded during the Trojan War. Today the tea can be used to lower fever and treat stomach and digestion problems. Teas and tinctures stop inflammation and reduce pain, as well as killing bacteria. The essential oil can be used in aromatherapy to treat cold and flu.

Tips and Considerations…

Before you go out hunting for weeds to use in herbal remedies, make sure you know what you are doing. Consult a naturalist or an herbalist and ask them to teach you how to identify plants in the wild, or take a guidebook along with you that has pictures that will help you identify what you are gathering. You certainly don’t want to pick up the wrong thing.

Also, if you’re going to go looking for herbs in the wild, you’ll want to be careful about where you harvest from. The best herbal remedies are grown with no pesticides or other chemicals. Parks and roadside ditches in the city may well be sprayed with chemicals. If you can find a protected wild area that is kept natural, that may be your best place to harvest, but you may need permission to do so. Of course you could always grow your own weeds to use for herbal remedies-but are they still weeds if you’re growing them on purpose?

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