Uses: Because of its astringent and gently stimulating qualities the inner bark is especially useful for melancholy, often caused by the enlarged, sluggish, hardened, condition of the liver and spleen with inactivates various other functions of the metabolism. For domestic use in emergencies, or longstanding bleeding of any kind, in lungs, stomach, bowels, or too profuse menstruation. Also for diarrhoea, rheumatism, bronchitis, asthma and poisonous insect bites. J. Kloss in“ Back to Eden”, recommends the weak tea as an eye wash and the warm tea dropped in the ear to relieve earache. A decoction of the bark, combined with Spearmint( Mentha viridis), Juniper( Juniperus communis), Horse radish( Cochlearia armoracia), and taken in wineglassful doses has proven valuable in dropsy. Dose: As a tea, 1 teaspoonful of the inner bark to 1 cupful of boiling water; steep 30 min. Externally: As a wash used to cleanse ulcerated sores of long standing, if the condition has progressed to the bone, combine with Comfrey( Symphytum officinale) fresh or dried( taken internally too). As a poultice, dress often and continue until new skin seals the areas. Also used for haemorrhoids as a salve, or sitz-bath. Russian Experience: Listvennitza Sibirsky, Larix siberia( Tamarack), grows 150 ft. tall in Siberia and the far east. The very wide branching tree is one of the most beautiful and magnificent to adorn their countryside. Turpentine of Larix, known in Russia as venetian terpentain, is one of the by-products. Externally: The oil in compound is used for rheumatism, neuralgia, gout; new twigs and bark made into an antibiotic and antiseptic is used as an inhalant steam for catarrh of the lungs, abscesses, gangrene of the lungs, throat, bronchitis. Also of help to kidney and bladder. Clinically: As oil of turpentine.
TANSY Tanacetum vulgare, L.( N. O.: Compositae)
Greek Name: Alhanasia,“ immortality”. Features: Tansy, of a perennial creeping root, was introduced into America from the northern Old World. The tough, slightly ribbed stems reach a height of 2 – 3 ft., terminating in flat, button-like, gold-coloured heads of rayless florets. The plant may be easily recognized in July and August as the flower heads look as if all the petals have been pulled off, leaving only the central florets. It is a handsome plant, with dark-green, deeply cleft and pinnatifid, fernlike leaves, being 6 – 8 in. long and 4 in. broad. A familiar herb of waste lands and roadsides. The crushed leaves and flowers give a pronounced aromatic smell and have a bitter taste.