golden leaves”, and many other beautiful names given to it by Folk Medicine with all respect. Official medicine very often prescribes Centaury alone, but also with other herbal preparations. Folk Medicine: Centaury tea and a home extract, usually prepared with vodka, is given in cases of high blood pressure, liver and gall-bladder malfunctions. The bitter tonic is antiseptic in stomach sickness, working with nature without destroying the necessary secretions which stimulate desirable digestion and appetite. The parasitic tape worm cannot hold its circlet of hooks and suckers which enable it to maintain livelihood in the mucous membrane of the intestines of its host when Centaury is taken persistently.
CHAGA Inonotus obliquus( Pers.), P. L.( N. O.: Polyporaceae)
Common Names: Chaga, Birch Mushroom. Features: In North America and Canada the Birch is well known for its beauty alone. The unthinkable medical purpose can be found in the older trees in what is known as a mushroom, or fungus-type growth( also grows on beech and other trees). This growth is rough, dry, porous, crusty, with deeply cut and crooked separations having the appearance of dull charred wood on the outside. The surface is almost black in colour. When this projection is sawn off the tree, it is as if the tree was having cosmetic surgery or the removal of an out-of-control wart. The matured and most desired Chaga is 30 – 40 cm. in width, 10 – 15 cm. thick and up to 4 – 5 ft. long, and from 4 – 5 lb. in weight. There are three layers:( 1) outside, rough with some old bark and possibly twigs, must be cleaned;( 2) inside, soft, very close to the tree trunk, must be cut off; and( 3) middle part, granulated and not spoiled, which is the part to use. It can be collected at any time of the year.
Always keep Chaga in a dry and dark place( dark covered jar) as dampness and strong light dissipate its power. Part Used: Inside granulated parts of the three layers. Solvents: Boiled( not boiling) water, alcohol, vodka. Bodily Influence: Tonic, Blood purifying action, Anodyne, Restorative. Uses: It is well known that our early Indians knew all plants and how they were best used— for food, medicine, or if they be poisonous. In Anglo-American literature we know that treatments of many sicknesses were kept as tribal knowledge. We know they used the properties of many fungi, but from our research work we cannot find a definite record of Chaga being identified; we are poorly informed.
The existence of Chaga and its uses are mentioned in Russian literature, in sources such as monographies, medical books, encyclopaedias and popular herbal books.
Folk Medicine of European Russia and Siberia gives unlimited credit to Chaga. From year to year scientific medical literature carefully gives more credit to this mysterious Chaga, which for generations has been thought of as magic. Chaga has a long list of uses by persons of experience and faith in Herbal Folk Medicine. Chaga was used for all stomach complaints, from gastritis, pain in the stomach, ulcers; cancer, TB of the bones, and glandular organs where operations were not possible due to the network of blood vessels.