Herbal Encyclopedia

Common Medicinal Herbs For Natural Health

Oats – Oatstraw

By

Botanical Name

  • Family Gramineae
  • Avena sativa

Common Names

  • Oatmeal, Groats, Straw, Grain

Cautions

  • None listed.

Description

Oats is a familiar annual grass, growing to three feet in height, producing straight hollow stems, bladelike leaves, and small spikes holding the seed grains. Native to northern Europe, it is now grown worldwide in temperate regions as a cereal crop. Its medicinal parts are harvested just before the height of the flowering season then quickly dried.

History

Oat straw has long been used to fill mattresses and for feeding animals. It eventually became food for humans and a benefit medicinally for rheumatism sufferers.

Culpeper stated, in 1652, that a poultice made from oat meal and the oil of bay helped the itch of leprosy.

But not all were fans of the plant. Earlier, in 1597, Gerard stated that oatmeal was only good for making “a fair and well-coloured maid to look like a cake of tallow.”

Key Actions

  • emollient
  • mildly antidepressant
  • nutritive

Key Components

  • saponins
  • alkaloids
  • sterols
  • flavonoids
  • silicic acid
  • starch
  • proteins (including gluten)
  • vitamins (especially B vitamins),
  • minerals (especially calcium)

Medicinal Parts

  • Seeds, straw (dried stems)

Traditional Uses

Today, oats is best known as a nutritious cereal. Its bran lowers cholesterol, and an oat-based diet raises stamina. It is a staple for the convalescent after a long illness.

Oats, and oat straw in particular, are a tonic when taken medicinally. Oat straw is prescribed by herbalists to treat general debility and a wide range of nervous conditions gently raising energy levels while supporting an over-stressed nervous system.

Oats are used to treat depression and nervous exhaustion, as well as profound lethargy that results from multiple sclerosis, chronic neurological pain, and insomnia. With insomnia, it is thought that oats stimulate sufficient nervous energy to make sleep possible.

Externally, oats are used as an emollient and an excellent skin cleanser with a balanced pH for sensitive skin or where conditions make it impossible to use commercial creams and soaps. A decoction added to a bath helps soothe skin itchiness, including such conditions as eczema.

They are used also for atonia of the bladder, connective tissue deficiencies, excitation, gout, kidney ailments, rheumatism, skin diseases, insomnia, stress, and bladder weakness.

Infusions of oat straw are used for flu and coughs.

Recipes

Hot Oat Compress

  • 1 tbsp. flaked oats
  • 60 ml/4 tbsp. water, herb tea, or diluted tincture
  • 1 tsp. finely chopped fresh or dried herb
  • Put all the ingredients into a pan and bring to a boil over a very low heat. Stir until thickened and the moisture has been absorbed. Remove from heat and allow to stand for five minutes. Apply in a thick layer. Cover the area with plastic wrap and bandage into place. Herbs that can be used with oats are as follows:
    — Chamomile acts as a calming antiseptic for skin irritations and inflammations.
    — Parsley is good for arthritic pains and boils.
    — Garlic and onions are good for infected areas.

Oat Wash

  • Makes 25 ml or 1 fl oz.
  • 6 tsp. flaked oats
  • 1 tsp. vegetable oil (extra virgin olive oil is best)
  • 2 drops lavender essential oil (optional)
  • Rub the oats to a fine powder and blend the oil in well. Press this mixture into a small jar.
  • To use: Take a small amount of the mixture in your hand and work in a little water to a paste. Rub into the skin and rinse off with plenty of water. For a purifying mask: Smear the paste onto the skin and leave for twenty minutes. Rinse well and pat dry.

Hops

By

HopsBotanical Names

  • Family Cannabaceae
  • Humulus lupulus
  • Humulus americana

Common Names

  • Common Hops

Cautions

  • The plant is a potential allergen and can cause contact dermatitis in some people.
  • Do not use during pregnancy or if suffering from depression.

Description

Related to the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa), hops is a tall, climbing perennial that flourishes in the wild on dumps and along roadsides. It is widely grown commercially throughout northern Europe, Asia, and the US, as well as in other temperate regions. The green stems (bines) are pencil-thick and covered in six rows of climbing barbs. They do not turn woody and can be trained to grow up raised wire runners to more than thirty feet. The male flowers are yellowish-green and inconspicuous, while the female flowers are richly blossomed, producing a yellowish fruit. The plant has a very strong odour and an extremely bitter taste.

History

Much like its relative, the hemp plant, when hops was first used to brew beer in England in the 16th century, it aroused great opposition and a petition to Parliament described it as a “wicked weed” that would “endanger the people”. However, unlike hemp, hops does not carry the same versatility or nutritive value.

Its bitter taste is well-known to beer drinkers, and has been cultivated for such since at least the 11th century.

Native Americans, including the Algonquin and Mohegan, used the blossoms to treat nervousness. The Fox and the Cherokee used the plant as a sedative, and the Mohegan used a blossom infusion to relieve toothache.

Key Actions

  • antispasmodic
  • aromatic bitter
  • sedative
  • soporific (hypnotic)

Key Components

  • bitter principles (lupulin containing humulon, lupulon, and valerianic acid)
  • volatile oil (1% mainly humulene)
  • flavonoids
  • polyphenolic tannins
  • estrogenic substances
  • asparagine
  • vitamins and minerals (especially niacin, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, riboflavin, selenium, and vitamin C)

Medicinal Parts

The strobiles (flower heads)

A number of constituents, including valerianic acid, have a sedative action.

Lupulon and humulon possess antiseptic and antibiotic properties which have proven to be effective against Staphylococcus aureus.

Some components are thought to depress central nervous activity.

Traditional Uses

The fruit is used to help relieve pain and fever and as an effective diuretic.

Its bitter principles strongly stimulate the digestive system, increasing gastric and other secretions. It also has an estrogenic effect that relaxes smooth muscle, easing the grip of colic.

Hops is probably best known as an additive that helps preserve beer, but this herb has long been used as a sedative. A sachet placed inside a bed pillow releases an aroma that calms the mind and helps to reduce irritability and restlessness, while promoting a good night’s sleep. However, its sedating action is thought to stem more from the alcohol concentration reached in the drying process. To make a hops pillow: Gather enough of the dried heads to fill a small pillowcase or cloth bag. First, place the hops in a glass bowl and lightly sprinkle them with a solution of water and a touch of glycerin. This will minimize the noise made by the dried hops. Secondly, return the hops to the pillowcase or bag and tie or sew it closed.

Its antispasmodic action makes it useful with certain types of asthma and for menstrual pain.

When blended with other herbs, hops is good for stress, anxiety, tension, and headaches although it should not be used if depression is a factor.

For educational purposes only.
This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.