The day to day
ocotillo
December 31 , 2009
We fell in love with the southwest when we studied at Micheal Moore’s Southwest School of Botanical Medicine in 2006. When I saw our good friend Meghan McDowell’s new site of pictures from her Sonoran life I knew we needed to feature a couple of these shots. Check them all out here and then feast your eyes on these two beautiful ocotillo pictures.
red flower and red sky
ocotillo leaves and thorns
These monster thorns are present all year round, but the leaves only spring forth with desert rains.. . .
Michael Moore reintroduced ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) to the modern apothecary. Its use is especially helpful around the holidays when meals are laden with fats, meats and when over eating seems an obligatory move. Ocotillo is a lymphatic that allows fats to be better absorbed and moved throughout the body. This eases stress on the liver (portal blood system), congestion of the lymph (and immune system), and can offer very fast relief for folks who get occasional hemorrhoids after fatty meals. We love this herb on its own and add it to many personalized formulas to great success.
These octopus like cacti dot the landscape of the southern Sonoran desert, holding court with the likes of cholla and fishhook cacti in the north and often seen with their gigantic saguaro brothers in the south. The flower essence of the majestic fiery plume is a special essence used to remedy the inability to express emotions or to understand ones feelings. Watching the wiry dance of a swaying ocotillo one can understand how this plant is soothing, calming and grounding. One glance at the thorns and you may instantly understand its penchant for protecting and guiding; you may also see it planting as living fences in many southwestern homesteads. The flower essence (and the plant in general) Remedies Vata imbalance and may help with symptoms of carpal tunnel, arthritis, rheumatism, fibromyalgia, menopausal bone loss, osteoarthritis, and nerve pain from new or old injuries.
We use the waxy striated bark of the arms for medicine, harvesting and tincturing it fresh as well as drying some for teas. Harvest can be dangerous with all those large thorns, but the reward is worth all the extra effort.
Elder Season
December 17 , 2009
We are now in full fledged flu season, and H1N1 season to boot. Elder offers us some of the easiest, tastiest and downright most powerful protection for the seasonal flu. Both the flowers and the berries have magic to bring to your medicine cabinet. The flowers are more diaphoretic: they induce sweating and excretion.
The berries modulate the immune system helping it to more appropriately respond to your environment and circumstance. Elder fights cold and flu viruses aiding them flush through body quickly all the while strengthening the mucus membranes. Elder acts as an adaptogen improving energy and stress handling. It does all this and it tastes great. Not much more you could ask for in a medicine, hu?!
Elder Elixir (Sambucus mexicana)
This Elixir is extracting fresh berries with the drawing medicinal properties of raw honey and grain alcohol. Shelf stable and delicious! The red berried elders are not for use in this type of medicine! Sambucus nigra is the official plant medicine, but there are many local species and varieties that can be used interchangeably.
We use the flowers in our Flu & Virus Formula; the berries as an overall tonic for modulating and enhancing the immune system. This is one of those herbs that is good for almost everyone including children and pregnant and nursing mothers (be sure to check the dosage with a qualified health practitioner).
We like to use our Elderberry Elixir, elderwines or tinctures all year long to prevent and ward off flu and viral attacks, but using these preparations in acute attacks will no doubt lessen the stress of any illness on the body and shorten the recovery time.
This is by no means a comprehensive post on the powers of Elder. This plant has myriad uses including many spiritual and magical properties that have been well documented throughout the ages in stories, poems and song.