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Herbs & Plants

Aster novae-angliae

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Botanical Name :Aster novae-angliae
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Astereae
Genus: Symphyotrichum
Subgenus: Virgulus
Species: S. novae-angliae
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asterales

Common Names:New England Aster

Habitat :Aster novae-angliae is native to almost every area in North America east of the Rocky Mountains, but excluding the far north of Canada as well as some of the southern United States.

Description:
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae is an herbaceous perennial stiffly erect plant. It grows up to 120 cm with a stout, hairy stem and lance-shaped leaves with entire margins. The flower heads are showy with yellow disc florets at the center and ray florets that range from a deep purple or rose to rarely white. The New England aster inhabits a wide variety of habitats and soil types, though it does not tolerate strong shade.

CLICK  &  SEE  THE  PICTURES

Flower/fruit: 1 to 2 inch bright lavender to purplish blue flower heads clustered at end of stems, with 40 to 50 narrow petals; yellow center; bracts are narrow, hairy and sticky; flower stalk has sticky hairs

Flower:  head 3/4″-1 1/2″ wide with 45-100 purple to rose rays, disk orange; inflorescence of a few to many heads in leafy, short clusters; blooms Aug.-Oct., our latest flowering aster

Fruit: dry seed with dense, fluffy pappus

Foliage: 1.5 to 5 inch lanceolate, crowded, toothless, heart-shaped leaves; basal lobes clasp the hairy stout stems

Flowering Season: Late summer into fall

Cultivation: Due to the attractive flowers, numerous cultivars have been developed. Furthermore, as a result of its increased usage in the garden, it has been introduced to many areas beyond its natural range, including Europe and several western US states.

Medicinal Uses:
A poultice of the root has been used in the treatment of pain, fevers and diarrhea. The ooze of the roots has been sniffed in the treatment of catarrh. A decoction of the whole plant has been used in the treatment of all kinds of fevers and in the treatment of weak skin. Aster novae-angliae is deployed in decoction internally, with a strong decoction externally, in many eruptive diseases of the skin; it removes also the poisonous state of the skin caused by Rhus or Shumach.

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphyotrichum_novae-angliae
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/wildflowers/aster_novae-angliae.html
http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=ASTNOV
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_AB.htm

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Herbs & Plants

Arrowleaf Balsamroot

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Botanical Name :Arrowleaf Balsamroot

Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Heliantheae
Genus: Balsamorhiza
Species: B. sagittata
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asterales

Common Name :Balsamorrhiza sagittata

Habitat : Arrowleaf Balsamroot  is native to much of western North America from British Columbia to California to the Dakotas, where it grows in many types of habitat from mountain forests to grassland to desert scrub. It is drought tolerant.

Description:
Arrowleaf Balsamroot is a taprooted perennial herb growing a hairy, glandular stem 20 to 60 centimeters tall. The branching, barky root may extend over two meters deep into the soil. The basal leaves are generally triangular in shape and are large, approaching 50 centimeters in maximum length. Leaves farther up the stem are linear to narrowly oval in shape and smaller. The leaves have untoothed edges and are coated in fine to rough hairs, especially on the undersides.

click to see the pictures
..> …(01)….…..(1).………..(2).

The inflorescence bears one or more flower heads. Each head has a center of long yellowish tubular disc florets and a fringe of bright yellow ray florets, each up to 4 centimeters long. The fruit is a hairless achene about 8 millimeters long. Grazing animals find the plant palatable, especially the flowers and developing seed heads.

Edible Uses:  All of the plant can be eaten. It can be bitter and pine-like in taste. The seeds were particularly valuable as food or used for oil

Medicinal Uses:
The root of the plant is sometimes used as an expectorant and mild immunostimulant.  Native Americans used the sticky sap as a topical antiseptic for minor wounds.  Medicinally, the Indians used the large coarse Balsamroot leaves as a poultice for burns. The roots were boiled and the solution was applied as a poultice for wounds, cuts and bruises. Indians also drank a tea from the roots for tuberculosis and whooping cough.  As an antibacterial the tincture may be applied to infections and hard to heal wounds. The tincture of the root and bark may be used internally or externally for bacterial problems. Perhaps the most common use for arrowleaf balsamroot is as an immune system enhancer. Use the tincture as you would Echinacea, taking 1 tsp. twice daily to strengthen the immune system.
Many Native American groups, including the Nez Perce, Kootenai, Cheyenne, and Salish, utilized the plant as a food and medicine.

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balsamorhiza_sagittata
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_AB.htm
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/images/arrowleafbalsamroot/balsamorhiza_sagittata_lg.jpg

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Herbs & Plants

Eriophyllum confertiflorum

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Botanical Name:Eriophyllum confertiflorum
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Heliantheae
Genus: Eriophyllum
Species: E. confertiflorum
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asterales

Common Names: Golden yarrow or Yellow yarrow

Habitat :Eriophyllum confertiflorum is native to California and Baja California, and its range may extend into Arizona. It can be found in a number of plant communities and habitats.

Description;
Eriophyllum confertiflorum  is a perennial  small shrub.The plant grows in large clumps or stands of many erect stems often exceeding half a meter in height. It has greenish to gray-green stems and foliage, the leaves sharply lobed and divided. The top of each stem is occupied by an inflorescence of up to 30 flower heads, each bright golden yellow head with a large center of disc florets and usually a fringe of rounded to oval ray florets. The fruit is an achene with a very short pappus.
click & see the pictures

Its flowers are  bright yellow and bloom  in early summer, does best with full sun, a little summer water, good drainage, excellent with Penstemons. Cold tolerant to 5 deg.F. or less. This one is ‘highly variable’ which means if you do not specify the site, you’ll get a funny looking plant. Munz separated out E.confertiflorum var. laxiflorum a sub-species with narrower stems and leaves. In reality, the northern form of E.confertiflorum is green and 2′, the central Calif. form is gray and 1′, the S. Calif. form is 2′ ft. and gray.

Medicinal Uses;
Delfina Cuero, a Kumeyaay or Southern Diegueno Indian, made the following comments about Eriophyllum confertiflorum in her autobiography:  ” This is used for someone with pimples on their face.  They were told to boil the whole plant and wash face in water to clear away the pimples”.  The woolly fuzz that densely coves the leaves and stems was collected by Native Americans and used as a cure for rheumatism.

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eriophyllum_confertiflorum
http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/plants/eriophyllum-confertiflorum
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_UZ.htm

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Herbs & Plants

Artemisia frigida

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 Botanical Name : Artemisia frigida
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Artemisia
Species: A. frigida
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Asterales

Common Names : Fringed Wormwood,  Fringed sagebrush, Prairie sagewort, and Pasture sage

Habitat ; Artemisia frigida is native to Europe, Asia, and much of North America, in Canada and the western United States. In parts of the north-central eastern United States it is an introduced species. It grows on dry prairies, plains and rocks to 3300 metres in N. America.

Description:
Artemisia frigida is a low-spreading, semi-evergreen, perennial herb but with a woody base. The stems spread out, generally forming a mat or clump up to 40 centimetres (1.3 ft) tall. The stems are covered in lobed gray-green leaves which are coated in silvery hairs. The inflorescence contains many spherical flower heads each about half a centimeter wide and lined with woolly-haired, gray-green or brownish phyllaries. The flower heads contain several pistillate ray florets and many bisexual disc florets. The plant is aromatic, with a strong scent. The fruit are rather inconspicuous. This plant can make a great many seeds.It can also spread by layering; in some years it produces very few seeds.
CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

This plant is common and dominant or codominant in many areas, especially in dry and disturbed habitat types. It is common in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains in North America, where it occurs in grasslands, shrublands, and woodlands, among others. It has a tendency to increase in areas that have been heavily grazed by livestock. Overgrowth of the plant is sometimes an indicator of overgrazing on rangeland. It sometimes becomes an aggressive weed. Ranchers have considered the plant to be both an adequate forage species and a worthless nuisance species.
Cultivation:
Requires a sunny position and a well-drained soil that is not too rich. Requires a lime-free soil. Established plants are very drought tolerant. Plants are longer lived, more hardy and more aromatic when they are grown in a poor dry soil. A very ornamental plant. Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer.
Propagation:
Seed – surface sow from late winter to early summer in a greenhouse in a very free-draining soil, but make sure that the compost does not dry out. The seed usually germinates within 1 – 2 weeks in a warm greenhouse. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for their first winter. Plant them out in late spring or early summer. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Division in spring or autumn.

Edible Uses: The leaves are used by the Hopi Indians as a flavouring for sweet corn.

Medicinal Uses;
First introduced as a substitute for quinine.  Used to combat indigestion by chewing leaves.  The leaves are used in the treatment of women’s complaints. The plant contains camphor, which is stimulant and antispasmodic. An infusion of the leaves is used in the treatment of biliousness, indigestion, coughs and colds while the leaves are chewed and the juice swallowed to treat heartburn. A poultice of the chewed leaves is used as a poultice to reduce swellings and the leaves are also placed in the nose to stop nosebleeds. A hot poultice of the leaves has been used to treat toothache. The leaves can be used as a sanitary towel to help reduce skin irritation. They are also drunk as a tea when the woman is menstruating or to treat irregular menstruation. The dried leaves are burnt in a room as a disinfectant. A decoction of the root is used as a stimulant and tonic.

Other Uses:
A number of wild animals consume the plant, including white-tailed jackrabbits and sage grouse.

This sagebrush had a variety of uses for Native American groups. It was used medicinally for coughs, colds, wounds, and heartburn by the Blackfoot. The Cree people used it for headache and fever and the Tewa people took it for gastritis and indigestion. It also had ceremonial and veterinary applications, including for the Blackfoot, who reportedly used the crushed leaves to “revive gophers after children clubbed them while playing a game”.

This plant is also used in landscaping and for erosion control and revegetation of rangeland. It is drought-resistant.

Both the growing and the dried plant can be used as an insect repellent. The leaves can be placed on a camp fire to repel mosquitoes. The aromatic leaves have been used in pillows etc as a deodorant. Bunches of the soft leaves have been used as towels, toilet paper etc. A green dye is obtained from the leaves.

Known Hazards : Although no reports of toxicity have been seen for this species, skin contact with some members of this genus can cause dermatitis or other allergic reactions in some people.

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_frigida
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_UZ.htm

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ARFR4

http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Artemisia+frigida

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Herbs & Plants

Sunflower

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Botanical Name ; Helianthus annuus
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Helianthoideae
Tribe: Heliantheae
Genus: Helianthus
Species: annuus
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Angiospermae
Subdivision: Eudicots
Class: Asterids
Order: Asterales

Common Name : Sunflower,Common Sunflower

Habitat :Sunflower is native to the Americas that possesses a large inflorescence (flowering head). It grows in open dry or moderately moist soils on the plains.

Dscription:

Helianthus annuus is a annual flowering plant growing to 3 m (9ft) by 0.3 m (1ft in) at a fast rate.
It is not frost tender. It is in flower from Jul to September, and the seeds ripen from Sep to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees, flies.The plant is not self-fertile.It is noted for attracting wildlife.
The sunflower got its name from its huge, fiery blooms, whose shape and image is often used to depict the sun. The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads of flowers. The heads consist of 1,000-2,000 individual flowers joined together by a receptacle base.

click to see the pictures…>....(01)..…...(1).…...(2).…....(3)..(4).…...(5)..

What is usually called the “flower” on a mature sunflower is actually a “flower head” (also known as a “composite flower“) of numerous florets, (small flowers) crowded together. The outer petal-bearing florets are the sterile ray florets and can be yellow, red, orange, or other colors. The florets inside the circular head are called disc florets, which mature into seeds.

The flower petals within the sunflower’s cluster are usually in a a spiral pattern. Generally, each floret is oriented toward the next by approximately the golden angle, 137.5°, producing a pattern of interconnecting spirals, where the number of left spirals and the number of right spirals are successive Fibonacci numbers. Typically, there are 34 spirals in one direction and 55 in the other; on a very large sunflower there could be 89 in one direction and 144 in the other. This pattern produces the most efficient packing of seeds within the flower head.

Cultivation:
To grow best, sunflowers need full sun. They grow best in fertile, moist, well-drained soil with heavy mulch. In commercial planting, seeds are planted 45 cm (1.5 ft) apart and 2.5 cm (1 in) deep. Sunflower “whole seed” (fruit) are sold as a snack food, raw or after roasting in ovens, with or without salt and/or seasonings added. Sunflowers can be processed into a peanut butter alternative, sunflower butter. In Germany, it is mixed with rye flour to make Sonnenblumenkernbrot (literally: sunflower whole seed bread), which is quite popular in German-speaking Europe. It is also sold as food for birds and can be used directly in cooking and salads. American Indians had multiple uses for sunflowers in the past,such as in bread, medical ointments, dyes and body paints

Propagation :
Seed – sow in mid spring in situ. An earlier start can be made by sowing 2 – 3 seeds per pot in a greenhouse in early spring. Use a fairly rich compost. Thin to the strongest seedling, give them an occasional liquid feed to make sure they do not become nutrient deficient and plant them out in late spring or early summer. Seed, harvested at 12% moisture content and stored, will retain its viability for several years
Edible Uses:
Edible Parts: Flowers; Oil; Seed; Stem.
Edible Uses: Coffee; Oil.

Seed – raw or cooked. A delicious nut-like flavour, but very fiddly to extract due to the small size of the seed. Commercially there are machines designed to do this. Rich in fats, the seed can be ground into a powder, made into sunflower butter or used to make seed yoghurt. When mixed with cereal flours, it makes a nutritious bread. Cultivars with up to 50% oil have been developed in Russia. The oil contains between 44 – 72% linoleic acid. The germinated seed is said to be best for seed yoghurt, it is blended with water and left to ferment. The sprouted seed can be eaten raw. A nutritional analysis of the seed is available. Young flower buds – steamed and served like globe artichokes. A mild and pleasant enough flavour, but rather fiddly. Average yields range from 900 – 1,575 kg/ha of seed, however yields of over 3,375 kg/ha have been reported. A high quality edible semi-drying oil is obtained from the seed. It is low in cholesterol, and is said to be equal in quality to olive oil. Used in salads, margarines, or in cooking. The roasted seed is a coffee and drinking chocolate substitute. Another report says the roasted hulls are used. The leaf petioles are boiled and mixed in with other foodstuffs……CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

Composition:
Figures in grams (g) or miligrams (mg) per 100g of food.
Seed (Fresh weight)

* 560 Calories per 100g
* Water : 4.8%
* Protein: 24g; Fat: 47.3g; Carbohydrate: 19.4g; Fibre: 3.8g; Ash: 4g;
* Minerals – Calcium: 120mg; Phosphorus: 837mg; Iron: 7.1mg; Magnesium: 0mg; Sodium: 30mg; Potassium: 920mg; Zinc: 0mg;
*Vitamins – A: 30mg; Thiamine (B1): 1.96mg; Riboflavin (B2): 0.23mg; Niacin: 5.4mg; B6: 0mg; C: 0mg;

Medicinal Uses:    A tea made from the leaves is astringent, diuretic and expectorant, it is used in the treatment of high fevers. The crushed leaves are used as a poultice on sores, swellings, snakebites and spider bites. The leaves are harvested as the plant comes into flower and are dried for later use. A tea made from the flowers is used in the treatment of malaria and lung ailments. The flowering head and seeds are febrifuge, nutritive and stomachic. The seed is also considered to be diuretic and expectorant. It has been used with success in the treatment of many pulmonary complaints. A decoction of the roots has been used as a warm wash on rheumatic aches and pains.

Russian folk healers chop the head of a sunflower, soak the pieces in vodka and soap chips in a sunny place for nine days, and then rub the mixture on the joints of rheumatic patients as a potent liniment.  In medical clinics, Russian doctors prepare decoctions of the seeds for jaundice, malaria, heart conditions, diarrhea, and other ailments.  The seeds, browned in the oven, and made into an infusion, make a widely used remedy for whooping cough.

Other Uses:
Sunflower oil, extracted from the seeds, is used for cooking, as a carrier oil and to produce margarine and biodiesel, as it is cheaper than olive oil. A range of sunflower varieties exist with differing fatty acid compositions; some ‘high oleic’ types contain a higher level of monounsaturated fats in their oil than even olive oil.

The cake remaining after the seeds have been processed for oil is used as a livestock feed. Some recently developed cultivars have drooping heads. These cultivars are less attractive to gardeners growing the flowers as ornamental plants, but appeal to farmers, because they reduce bird damage and losses from some plant diseases. Sunflowers also produce latex, and are the subject of experiments to improve their suitability as an alternative crop for producing hypoallergenic rubber.

Traditionally, several Native American groups planted sunflowers on the north edges of their gardens as a “fourth sister” to the better known three sisters combination of corn, beans, and squash. Annual species are often planted for their allelopathic properties.[citation needed]

However, for commercial farmers growing commodity crops, the sunflower, like any other unwanted plant, is often considered a weed. Especially in the midwestern US, wild (perennial) species are often found in corn and soybean fields and can have a negative impact on yields.

Sunflowers can be used to extract toxic ingredients from soil, such as lead, arsenic and uranium. They were used to remove cesium-137 and strontium-90 from a nearby pond after the Chernobyl disaster, and a similar campaign was mounted in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Known Hazards : The growing plant can accumulate nitrates, especially when fed on artificial fertilizers. The pollen or plant extracts may cause allergic reactions

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_RST.htm
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Helianthus+annuus

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