Common names: Purple Sand Spurry, Ruby Sandspurry, Sand Spurry, red sandspurry
Habitat : Spergularia rubra is native to Europe, including Britain, south and east from Norway to N. Africa and Asia. N. America. It grows on open gravelly or sandy habitats. Sand dunes, heaths and coastal cliffs.
Description:
Spergularia rubra, a dicot, is an annual or perennial herb growing to 0.25m.
It is hardy to zone 0. It is in flower from May to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Flies. The plant is self-fertile.
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The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils, requires well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. The plant prefers acid and neutral soils and can grow in very acid soil. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought. The plant can tolerate maritime exposure.
Cultivation:
This plant is often found growing in paving crevices and other impoverished niches in the garden. It is a calcifuge plant, requiring neutral to acid soils.
Propagation:
Seed – sow spring or autumn in situ. Some seed germinates in the autumn in the wild while some germinates in the spring.
Edible Uses
Edible Parts: Seed.
Seed – cooked. Dried and ground into a meal then used with flour for making bread etc. A famine food, it is only used when all else fails.
Medicinal Uses Lithontripic.
The leaves are diuretic and lithontripic. The plant contains a resinous aromatic substance that is probably the active principle. An infusion is thought to relax the muscle walls of the urinary tubules and so it is used in the treatment of kidney stones, acute and chronic cystitis and catarrh of the bladder.
It has long been used as a popular remedy in diseases of the bladder. It was shown by F. Vigier (J. P. C., 1879, ii, p. 371) to contain a resinous aromatic substance which is probably its active principle. It is strongly recommended by Bertherand in calculous diseases and acute and chronic cystitis.
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.
Botanical Name:Betula Family: Betulaceae Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Fagales
Genus: Betula Common Name:The common name birch is derived from an old Germanic root, birka, with the Proto-Indo-European root *bherag, “white, bright; to shine.” The Proto-Germanic rune berkanan is named after the birch. The botanic name Betula is from the original Latin.Birch is the name of any tree of the genus Betula (Bé-tu-la), in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae.Bhurjapatra,Betula utilis.
Parts Used:Leaves, bark, sap. Habitat: Native to Europe from the northern Mediterranean regions to Siberia and to temperate regions of Asia, it is also found in North America. Grows in mostly of northern temperate climates.
Description:The tree is handsomely deciduous, reaching 100 feet in height, with pale gray papery bark, toothed leaves, and catkins in the spring. The birch flourishes in woods, thickets, and in private gardens. The leaves are collected in the wild during the spring.The simple leaves may be toothed or pointed. The fruit is a small samara, although the wings may be obscure in some species. They differ from the alders (Alnus, other genus in the family) in that the female catkins are not woody and disintegrate at maturity, falling apart to release the seeds, unlike the woody cone-like female alder catkins.
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The bark of all birches is characteristically marked with long horizontal lenticels, and often separates into thin papery plates, especially upon the Paper Birch. It is practically imperishable, due to the resinous oil which it contains. Its decided color gives the common names Red, White, Black], Silver and Yellow to different species.
The buds form early and are full grown by midsummer, all are lateral, no terminal bud is formed; the branch is prolonged by the upper lateral bud. The wood of all the species is close-grained with satiny texture and capable of taking a fine polish; its fuel value is fair.
The leaves of the different species vary but little. All are alternate, doubly serrate, feather-veined, petiolate, and stipulate. Apparently they often appear in pairs, but these pairs are really borne on spur-like two-leaved lateral branchlets.
Flower and fruit
The flowers are monoecious, opening with or before the leaves and borne on three-flowered clusters in the axils of the scales of drooping or erect aments. Staminate aments are pendulous, clustered or solitary in the axils of the last leaves of the branch of the year or near the ends of the short lateral branchlets of the year. They form in early autumn and remain rigid during the winter. The scales of the staminate aments when mature are broadly ovate, rounded, yellow or orange color below the middle, dark chestnut brown at apex. Each scale bears two bractlets and three sterile flowers, each flower consisting of a sessile, membranaceous, usually two-lobed, calyx. Each calyx bears four short filaments with one-celled anthers or strictly, two filaments divided into two branches, each bearing a half-anther. Anther cells open longitudinally. The pistillate aments (catkins) are erect or pendulous, solitary; terminal on the two-leaved lateral spur-like branchlets of the year. The pistillate scales are oblong-ovate, three-lobed, pale yellow green often tinged with red, becoming brown at maturity. These scales bear two or three fertile flowers, each flower consisting of a naked ovary. The ovary is compressed, two-celled, and crowned with two slender styles; the ovule is solitary.
The ripened pistillate ament is called a strobile and bears tiny winged nuts, packed in the protecting curve of each brown and woody scale. These nuts are pale chestnut brown, compressed, crowned by the persistent stigmas. The seed fills the cavity of the nut. The cotyledons are flat and fleshy. All the species are easily grown from seed.
Ecology
Birches often form even-aged stands on light, well-drained, particularly acidic soils. They are regarded as pioneer species, rapidly colonising open ground especially in secondary successional sequences following a disturbance or fire. Birches are early tree species to establish in primary successions and can become a threat to heathland if the seedlings and saplings are not suppressed by grazing or periodic burning. Birches are generally lowland species, but some species such as Betula nana have a montane distribution. Birch is used as a food plant by the larvae of a large number of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) species, see List of Lepidoptera that feed on birches.
Uses:
Birch wood is fine-grained and pale in colour, often with an attractive satin-like sheen. Ripple figuring may occur, increasing the value of the timber for veneer and furniture-making. The highly-decorative Masur (or Karelian) birch, from Betula verrucosa var. carelica has ripple texture combined with attractive dark streaks and lines. Birch wood is suitable for veneer, and birch ply is among the strongest and most dimensionally-stable plywoods, although it is unsuitable for exterior use.
Due to birch pulp’s short-fibre qualities, this hardwood can be used to make printing paper. In India the thin bark coming off in winter was used as writing paper. This has excellent life. The paper is known as bhoorj patra. Bhoorj is the Sanskrit name of tree and patra means paper. This bark also has been used widely in ancient Russia as note paper (beresta) and for decorative purposes and even making footwear — lapti.
Extracts of birch are used for flavoring or leather oil, and in cosmetics such as soap or shampoo. In the past, commercial oil of wintergreen (methyl salicylate) was made from the Sweet Birch (Betula lenta). Birch tar or Russian Oil, extracted from birch bark, is thermoplastic and waterproof; it was used as a glue on, for example, arrows, and also for medicinal purposes.
Silver Birch (Betula pendula) is Finland’s national tree. Occasionally one uses leafy, fragrant twigs of silver birch to gently beat oneself in a sauna. The twigs are called vihta or vasta. This has a relaxing effect on the muscles.
Birch leaves make a diuretic tea and to make extracts for dyes and cosmetics.
Ground birch bark, fermented in sea water, is used for seasoning the woolen, hemp or linen sails and hemp rope of traditional Norwegian boats.
Birch twigs were bound in a bundle, also called birch, to be used for birching, a form of corporal punishment.
Many of the First Nations of North America prized the birch for its bark, which due to its light weight, flexibility, and the ease with which it could be stripped from fallen trees, was often used for the construction of strong, waterproof but lightweight canoes, bowls, and wigwams.
Birch is used as firewood due to its high calorific value per unit weight and unit volume. Birch is prized by the Sami people as it burns well, without popping, even when frozen and freshly hewn. The bark is also used in starting fires. The bark will burn very well, even when wet, because of the oils it contains. With care, the bark can be split into very thin sheets that will ignite from even the smallest of sparks.
Birches also have spiritual importance in several religions, both modern and historical.
Birch ply is made from laminations of birch veneer. It is light but strong and has many other good properties. Birch ply is used to make longboards (skateboard), giving it a strong yet flexy ride. It is also used (often in very thin grades with many laminations) for making model aircraft.
Tonewood
Baltic Birch is among the most sought after wood in the manufacture of speaker cabinets. Birch has a natural resonance that peaks in the high and low frequencies, which are also the hardest for speakers to reproduce. This resonance compensates for the roll-off of low and high frequencies in the speakers, and evens the tone. Birch is known for having “natural EQ.”
Drums are often made from Birch. Prior to the 1970s, Birch was one of the most popular drum woods. Because of the need for greater volume and midrange clarity, drums were made almost entirely from maple until recently, when advancements in live sound reinforcement and drum mics have allowed the use of Birch in high volume situations. Birch drums have a natural boost in the high and low frequencies, which allow the drums to sound fuller.
Birch wood is sometimes used as a tonewood for semi-acoustic and acoustic guitar bodies and occasionally used for solid-body guitar bodies. Birch wood is also a common material used in mallets for keyboard percussion.
Food
In Belarus, Russia, the Baltic States, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and parts of northern China, birch sap is consumed as a refreshing beer, and is believed to have tonic qualities. It is watery and pale green in color, with a slightly sweet flavor, and is bottled commercially. Birch sap may also be made into kvass. The sap of particular birch species may also be rendered into birch syrup, vinegar, birch wine (which most often turns out a sparkling wine, although Grythyttan Vin AB of Sweden also produces a still birch wine), birch beer (a soft drink similar to root beer), and other foods. In contrast to maple syrup, birch syrup is very difficult to produce, making it more expensive than other food syrups. It is also considerably less sweet than maple syrup and the sap for syrup production is not available until a month later than maple’s. The syrup is made mainly in Alaska (from Alaska Birch) and Russia (from several species), and more rarely elsewhere.
Xylitol can also be extracted from birch, a sugar alcohol artificial sweetener, which has shown effectiveness in preventing, and in some cases repairing, tooth decay.
According to the Food Network series Unwrapped, birch is a preferred wood for the manufacture of toothpicks.
Medicinal uses:
Key Actions: *antiseptic
*astringent
*anti-inflammatory
*diuretic
In northern latitudes birch is considered to be the most important allergenic tree pollen, with an estimated 15-20% of hay fever sufferers sensitive to birch pollen grains.
The chaga mushroom is an adaptogen that grows on white birch trees, extracting the birch constituents and is used as a remedy for cancer.
The bark is high in betulin and betulinic acid, phytochemicals which have potential as pharmaceuticals, and other chemicals which show promise as industrial lubricants.
Birch bark can be soaked until moist in water, and then formed into a cast for a broken arm.
The inner bark of birch can be ingested safely.
A German study indicated that the leaves were useful in treating bacterial and inflammatory diseases of the urinary tract.
Remedies *infusion made from the leaves for the removal of waste products in the urine thereby treating kidney and bladder stones, rheumatic conditions, and gout.
*sap as a diuretic
oil or expressed liquid from the leaves in preparations for eczema, psoriasis, and other chronic skin complaints.
*lotions made from decoctions for chronic skin problems
*ointment for rheumatism and gout
*decoction of the bark on chronic skin conditions
Traditional Uses:-
*Birch tar is a clear, dark brown oil obtained through a distillation process and used for parasitic infestations of the skin and other chronic skin complaints. It is also a constituent of Unguentum contra scabiem used in the treatment of scabies.
*The leaves are used with other diuretic herbs to reduce fluid retention and swellings.
*The bark can be macerated in oil and applied to rheumatic joints.
*The Himalyayan Silver Birch is used in Ayurvedic medicine as a treatment for convulsions, dysentery, hemorrhages, and skin diseases.
*Mexicans use the leaves in a diuretic tea.
Ayurvedic Uses:
Ear disorders, bile disorders, anomalies of blood, psychological disorders, anti-obesity, anti-toxin.
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.
Division: Magnoliophyta Family: Apocynaceae Specific Epithet:Plumeria rubra acutifolia Common Name: Frangipani Tree or West Indian Jasmine or Temple Tree. (Katchampa in Bengali)
Origin: Mexico It has over 200 varieties and species.
Plumeria (common name Frangipani; syn. Himatanthus Willd. ex Roem. & Schult.) is a small genus of 7-8 species native to tropical and subtropical Americas. The genus consists of mainly deciduous shrubs and trees. P. rubra (Common Frangipani, Red Frangipani), native to Mexico, Central America, and Venezuela, produces flowers ranging from yellow to pink depending on form or cultivar. From Mexico and Central America, Plumeria has spread to all tropical areas of the world, especially Hawaii, where it grows so abundantly that many people think that it is indigenous there.
Plant Description:
Plumeria is related to the Oleander, Nerium oleander, and both possess poisonous, milky sap, rather similar to that of Euphorbia. Each of the separate species of Plumeria bears differently shaped leaves and their form and growth habits are also distinct. The leaves of P. alba are quite narrow and corrugated, while leaves of P. pudica have an elongated oak shape and glossy, dark green color. P. pudica is one of the everblooming types with non-deciduous, evergreen leaves. Another species that retains leaves and flowers in winter is P. obtusa; though its common name is “Singapore”, it is originally from Colombia.
Plumeria flowers are most fragrant at night in order to lure sphinx moths to pollinate them. The flowers have no nectar, and simply dupe their pollinators. The moths inadvertently pollinate them by transferring pollen from flower to flower in their fruitless search for nectar.
Propagation:
Plumeria species are easily propagated by taking a cutting of leafless stem tips in spring and allowing them to dry at the base before inserting them into soil. They are also propagated via tissue culture both from cuttings of freshly elongated stems and via aseptically germinated seed.
Etymology and common names
The genus, originally spelled Plumiera, is named in honor of the seventeenth-century French botanist Charles Plumier, who traveled to the New World documenting many plant and animal species. The common name “Frangipani” comes from an Italian noble family, a sixteenth-century marquess of which invented a plumeria-scented perfume.
In Mexico, the Nahuatl (Aztec language) name for this plant is “cacalloxochitl” which means “crow flower.” It was used for many medicinal purposes such as salves and ointments.
Depending on location, many other common names exist: “Kembang Kamboja” in Indonesia, “Temple Tree” or “Champa” in India, “Kalachuchi” in the Philippines, “Araliya” or “Pansal Mal” in Sri Lanka, “Champa” in Laos, “Lantom” or “Lilarwadee” in Thai and “Dead man’s fingers” in Australia, for example. The Australian name is perhaps taken from its thin, leafless, finger-like branches. Many English speakers also simply use the generic name “plumeria”.
In culture:
They are now common naturalised plants in southern and southeastern Asia, and in local folk beliefs provide shelter to ghosts and demons. The scent of the Plumeria has been associated with a vampire in Malay folklore, the pontianak. They are associated with temples in both Hindu and Buddhist cultures, though Hindus do not use the flowers in their temple offerings.
In several Pacific islands, such as Tahiti, Hawaii and Tonga, Plumeria is used for making leis. In modern Polynesian culture, it can be worn by women to indicate their relationship status – over the right ear if seeking a relationship, and over the left if taken.
P. alba is the national flower of Nicaragua and Laos, where it is known under the local name “Sacuanjoche” (Nicaragua) and “Champa” (Laos).
In the book “A Varanda do Frangipani” by Mozambican author, Mia Couto, the shedding of the tree’s flowers serves to mark the passage of time, and whose conclusion sees the protagonists submerging into the tree’s roots as the ultimate solution to fix their shattered world.
In Bangladeshi culture most white flowers, and particularly plumeria , are associated with funerals and death.
Medicinal Uses:
Parts utilized for medicines:
· Bark, leaves and flowers.
· Collect from May to October.
· Sun-dry.
Constituents
Flowers suppose to be source of perfume known as “Frangipiani.”
Bark contains a bitter glucoside, plumierid (2%).
Latex contains resins, caoutchouc and calcium salts of plumieric acid: cerotinic acid and lupeol.
Leaves contain a volatile oil.
Characteristics and Pharmacological Effects
Sweet tasting and neither warming nor cooling in effect, aromatic.
Antipyretic, diuretic, emmenagogue, febrifuge, purgative, rubefacient.
•Decoction of bark is used as purgative, emmenagogue, and febrifuge.
•Preventive for heat stroke: the material may be taken as a cooling tea.
•For dysentery, diarrhea during summer season: use 12 to 24 gms of dried material in decoction.
•Arthritis, rheumatism, pruritic skin lesions: Mix the latex (sap) with coconut oil, warm, and apply to affected area.
•Decoction of the bark is used as a counterirritant on the gums for toothache.
•The latex mixed with coconut oil is used for itching.
•The juice is rubefacient in rheumatic pains, and with camphor, is also used for itching.
•A poultice of heated leaves is beneficial for swellings.
•Decoction of leaves for cracks and eruptions of the soles of the feet.
•Infusion or extract from leaves is used for asthma.
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
The Black Walnut or American Walnut (Juglans nigra L.) is a native of eastern North America, where it grows, mostly alongside rivers, from southern Ontario, Canada west to southeast South Dakota, south to Georgia, northern Florida and southwest to central Texas.
Description:It is a large deciduous tree attaining heights of 30â- 40 metres (100-130 feet). Under forest competition it develops a tall, clear bole; the open-grown form has a short bole and broad crown. The bark is grey-black and deeply furrowed. The pith of the twigs contains air spaces. The leaves are alternate, 30-60 cm long, odd-pinnate with 1-23 leaflets, the largest leaflets located in the centre, 7-10 cm long and 2-3 cm broad. The male flowers are in drooping catkins 8–10 cm long, the female flowers terminal, in clusters of two to five, ripening in the autumn into a fruit with a brownish-green, semi-fleshy husk and a brown corrugated nut. The whole fruit, including the husk, falls in October; the seed is relatively small and very hard. Mature tree..………. Leaves and fruit….Leaves
The stem pith is light brown. The leaves are pinnate, with 12 to 23 leaflets; the leaflets are slightly alternate, heart-shaped or uneven at base. Leaf stalks and
leaf undersides are slightly hairy; the hairs being solitary or in pairs, not in clusters. Male and female flowers grow in separate catkins. The fruits are rounded, reaching maturity during October and November. The bark is dark brown to grayish black, divided by deep, narrow furrows into thin ridges, forming aroughly diamond-shaped pattern.
History: The American Indians inner bark tea as an emetic and laxative. They chewed the bark for toothaches; used fruit husk juice on ringworm; chewed the husk for colic and poulticed for inflammation. They uses a leaf tea as an astringent and an insecticidal against bedbugs.
The Black Walnut was introduced into Europe in 1629. It is cultivated there as a forest tree for its high quality wood. It is more resistant to frost than the Persian Walnut, but thrives best in the warmer regions of Europe of fertile, lowland soils with a high water table. It is a light-demanding species. The wood is used to make furniture and rifle stocks, and oil is pressed from the seeds.
The Black Walnut produces a substance that is toxic or “allelopathic” to other plants called juglone. It interferes with the healthy development of other plants, especially plants in the Nightshade family (e.g. tomatoes), causing wilting and yellowing of the foliage. This has caused some to believe that nothing grows under a Black Walnut, but there are many varieties of plants that can. Fescue grass is a type of grass that is allelopathic to the Black Walnut.
Constituents: The active principle of the whole Walnut tree, as well as of the nuts, is Nucin or Juglon. The nuts contain oil, mucilage, albumin, mineral matter, cellulose and water.
Use as food:
The extraction of the kernel from the fruit of the Black Walnut is difficult. The shell is covered by a thick husk that exudes a dark, staining, strong-smelling juice. The juice will often be a yellow brown at first, then rapidly assume a deep black-green color upon exposure to the air. The shell often protrudes into the meat, so that whole kernels often cannot be obtained.
The husk is best removed when green, as the nuts taste better if it is removed then. Rolling the nut underfoot on a hard surface such as a driveway is a common method; commercial huskers use a car tire rotating against a metal mesh. Some take a thick plywood board and drill a nut sized hole in it (from one to two inches in diameter) and smash the nut through using a hammer. The nut goes through and the husk remains behind. To keep the husk juices from splattering, a board or canvas scrap may be used to cover the nut before hammering. The black walnut’s husks are known to leave durable, hard to remove stains on hands and clothing.
Before eating or storage, the nuts should be cured in a dry place for at least two weeks. Before cracking, the unshelled nuts may be soaked in hot water for 24 hours in order to soften the shells, but with a proper cracker this is not necessary. While the flavor is prized, the difficulty in preparing the Black Walnut may account for the wider popularity and availability of the Persian Walnut.
Wood: click for the picture
Black Walnut is highly prized for its dark-colored true heartwood. It is heavy and strong, yet easily split and worked. Walnut wood has historically been used for gunstocks, furniture, flooring, paddles, coffins, and a variety of other woodworking products. It is so valuable that so-called “walnut rustlers” have been known to harvest it illegally by posing as forestry officials, cutting trees during the night, and even using helicopters to take them away quickly; such overharvesting has greatly reduced its numbers and range since colonial times
Medicinal Properties: Properties: Alterative, astringent, detergent, tonic, vermifuge.
Main Uses: The bark and leaves are used in the treatment of skin troubles. They are of the highest value for curing scrofulous diseases, herpes, eczema, etc., and for healing indolent ulcers. The bark, dried and powdered, and made into a strong infusion, is a useful purgative. The husk, shell and peel are sudorific, especially if used when the walnuts are green. While unripe, the nut has worm destroying properties.
Preparation And Dosages:
Tincture: (Fresh Leaves [1:2] Dry Leaves [1:5] 50% alcohol), 30-90 drops up to 3 times a day.
Infusion: 2-4 ounces
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.
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