Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Hawthorne

[00:00:00] Hey y'all, welcome to this week's show. We'll continue our series on the medicinal uses of trees.

[00:00:07] And this one is going to be a big one. This one is a really good one. You're going to want to know this one.

[00:00:13] And it is such a fascinating plant actually. It's Hawthorne. Hawthorne, it's a big family.

[00:00:21] Hawthorne family, there are 78 varieties of Hawthorne that are used in herbal medicine. At least, that have documented use.

[00:00:30] I think that's not even all the varieties of Hawthorne and they can pretty much be used interchangeably.

[00:00:39] So I'd say just about anything, any kind of Hawthorne can be used.

[00:00:43] Hawthorne, I am not going to even begin to list all the ones that are native to my region.

[00:00:52] They're probably 80. I mean Hawthorne's are a very pretty ornamental tree, very widespread. You can find them cultivated.

[00:01:01] You can find them wild. They have long history. You know I love the lore of plants, right?

[00:01:08] According to Christian tradition, St. Joseph's staff was made of Hawthorne.

[00:01:16] And was Aaron's Rod also made of Hawthorne? I cannot remember that.

[00:01:24] But it saw along with it a symbol of Christianity and the first Christian Christmas trees were actually Hawthorne bushes.

[00:01:34] The evergreens that we use now really only came about when they decided to try to replace some of the Nordic pagan holidays with Christian holidays

[00:01:50] to get the people more culturally Christian because you know people still like to celebrate their holidays.

[00:01:56] And so if you could associate a Christian holiday with a pagan holiday, it was a lot easier to get people to convert basically.

[00:02:04] And so that's when they started using more of the evergreens that we think of as some modern Christmas tree.

[00:02:09] But the original was a Hawthorne. And in fact it's long been associated with Catholicism.

[00:02:16] And when President Kennedy was assassinated, the Queen of England sent a Hawthorne bush to be planted by his grave.

[00:02:25] That was actually very symbolic of the relationship between the two countries and the two churches, both the Anglican and Catholic Church.

[00:02:34] So many uses. And I mean edible as well. I mean the Hall berries, the fruit, make fantastic jelly and jam.

[00:02:47] Certainly wine, pies, anything you could dry. You can dry them and snack on like you would raisins.

[00:02:55] Long time survival food in Native Americans and early America.

[00:03:01] Really probably popular until just the past couple of decades when the family disintegrated

[00:03:08] and people started moving all over the country and not passing down family land and staying in the town where they grew up.

[00:03:14] And everybody forgot how to stay married, raise children and cook for themselves, eat the food that grew on their property.

[00:03:26] Hawthorne is very cool actually.

[00:03:30] And let's see. We'll start with, I referenced England so let's start with England in the 1600s.

[00:03:40] In his time Hawthorne was so commonly planted as an ornamental in a fruit bearing bush that he said,

[00:03:50] It is not my intention to trouble you with the description of this tree which is so well known that it needs none.

[00:03:56] It is ordinarily but a hedge bush although being pruned and dressed it grows into a tree of reasonable height.

[00:04:03] He said the Hawthorne tree at Glatskinbury flowered yearly on Christmas Day.

[00:04:09] Another reason Hawthorne had an association with Christianity.

[00:04:14] But he did not actually think it always flowered on Christmas Day. He thought that was a superstition.

[00:04:21] He goes on and talks about whole different traditions.

[00:04:25] One in Cheshire that flowered both in Christmas and in May which is very interesting.

[00:04:32] But if the weather was frosty not until January, that doesn't mean anything to us.

[00:04:36] There's so many varieties. We've got the Black Hall, we've got the Possum Hall.

[00:04:41] These are just native to my region. So many members of the Cretaceous family.

[00:04:47] He says of its medicinal value,

[00:04:50] The seeds and the berries beaten into a powder being drank in wine are held singularly good against the stone.

[00:04:56] He means kidney, bladder stones such as that.

[00:04:59] And are good for Dropsy so diuretic.

[00:05:01] Dropsy's water retention edema.

[00:05:03] The distilled water of the flowers stay the Lask.

[00:05:06] What is Lask?

[00:05:10] There's Lask and Flux in the old English herbal lore.

[00:05:15] One's diarrhea, one's excessive menstrual bleeding.

[00:05:18] I think that may be the menstrual one. I'd have to look it up.

[00:05:22] Basically it's astringent and it's going to help dry things up.

[00:05:27] Most things like that are pretty much interchangeable really.

[00:05:30] The seeds cleared from the down, bruised and boiled in wine and drank is good for inward tormenting pain.

[00:05:38] Not sure exactly.

[00:05:41] Inward tormenting pain. Not sure.

[00:05:44] Maybe we'll figure this out as we go along.

[00:05:47] If cloths or sponges be wet in the distilled water and applied to any place wherein the thorns and splinters or the like do abide in the flesh,

[00:05:56] it will notably draw them forth.

[00:05:58] That's an astringent property. It tightens the tissue and can help push a splinter or a thorn out.

[00:06:05] And he says, thus you see the thorn gives a medicine for its own pricking and so doth almost everything else.

[00:06:12] That was a big part of his philosophy.

[00:06:15] That we could see the signs of medicine in nature and just had to know how to use it.

[00:06:21] I definitely agree with him on that.

[00:06:24] Galen wrote much earlier.

[00:06:32] The haws or berries of the hawthorn tree, as Dioscorides writheth, do both stay the lask, the menses and all other fluxes of blood.

[00:06:45] Okay, there you go.

[00:06:46] Some authors write that the stones beaten to a powder and given to drink are good against the stones.

[00:06:52] And Dioscorides did mention hawthorn in his classic work Demeteria Medica.

[00:06:58] Ancient Greek text.

[00:07:01] His main use for it though I don't think is going to be very valid.

[00:07:08] He thought that hawthorn berries consumed by a potential mother would ensure having male children.

[00:07:13] So I left out a lot of his information on the hawthorn because it did seem to be a bit iffy to say the least.

[00:07:22] More modern, Miss Grieve said of the British tradition that hawthorn was cardiac, diuretic, astringent and tonic.

[00:07:30] Now this is a very important way we use it now.

[00:07:33] Hawthorn has an effect on the heart rate and the strength of the beat of the heart.

[00:07:42] It can help regulate an irregular heartbeat.

[00:07:44] It can help with arrhythmia.

[00:07:46] And it can help strengthen the heart.

[00:07:49] She said mainly and again I'm going to give my disclaimer.

[00:07:54] I'm not giving you medical advice.

[00:07:55] I'm just telling you what has been documented in herbal use over many centuries.

[00:08:00] So she said it was mainly used as a cardiac tonic and organic and functional heart troubles.

[00:08:06] Both flowers and berries are astringent and useful in a decoction to cure sore throats.

[00:08:11] Useful diuretic and dropsy and kidney troubles.

[00:08:15] In the Irish tradition, John Kehoe states that the fruit is dry and astringent.

[00:08:20] It stops flows of excessive menstruation.

[00:08:23] The flowers are very good for breaking up stone in the kidney and bladder.

[00:08:27] John Kehoe, I always say he wrote the Irish herbal, herbarium, hibernicum, I think, somewhere around 1800.

[00:08:39] And I always joke that he is the least loquacious or talkative Irishman on the face of the earth.

[00:08:45] He wrote everything in just such terse, short language.

[00:08:49] He's a great reference for that reason.

[00:08:51] But very not Irish in character.

[00:08:54] You know as a carol I can say we have the gift for the Blarney.

[00:08:57] We tend to go on and on.

[00:08:59] In more modern use.

[00:09:01] The plants for future states.

[00:09:04] The fruits and flowers of Hawthorne are well known in herbal folk medicine as a heart tonic.

[00:09:09] And modern research has borne out this use.

[00:09:12] The fruits and flowers have hypotensive effects as well as acting directly as a mild heart tonic.

[00:09:19] Or acting as a direct and mild heart tonic.

[00:09:22] I think it's actually how they wrote it.

[00:09:24] They are especially indicated in the treatment of weak heart combined with high blood pressure.

[00:09:28] Prolonged use is necessary for it to be efficacious.

[00:09:32] It is normally used either as a tea or a tincture.

[00:09:35] The fruit is anodyne, anti-cholesteroemic, anti-diuretic, anti-dysenteric.

[00:09:42] So that would be dysentery, diarrhea.

[00:09:45] And anti-diarrheic also, diarrhea.

[00:09:48] A stringent blood tonic, cardio tonic.

[00:09:50] Hemostatic and stomatic.

[00:09:53] It is used in the treatment of dyspepsia that's in ingestion.

[00:09:57] Stagnation of fatty food.

[00:09:59] Abdominal fullness.

[00:10:01] Retention of lochia, amenorrhea, postpartum abdominal pain, hypertension and coronary heart disease.

[00:10:09] And I do have a friend that uses Hawthorne for heart disease and finds it very effective.

[00:10:17] In fact more effective than the prescription medicines and it just blew his doctor away.

[00:10:23] So they go on to say all varieties of Hawthorne can be used.

[00:10:27] It may be harvested twice in a season.

[00:10:30] Fresh flowering tips then ripe berries.

[00:10:33] Hawthorne is recognized for being good for irregularities of the heart.

[00:10:37] It dilates, strengthens and improves coronary arteries.

[00:10:41] It is good for over exertion when we surpass the limitations of our age or fitness.

[00:10:47] Hawthorne is good for arrhythmia and angina.

[00:10:50] Hawthorne is especially good for the middle aged.

[00:10:53] Many herbalists believe that Hawthorne may be used as an alternative to digitalis

[00:10:57] or even used together so one can use less digitalis.

[00:11:01] And I tell you this is an important plant to know.

[00:11:04] Yeah, it's an important plant to know.

[00:11:06] It could save your life or give you a much better quality of life.

[00:11:09] And in a grid down situation if you couldn't get prescription digitalis

[00:11:14] or other heart medications you'd want to know Hawthorne's.

[00:11:21] The Rodeo herb book says Hawthorne has been valued as a heart tonic.

[00:11:26] This value has been increasingly studied in recent years.

[00:11:29] Promising results have been reported in connection with a variety of heart elements

[00:11:34] including angina pictoris, abdominal or abnormal heart action.

[00:11:38] It is also said to be effective in stemming arteriosclerosis

[00:11:42] commonly known as hardening of the arteries.

[00:11:46] They give a dosage that isn't going to make a whole lot of sense to you right now.

[00:11:52] But they do state that although non-toxic Hawthorne can produce dizziness if taken in large doses.

[00:11:59] Hawthorne has also been used in treating arthritis and rheumatism

[00:12:04] and for emotional stress in nervous conditions.

[00:12:07] The reason I said it wouldn't make a lot of sense to use the old pharmacist or apothecist measurement of grains

[00:12:17] unless you actually have a chemistry set

[00:12:20] you're probably not going to be doing that

[00:12:22] but they say it can be made into a tincture of an ounce of Hawthorne berry powder to a pint.

[00:12:30] This is a high proof alcohol. This is more like Everclear or something.

[00:12:36] I always use just 40% A-proof vodka for all my tinctures.

[00:12:43] You might need to increase the dosage just a little bit if you use plain vodka

[00:12:50] as opposed to Everclear or a higher proof grain alcohol because that extracts more from the plant material.

[00:12:56] But they said the tincture was given in doses ranging from 1-15 drops.

[00:13:00] So even so, they're not giving you a lot of detail in how much to use.

[00:13:05] It's going to be very individualistic.

[00:13:07] If you use it you're going to have to learn how it works for your constitution.

[00:13:11] The physician's desk reference for herbal medicine tells us that Cretagious is a well studied herb

[00:13:17] for use in cardiovascular disease.

[00:13:20] Historically it has been used for congestive heart failure,

[00:13:23] commonly in combination with cardiac glycosides,

[00:13:26] as it may potentiate their effects thereby reducing the dose of cardiac glycocide drugs.

[00:13:35] The use of Cretagious in hypertension, arteriosclerosis, hyperlipidemia is well documented.

[00:13:43] The active principles are prosionandins and flavonoids

[00:13:48] which cause an increase in coronary blood flow due to dilatory effects

[00:13:53] resulting in an improvement of myocardial blood flow.

[00:13:57] The drug is positively inotropic and positively chronotropic.

[00:14:04] I don't even know what those words mean, okay?

[00:14:06] I'm not a doctor. I'm a plant guy. I'm a herbalist, but you can look them up.

[00:14:11] The cardiac effect of Cretagious is said to be caused by an increased membrane permeability for calcium

[00:14:21] as well as an inhibition of phosphodiesterase

[00:14:27] with an increase of intracellular cyclo-AMP concentrations.

[00:14:33] So, yeah, if you have a medical background maybe you know what that means.

[00:14:37] Show it to your doctor if you're trying to discuss Hawthorne with him.

[00:14:43] From my book, Medicinal Trees, but this comes from...

[00:14:47] It's actually just a quote I pulled out of the physician's desk reference for herbal medicine.

[00:14:51] So, I don't know if you can find that online or not.

[00:14:54] Give it a shot.

[00:14:56] You can always just copy and print to take into your doctor because the PDR is huge.

[00:15:03] It's like a 3,000-page book or something that weighs, gosh, I don't even know, 11, 12 pounds

[00:15:09] and often very expensive.

[00:15:11] Quite an investment when I bought one, but I thought,

[00:15:13] hey, I need to know about interactions before I start telling people how to use herbs.

[00:15:18] And even though it's boring as sin, it is a very, very useful reference.

[00:15:24] Let's see where I left off.

[00:15:26] High dose may cause...

[00:15:28] Well, let's see.

[00:15:30] Increased coronary and myocardial circulatory perfusion and reduction in peripheral vascular resistance were observed.

[00:15:37] High dose may cause sedation.

[00:15:40] This effect has been attributed to oligomeric procyanidins.

[00:15:48] Cretaceous extract has been found to prolong the refractory period

[00:15:54] and increase the action potential duration in guinea pig papillary muscle.

[00:16:00] Okay.

[00:16:02] I don't know what they're doing to those guinea pigs.

[00:16:05] I'm probably not going to get into that.

[00:16:07] One study has demonstrated that a Cretaceous...

[00:16:11] That's a hawthorn, by the way.

[00:16:13] Extract blocked the repolarizing potassium currents in ventricular myocytes of guinea pigs.

[00:16:23] This effect is similar to that of class III antiarrhythmic drugs.

[00:16:27] So that's what they're saying.

[00:16:29] They're just saying in animal studies that it was shown to be similar to antiarrhythmic drugs,

[00:16:34] an arrhythmia of the heart.

[00:16:36] It may explain the antiarrhythmic effect of hawthorn.

[00:16:40] Cretaceous due to its high flavonoid content may also be used to decrease inflammation,

[00:16:45] decrease capillary fragility, and prevent collagen destruction of the joints.

[00:16:50] So yes, very good for arthritis as well.

[00:16:54] And really just one of those essential plants to know.

[00:16:59] Most of the trees in this book are unknown to most herbalists.

[00:17:05] As I said when we started out, most people think of herbs...

[00:17:09] I mean when I started this series, most people think of herbs as little green plants.

[00:17:14] And they are.

[00:17:16] But the trees are big green plants or big brown plants or whatever.

[00:17:20] And they're often far more potent medicinally than the herbs most people think of when they think of herbal medicine.

[00:17:29] So that's why whenever I'm teaching anybody about herbs, I start with the trees.

[00:17:35] They're easy to identify.

[00:17:40] Yeah, get a cell phone app.

[00:17:42] You know, iNaturalist or something.

[00:17:44] Something like that is pretty good.

[00:17:46] But two, three field guides or somebody that just knows the woods can go out and teach you to identify all the trees within a mile of your house in probably an afternoon.

[00:17:59] I mean it's the easiest way to begin to learn plant identification.

[00:18:04] And you're going to have a medicine cabinet in your backyard.

[00:18:08] I mean for just about any condition for which I would use herbs such as the ones I might grow in the garden or the seasonal weeds that I might collect, right?

[00:18:23] I can probably find a tree and oftentimes it's going to be more powerful in effect.

[00:18:29] That just seems to be the way it is with trees.

[00:18:32] I've done shrubs and woody vines as well.

[00:18:34] I've done a whole other book on medicinal use of shrubs and woody vines.

[00:18:38] I like to start with the big plants first and then we work down to the smaller ones, you know, with some exceptions.

[00:18:47] You know, you're going to learn to identify the mint family very quickly.

[00:18:52] So many of our medicinal herbs and culinary herbs are in the mint family.

[00:18:58] Sage, the wormwood, Artemisia's, yeah a few others.

[00:19:06] You know, certainly Valerian and skull cap which is actually in the mint family actually.

[00:19:13] I don't know.

[00:19:15] But yeah, I start with the trees because I can teach you more about herbal medicine in discussing trees in a shorter period of time that you can actually use,

[00:19:26] put to use right away than I can any other classification of plant.

[00:19:32] You know, it's real murky when you get into mushrooms and such.

[00:19:36] Mushrooms take a lot of experience in identification and their medicinal uses are not as well documented.

[00:19:44] Same with mosses and ferns.

[00:19:47] Ferns, yeah I read a whole book on medicinal ferns.

[00:19:50] Again, that's really a much higher level than just learning the trees.

[00:19:57] I usually teach people the trees and then the herbs they're already going to have in their kitchen cabinet.

[00:20:02] So I start with trees and then I get to culinary herbs and then we get into more of the traditional herbs that most people use because, you know, I have a very practical mindset.

[00:20:15] I'm not teaching someone how to be a clinical herbalist.

[00:20:18] You know, it's going to see patients and have to treat all kinds of weird stuff.

[00:20:23] I am not teaching someone to be a plant geek.

[00:20:27] I'm teaching you to actually have practical information that you can use when you need it.

[00:20:33] You know, in an emergency situation or whatever.

[00:20:38] Anyway, y'all, I think Hawthorne is great.

[00:20:42] Definitely, definitely include some of these in your landscape if you don't have some already.

[00:20:48] There's so many of them growing in your creeks and such.

[00:20:50] So get out in the woods and look for them.

[00:20:53] They're not hard at all to identify.

[00:20:56] Some of them are quite thorny, quite thorny.

[00:20:59] And if you're looking for a good hedge plant to keep people and deer and such out of your yard, you really can't beat Hawthorne.

[00:21:07] A thick hedge of Hawthorne will do the trick.

[00:21:12] You know, I would probably combine it with a few other plants.

[00:21:16] I mean, I could see putting prickly pear cactus and yuccas up front.

[00:21:20] And then maybe a row of Hawthorne, maybe a row of locust trees, some climbing roses.

[00:21:26] Oh, definitely some thorny blackberries to do a hedge to really prevent people from coming on your property and keep the deer out of your garden.

[00:21:35] You know, you call them hedgerows in England and they use them in place of fences all the time.

[00:21:40] They keep cattle in and people out.

[00:21:42] But yeah, Hawthorne is just absolutely one of the best, really one of the best.

[00:21:48] There are a few others you might want to consider putting in there.

[00:21:50] I mean, Audemars olive if it's not prohibited in your area.

[00:21:55] Nitrogen fixing, it's going to help everything else grow and it's going to grow very densely in there.

[00:22:00] Oh, I don't know.

[00:22:02] I could probably come up with about five or six other good thorny plants that are useful.

[00:22:07] You know, as much as I love holly trees, I'm not big on a hedge of holly bushes.

[00:22:14] It has to be pruned a lot and always get scratched up and it just really just makes me mad more than anything else.

[00:22:20] If I'm going to have something that has thorns on it, I want it to give me some fruit in return or some medicine.

[00:22:25] And while holly does have some additional properties, it's also fairly toxic and really shouldn't be used by people who don't know what they're doing.

[00:22:33] So anyway, I'll wrap it up there.

[00:22:36] Have a good one and I will talk to you next time.

[00:22:39] The information this podcast is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition.

[00:22:45] Nothing I say or write has been evaluated or approved by the FDA.

[00:22:49] I'm not a doctor.

[00:22:51] The U.S. government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine and there is no governing body regulating herbalists.

[00:22:57] Therefore, I'm really just a guy who studies herbs.

[00:22:59] I'm not offering any advice.

[00:23:01] I won't even claim that anything I write or say is accurate or true.

[00:23:05] I can tell you what herbs have been traditionally used for.

[00:23:07] I can tell you my own experience and if I believe in herbs, help me.

[00:23:11] I cannot nor would I tell you to do the same.

[00:23:14] If you use an herb anyone recommends, you are treating yourself.

[00:23:18] You take full responsibility for your health.

[00:23:20] Humans are individuals and no two are identical.

[00:23:22] What works for me may not work for you.

[00:23:25] You may have an allergy, a sensitivity, an underlying condition that no one else even shares and you don't even know about.

[00:23:32] Be careful with your health.

[00:23:34] By continuing to listen to my podcast or read my blog, you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research,

[00:23:40] make your own choices and not to blame me for anything ever.