Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Mountain Laurel, Golden Rain Tree, Crape Myrtle and Privet

[00:00:00] Hey y'all welcome to this week's show. We're going to talk about a tree from my book, The medicinal trees that you're probably not going to use. It does have medicinal use.

[00:00:12] I would put this sort of in the expert category of herbs. You really need to know about this because it is such a pretty small tree or shrub really, large bush.

[00:00:24] And well you're going to want to keep your kids away from it for one thing and probably get into a second one after that. It's going to be a little more useful to you but this is one that my region

[00:00:35] is really known for. It is Chamialatifolia called Mountain Laurel. It's a member of the Rhododendron and Azalea family. It's absolutely beautiful. It is a tourist come from all over to go to the Rhododendron Festival and run mountain, to go up the Grand Father Mountain

[00:00:53] and see the Mountain Laurel. People take them back and plant them in the garden. It's extremely toxic and can absolutely be very dangerous but it does have some medicinal use. So let's talk about it. It's a member of the Erikaesiae family. As I said that's Rhododendron

[00:01:12] Azalea. It's also blueberry you know. I mean there are a lot of members of this family that we use a lot and so it can be maybe less respected than it should be. Plants for a future says

[00:01:27] Mountain Laurel is a very poisonous narcotic plant, the leaves of which at one time were used by some Native North American Indian tribes, especially the Cherokee, took in order to commit suicide. Because of its toxicity it is a remedy that is seldom used in modern herbalism but the

[00:01:44] leaves have been used externally in herbal medicine and are a good remedy for may skin diseases and infamations. The leaves are analgesic that means it helps with pain, astringent, tightens tissue, disinfectant, narcotic, salt and sedative. So you can see why you may need this plant in an

[00:02:02] emergency okay but it's really very very poisonous. I'll go on with this passage and I'll tell you something else. The leaves are used as a disinfectant wash and anilinamide to treat pain, scratches and rheumatism, infamations and rid the body of parasites. Used internally the leaves

[00:02:22] have a splendid effect in the treatment of active hemorrhages diarrhea and flux that's said very dangerous so we're going to talk about that. They are also used as a treatment of syphilis inflammatory fevers, neurology, or paralytic conditions. Tinnitus or tinnitus however

[00:02:38] you pronounce it. I think people in the south say tinnitus and people up north say tinnitus. I don't know. It's sort of like the way we say diabetes down here in up north y'all say diabe...

[00:02:48] What do you say? I can't even pronounce it the way you do. Anyway, the also used for angina. The leaves should be used with great caution and only under the guidance of a qualified practitioner. Existoses cause vertigo, headache, loss of sight, salivation, thirst, nausea,

[00:03:10] palpitations, slow pulse and difficulty breathing. Now every year I would say I don't think we've ever known a year this isn't the case. The kids around here in the mountains get hold of some

[00:03:25] old herbal books written by hippies in the 60s and 70s and they learn about things like Jimson weed and the Belladottas. There's several in that family not coming to me right now like Deadly Nightshade and different ones and they think that smoking rhododendron or mountain

[00:03:45] moral blossoms may be a good way to get high for free and they end up at the hospital and let them die. Okay really very dangerous but it does have some legitimate herbal use. Miss Grieve in the English

[00:04:04] tradition writing 1930s describes the plant and as I said it's one of the most beautiful of all the flowers and flowering bushes that that grow around here. She says leaves possess narcotic poisoning properties and contain tannic acid, gum, chlorophyll, etc. etc. Under medicinal

[00:04:25] actions and uses she said Indians are said to have used the expressed use of the leaves or a strong decoction of them to commit suicide. The leaves are the official part powdered leaves are used as a local remedy in some form of skin diseases that means applied externally.

[00:04:41] Gotta stress that and her most efficient agent in syphilis, fevers and jaundice, neurology and inflammation but great care should be exercised through use. Whiskey is the best antidote poisoning of this plant okay in other words if you were poisoned by

[00:04:59] the plant alcohol can help keep you your your heart from stopping but obviously you would not wish to go down that road and ointment for skin diseases is made by screwing the leaves in pure

[00:05:12] lard in an earthen vessel in a hot oven so you infuse the leaves essentially in lard. Taken internally it is a sedative and astringent and active hemorrhages, diarrhea and flux it has a splendid effect and will be found useful in overcoming obstinate chronic irritation

[00:05:30] of the mucus surface. In the lower animals injection produces great salivation convulsions paralysis labored restoration and they die that's why a common name for this plant is called lamb kill lamb kill because lambs might eat the plant intentionally.

[00:05:51] In 1898 it was actually listed in official use in American medicine Kings American dispensatory says in moderate doses sheep oil or cow mea lateral and of course someone just started up some machinery

[00:06:08] near me I think I think we'll be okay it doesn't seem to be too loud but I apologize for the background noise I kind of have to record where I'm recording right now because well my dog's really

[00:06:22] on well he may not make it through the night so I'm sitting on the back porch with him down at my mother's place and I can't really leave him right now so sorry for the inconvenience if you

[00:06:36] can hear it. Anyway moving on in a in a moderate doses sheep laurel causes a poisonous narcotic busy poison narcotic producing the symptoms they involve with diminished circulation in medicinal doses it is anti-syphiletic sedative to the heart and somewhat astringent internally either in a powder

[00:07:00] decoction or tincture it is an effective remedy in primary or secondary syphilis and will likewise be found invaluable in febrile and inflammatory diseases and hypertrophy of the heart. In other words it's very stimulating to the heart while reducing the action of the heart

[00:07:17] it's narcotic and that reduces the heart rate the breathing and circulation in active hemorrhages diarrhea and flux has been employed with excellent effect and we found useful in overcoming obstinate chronic irritation of mucus surfaces this doctor speaking says I have extensively used this agent

[00:07:39] in regard as just one of our foremost efficient agents in syphilis and have likely found it very invaluable inflammatory fevers jaundice and ophthalmallic neuralgia and inflammation the remedy must always be used with prudence and should any of the above mentioned symptoms appear

[00:07:59] that dosage must be diminished or its use suspended in case of poisoning by this article brandy whiskey etc must be given as a counter irritation to the spine and extremities sheep poisoned by eating the leaves have been saved by administering one or two gills of

[00:08:17] whiskey to them and that's actually like a tea cup so imagine you got a six sheep and you're pouring two cups of um whiskey down its throat that's not going to be easy and not uh like I said

[00:08:30] really not something you want to mess with a whole lot but it had been used it was used in the past for aching pains in the muscles of the face musculoskeletal rheumatism shifting pain

[00:08:41] rheumatism of the heart um that's what we would call angina basically success has been claimed for this drug and specific medicine being from one to five drop doses so you're talking very very small amounts the fresh leaves during your and lard or dried powdered and mixed into lard

[00:09:00] and ointment and um so it was specifically good for uh small red temples elevated above a jaundice skin in a very debilitated uh condition so um under specific indicate indications and uses they said precipilus with ex exitation of heart and circulation rheumatism was shifting pains

[00:09:29] and now we got dogs barking you know i'm not used to be in a neighborhood i am used to being in the mountains with peace and quiet but what are you going to do um cardiac excitation cardiac

[00:09:41] palpitation uh excited reflexity from gastrointestinal irritation pain upon movement of the eyes and in case you're wondering that's not my dog barking the neighbor has two little eskimos spits which apparently have just discovered they can hear my voice um prayed my little buddy is not um

[00:10:07] well he hasn't eaten in several days and he's just sleeping and totally dead to the world right now and um luckily he's not in any uh kind of discomfort if he was i'd have to go ahead

[00:10:20] and take care of things but um i think he's just going to pass away peacefully to see things so stuff stuff it's been with me for 16 years he was about two when i found him so

[00:10:43] is a testament to a natural diet and herbal medicine because that's what i've always used is he's never actually been to the vet the first time in his life at least is that i know of

[00:10:51] him anyway um let's talk about one more um this is the golden rain tree now this is an interesting very very pretty tree used ornamentally um i cannot pronounce the official Latin name it's k o e l r e

[00:11:11] u t r e i no i a t e r i a so koro teria um or like this planted ornamentally it's comes from Asia and i don't know a lot about it but the flowers are said to be ophthalmally means you can use to be uh

[00:11:30] we could for conjunctivitis um eye inflammation and such as that now another one that's real short now just get in here at the end is the crepe myrtle now crepe myrtle is probably the most

[00:11:43] widely planted ornamental tree in north carolina i think most people would be really surprised to find out that it's not actually native to america it's introduced it's uh i believe it's asian you know we have a crepe myrtle festival in scotland at north carolina people think of

[00:12:04] crepe myrtle as like probably right behind the um dogwood and pine as being the trees in north carolina for which north carolina is most not most known and they are beautiful and they grow pretty much

[00:12:19] anywhere they don't really grow here in the mountains but you get down um just a couple thousand feet and they'll grow from here from there i should say well out to the coast and they're

[00:12:30] used a lot in the coast and the sound of sand hills they're absolutely beautiful really pretty trees medicinal use of crepe myrtle the bark is febufru let me try that again feb refuge okay

[00:12:44] feb refuge means it can help lower fever it's stimulant and it's stippic which means it can stimulate digestion but also stop bleeding really important to know all the barks and trees

[00:12:56] for bleeding because um when you cut yourself you need to stop that blood and really the barks of pine and oak and so many trees are like the very best first remedy that you can go to and use

[00:13:11] effectively the bark and flowers are considered to be hydrogog and a drastic purgative okay that means hydrogog is going to increase salivation mostly um it just means increase water you know maybe it could increase sweating i don't know but increase salivation and really make you

[00:13:32] throw up and have diarrhea so uh don't do that unless you really need something like that you need to clear your system or something awful a paste of the flowers is applies externally

[00:13:43] to cut some wounds the root is extrinsic deca detoxicant diuretic and a decax of the flowers is used in the treatment of coals so it's actually so it's actually quite useful um ornamental tree

[00:14:00] and i think there's one more that's going to surprise you and this one actually has um a lot of traditional use another one that's introduced it's actually considered to be an invasive weed in north caroline at least i think in many areas is privet and there are actually

[00:14:15] several kinds of uh privet uh different types the four varieties that are naturalized in my area legustrum lucidium which is glossy privet legustrum ovale ovalea for folium i think but the california privet legustum something with a chinese name like hui hui or something it's waxy leafs privet

[00:14:41] and most importantly legustum sinensis sinensis i guess chinese privet now of legustum for vulgaria it has actually has some use in uh european herbal medicine in the german folk tradition brother i wish you said leaves and flowers are used medicinally but only externally for

[00:15:00] inflammation as a gargle and for ulcerated throat and mouth ulceration of the gums and scurvy legustum lucidum is also called chinese privet but it's not to be confused with legustrum sinensis that's uh really the only member of these are in the olive family uh of trees shrubby trees

[00:15:23] which is widely used in herbal medicine uh widely planted though because the name privet actually refers to the old english word for like privy they would uh plant them around outdoor toilets you know for privacy um legustum sinensis i think is the right way to say it

[00:15:41] plants for a future just calls it chinese privet but i did want to differentiate they say chinese privet has been used in traditional chinese medicine for over a thousand years the fruit is antibacterial antiseptic and anti-tumor cardiotonic diuretic and tonic it is taken internally in the

[00:15:59] treatment of complaints associated with weak kidney and liver energy such as menopausal problems especially premature menopausal problems lord vision cataracts tinnitus or tinnitus again rheumatic pains palpitations back aches and insomnia modern research has shown that this

[00:16:20] plant increases the white blood cell count and it is of value when used to prevent bone marrow loss in cancer chemotherapy patients it also has potential in treatment of aids extract of the plant

[00:16:33] has shown anti-tumor activity good results have been achieved when the fruit has been used in treating respiratory tract infections hypertension Parkinson's disease and hepatitis the fruit is harvested would fully rife and dried for later use it is often decocked with other herbs in the

[00:16:50] treatment of a wide variety of ailments and also as a general tonic some cautious advice since the fruits are toxic with eating and quantity the loot leaves are anodyne diaphoretic febri fused pectoral and bony reigning self-sealed wounds the bark of the stems is diaphoretic

[00:17:11] again the means lowering fever so I think we'll wrap it up there um I got a couple little tools in the uh audio editing toolbox that may help reduce the background noise um I hope this one turns out

[00:17:26] okay obviously I'm not in the most ideal environment but um you know when you go ahead and get this one done today in case tomorrow is a worse day and I'm not able to record it all so y'all um have a

[00:17:42] great week and um I'll talk to you next time the information this podcast is not intended to diagnose retreat any disease or condition nothing I say or write has been evaluated or approved by

[00:17:56] the FDA I'm not a doctor the US government does not recognize the practice of verbal medicine and there is no governing body regulating herbalists therefore I'm really just a guy who studies herbs

[00:18:06] I'm not offering any advice I don't even claim that anything I write or say is accurate or true I can tell you what herbs have been traditionally used for I can tell you my own experience and if

[00:18:16] I believe in herbs help me I cannot nor would I tell you to the same if you use an herb anyone recommends you are treating yourself you take full responsibility for your health humans

[00:18:28] are individuals and no two are identical what works for me may not work for you you may have an allergy a sensitivity and underlying condition that no one else even shares and you don't even know

[00:18:38] about be careful with your health by continuing to list my podcast or read my blog you agree to be responsible for yourself do your own research make your own choices and not to blame me for anything ever