Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Rose of Sharon and Japanese Raisin Tree

[00:00:00] Hey y'all welcome to this week's show. I think today's medicinal tree is going to be very appropriate to follow yesterday last week's. Last week we talked about witch hazel and of course when I think about witch hazel I think about my grandparents, my great

[00:00:17] grandparents and but another plant another shrub actually it's a actually small tree that I well I'm gonna call it a shrub okay we're gonna call it a shrub it's not a small tree it's a big bush let's just go with that. It's in the mallow family and that's

[00:00:37] why I hesitated because I don't know the mallows any of them actually qualify as trees obviously you know you've got marshmallow and you got different ones so I'm going to call this a

[00:00:50] shrub and I think that would be accurate whereas the witch hazel is actually a small tree even though they grow about the same size so it can get a little confusing with what you call your taxonomy

[00:01:00] your way of classifying things but this is a shrub and I don't think anybody's grandmother in the south did not have this tree on her property I mean I'm sorry this shrub I did again this

[00:01:14] shrub on her property it is rose of Sharon when I think of rose of Sharon I think about grandmothers and great-grandmothers I mean this is like ubiquitous every older lady had a rose of

[00:01:27] Sharon bush in her yard and they're beautiful there are many in my grandmother's yard many my great-grandmother's yard on both sides of the family that smell you know I'd play under

[00:01:41] them as a kid just the side of the flowers they're sort of you know a soft like pastel color usually either pink or lavender I've seen some variations of so I think there may be a white one there may

[00:01:58] be a bluish tinge one actually the scent immediately brings back memories of being like you know four or five years old playing under the bushes side of the house at my grandparents because

[00:02:13] that's where they were you know seven or eight rows of Sharon bushes and a brick wall that my grandfather was a brick mason and he did a brick wall all around the backyard it was you know an alternating

[00:02:28] pattern so you had spaces like a brick space brick space so you could see through it and these brick columns beautiful brick columns he did historic preservation for the state so this was very

[00:02:41] colonial and with concrete flower pots on top that would be full of you know pansies or various flowers could be morning glories just you know usually just any kind of old-fashioned kind of trailing trailing kind of flower in there and that scent just immediately brings me back there

[00:03:05] was a there was a plum tree there was a crab apple tree and a quince and so those were you know the fruits I ate as a child too climbing around those bushes climbing those trees sour sour

[00:03:24] crab apples trying to get used to that flavor you know it's basically impossible and wonderful for cider the absolutely fantastic for cider quince has a unique it's in the apple family as well

[00:03:35] these are actually the rose family but it has a unique flavor and I'll ever forget that and you know the plums these were the sand plums you know the eastern part of the state and

[00:03:47] I think there was a persimmon as well but those plums you know when they start dropping off the tree is when they were sweet and the wasps and bees and yellow jackets would be all over them

[00:03:58] but I'd climb on that wall and I'd walk over to the trees and I'd pick them and get up out of the sting insects and yeah then I'd actually climb on the roof and I'd eat my little stash of fruit

[00:04:15] and that was this was totally forbidden I was not supposed to climb on the wall climb on the trees climb on the roof because you know I was a little kid they're afraid I was going to get

[00:04:22] hurt and my grandfather had a big black man who worked for him he was somewhat mentally retarded and had a speech impediment and he decided that his his job was to make sure I didn't get hurt

[00:04:38] so I'd have to sneak around and get away from Doug you know he would rather keep up with me than actually do manual labor you know so he took that on as his role and his family has been

[00:04:51] had worked for my family for generations so really my grandfather employing him was more like a a charitable act than any actually getting much work out of him and that's for sure

[00:05:01] so I'd have to sneak out there I'd get up on the wall I'd be barefoot you know and I'd get up there I'd get my fruit and I climb up on the it was the old tiled roof you know I climb

[00:05:12] up there it was real slick it was hot hot very hot in the summer so I'd only do this like in the in the early morning or the late evening and sometimes it would be really hot you know in the

[00:05:21] the late afternoon and and try to hide from Doug so he wouldn't come jerk me down because it was huge you know he was like if you ever saw the green mile I mean he was like built like

[00:05:29] that you know and I mean he could just reach up on the roof grab me with one hand and pull me down and then carry me and say your boy got up on that roof again I told him not to do it

[00:05:40] you know and he'd be stuttering and stammering and tongue tied and I loved him like a brother actually but he annoyed the crap out of me I gotta tell you oh my gosh but yeah those are

[00:05:54] my memories of Rose of Sharon and that sent to this day will bring back those memories like that you know but let's get into the the medicinal use of Rose of Sharon which like

[00:06:08] I said is a bush or shrub sometimes classified as a tree but I'm going to call it a shrub because it is in the mallow family which is also the hibiscus family yeah these are all

[00:06:20] related whether it's a marshmallow or um any members of the mallow like cheeses is common meadow mallow um hibiscus that you might have hibiscus tea before you may have seen this beautiful like dinner plate sized flowers same family and rose of Sharon is the bush form

[00:06:37] they're all fairly interchangeable uh rose of Sharon does have um it's not quite as like mucilaginous as the the mallows obviously and it doesn't have that like fresh bright well not quite as fresh and bright like almost citrusy taste of hibiscus if you've had hibiscus tea

[00:06:57] just actually one of the few like herbal teas I like hibiscus is quite refreshing it's very good um actually uh hibiscus tea if you if you're not a tea drinker and I'm not I'm a coffee drinker I know

[00:07:10] it sounds weird for an herbalist but I don't really drink a lot of herbal teas I do occasionally like a cocktail now I'm not a big cocktail drinker I mean I'm a I'm a straight bourbon or wine

[00:07:23] or beer guy you know but uh when it comes to a cocktail I want to dry martini what do I mean by dry martini I mean gin driver muth maybe an olive that's it I don't want anything crab claws or

[00:07:38] apple syrup or anything weird you know I'm not a fruity cocktail guy but I can tell you on a hot summer day hibiscus tea um mixed with either a little soda water and and some vodka and a little

[00:07:52] citrus or if you want to do it like a more mild version you know if you want to make a pitcher of them sip on them for a while hibiscus tea mixed with dry sherry is actually quite good

[00:08:05] quite good served over ice a little twist of lemon good hot weather drink you know if you tipple as they say but anyway medicinal use of rows of sherry on according to plants for a future

[00:08:20] the leaves are diuretic and it's interesting that we use the leaves in this one because all these plants are known for their flowers you know and the flowers actually have you know

[00:08:29] you when you make hibiscus tea you're using the hibiscus flower but a lot of the more medicinal herbal uses we're actually using the leaves so the leaves are diuretic expectorant and stomatic so that means your mousse excess fluid gets congestion out of your lung and helps settle

[00:08:45] stomach or actually stimulate appetite sometimes at a coxswain the flowers is diuretic diuretic ophthalmolic and stomatic so almost the same except that the flowers have a little bit of an astringent property that can help reduce swelling in the eyes it is also used to the treatment

[00:09:04] of itch and other skin diseases dizziness and bloody stools accompanied by much gas so this is one you might want to have on hand for emergencies the bark contains several medicinally active constituents including mucilage as do all the mallows and i mean that's from hibiscus to

[00:09:21] marshmallow to this is that mucilage quality is like the go-to reason you have this it's used it soothes the skin it soothes the digestive tract it's good for wound healing it's you know even in dr. patrick jones veterinary practice he uses mallows in many of his formulas for

[00:09:46] wounds for animals because it's so soothing and but also for digestive issues i mean it works for man and beast in other words contains keratin oids sesquit terpenes and anthocyaninadins a decoction of the root bark is antiflogistic demulsant emollient febri fuge hemostatic and

[00:10:06] vermifuge gosh so many properties there softening uh lower fever can help get rid of intestinal parasites etc can lower fever febri fuge you know means it can help lower fever it is used in the treatment of diarrhea dysentery abdominal pain lucaria dysmenorrhea and enderma phytosis lucaria

[00:10:31] and dysmenorrhea are menstrual conditions um we i think we have time for one more and this is another one that oddly enough um i think my grandfather had on the property i know he had

[00:10:44] the chinese lantern tree he loved to find exotic plants and incorporated them into the uh landscape he was he was a very big i mean he was a permaculture guy before there was permaculture

[00:10:56] and um there's one uh a neighbor of my mother has uh this tree on their property just like maybe a block away from her house really pretty tree really pretty tree very limited medicinal use i would

[00:11:09] not go out of my way um to plant this tree but if someone had already planted it for landscaping um definitely it's got some medicinal use it's also got some edible use it's whole vinia dolkis or the japanese raisin tree it's actually been naturalized in the american southeast

[00:11:32] i can't speak for other parts of the country really popular landscaping trees say in the 19 1900 and 1930 you know a lot of these asian trees were coming in and they were all the

[00:11:45] fad i mean it was just the rage to have um all kinds of japanese and chinese plants and korean plants in your landscape you know and because we have a hot human conditions in the south we're

[00:11:57] very conducive to growing southeast asian plants um fortunately in the mountains of north carolina our climate is more like um the cooler areas of japan and china and well north korea and such

[00:12:13] as that so we get a lot of the um very rare um like expensive chinese and japanese herbs and shiitake mushrooms and ginseng and all kinds of stuff like that so that's one reason i really

[00:12:26] like north carolina is um i can drive a couple hours in any direction and be like in a completely different climate with completely different plants so it's cool for you know a plant guy but plant

[00:12:38] geek uh an herbalist uh there's very little that doesn't grow here honestly so japanese raisin tree medicinal use it's anti spasmodic febri fusion laxative so it helps with muscle cramping or spasms it helps with fevers and is laxative the fruit is anti spasmodic febri fused laxative

[00:12:59] and diuretic the seeds are diuretic and lose and used in the treatment of alcohol overdose very interesting um it says the seeds relieve intoxication so if someone has had too much wine

[00:13:12] or anything else or you know that hibiscus cocktail i told you about earlier the seeds can actually help help the body process the alcohol and reduce the intoxication which makes it pretty good

[00:13:26] actually in the first aid type of situation you know i mean if you've got a few got teenagers at some point they're going to get into some alcohol somewhere and they're going to come in you

[00:13:38] know throwing up and um sicker than they've ever been in their entire lives and you know that's how you learn your lesson and you learn not to drink that much but um if you're worried that

[00:13:48] they may die which you know you should be actually um that has happened to many people just think bond scott with acdc right i mean he had a few drinks he um

[00:13:59] um well his he actually froze to death i'm not mistaken i if yeah i mean there's so many musicians that you know died of alcohol poisoning i immediately think that but i think he actually sat down

[00:14:12] like passed out in the back seat of a car and the temperature went below a certain uh level and he uh froze to death so but anyway say you need to get these people sobered up

[00:14:22] for their own good so they don't choke on their own vomit or you know actually have alcohol poisoning the uh seats are good for that and the stem of the bark is actually used in the treatment of

[00:14:33] certain rectal diseases not sure how does it tell me how we'll have to look more into that but eddably the fruit raw or cooked um is it's edible but dried it's like raisins and that's

[00:14:46] why it's called the japanese raisin tree so it would be a good one to kind of put into your landscaping the fruit it's sweet and it actually has more of like a pear type flavor and scent

[00:14:59] it's not very acidic um but it's good and uh anyway uh um you can also according to my notes here make an extract of the um like the limbs the twigs the young leaves and use it as a substitute

[00:15:18] for honey and amazingly enough that the plant itself actually has that much sugar in it and um the seeds also contain protein and fat so it actually would not be a very uh bad idea to

[00:15:33] incorporate that tree into your landscaping um you know for survival purposes so i think i'm going to wrap this one up here and it's because the next one is going to be a long one

[00:15:45] if i start in on it's it's holly it's it's it's um il-ex or holly uh another plant we have tons of in north carolina um most people think of it as poisonous but actually

[00:16:00] it has medicinal value one of them is actually a very uh our only native caffeinated tea so we'll get if i started on this one now we'd go another 30 minutes and you know i try to

[00:16:11] keep these around you know 20 to 30 minutes so this was probably going to be a bit shorter than normal but i gave you two plants and um that are actually quite useful especially the rose of Sharon

[00:16:24] so anyway y'all i will get into holly next week um have a great week enjoy this blazing hot weather and um i'll talk to you next time the information this podcast is not intended to

[00:16:39] diagnose or treat any disease or condition nothing i say or write has been evaluated or approved by the FDA i'm not a doctor the u.s government does not recognize the practice of verbal medicine and there is no governing body regulating herbless therefore i'm really just

[00:16:55] a guy who studies herbs i'm not offering any advice i won'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

[00:17:05] my own experience and if i believe in herbs help me i cannot nor would i tell you to say if you use an herb anyone recommends you are treating yourself you take full responsibility

[00:17:16] for your health humans or 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

[00:17:27] shares and you don't even know about be careful with your health by continuing to list my podcasts or read my blog you agree to be responsible for yourself to your own research make your own choices and not to blame me for anything ever