Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Sarsaparilla

Hey, y'all, welcome this week's show. Today's herb is very interesting. It's one of my favorites. We have talked about it a little bit in the past, but now we're going to really kind of dive into it in detail. It's officially sasparilla spelled sarsaparilla or s A R S A P A R I L L A and related adaptogen type plants, and that's where it gets really interesting. Sasparilla is one of those legendary New World herbs. It became so popular that fortunes were made exporting the herb, and stories telling it's almost magical powers to increase health and vitality became a part of folklore. In terms of the Old West, a cowboy or a gunfighter to walk into a rough saloon full of gamblers, prostitutes, thieves, and brawlers in order of sasparilla without raising an eyebrow as to his masculinity or toughness. Sasparilla was believed, like gensing, to increase sexual potence and testos run, so rather than being a soft drink, the exhausted, trail worn cowboy may have just been gearing up for a night of revelry. However, the sasparilla beverage popular in early America often contained no sasparilla at all. This herb that was traditionally used for a wide variety of elements, originates in Central America in parts of Mexico, so popular in legendary where its powers that it was often counterfeited in other herbs that had similar qualities native to the America's substitued for it. The popular sasprilla drink was generally made from birch oil and sassafras in its commercial form. Prior to that, the herbs used medicinally in place of sasparillo and often labeled sasparla trade were members of our native Aralia and Smilax families, essentially spikenard and briars yes, common green briars, true sasparilla is Smilax hornada, Smilax Aspia being the most similar Smilex is the briar family, and all those sasparilla is believed to be the most potent member of the family. Most, if not all smilex can be used similar This includes common greenbriar, catbriar, carryon flower, et cetera. The plant's. Most gardeners and landscapers in America battle each year's weeds. And yes, it's that annoying briar that scratches your legs as you walk through the woods and grows into your ornamental bushes. It's actually an adaptogenic type of herbal medicine. If it accomplishes anything similar to the legendary properties of sasparilla, it's a valuable urb. Indeed, sasaparillas are also adaptagen and are I'm sorry. The aralias are also adaptagens and are thorny like briars, but usually grow in shrub forms instead of finds. The Raeli families closely related to gensing that several of its members are called sasparilla, such as wild sasprilla and bristly sas marilla. The confusion caused by any discussions asparilla is that several plants with similar properties have been traditionally called and marketed as sasparilla. While true sasparilla was probably the least use of the herbs known by its name, this can leave you down many rabbit holes and a lot of frustration. Meanwhile, this renders much of the literature of the nineteen hundreds, in which researchers spent time debunking supposedly many of the claims about sasparilla absolutely useless because, simply put, we don't know if they are investigating the same herb about which the original claim was made. One may suppose that this gives legitimacy to such legislation as Secure Foods and Drug Act, but frankly, many counterfeit herbs are still in the market today, which is a major reason that I encourage people to grow their own herbs to identify them in a while. And moreover, the actual result of most of this confused research has been to cause people to doubt that sasparilla has any value of a medicinal herb. In truth, it is a very useful herb, and so are at least most of the herbs that were once substituted for it. Let you to sip water here. So let's take a look at the modern use of true sasparilla and a few of the herbs that we use in its place, as detailed by plants for future medicial use of sasparilla. The root is alternative that means gradually brings you back to health. The molsa means softening, diaphyretic, can't break a fever, diuretic gets rid of excess fluids, stimulant, and tonic. It is one of the best to purative medicines and is used as a springtime tonic and general body cleanser, usually with woody nightshade as Salonum dalcamara. It's an interesting combination. Actually. The root has all the medicinal virtues of the widely used tropical herbs asperilla, though to a lesser degree. It is more often used as adulterate to that plant. The ripe fruits are squeeze and applied to the skin and the treatment of scabies midicial use of greenbrier. The root is diuretic. It is you use of the treatment of dropsy and urinary complaints. A tea made from the roots is used to help the expelling of after birth. Reports that the roots contain the hormone testosterone have not been confirmed. Now you're going to hear that a lot, okay, and we'll talk about that in a minute. They may contain steroid precursors. However, the stem pricks have been rubbed on the skin as a counter irritant to relieve localized pain such as muscle cramping and twitching. A Tea made from the leaves and stems has been used as a general tonic and also in the treatment of rheumatism and stomach problems. The wilded leaves are applied as a poultice for boils. Also, those leaves and the young green stems are just about everything in the smile Like's family. I think actually everything is a wonderful wild food. One of my favorite foraged of wild greens. Medicial use of catbriar. The stem prickles have been rubbed in the skin as a counter irritant, etc. Tea made from the leaves has been used in the treatment of rheumatism and stomach problems. The wilded leaves are applied to a pole to boil. Tea made from the roots has been ok we got that. Reports that it may contain testosterone not been confirmed. Carrying flower medicinal use. Eating the fruit is said to be effective in treating hoarseness. The parks and powered leaves have been used as dressing for birds. Wildered leaves used as a dressing on boils. So Ruota is analgesic. It means pain or leaving decoction use the treatment of back pains, scnomic complaints and long diswoorders. Ain't kidney problems. Got plenty of carrying flower in my property, and I mean it's called that because the flower smells like rotting meat. Most people do their best trying to get rid of it. Actually really useful and valuable herb, but the physician's death reference for herbal medicine simply lists Sasparilla as smile like species, and of the aralia is called sasparillas plants for a future steaks medicinal use of bristly Sasaparilla. It's tea made from the leaves is diaphoretic, the root is alternative and tonic, and infusion of the root bark has been used in the treatment of heart disease. The bark, especially the root, is diarrhic and tonic. Homeopathic and remedy is made for the fresh root. It has alternative diaphoretic diuretic properties, and it is considered to be good treatment for dropsy. I mean dist use of wild sasparilla. Wild sesspero is a sweet, pungent, tonic herb that acts as an alturative. It has a wide range of tradicial uses amongst the North American Indians in it one time was widely used as a substitute for the tropical medicinal herbs sasparilla. The root is alternative, diuretic, direphoretic, pectoral, and stimulant. The herb increased encourages sweating, is stimulating and detoxifying. It is so used to the treatment of pulmonary disease asthma, rheumatism, stomach aches. Externally, it is used to puls in treating rheumatism, sores, burns, achy skin, alters of skin problems such as xmoth. The root is clicked in summer and dried and the autumn and dried for later use to drink made for the polarized root is a cough treatment. A polt is made for the roots and or the fruit is applied to sores, burns, itchy skin, ultras swelling, et CETERA. Homeopathic remedy made for the root is important treatment ofstitis. So those descriptions of the plant make them sound well somewhat similar and rather different at the same time, but they're all adaptations. Going back to my class notes from the Southwest School Botanical Medicine. It was listed Aurelia includes Devil's walking stick, America's asperilla not true sasparilla, but the relative spikenard and it looks more like a gin sing. Yes it does. All a railias are adaptations. All aralias are adaptations used as alternatives to build up weak piece people to stimulate diminished stress between brain, hypothalamus, olympics system and pituitary minimizes limbic system stress. Not as strong as gin singer, don't quy, but good long term. Basically, quiet's nonspecific stress so the body doesn't react. Helps modulate blood sugar spye, adrenaline spikes, OH, and insulin as well. Adaptation can lessen or mellow the adrenaline response somewhat. Aralia Californica berries elevate mood and stimulate GI track. Also good for uspiratory stress, specifically of bristly sasquerrilla or wild elder. That's Aurelia hispida that really grows a lot in North Carolina. Let's see. Yeah, I mean same uses. I'm not going to repeat them, but basically our ancestors have developed certain stress responses, right due to the environments they lived in. You might be being chased by a lion, or the vikings were invading or something. Right in our modern times, we have those same stress responses, even though we don't have those same dangers. So basically our brain and our body overreact to a lot of things, and adaptogens tend to calm and quiet that. That's one of them. And you know with recovery and immune system and all that, but that's one of the main uses of adaptogens, and the aralias are particularly good for that. So Sasparla proper is smilex, and the smile axes are very similar to the aurelius, which include the better known adapters such as gen sync, spikenard and opopan x, oplow pan x Devil's walking stick, Devil's club or anyway between the smiles and Aurelia families that at least a couple dozen herbs that share adaptogenic properties and have their own individual medicinal specifics, and so wonder why they're used. They are changing folk use, but I mean they're kind of hit and miss when it comes to clinical research. By the sixteen hundred Sasmarlo was being exported from the Americas and became popular in England. And let's see Colepepper wrote about him. They believe a lot of things about being good for poisons and venoms and such as that good for procuring urine when it has stopped the sealed waters when drank had the same effect, cleansing the rains and suaging inflammation. So good for the kidneys if the eyes be washed there with it heals them thoroughly. The sasparilla is held generally not to heat, but rather to dry the humors dry and mucus and such. But it also promotes sweating, and that's good for colds and flus and fevers, good for the stomach, griefs of the stomach, and expels winds very powerfully. So yeah, interesting. He had a lot of different plants, kind of confused. He was even referencing one that was from Greece, a certain sasparilla, Not really sure what that is. The European variety was probably actually smile like saspara or Aspera asp r a. True sasparilla was introduced from Europe from the Honduras around fifteen thirty six. But as we said, the Smiles family has had pretty much interchangeable in a lot of ways, so Maudrive nineteen thirty is really tried to straighten out the confusion. She said. Sasparillo American is a relia nut callis nuticualis medicinal actions used as alternative pectorial, diaphoretics, pseuterific uses a substitute for smile Exasperilla is useful in pulmary diseases and externally as a wash for indolent ultzers. It is said to be used by the Creese under the name of rabbit root for syphilis and shingles, and as an application of recent wounds. Jamaican sasparilla, she called smele likes or nada, said it was introduced to England in the middle of the sixteenth century. It was a remedy for syphilis and cane be's for chronic diseases, especially rheumatism, but was a mild gastric irritant good for asthma, tonic diaphryte, diuretic alternative tonic using skin diseases, rheumatism, passive dropsy. Indian sas marilla, which is actually from India, is another wow, another very similar plant. She says more like sassafrass actually than sasparilla. Very very interesting there. Smile likes medica. It says, oh, that one came from Mexico. That's one of yeah, Saspero, Mexican Sasaprillo, Vera Cruz, Sasparilla. There's also one from Gaduras. She goes through all of them. So further compounding the confusion over the herbs is the term of adaptagen was virtually unknown to recent decades. So basically the Soviet government really wanted to emphasis research into Russian herbal medicine and they did that well. The result of it was a strong promotion of Siberian gensing and they said it would help one adapt to environmental, immune, and emotional stress. And that was sort of like an aha moment. It's like, the is what they used to call tonics, or we're going to call them adaptagens because they help you adapt. So before that would be the eighties, maybe the late seventies, early eighties, there was no such word as an adaptogen, so people didn't really know how to classify these plants that don't really have a direct effect but kind of strengthen the system, you know, improve the immune system, help with exhaustion. So in the early eighties and nineties, when I was actually working in a health food and vitamin shop that I won't mention the name of because they fired me. The jackasses. So here's the deal. I was a trained herbalist even at that time I started my herbal apprenticeship at the age of fifteen. I already had hundreds of hours of classroom study and research and everything under my belt. And I took this job and they said, oh, it's great. You can tell everybody about the herbs and everything that would carry and what they do for them. And I did, and then they said, wait a minutes again, it's the law for you to tell people what herbs can do for you. You can't make any medical claims. And they fired me. And that was not fun, but it was what it was. But anyway, at that point, sasaparilla was really popular in my weightlifters and bodybuilders because it was believed it can increase test thus run and you know, I can't guarantee that it will put hair on your chest, but the old cowboys of the Old West or thought it had some properties. So just remember the old quote from John Wayne Life's Tough it's tougher when you're stupid. Be careful about marketing claims and all that. But you know, we can obviously see that these plants are very useful, and don't just look at his backyard weeds. All right, y'all have a good one and I'll talk to you next time. The information this podcast is not intended to 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 US government does not recognize the practice of verbal medicine, and there is no governing body regulating IRBLEUS. Therefore, I'm really just a guy who says IRBs. 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 earths have been traditionally useful. I can tell you my own experience, and if I believe in herb has helped me, I cannot nor would. I tell you to do to say. If you use an herb, anyone recommends you are treating yourself, you take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals, and no two are identical. What works for me may not work for you. You may have an allergy of sensitivity and underlying condition that no one else even shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health by continuing to listen to my podcast or read my blog you read to be responsible for yourself, to your own research, make your own choices, and not To blame me for anything ever.