Plants & Herbs
The Properties and Powers of our Native Plants
[Excerpts from Rhia's Personal Note Book]
(By player Dela)
Lesser Dimwort
A small, pale green plant used traditionally
as a mild painkiller. The seven-pointed leaves growing in threes and the
tiny yellow flowers are too commonly known to need greater description
here. This is a plant that *can't* be used wrongly. The leaves, flowers
and roots all give the same effect of 'dimming' pain. (Though of course
each part of the plant, if to be preserved, must be prepared differently
for best effect.) It is generally taken in the form of a drink. Tea made
with the fresh or dried plant will have the same general effect of lessening
a patient's pain. It is considered to be a little bitter and is improved
with the addition of a sweetener. Greater Dimwort is actually a much smaller
plant - but named 'Greater' because it's painkilling properties are found
in a higher concentration to its lesser cousin. It is however harder to
find, being a more fragile plant than the Lesser Dimwort, which is found
on almost every hillside and in many a cottage garden.
Drewberries
Drewberries, (also known as Barnberry, Tamkins
& Festcup along with various other names in different areas,) are commonly
known for their welcome addition to the fruit punches at the turn-of-year
celebrations. It is a traditional belief that the juices of the berries
imbue a festive and merry air on those imbibing them and that they can
cheer general unhappiness. Whether that is true or not, the berries certainly
have a mild relaxing effect which can be useful in aiding restful sleep.
The berries can be simply added directly to warm tea or punch, in dried
or fresh form. They certainly add to the spirit of the festive season and
since they are quite harmless and very flavorful this plant can therefore
be considered a useful one. The berries are an attractive pale pink color
ripening to a rich burgundy when their flavor is at it's fullest and can
be found most readily on the edges of established woodlands. It is a well-protected
plant however, bearing thorns along all but the newest of its stems and,
when gathering the berries, gloves are recommended.
Long-stemmed Lavender
This plant grows wildly in abundance and, at
the height of its season, fields of lavender are very pleasant to look
upon. The stems are a pale green darkening to blue at the end of the season
and the lilac flowers, if for preserving, are best gathered at that time.
While its effects are of a subtle and gentle nature they should not be
underrated. Even the scent alone of this plant can relieve a headache and
promote a restful sleep. It is said that a walk through a field of lavender
can dispel worries and calm the mind.
I have seen enough evidence of this effect
in the Healer's Wards, where linen is habitually stored with the dried
plant, giving a refreshing draft of spring air when the sheets are shaken
out and put upon the beds. I have seen patients remark on the lovely delicate
scent and brighten as they breathed it in. Made into salts, a lavender
reviver aids a gentle rousing of an unconscious patient. This is slower
to effect than some of the other salts available but is preferable, if
the situation allows it, to a more traumatic sudden wakening of a reviving
salt made of Violets for instance.
Sprigwell
Sprigwell is the fairly common name given to
an uncommon spring plant which flowers for only one season and is gone
the next year. An unpredictable wild plant that has never been grown successfully
in a healer's herb-garden. Sometimes it is to be found on an exposed hillside
and sometimes in a cramped, shadowed area like the side of a barn, defying
any gardener to simulate it's preferred environment. Those who have studied
it often remark that each plant seems to have a personality all of it's
own. To further confuse understanding of this plant, it is rarely found
in the same place twice, it's seeds being surrounded with a hazy coating
that, when caught by the wind, allows them to seed at long distances from
the parent plant. They have been discovered growing in clumps of three
or four plants close together and sometimes with just two, growing inseparably
twined together. Occasionally, for no apparent reason, one solitary plant
will quietly thrive all by itself for a number of years casting no seedlings
and tolerating no companions.
Despite the difficulty in locating this curious
little plant, healers are often known to devote whole days in search of
it and the healer who accidentally stumbles on it while looking for something
else, wears a smile for many days following. Once found, Sprigwell yields
it's powers generously. A double handful of the more mature leaves of the
plant simmered in pure water and left to stand for a day and a night can
make enough cordial to fill several bottles - and the cordial is quite
effective even when watered down. Among it's many uses is it's ability
to promote and speed healing of cuts, bruises, sprains, burns, bites and
stings etc.
A higher concentration of the cordial will
even speed the knitting of broken bones, serious wounds etc. Undiluted,
the cordial will help to clean a wound of poisonous tissues to allow it
to heal. It's many and varied uses can mean a great saving of time and
resources for healers, which is why in some circles it is known as "Healer's
Help". It is recognizable by it's distinctive long, narrow, single pointed
leaves which are a pale green in the centre darkening to a much richer
color at the tips as they mature. The veins of the leaves are quite distinct
down the centre of each, with an orangey tinge where they meet the main
stem.
Cleansing Herbs
There are a number of herbs whose benefits are
linked largely to the area of cleansing. These could vary from a cleansing
of a wound and the drawing out of poisons, to mixtures that will cleanse
the system when taken internally. Those used on wounds etc are generally
administered in the form of a paste and left directly on the wound, replacing
with fresh dressings at regular intervals as needed.
Internal use for cleansing herbs can vary
greatly. There is the general tonic to cleanse and purify the blood - as
often taken by many people in the early spring months after the winter.
This is easily prepared with mild cleansing herbs and is good to refresh
the system. Other uses for cleansing herbs are as part of the recovery
of poisoning. When the system is purged of the poisons affecting it (see
later in this journal for appropriate methods of dealing with various cases
of poisoning) it is of great benefit to give the body a thorough cleansing
to flush out and expel any impurities that may remain to bring illness
at some later time. This can be done with an appropriate mix of selected
herbs taken in either drink or tablet form.
In general (though there is some variety)
the herbs are best prepared by a thorough grinding to release their properties.
Once ground very finely, they are sieved and then mixed and bonded into
a tablet form with a blend of flour and honey. One must regulate carefully
the intake of these tablets and modulate the quantities to the individual
patient in accordance with their progress. The aim is to aid and boost
the patients natural healing powers - not to replace them. A complete listing
of the most common of the cleansing herbs is given at the back of this
journal. Care should be paid to the notations beside each listing since
each of the plants vary in strength and the use of these herbs requires
some understanding, since some may be too vigorous for a person in a weakened
condition and could then do more harm than good.
(For a larger image and full description, please
click on thumbnails below.)
(Artwork and descriptions by player Regina Carey)
Pallahade Lace |
Little Devils |
Griffin's Wing |
Lady's Luck |
Snow Drops |
Mint Tree |
Strangle Vines
[submitted by player Gabriel Weber]
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