Your Basic Guide to Herbs and Their Uses
These days there are so many herbs--and their uses are so diverse—that it is virtually impossible to summarize all of them in a short article like this. The best we can hope to do is give an overview of the highlights of the herbal medicine scene.
To make a simple division, however, we might divide herbs and their uses into three basic categories, herbs we use for making food, medicine, and spiritual purposes. Even this is not a complete overview, however, since there are also some herbs that we use for perfume and some that we use to get rid of pests. Thus, even getting an overview is a difficult proposition. In fact, we might even consider what we would count as an herb.
What is an herb?
An herb is any growth from the plant family that we might find a use for in either treating our ailments, helping our nutritional needs, or aiding us in any way (thus hemp clothing, for example). We usually think of herbs as green bushy plants, but herbs can just as well be trees or wildflowers. Many herbs are weeds that many farmers consider simply as nuisances. Other herbs, on the other hand, stick close to the ground or cling to walls like ivy.
Although in culinary terms, an herb usually means just the leafy greens of certain plants, in herbal medicine the term stretches much further. Many herbs come from the roots or bark of plants. Some herbs come from the berries or nectar of flowers and trees. There are tribes in Africa, for example, that will eat the roots of certain trees to help them get rid of stomach parasites, while they will use the bark of the same tree to make a concoction that they believe makes them more virile and cures impotence. In addition, many tribes will burn certain types of wood in order to create a particular scent during their religious rituals. Sometimes, medicine men use types of herbs for their psychedelic attributes so that tribesmen might go on their dream quests. We need only think of the Yanomani of the Amazon forest to see examples of this.
Methods of Delivery
One way that we might subdivide herbs and their uses is by their method of delivery to our bodies. The most obvious way to get an herb into our body is by swallowing it raw or cooked. This method is usually what we do with the herbs that look like leafy green lettuce. Many herbs, however, do not go down well without us altering them in some way. For a large number of herbs, we get their affect by extracting their beneficial properties via water treatments. Thus, we usually think of many herbs as teas. If you go to a health food store’s tea section, you are likely to find yourself overwhelmed by the plethora of medicinal teas derived from herbs and combinations of herbs. People drink these teas for everything from weight loss goals to detoxification needs.
We also apply many medicinal herbs topically. We place herbs that help cure wounds, for example, right onto the spot of the wound. Similarly, we mix many herbs with dermatological properties into pastes so that we can spread them over affected skin.
We take still other herbs and burn them for their effects. This is, of course, how that most famous of herbs, marijuana, delivers its relaxing effects. It is far from alone as an herb that has burning as its method of delivery, however.
The Herbal Medicine Industry and Science
Because scientists have not yet gotten around to verifying many of the claims for herbs and their uses or the benefits of herbal medicine as a practice, the whole industry still remains in that quasi-scientific realm between science and folklore. Many of us still associate herbal medicine with pseudo-scientific claims made by superstitious activities like astrology and New Age crystals. However, science has proved many claims made for some herbs that were once squarely in the province of alternative medicine. So perhaps it is best to think of herbal medicine as somewhat closer to practices such as acupuncture. Many people make strong claims for herbal medicine’s benefits. Either you can wait for science to verify or debunk such claims, or you can take such concoctions and see if they work for you. After all, even a placebo effect is still an effect.