Uses for invasive plants.

[crabapple]

I love to find new uses for invasive plants.

What are your favorites?

jim mcdonald over at herbcraft.org has a great post on purple loosestrife:
http://herbcraft.org/loosestrife.html

(The page hard to read in Firefox, but if you need to you can highlight the text, copy it and paste it somewhere else to read it. It's worth it.)

[treewicca]

I'd love to find a good use for all the morning glory that tries to smother everything round here as soon as i turn my back...i keep thinking its trying to tell me something, has to have SOME good point.

[crabapple]

Morning glory, that's rather intense stuff -- seriously purgative root, toxic psychoactive seeds... does something around you need some serious dealing with? ;-)
_________________
Rebecca Hartman
Crabapple Herbs: http://crabappleherbs.com/
The Herbwife's Kitchen: http://crabappleherbs.com/blog/

[linden]

Kudzu is getting used for everything lately, including ethanol, I hear!

[Bear_Medicine]

Juliette Levy recommends the use of Bindweed/Morning Glory leaves as an excellent poultice for any inflamed wound or skin problem....

She also recommends the flowers eaten in a salad or the stems made into an infusion and taken a teaspoonfull at a time as a tonic and blood cleanser.

and Maud Grieve says this about Morning Glory flowers: "A tincture of the flowers is used for headaches, rheumatism and inflamed eyes."

Morning Glory is a very interesting plant, with more than one side... it grows abundantly here as well, in a multitude of colors.
_________________
~*~ Kiva Rose
Anima Lifeways & Herbal School http://animacenter.org
Anima Healing Arts Health & Herbal Clinic:
http://animahealingarts.org
Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference: http://traditionsinwesternherbalism.org

[jim mcdonald]

an interesting presentation on morning glory can be found here:

http://leda.lycaeum.org/?ID=16856

It's excerpted from Dale Pendell's Pharmakognosis, and I couldn't speak highly enough about anything Pendell has written. In the book, its formatted more artistically, with poetic use of spacing and italics and nice pictures that this plain text version lacks. But still, Pendell is an essential source of insight if you want to learn things about "those" plants.

Which doesn't mean one need feel inclined to use them.
_________________
jim mcdonald
~herbalist~
www.herbcraft.org

[treewicca]

All very interesting.

Although it must be one of the few on his list i havent tried, i dont think i want to eat all the seeds to get it under control! (I know that isnt what you were suggesting, jim..lots of interesting information on that site) Hopefully i can learn its message in a more subtle way. Although eating the flowers appeals...i might start nibbling there. Thanks for that info Kiva. I wonder if all varieties have similar properties?...this one has white flowers.

This has invaded more than just our land...i see it both up and down river from us. There is serious need for some other land users in the region to re-think how they use the land (unsustainable dairy farms). We could all do being purged of them!

Crabapple...I like to think i have dealt with most of my own major issues... maybe i need to see this as a regional issue? (i think it also means i havent been vigilant enough...it seems i only turn my back and shes winding her way all over everybody else...such a pushy type, she smothers everyone in her enthusiasm)

[crabapple]

White flowers? Invasive? Might you have field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) rather than common morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea)?

The US Forest Service has detailed ecological and botanical information for bindweed here:
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/forb/conarv/all.html

Henriette has more pictures:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/php/get.php?id=3319

Plants for a Future has the list "Cholagogue; Diuretic; Laxative; Purgative; Stings; Women's complaints" with a few details here:
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Convolvulus+arvensis

Juliette de Bairacli-Levy calls bindweed "a tonic and cleanser of the blood." She suggests eating the flowers in salad or making a brew from the stems.

Bindweed, well, her name says it all, doesn't it?
_________________
Rebecca Hartman
Crabapple Herbs: http://crabappleherbs.com/
The Herbwife's Kitchen: http://crabappleherbs.com/blog/

[jim mcdonald]

doug ("D.A.") from henriette's list (I think he's from missouri) has posted in the past about bindweed's use as an "antitumor" remedy. Antitumor doesn't tell much about the mode of action by which this end is reached, but it does intrigue...

Being that levy (shortcutting her name to abvoid checking spelling) refers to it as blood cleansing, this could indictae alterative action.

Google searches pull up all kinds of info, much testimonial, much chemically focused, but I haven't come across anyone using the plant in a energetic/vitalist sense to offer that kind of perspective.

Its definitely intriguing.
_________________
jim mcdonald
~herbalist~
www.herbcraft.org

[treewicca]

yes, it is convolvulus, the bindweed. thanks for the help in clarifying that. so many common names for plants here are for different plants to ones over there. I have heard anecdotal evidence of people using its seeds, but only 3rd hand knowledge, and what they termed as morning glory is anyone's guess i suppose.

i wonder if Juliette is talking about the same bindweed? i wish i did, but dont have any of her herbals. it's definitely the same as the one in henriette's pics.

interesting. maybe i will make a huge batch of flower essence out of it and give it to our river.

[crabapple]

Yes, Juliette's bindweed is C. arvensis.

Now I'm all fascinated and want to remember to taste some and play with it this summer.

treewicca -- how does it taste? What does it feel like?
_________________
Rebecca Hartman
Crabapple Herbs: http://crabappleherbs.com/
The Herbwife's Kitchen: http://crabappleherbs.com/blog/

[jim mcdonald]

This is a link the afore mentioned doug gave me once on bindweed:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_2002_May/ai_85131525

Doug's website:
www.racehorseherbal.com
_________________
jim mcdonald
~herbalist~
www.herbcraft.org

[crabapple]

Hmmm. that article reads kind of like an advertisement, doesn't it? In any case, I want to taste bindweed and get to know it.
_________________
Rebecca Hartman
Crabapple Herbs: http://crabappleherbs.com/
The Herbwife's Kitchen: http://crabappleherbs.com/blog/

[jim mcdonald]

yup - it does. Like I said, I haven't seen much "herbalist" usage. But, doug is a very intelligent and discerning fellow, and he's used it (DMSO tincture - he's into those), and while I have a slightly different approach than he does, I do very much find his insights valuable.
_________________
jim mcdonald
~herbalist~
www.herbcraft.org

[treewicca]