Page 147 - Lost Book Remedies

The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies

of shock, menstrual pain, muscular pain, joints pain,
and colic.

Warts: Apply the white sap to the skin as a treatment
for external warts. Cover the wart with sap once or
twice a day until the wart is gone.

Warning: Use with caution as it has a sedative effect.
Do not overdose.

Harvesting: Collect the leaves and stems in the
summer when the plant is just starting to bloom for
maximum medicinal properties. Even better is to
simply collect the milky sap directly into a small glass
which are its primary medicinal components, similar jar. This is more time-consuming but gives you the
to Chicory (also in this book). Older plants have higher most concentrated dose. The sap turns brown and
concentrations of sap, especially while the plant is just hardens when dry. Older plants are best. Leave behind
beginning to bloom. Best to use the sap after it dries or enough of the plant so that it will recover.
use a tincture form to make full use of its medicinal Recipes. Wild Lettuce Tincture: You will need:
compounds. vodka, brandy or other 80 proof alcohol, fresh or dried
Insomnia and Sedative: The sedative properties wild lettuce leaves. Fill a clean, sterile, glass jar with
of wild lettuce come from the milky sap that runs chopped fresh milky leaves or use 2 ounces (56g) of
through the stems and leaves. It calms restlessness and dried wild lettuce per cup of alcohol. You may also use
anxiety and induces sleep without being addictive. the sap. Cover the herbs with vodka or other drinkable
alcohol. Stir the herbs to remove air bubbles. Move the
Pain Relief and Shock: Wild lettuce has also been container to a cool, dark place and allow the tincture to
called opium lettuce because of its weak opium-like ef- steep for 3 to 4 weeks, shaking daily. Strain out the
fects. Used in small doses, it has a sedative and pain- herbs and discard. Store in a cool, dark place for up to
relieving effect without causing the stomach upset and 5 years.
high of a true opium. It is also helpful in the treatment

Wild Teasel, Identification: Teasel is a biennial herbaceous
plant. It has lance shaped leaves and grows from 3 to 8
Dipsacus sylvestris/ feet in height. The first-year leaves form a rosette at the

fullonum base of the stem with the flower stem emerging from
the center in the
second year. Each
Also known as Fuller’s Teasel, Wild Teasel, or Com- leaf is 8 to 16 inches
mon Teasel, this plant grows throughout most of the (20 cm-40 cm) long
United States and coastal Canada. It is listed as a nox- and 1 to 2.5 inches
ious weed in many states, but it has many good uses. (2.5 cm to 6 cm)
Teasel grows in large patches, crowding out other across. The under-
plants once established. In the fall, it attracts large side of the leaf has a
flocks of birds, who use the seeds as a winter food row of spines along
source. It likes to grow along stream banks, roadsides, the midrib and the
pastureland, prairies, meadows, savannas, and wood- stems are also cov-
land borders. It is a water loving plant that grows in a ered in small
variety of soils including sandy soils in moist areas and spines. The plant
heavy clay in poorly drained areas. It is in the Caprifo- has a two-year
liaceae, the honeysuckle family.
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