Page 195 - Lost Book Remedies

The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies

Insomnia: Parrot’s beak is a good sleep aid. It helps
the body relax and has mild sedative properties.

Harvesting: Harvest the leaves at any time. Flower
petals are harvested in the late morning while they are
fresh and the dew has dried. Dry the flowers and leaves
for future use. Harvest only what you need as it is not
a common plant and leave plenty in the area you har-
vest.

Warning: The plant is relaxing and can give you a
“spacey” feeling. Start with a low dose and increase as
needed.

Recipes. Parrot’s Beak Tea: Ingredients: 1 tea-
spoon dried and crushed parrot’s beak flower petals
and leaves and 1 cup boiling water.

Place the herbs in a tea ball. Pour the boiling water over
Pedicularis racemosa, Matt Lavin, Wikipedia commons CC 2.0 the herbs and allow it to steep for 5 to 10 minutes.
Strain out the herbs and drink the tea, as needed.
Smoking and Drug Withdrawal: This herb is
calming and relaxing. It helps with some of the with-
drawal symptoms from drugs or smoking.

Partridgeberry,

Mitchella repens

Partridgeberry is mostly known for its use for men-
strual problems and in facilitating childbirth. It is also
called Deerberry, Twinberry, and Squaw Vine. It likes
sandy soils and is shade-tolerant. It is in the Rubiaceae
(Bedstraw/Madder) Family. It grows in Eastern North
America.
Identification: Partridgeberry is a creeping broad-
leaf evergreen that grows as a very low growing ground cm) tall and spreads 6 inches (15 cm) to 1 foot across.
cover. The plant grows about 2 to 3 inches (5 cm to 7.5 Opposite leaves are oval to round, dark green, and
glossy. Each leaf is up to ¾ inch (1 cm) long with whit-
ish veins growing in pairs along the stems.
Paired white blossoms appear at the ends of the stems
from May to July. Each flower has four lobes and is
trumpet-shaped. One pair of flowers forms one bright
red berry that ripens in late summer and may stay on
the plant until the following spring.

Edible Use: The berries are edible, but rather taste-
less, so they are usually only used when food supplies
are scarce.

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