Herbal medicine for men. Why?

This publication is intended for the weaker sex. It is not, however, exclusively for boys. If you are reading this and you are lucky enough to be a girl then you are advised to read it and immediately pass it on to the most needy or deserving male you know or can find!

So, now you know I’m working on a presumption that you’re a male in western society during the dying days of capitalism. Hi, welcome aboard! How does your body feel?

This booklet has been brought to you for a number of reasons…

1. The lack of free and informed herbal medical advice for men circulating generally is one.
2. The sorry state of mainstream medicine, both preventative and curative, providing misinformation and unnecessary expensive drugs to the majority of patients allowing the profiteering motives of big pharmaceutical companies to literally ruin peoples lives whilst proclaiming to heal them!
3. The 2004 E.U law on traditional herbal medicines which has restricted herbal medicinal practice for the first time in the UK since the ‘quacks’ charter (which allowed any man “to use cunning and herbs for the preparation of simples”) was signed onto the statute book by Henry the eighth in the mid 1550’s.

As with any civilisation which has passed it’s sell by date, there are a lot of excesses to cope with in daily life. The excesses of noise and pollution encountered en route to the excesses of wage slavery are built up during working life which usually brings forth, sooner or later, the excessive strains and stresses from within our delicate bodies. This will often lead to (as I found many times proceeding a tumultuous event in my life) any one of a myriad legal or illegal ways to alleviate the symptoms.

For many this will mean binge-drinking, binge-eating and binge-drugging alongside other forms of titillating consumption from which the body and mind will have to contend with whilst attempting to protect you from numerous pathogenic organisms. It is a fact of life that many life forms are here on you now, waiting to get a foothold in any system in your body when it becomes depleted.

‘Let food be your medicine and let medicine be your food’…

This age old saying still rings true today, nearly two thousand years since the Greeks were aware of the connection between what we eat and how healthy we feel. Yet somewhat ironically, the food we are sold today in many retailers now resembles poison more than medicine. For evidence of this, check out the processed food isles at you local shop and have a quick look at the ingredients list. It makes for scary reading.

The regular use of ‘novel’ foods including GMO alongside strange and potentially carcinogenic food additives such as nitrates and nitrites are testament to a food chain gone badly wrong….

It’s not beyond the realms of possibilities that the lack of state regulations concerning Frankenstein ingredients is a direct policy of culling as any wrought upon the human race. We only have to look at the exponential rise in obesity and other dietary conditions in this century alone to see that the ‘laissez-faire’ approach to market forces controlling our food chain has gone horribly, horribly wrong. Meanwhile, the government, supporting and supported by multi national food retailers allow the health time bomb to tick away…

Reclaim your health, reclaim your life. Read Herbs for Men!

No 11 in a series of 36…Herbs for the boys waking with self inflicted injuries on a Sunday…

Elder. Sambucus nigra. Caprifoliaceae family

This exceptionally well known plant has a vast treasure trove of folklore as well as much scientific evidence to back up traditional claims for its prolonged medicinal use.

Elder is a deciduous woodland edge and hedgerow species. This plant is native to northern Europe and North America and can happily grow on most types of soil. It is one of the many interesting shrubby/tree species (like hawthorn) which can grow in either form, with the site and climactic factors determining this a lot of the time. Elder can often grow into the stature of a small tree, reaching 25 foot or more, although commonly 15 foot or so, given limiting environmental factors. Ideally the plant likes a rich and damp soil in a sunny position

Classic identifying features are the numerous air holes (lenticils on the stem which allow for gaseous exchange, especially during the winter months. This is followed as the plant gets older with light-ish brown, sometimes deeply pronounced fissures on the mature bark, which, to the peripheral vision or unexperienced eye can look very similar to the exotic anarchistic butterfly plant, Buddleja.

The similarity ends there however, for the Elder leaves are different, being compound comprising seven leaflets, each being about 3-4 inches in length. The leaflets are situated in three opposite pairs with one terminal leaflet as well as being a much lighter green colour. The leaves are also slightly serrated.

The previous years growth carry the flowers, being much like the horse-chestnut in as much as they are already formed upon breaking bud in late winter / early spring, yet need a time of growth to reach maturity and pickability in late spring. These flowering corymbs are on terminal stems, and comprise numerous, small, five-petalled flowers of a creamy white colour. Within each flower are many stamens which are firstly yellow white in colour, turning brown when past their best. It is at the yellow stage when they are good for picking for pleasure, leisure or medicine. The flowers have a small amount of natural yeasts on them which assists fermentation as will be testified by any who make the amazing thirst quenching drink, elderflower champagne!

The flowers give rise to clusters of the familiar and distinct dark purple / almost black berries, which are no bigger than 10 ml in diameter. These are ripe in September and therefore allows the cultivator/hedgerow harvester the opportunity to make a second batch of drinks of the season. For this, I have much respect for this plant!

The smell of elder is distinct and repels many who come across it, being oft described as akin to cats piss. This smell emits from leaves and to a lesser degree, the ‘gone over’ flowers. The ripe flowers have a delicious sweet lemony aroma which to me is surpassed only by meadowsweet.

Parts used

Flowers, berries and inner bark.

The flowers are picked when in full bloom. The berries are picked when ripe in the autumn and the fresh inner bark is also used although harvested less often and is secured after peeling off the blackish outer coating.

Active constituents

Tannins, potassium, mucilage, phenols and flavonoids. The bark contains sambucine, an alkaloid-like substance. The berries, due to their pigmentation, are rich in anthocyanins, folic acid and vitamins A and C. They also contain flavonoids and cyanidin glucosides, which are poisonous in large doses.

Pharmacology and applications

Elderflowers and berries are expectorant and diaphoretic, thus help to reduce to fevers and to rid the body of toxins. Elderflowers are also anti viral and are useful in combating herpes simplex type 1 virus ( responsible for cold sores and influenza types A and B) Elderberry extract has been proven to inhibit various strains of flu, especially if taken early enough. Elder can significantly reduce recovery times from influenza.

It is a staple of a classic UK plant influenza recipe of Yarrow, Comfrey, Peppermint and Elder which will blitz your flu in around 24 hours. I know through experience following my friend dosing me up on it the last time I had flu back in 1999. All the other plants are described in this series.

Elderflower is also mildly diuretic and the berries mildly laxative. It is for this reason that many books say do not eat them! I feel it is wiser to say they are safe to eat but don’t eat too many. Grazing is good!

The plant has much folklore from thousands of years of use.

Elder is revered by druids and is one of the sacred seven herbs used by the magicians. Superstition still says do not cut them down or burn them. Many people in the UK had a tradition of tipping their hat whenever they were walking by an elderflower tree whilst the plant was immortalised by Judas of Iscariot who famously hung himself on an Elder tree following his grassing up of Jesus to the Romans for thirty pieces of silver.

The Greek physician Hippocrates reportedly declared this plant as one of his favourite medicines. It certainly is for one of the 20^th century’s most respected herbal practitioners and writers, Juliette de B. Levy. She notably calls it one of the greatest of all herbs, used by many peoples across the globe as a powerful yet gentle remedy for all.