Smiffy's Herbal: French Sorrel

OK, mystery solved. Quite a few people helped me to identified this delicious little beauty.

After researching everyone's ideas, I confirmed that this is French Sorrel, also known as Rumex scutatus, buckerleaf sorrel, or garden sorrel.

It is primarily a culinary herb, beloved of the French (hence French Sorrel). The part used is the young leaf (like many herbs, it grows bitter with age). It is commonly found in salads, egg dishes, soups, and as a flavouring with fish or in soup.

It's a cleansing herb when eaten fresh in the spring, with a tart, fresh, lemony flavour.

Be aware that, like spinach, sorrel contains oxalic acid and should be eaten in moderation if raw. It might also be best to avoid it entirely if you are suffering from arthritis or kidney disease.

When cultivated, sorrel takes 60 days from seed to salad and is a perennial. It must be used fresh.

Smiffy's Herbal: Chamaemelum nobile - my old friend chamomile

OK, I posted a cry for help in identifying this and thanks to Ruby in Montreal and Denica in Amsterdam, it has been identified.

This my friends is Roman or English chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile), not to be mistaken for its taller, showier look-alike, German chamomile (Matricaria recutita). It is sometimes called "garden camomile" ground apple, low chamomile, or whig plant.

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, they belong to different species but they are used similarly. Most research on chamomile has been done with German chamomile, which has similar, but not identical, active ingredients to its Roman cousin.

Roman chamomile originates in northwestern Europe and Northern Ireland, where it creeps close to the ground and can reach up to one foot in height.

Gray-green leaves grow from the stems, and the flowers have yellow centers surrounded by white petals, like miniature daisies. Its leaves are thicker than German chamomile, and it grows closer to the ground. The flowers smell like apples.

And it's related to asters, daisies, chrysanthemums, and ragweed. I is found in dry fields and around the edges of cultivated ground. It flowers in June and July.

Chamomile tea is good for fever and restlessness, particularly in children. It relieves anxiety and soothes tummy distress. It's a good wash for open wounds because it is antibacterial, anti fungal, and anti-viral and it reduces inflammation. It can even be made into a topical rub for painful joints, callouses, and swelling.

Chamomile is rules by the sun, its element is water and is said to rule sleep, love, and purification. Wash your hands in chamomile tea to draw money to you, burn it in your incense to bring peaceful sleep or fruitful meditation, and put chamomile flowers in your bath to attract love.

Seed the perimeter of your property with chamomile to dispel ill intent and dissolve animosity. (Interesting that it has grown at the end of the driveway in every home I have ever lived in.)

Roman chamomile doesn't seed particularly well, so to propgate it, it's easiest to divide and replant it every three years or so.

My old pal chamomile -- so glad you have a name now!

Smiffy's Herbal: Mullein

This is Mullein.

It's a pretty intent friend of ours -- it's all over our yard, and is even visiting us up by the main door in spite of brickwork and sparse soil.

Mullein also goes by the names Aaron's rod, blanket leaf, candlewick, flannel flower, feltwort, mullein dock, old man's flannel, shepherd's club, velvet dock, hags tapers, clot, doffle, graveyard dust, Jupiter's staff, torches, or velvet plant. Since "dock" refers to any really broad leaf, and this is clearly a velvety plant, I like the velvet dock name best!

It's a biennial, which means it takes two years to complete its life-cycle from seed to seed. It will take a while to spread, I guess.

Generally, mullein likes fields, pastures, and clearings where it can get plenty of sun without too much competition. It grows pretty tall -- as much as three feet tall in our yard. It flowers from June to September.

Mullein, or velvet dock, is ruled by Saturn and its element is fire. It is dedicated to Jupiter. You can use both the flowers and the leaves medicinally.

One friend calls this "outdoor band-aids" because you can crush the leaves and hold them over insect bites, scratches, scrapes, and other minor injuries, and they'll stop bleeding and feel better pretty quickly.

A tea made from the flowers reduces pain and makes it easier to sleep. A tea or infusion from the leaves can help with coughs, hoarseness, and tummy upsets. If you boil the flowers and inhale the steam, it can relieve respiratory complaints. Steep the leaves in hot vinegar to make a wash for skin problems and wounds.

Put a few leaves of mullein in your shoe when you need to avoid catching a cold, and wear it on your clothes when you hike in untamed wilderness to keep from coming to the attention of wild animals. Make a "dream pillow" containing the leaves to ward off nightmares, and hang mullein plants it in doors and windows and carry it for protection from ill-will.

Yeah, mullein is a pretty good friend. I'm glad there's a lot of it here.

Smiffy's Herbal: Blood Root

I managed to ask the right friend, and we have identified our new discovery as blood root.

We missed our chance to photograph it open, because it opened one day and was pollinated and gone the next, but Rod assures me that it does indeed look like the pictures in the books for the 15 minutes it's open.

We've researched it and found that blood root is also called Pauson, Red Paint Root, Red Puccoon, Tetterwort, King Root, and sanguinaria.

It's a perennial, so we can expect it to reappear every year and (hopefully) spread. The root can be used a red dye or stain, and it has medicinal uses, such as in a poultice for sores and excema. It shouldn't be eaten or used in tisanes except by a very experienced herbalist since the proper dose is minute and slightly more than that can be fatal.

Ruled by Mars, and its element is fire. Not surprisingly, it's very protective -- a good thing to have growing around the periphery of our land! The biggest, reddest roots can be used (carried or worn) to draw love or to deflect negativity.

This has been so much fun that I've started exploring a lot of our green neighbors and I am working on Smiffy's Herbal. Not being an herbalist myself, its all going to be very derivative, but it's a start.

We have also hired an herbalist friend, Linda, to come over and guide us on an hour-long herb walk of our land in June. It's an open party, so if you live nearby let us know if you wan to come along. (Linda hasn't said yet how much she charges, but we'll let you know if you voice an interest.)