A Quick Guide to Medicinal Herbs and Their Uses
Throughout this website, articles have discussed some of the various uses of herbs in order to highlight how beneficial it is to own an herb garden. The ones mentioned were for medicinal use, beautification, home remedies or housekeeping, and culinary use. We can consider these as categories for the uses of most herbs. Each herb has a use, and each use is likely to fall under one of these categories.
Realistically you will need another book to completely list down all the uses of most of the herbs that can be planted in home herb gardens, along with how to prepare these herbs for their different uses. Many times one herb can have multiple uses. Because of how extensive listing down all herb uses will be, primarily because there are over a hundred herbs and secondly because they can be used in several ways, this text will discuss only five herbs per category, including those that were already listed as one of the popular herbs for beginner gardeners.
Medicinal UseThroughout the centuries, herbs have been used for medicine. Among the herbs listed for beginners, mint, sage, and chamomile can be regarded as medicinal.
There are several types of mint that are considered to have medicinal qualities. These are wild mint, spearmint, and downy wood mint. There could be others, since there are over 3,500 plants in the mint family, but these three are relatively popular. All three mint plants can be steeped and taken as a soothing tea. All three types of mint can be used as antispectics, and they also work well with chills, cramps, and fevers. It is no wonder then that ancient Roman athletes would rub crushed mint on their muscles as a type of balm or lotion in order to keep their muscles working well, they were probably avoiding cramping.
Both spearmint and wild mint tea are said to cure dysmenorrhea. Drinking the tea can be a natural solution to this monthly problem. When chewed, spearmint makes a great breath freshener, and it can also address nausea. Wild mint, on the other hand can be a quick cure for mouth sores and tooth aches. A great use for downy wood mint is to treat a cold. Steep some of the downy wood mint in some hot water and inhale the steam, catching the aroma of the mint. This steam is said to clear the nasal congestion that comes with the cold. You can later on drink the tea as a natural remedy for your cold.
