Secret Herbal Formulas - Herb Listings

Illustrated herbal encyclopedia

B - Herb Listings

Alphabetical Herb Listing

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Barberry Root
Berberis vulgaris

Common Names: European Barberry, Jaundice Berry, Pepperidge, Pepperidge Bush, Sowberry.

Properties and Uses: The root is hepatic, laxative. The berries are laxative, refrigerant. The root promotes the secretion of bile and used for various liver ailments, will dilate blood vessels, and lower blood pressure, and purge the bowels. A decoction of the berries makes a good mouthwash and gargle for irritations. The fresh juice of the berries will strengthen the gums, and relieve pyorrhea.

Barley Grass
Hordeum vulgare

Common Names: Pearl Barley, Scotch Barley.

Properties and Uses: Demulcent. Cooked, the hulled barley is an excellent source of nutrition for the throat and stomach. Mixed with milk it soothes the stomach and intestines. It is also good for feverish conditions, and applied externally for sores and tumors.

Basil Leaf, Sweet
Ocimum basilicum

Common Names: Common Basil, St. Josephwort, Sweet Basil.

Properties and Uses: Antispasmodic, appetizer, carminative, galactagogue, stomachic. This is a good digestive system herb used for stomach cramps, gastric catarrh, intestinal catarrh, vomiting, enteritis, and constipation. It is also useful as a cough syrup additive for whooping cough. The tea is good for headache.

Bayberry
Myrica cerifera

Common Names: Wax Myrtle, Candle Berry, Tallow Shrub.

The bark has a bitter, woodsy aroma used in herbal craft projects and potpourri, to scent various cosmetics, and is used in making soaps and candles.

It has also been used in small doses in diarrhea, jaundice, scrofula, indolent ulcers, as a gargle and injection in inflammation of the throat, leucorrhoea, uterine hemorrhage, and as a wash for gums.

It has been employed as a substitute for hops, used for tanning hides, and dyeing wool yellow.

Beet
Beta vulgaris

Common Names: Spinach Beet, Garden Beet.

Used to open obstructions of the liver and spleen, to ease headache and swimming of the head, cleanse the lymph glands of toxins, as a poultice for running sores and ulcers, and yellow jaundice.

Bergamot, Wild
Monarda fistulosa

Common Names: Scarlet Monarda, Owsego Tea, Bee Balm.

Impregnated with a delightful fragrance, even while dried. Used as a common beverage, and in herbal craft projects and potpourri.

Bilberry Leaf
Vaccinium myritilli

Common Names: Black Whortleberry, Blueberry, Burren Myrtle, Dyeberry, Huckleberry, Hurtleberry, Whinberry, Whortleberry, Wineberry.

Properties and Uses: Antiseptic, astringent. The leaf is effective for diarrhea. The fresh berries can cause diarrhea in some people and stop it in others, however; they work well when mixed with grated apple. The dried berries will pass through the stomach, not affecting it at all, then begin working in the small intestines. A decoction of the berries are good for typhoid fever. The fresh or preserved berry juice is a good mouthwash or gargle for respiratory problems, and for inflamed gums, leucoplasia (inflammation of the tongue which produces white patches), will regulate bowel action, improve appetite, cleanse the intestines, and expel round worms. A tea from the leaf is used for coughs, stomach cramps, vomiting, catarrhal enteritis, as a gargle for stomatitis and used externally for skin problems or burns.

Birch Bark
Betula alba

Common Names: White Birch, Canoe Birch, Paper Birch.

Properties and Uses: Astringent, diuretic, diaphoretic. An infusion of the tea will remove gravel and dissolve kidney stones if taken daily for 10 days. It also makes a good wash or bath additive in skin problems. A decoction of the leaves is good for baldness. The bark decoction is used for chronic skin problems and added to the bath. The oil of the inner bark is a substitute for wintergreen.

Black Cohosh Root
Cimicifuga racemosa

Common Names: Black Snakeroot, Bugbane, Bugwort, Cimicifuga, Rattleroot, Rattleweed, Richweed, Squawroot.

Properties and Uses: Antispasmodic, astringent, diuretic, emmenagogue, expectorant, sedative. Useful for spasmodic problems such as consumption, chorea, and whooping cough. It is also useful for hysteria and spasmodic symptoms due to its sedative effect on the nervous system. It also stimulates the heart. An infusion or decoction is useful for chronic bronchitis, rheumatism, or as an emetic. Small doses are given to children for diarrhea.

Black Haw Bark
Viburnum prunifolium

Common Names: Sweet Virbarnum, Sheepberry, Sloe.

Has been used as a nerve sedative and anti-spasmodic in asthma and hysteria, cramps and spasms of all kinds, in convulsions, and lock-jaw, and also in palpitation, heart disease, and rheumatism.

Black Walnut
Juglans nigra

Properties and Uses: Anthelmintic, astringent, cathartic, detergent, laxative, tonic. Used for chronic constipation, ringworm, expel worms, fever, colds, flu. Highly valued for treating scrofulous diseases, herpes, eczema, and for healing indolent ulcers. The bark is a useful purgative.

Blackberry
Rubus fruticosus

Common Names: Bramble, Cloudberry, Dewberry, Goutberry, High Blackberry, Thimbleberry.

Properties and Uses: Astringent, expectorant, tonic. Both the leaves and roots are useful for diarrhea. You may use this herb for long periods of time for chronic appendicitis, enteritis, and leucorrhoea. It also is used to expel phlegm from the chest and is a good additive to cough syrups. A tea of the dried roots is good for dropsy. Chew the leave for bleeding gums.

Bladderwrack
Fucus vesiculosus

Bladderwrack has been used to combat obesity to reduce weight without injuring health. In 1862 a Dr. Godfroy experimented on himself, lost 5 1/4 lbs a week after taking before three meals a day an extract of 25 grams (3.75 grains). The bromine and iodine contained in Bladderwrack stimulated the absorbent glands to increase their activity without causing atrophy of the glands. It is also good for rubbing into sprains and bruises, strengthening the limbs of rickety children, and for making one of the best garden fertilizers ever used.

Blessed Thistle Herb
Cnicus benedictus

Common Names: Holy Thistle.

Tonic, stimulant, diaphoretic, emetic, and emmenagogue. Has been used in large doses to induce vomiting with little pain in poisonings. Cold infusions have been used in debilitated conditions of the stomach, as a tonic, and sickness preventative. Nicholas Culpepper wrote in 1652 of its ability to cure vertigo, yellow jaundice and other infirmities of the gall, aid removal of ringworm when taken internally due to its blood cleansing properties, and used externally for ringworm, plague sores, boils, and itch, the bitings of mad dogs and venomous beasts. It is also said to strengthen the memory.

Blood Root
Sanguinaria canadensis

Common Names: Indian Paint, Indian Plant, Indian Red Paint, Pauson, Red Paint Root, Red Puccoon, Red Root, Sanguinaria, Tetterwort.

Properties and Uses: Diuretic, emetic, emmenagogue, expectorant, ferbifruge, sedative, stimulant, tonic. Used only in very small doses as an expectorant internally. For external purposes is useful for sores, eczema, cancer and other skin problems.

Blue Cohosh Root
Caulophyllum thalictrodies

Common Names: Beechdrops, Blueberry, Blue Ginseng, Papoose Root, Squaw Root, Yellow Ginseng.

Properties and Uses: Anthelmintic, diaphoretic, diuretic, emmenagogue, oxytocic. Useful for regulating the menstrual flow, especially when the menses are suppressed. It will also induce labor, and is good for children's colic and cramps. It is should be used in combination with other herbs as it can irritate the mucous membranes and can cause dermatitis on skin contact. The berries are poisonous.

Bonset Herb
Eupatorium perfoliatum

Common Names: Agueweed, Crosswort, Eupatorium, Feverwort, Indian Sage, Sweating Plant, Teasel, Thoroughwort, Vegetable Antimony, Wood Boneset.

Properties and Uses: Aperient, cathartic, diaphoretic, emetic, febrifuge, tonic. The cold infusion is a tonic and mild laxative. The warm infusion is a diaphoretic and emetic and is useful to break up colds, intermittent fever, or the flu. The hot infusion is a cathartic, and emetic.

Borage Leaf
Borago officinalis

Common Names: Bugloss, Burrage, Common Bugloss.

Properties and Uses: Aperient, diaphoretic, febrifuge, alactagogue, pectoral, tonic. Useful for reducing a fever and increasing vitality after a long illness. It is an antidote against some poisons, has a calming effect on the nervous system, good for pleurisy and peritonitis due to its calming and anti-inflammatory properties. The leaves and seeds will stimulate the flow of milk in nursing mothers. If fresh, the herb makes a good eyewash or poultice for inflammation. The leaves can cause dermatitis in some persons so protective clothing should be worn when harvesting this herb.

Broom Tops
Cytisus scoparius

Diuretic and cathartic.

The decoction has been used to cleanse and open the liver and kidneys. Used for dropsy, jaundice, ague, gout, scaitica and joint pain. Produces a transient rise in arterial pressure, followed by a longer period of decreased vascular tension which, for this reason, has been employed in disorders of the heart to regulate chronic valvular disease. It has no cumulative action as does Digitalis. Those with high blood pressure should avoid this herb.

Buchu Leaf
Barosma betulina

This is also a a stimulant, diuretic, and diaphoretic used in kidney ailments to increase the flow or urine.

Buckthorn, Aged Bark
Rhamnus frangula

Common Names: Alder Buckthorn, Alder Dogwood, Arrow-wood, Black Alder Dogwood, Black Alder Tree, Black Dogwood, European Black Alder, European Buckthorn, Persian Berries.

Properties and Uses: Purgative. This herb will work without irritating the system to treat constipation, sluggish liver and gallbladder. It won't cause constipation after it has cleansed the bowels the way some other herbs will and it will not become addictive or lose its effect after being used for a time. Pregnant women should not use this herb. The tea is useful for colic, obesity, hemorrhoids, and dropsy. Never use the fresh bark as it is poisonous, the dried bark can be used if heated to 212⁰ F. and then stored for a period of a year.

Bupleurum Root Slices
Bupleurum chinese

Used for intermittent fevers and chills because of its sedative and antipyretic properties.
Raises the blood platelet count according to:

Treatment of Primary Thrombocytopenic Purpura by Modified Minor Decoction of Bupleurum
Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 15 (2): 96-98, 1995.
Duan Yu, et al, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, People's Hospital of Langfang City, Hebei Province.

Burdock Root
Arctium lappa

Common Names: Bardana, Burr Seed, Cotbur, Cocklebur, Grass Burdock, Hardock, Hareburr, Hurrburr, Turkey Burrseed.

Properties and Uses: Aperient, cholagogue, diaphoretic, diuretic. A decoction or infusion will stimulate the bowels, but not in all individuals, it may even cause constipation in some. The tea and the tincture is useful for stomach problems. It will neutralize and eliminate poisons from the system. An infusion of the fresh leaves will stimulate bile secretion, is good for acne, and as a wash for sores. The juice from the bruise fresh leaves helps dry poison oak and ivy.

Butternut Tree Bark
Juglans cinera

Common Names: Butternut, Lemon Walnut, Oil Nut, White Walnut.

Properties and Uses: Anthelmintic, cathartic, tonic. Used for chronic constipation, expel worms, fever, colds, flu.

Disclaimer:

Everything written in this book is for for educational purposes only and is not intended as treatment, diagnosis, or prescription of any kind. What the individual who reads this information does with that information, is solely that individual's responsibility.