The Early Morning Sun, is a great joy to all Creatures,especially to The Plants of the Field,from
which we obtain Our active principal for our Drugs." PRINCIPIO ACTIVOS " 
Phytotherapy is the medical study of medicinal plants in relation to treatments. These plants could be Aromatic ( scented ) , or without Aromas , but must be Medicinal . The chemical compounds that the Phyto-plant contains is what we call Active Principal. This is the Medicinal part of the plant. The Active Principal of all medicinal plants are located in different parts of the plant. That is , the active principal in the Root of the Plant, may vary in composition and structure, even in applications, in relation to the active principal which the same plant may contain in the Leaves and Flowers. In most cases, the active principal of a plant ,in the root may be poisnous to consumption, while that in the Stalk of the same plant is good and effective for farmacological use.
All Phyto-plants are under the control of FDA ( FOOD AND DRUG ASSOCIATION ). So it is not something, one will just collect for himself and start using. These are drugs and have magistral formulars. Otherwise, the good drug may turn to be poisnous.
Before using Phyto-plants, it is very useful to take note of the Geografical location of each and every one of the plants concerned, The time of cultivation , if it is not a Silvestral plant , Period of harvest ( Winter, Summer, Spring e.t.c ),Time of harvest ( Morning hours, afternoo or evening , because changes of chemical compositions may occur in relation to harvesting when Photosynthesis has started to take place and harvesting when the plants are asleep ).Also precutions should be taken in the process of preservations and conservations.
Bad preservation and conservation methods , definitly changes the effects of the drugs. Then we look into the preparation methods and parts.Some are more active as infusions, while others are better administrad as tablets, injections, suspencions, locions gels , supositos, e.t.c
All these processes, calls attention of a Farmacologist, Phytotherapista , Herbist , in short, a professional in the field, before you start doing that which you think you know.
A typical example is the plant Eucaliptol. This plant is Geograficaly located almost world wide. But, as we highlighted above, the Eucaliptol cultivated in Spain has a diiffernt chemical composition and of course, application to Eucaliptol cultivated in Marrocco. This is so, because of the different soil climate, weather ( seasonal rainfalls and dry seasons ), nutrients and a host of them.
Always seek for a professional .
Actions of Herbs
Herbs are chosen and combined in prescriptions according to their actions. The actions depend on the active ingredients. Most herbs have several actions and the skill in choosing the right herbs for a particular patient's needs lies in selecting the right degrees of action and the best combination of actions in the individual herbs that make up each prescription. One consequence is that different herbalists may select different herbs for the same patient. Different patients are unlikely to end up with the same herbs, even when they suffer from the same complaint.
Close study of the actions of each herb will improve your skill in self-treatment. You will learn to select a herb for its actions (as a good digestive, or relaxing expectorant, or gentle relaxant etc.), instead of selecting it as a herb for a disease or condition (one for indigestion, for sleeping or for constipation, etc.), which is too imprecise to be successful. Depending on the cause of eczema, for example, you may need herbs that stimulate liver action, encourage a looser bowel and stimulate circulation. This would be more likely to achieve a result than looking for a 'skin herb' that might make a relieving cream but not do much for the eczema.
BITTERS
Herbalists see efficient liver function as an essential for good health. Many illnesses have poor liver function somewhere in their causes and it is no surprise that herbs that stimulate the liver are part of most herbal prescriptions. Active livers produce more bile which also encourages better digestion and the elimination of waste through the bowel. More bile flow also helps flush out the gall bladder reducing the chances of stones forming.
Actions of bitter herbs:
• promote saliva flow
• promote acid release in the stomach • promote Ever flinction
• promote bile flow (cholagogue)
• relax sphincter (valve) leaving the stomach • promote pancreatic secretion • antibiotic
• reduce allergic reaction of proteins • stimulate repair of gut wall lining • stimulate white cell production
• increase activity of the sympathetic nervous system
Bitters are 'bitter' and this must not be disguised or the effect will be lost. Bitters are useful in sluggish digestion, constipation, diabetes, skin conditions, chronic inflammations. The importance of the liver to health in general is such that most simple medicines known as 'tonics' contain bitters to stimulate the liver.
STIMULANTS
The popular idea of a stimulant releasing untapped energy or causing improved mental alertness is different from the herbalist's use of the term. Stimulants increase normal functioning of particular organs. Thus there are stimulants of the circulation, of digestion, of liver function, of the adrenal gland's release of hormones, of the nervous system, etc.
Digestive stimulants include the bitters discussed above. Myrica, Zingiber, Zanthoxylum, and chilli or Capsicum are used for the circulation. Smilaxx stimulates release of the male hormone, testosterone, and Glycyrrhiza stimulates the production of the body's own steroids from the adrenal gland.Rosmarinus or Cola are good central nervous system stimulants.
Herbal stimulation is always done cautiously to encourage the body's systems back to more normal functioning. It should never be done excessively or exhaustion may follow.
SEDATIVES
Herbs that slow down the central nervous system are sedatives. They slow the flow of energy to and from the brain and are useful in controlling pain as well as excessive brain activity, especially when it is uncoordinated or damaging to health. Sedatives help in insomnia, anxiety or hysteria but are rarely used alone. They are an adjunct to other approaches. For example, a sedative may help the brain rest in insomnia, but not if there is underlying anxiety which should be tackled at the same time.
RELAXANTS
These calm the organs and muscles of the body. Unlike sedatives that focus on the brain, relaxants calm the whole body. They relax tension in the intestines that can cause irritable bowel syndrome, and in the muscles of the neck and scalp, which can cause tension headaches. Over-stimulated organs and tissues benefit from gentle relaxants. Chamomile (Matricaria) and Valeriana are excellent digestive and intestinal relaxants. Datura relaxes lungs, Hyoscyamus the urinary tubules, and Lobelia or 1avandula the skeletal muscles.
ANTISPASMODICS
These are related to the relaxants but are more specific. Muscles sometimes go into prolonged contraction and seem not to be able to relax. Leg cramps are due to such spasm, which can be painful but can also disrupt organ function. Nervous tension can cause spasms in the muscles of the neck and down the spine. Period pains can be due to excessively strong contractions and spasms of the uterine muscles, which cut off the blood supply and result in severe pain. Muscle spasm in the legs, or Raynaud's syndrome affecting the fingers and toes, calls for antispasmodics to relieve the local spasm. Viburnum, Valedana, and Lavandula are valuable anti-spasmodic herbs. Many antispasmodic herbs are also used as relaxants.
TONICS
Herbal tonics are not 'pick me ups'. They are designed to produce a healthy state of 'tone' to specific organs of the body. Mucous membrane tonics strengthen the membranes; liver tonics encourage gentle stimulation to congested or sluggish livers; a nervous tonic increases the receptivity of a debilitated nervous system after disease and after emotional or physical exhaustion. Useful tonic herbs include Hydrastis for mucous membranes, Avena andHypericum for the nervous system, Chamaclirium for the uterus, and Aesculus for the vascular system.
HYPO / HYPERTENSIVES
Blood pressure can be too low as well as too high. There are many factors that affect the circulatory system and careful diagnosis is necessary to know how to treat it. Control of water loss from the kidneys, the functioning of the heart muscle and the nervous system, and controls on the diameter of blood vessels all have a role. Although the physiology of circulation is now well understood, in around 80 per cent of all cases of raised blood pressure the cause cannot he identified: these cases are given the confusing name of 'essential hypertension'. Herbal treatment is available for all common causes of raised or lowered blood pressure. Excellent diuretics (Taraxacum leaf or Parietatia), herbs that dilate (Viscum, Tilia, Grateagus) or constrict (Sarothamnus) the blood vessels, and herbs that affect the heart muscle (Ephedra, Convallatia, lxonorus, Grateagus, Rauwolfia, Digitalis) are widely used.
Warning: do not attempt to treat blood pressure or heart disease without advice from a qualified herbalist or doctor.
DIURETICS
All diuretics increase the flow of urine but they can do this by different means. Diuretics are useful where malfunction of the kidneys changes the composition of the blood, or a weakened heart results in poor control of the amount of water in the body. Herbal diuretics are renowned for their efficiency and safety. Many common foods are also useful diuretics. The best diuretic is Taraxacum leaf, but Betula, Parietaria, Eupatorium purpureum, Collinsonia are also efficient. Common diuretic foods are celery, parsley, asparagus and the hot drinks, tea and coffee.
CARDIOACTIVES
Throughout history herbal medicines have had a reputation in treating heart and circulatory disease. Today they are important in treating heart failure, angina, irregular heart beat, and high or low blood pressure, blood clots or thrombosis. Digitalis or foxglove is perhaps the best known 'herb for the heart', but is not the most used. Others include Grateagus, Convallaria, Sarothamnus, Urginea, Ephedra, Melilotus, and Leonorus.
STYPTICS AND HAEMOSTATICS
Once an essential household item when men shaved with cut- throat razors, styptics are now used mainly in hospitals or first aid centres. They are however valuable in any first aid kit or home garden. They stop the flow of blood by encouraging clotting. Strong astringent herbs like powdered oak bark (Quercus)stop external bleeding, Equisetum, Plantago, Achillea, and Capsella are used for internal bleeding.
LAXATIVES
Bowel activity matters to herbalists. The elimination of waste is as important as the intake of water and nutrients. Wherever possible the diet should he carefully chosen to ensure a healthy bowel activity. This means high-fibre foods and not sprinklings of bran onto foods. Alas, this is not always possible or enough and the bowel often needs a helping hand.
When constipation strikes, careful attention must be given to the reasons before reaching for laxatives. There are three main types of laxative action. Choose the wrong one for a bout of constipation and matters could get rapidly worse. Simply eating too little food, however high in fibre, will lead to constipation. The most common reason for constipation is too little fibre in a diet of highly refined foods: it's like depriving a skilled craftworker of the tools for the job! However, there may also be spasm, or too little tone, in the muscles of the bowel wall, both of which also lead to constipation. Herbal laxatives are often incorporated into pharmaceutical laxative drugs.
Laxatives are of four main types.
-The first simply increases the amount of fibre in the diet, usually by increasing the intake of high fibre foods: beans and pulses generally, root vegetables, whole cereals, dried apricots and prunes, fresh fruits, especially apples and plums.
-Second are the osmotic laxatives that keep water within the bowel, stopping the stool being dried and hence hardened on its way to the outside world.
-Next are the bulking laxatives that form soft gels within the bowel. These are large and indigestible and their bulk stimulates movement in the bowel wall to speed the stool on its way. Because it is soft, it is also easy to pass. Bulk laxatives include Psyllium husks and Linum or linseed.
-The fourth are the better known stimulant laxatives that irritate the bowel wall and encourage rapid movement and hence expulsion of the stool. Senna(Cassia) and Cascara are the best known stimulant laxatives.
A specifically herbal laxative action is obtained from the action of bitters (Rumex, Taraxacum, Berberis, Getitiana), which stimulate bile flow from the liver. Bile itself stimulates the natural peristaltic action of the muscles in the bowel wall and must be fairly described as the most natural of laxatives.
EMETICS
These drugs stimulate vomiting, which can he lifesaving, in certain cases of poisoning. The suitably named American herb, puke-weed (Lobelia), or ipec(Ipecacuanha) are reliable examples. These herbs are expectorant in very small doses.
ANTIEMETICS
Vomiting is not always welcome. In travel sickness, morning sickness during early pregnancy, or sometimes with headaches, nausea may lead to vomiting. Herbal drugs like Zingiber, Ballota, and Mentha suppress the urge to vomit.
CARMINATIVE
After indigestion, discomfort from wind and associated colic must be the most common digestive complaint. These drugs relieve both. They are usually herbs rich in aromatic oils: Zingiber, Matricaria, Cinnamomum, Mentha, Elettaria, Carum, Foeniculum, Teucrium scorodonia.
ANTIMICROBIALS, ANTISEPTICS, ETC.
Microscopic organisms cause many human illnesses from the common cold to malaria. Drugs that combat these invaders have specific names although they are often used loosely. Antibiotics, for example, are useful only against bacteria, which is why it is odd when they are prescribed regularly for the common cold or flu, both of which are due to viruses.
So there are antivirals that destroy viruses, antimicrobials that destroy a wide range of organisms, antiseptics that prevent infections, antiprotozoals that kill protozoans (e.g. Giardia, malaria parasites) and and fungals against fungi. The herbal pharmacy offers many choices against most types of micro-organism. Salvia, Thymus, Baptisia and Commiphora are antiseptic and and microbial. Melaleuca and Calendula are antifungal, while Echinacea, Melissa, and Thymus are useful against viruses. Herbs offer a unique benefit here. Echinacea and Shiitake mushrooms have been shown to stimulate the white cell component of the immune system, thereby improving the body's own defences against micro-organisms.
ANTHELMINTICS
The causes of intestinal worms are not limited to farm animals and four-legged pets. They also inhabit humans. Pound worms and threadworms are the most common worm infections in industrial societies, especially among young children. Thymus, Artemesia, and Tanacetum vulgare are the most efficient herbs. Simple foods like pumpkin seeds, garlic and carrots have also been used.
ANTITUSSIVES and EXPECTORANTS
A cough is a natural reaction to an irritant in the throat or airways. The problem may be mucus from an infection or dust. Sometimes an inflammation of the lining of the airway causes the cough in the vain hope of removing the problem.
A cough to clear the system of some irritant particles or mucus is beneficial and should not be suppressed unless it causes distress. Other coughs may be more frustrating and themselves become irritating without real benefit. An antitussive can stop these unproductive coughs.
Expectorants help soften thick mucus in the lungs or airways and then expel them. They work in different ways. Some stimulate the production of a thin watery mucus that can be more easily coughed out. Others stimulate the tiny hairs or cilia that line the bronchi and provide an escalator to carry dust and mucus out of the lungs where it can he coughed out or swallowed. It is obvious that an expectorant usually relies on coughing to be effective . so expectorants and antitussives should not be combined.
Antitussives include Prunus and Tussilago. Herbal expectorants are varied in action and include relaxing types (Tussilago, Plantago, Thymus, Glycyrrhiza, and Hyssopus), stimulating expectorants (Inula, Primula, Urginea, Ipecacuanha).
ANTICATARRHAL
Often used in close association with the expectorants are interesting herbs that suppress excess catarrh production. All mucous membranes in the body produce catarrh when irritated or inflamed. The most obvious sources of catarrh are the nasal passages and throat during colds. However, catarrh can be produced in the stomach, intestines, and urinary tubules.
Anticatarrhal herbs work by toning and reducing inflammation of membranes. They are useful in conditions as varied as mucous colids, asthma and glue ear. The best herbs are Hydrastis, Clechoma, Plantago, Sambucus, Solidago.
Herbalists see catarrh production as a sign of general metabolic and nervous system disorder. The type of catarrhal condition has to be identified for effective treatment to be designed. Cold conditions produce a thinner, more voluminous catarrh and are associated with slow, stodgy people who usually eat a carbohydrate rich diet that have low energy. The hot types are usually more energetic, even nervy types, and produce thicker catarrh, as manifest in asthma.
DIAPHORETICS
These drugs have a suitably distracting name for societies embarrassed by sweating. They encourage sweating, a natural function that can be very useful in certain diseases. Many infections cause the body to raise its temperature in response. This is an attempt to kill off the invading infective organism. It is therefore a mistake to suppress the mild fevers encountered during colds and flu. Herbalists encourage these fevers and control them with herbs that promote the sweating. Useful diaphoreties are Sambucus, Tilia, Mentha, Yarrow, Zingiber.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY
Inflammation is a healthy process. The redness around insect bites, scalds, or an infected graze or cut shows the body is doing its job through a protective reaction that also aids healing. Clearly out of control, inflammation, as seen in Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and eczema, is not healthy. Excess or chronic inflammation is tackled first by seeing to the underlying cause where possible, but the symptoms may also need relief. Most of the bitter (see Bitters) herbs encourage the inflammatory process to speed its work of healing. Excellent anti-inflammatory herbs include Filipendula, Salix, Harpogophytum, Glycyrrhiza, Calendula, Matricaria, Hydrastis, and Phytolaca.
ALTERATIVES
This action has the literal meaning 'to alter'. It has the effect of altering the nutrition and waste elimination of tissues and organs so their metabolic functioning is enhanced to a more normal level. In traditional herbalism, the alteratives are associated with the depuratives, which are plants with the action of cleansing the blood. Both actions are often found in the same plants.
Alteratives are used most in conditions with tissue congestion or reduced immune function. Typical examples are rheumatism, eczema, psoriasis, swollen lymph glands, and tumours of any kind. Herbs are Arctium, Echinacea, Calium, Rumex, Phytolacca, and Viola tricolor.
UTERINE AND MENSTRUAL
Herbal medicines are well supplied with different actions directed to women's reproductive organs and their functions. In history, herbs known as emmenagogues were used often to encourage menstruation. In fact they are essentially abortefacient and have been used for centuries around the world. A more common problem today is the choice of herbs for pregnant women. Many household herbs and spices can, in large doses, excite the muscles of the uterus and induce miscarriages. Any woman who even thinks she is pregnant should seek the advice of a herbalist or phytotherapist before taking any herbal medication, especially during the first three months.
Useful uterine actions of herbs include reducing excess menstrual flow; relaxing uterine contractions and hence easing period pain; increasing pelvic blood flow and lymph drainage to reduce congestion; heal and prevent infections from PID (pelvic inflammatory disease) to thrush; and reduce or eliminate PMT or PMS (premenstrual tension or syndrome). Specific female hormonal balance can be aided by herbs.
Plants used include Alchemilla, Leonorus, Caulophyllum, Anemotte, Cimicifuga, Mitchelia, Capsella, Chamaelirium, Vitex, Dioscorea, Lamium, and Rubus.
HORMONAL
The body's fine tuning mechanism is a complex set of hormones that control the presence or rate of actions from the general metabolic rate (thyroid hormones), through water retention (antidiuretic hormone), to the release of an ovum from the ovary (Leutenising hormone). Without these hormones, we are dead. When they are not supplied in exactly the required amounts when needed, the body misbehaves. Many common illnesses are due to such hormone problems.
Many hormones are very similar, chemically, to steroidal saponins found in many plants. Herbal actions either stimulate glands to release hormones or provide look-alike chemicals so the body thinks there is more of the hormone available than the glands are releasing. Vitex, Smilax, Glycyrrhiza, Serenoa, Dioscorea, Elutherococcus, Panax. In case ,you can not come in contact or get these Herbs, alternative provisions are their use in Essential oils forms, which we are here to provide to you.
WOUND HEALERS
The healing, or vulnerary, action must be among the first use of plants discovered by our ancestors. Even in the relative safety of modern housing, food gathering in supermarkets and safer transport, minor wounds are common. Imagine how much more common wounds were for hunter gatherers. Healing has many components or stages. Antisepsis may be necessary, stopping bleeding, keeping out infections, and encouraging the wound to heal.
Strong antiseptics and styptics are combined in the tannin-rich astringents (Quercus, Potentilla). Symphytum (comfrey) is a famous wound healer as one of its common names, knitbone, testifies. Here there is mucilage, which dries and binds the edges of wounds together like surgical stitches, as well as an ingredient, allantoin, that stimulates the regeneration of skin and even bone after damage. Many plants are useful wound healers because of their antiseptic oils, blood-dispersing property, anti-inflammatory benefits, or a combination of several useful actions: Hypericum, Arnica, Chamomilla, Calendula, Hamamelis, Baptisia.
RUBIFACIENTS
Deep heat rubs contain ingredients with this action. It is heating, which it does by slightly irritating the skin where it is applied. The local blood vessels dilate and more blood rushes into the area. The blood is heating, but it is also healing, which is why rubifacients are applied. They are useful on sprains, arthritic joints, tom muscles, etc. Many herbs rich in certain essential oils are used, hence their distinctively strong aromas: Cajapat, Camphora, Rosmarinus, Syzygium, Armoracia, Capsicum.
DEMULCENTS AND EMOLLIENTS
These are symptomatic treatments but are very efficient and are appreciated when applied. Demulcents protect tissues from irritation and soothe them, whereas emollients soften and protect. Both include mucilaginous herbs (Althaea, Symphytum, Ulmus, Getatia, Plantago, Linum, Tussilago), but also some astringent remedies. Emollients also include heavy ointments, which soften and protect the skin. These may include healing herbs as well as the oily based.
ANTIPRURITICS
After pain, the next most annoying symptom must surely be that itch that won't go away. Antipruritics reduce itching. There are many causes of itchy skin, from liver disease to allergies and stings. The underlying cause must always be sought and treated where relevant, but symptomatic relief is worthy of deep gratitude and is usually easily achieved with herbs. Stellaria is the best itch reliever.
ANODYNES
Pain is one of the commonest symptoms and relief is usually wanted immediately. The best approach is sometimes indirect. Headache pain can often be helped by relieving the nervous tension or dilated blood vessels in the brain. Intestinal cramps or colic need antispasmodics and carminatives that help dispel trapped wind. joint pain in rheumatism responds to anti-inflammatories. There are also herbal painkillers that either sedate or anaesthetize the local nerves.Aconite is so effective it can calm the pain of trigeminal neuralgia. Other herbal anodynes include Gelsemium, Eschscholzia, and Piscidia.
FORMS OF HERBAL MEDICINES
It is sometimes said that one distinguishing feature of herbal medicines is that the whole plant is used. In fact this is often not the case. It is true that parts of plants may be used whole. Whether eating dandelion leaves (Taraxacum), an apple (Malus spp.), or ginger root (Zingiber), only part of the plant is eaten, though the whole of the part is eaten.
Most herbal medicines use only a part of the plant( leaf, fruit, bark, etc.) but even then it is usually only an extract of the part that forms the medicine. The most common way of taking herbal medicine is as a tea or infusion. This is an extract of soluble ingredients in hot water. Cups of coffee and ordinary household tea are made by the same water extract, which is called an infusion. In each case the coffee grounds or tea leaves are not consumed but are thrown away.
Similar extracts are the basis of most herbal medicines used by professional herbalists, or the starting point for manufacturing a wide range of herbal preparations. Alcoholic extracts, like water extracts, are solutions of various ingredients in a solvent; solutions of alcohol and water in this case. Different strengths of alcoholic solution are used depending on the particular ingredients to be extracted. There are two main types of alcoholic extract. A fluid extract is one part by weight of dried herb to one part of alcohol. A tincture is more dilute, usually one part of herb to three or five parts of alcohol. Homoeopaths use herbal fluid extracts in making their very dilute remedies. They call their fluid extract a mother tincture.
There are as many forms of herbal medicine as there are of pharmaceutical drugs. Starting with either a finely powdered herb or an alcoholic extract, infusions, decoctions, creams, ointments, pills, tablets, lotions, liniments, powders, poultices, plasters, bougies, compresses, pessaries, suppositories, etc. can be made.
HERBAL FORMULAE AND PRESCRIPTIONS
It is usual for a herbal medicine to contain several different herbs. Herbalists may prescribe a tea, which is a mixture of carefully chosen herbs to combine the necessary actions for a patient's health. For example, a tea for cystitis may contain antiseptic herbs, a diuretic to encourage flushing of the kidneys, an antihaemorrhagic herb to stop any bleeding from weakened urinary tubules or bladder tissue, and mucilaginous herbs to soothe the inflamed tissues in the bladder or urethra.
Liquid medicines, usually as tinctures, are the most common form of medicine prescribed by herbalists. They are easy to take, but more important, they allow anywhere from three to ten, or more, herbs to be combined. Both the choice of herbs and the amounts of each can be controlled accurately. Care must be taken because some herbal extracts must be kept apart because they can interact chemically and the medicinal effect can be reduced or lost. The home remedies chapter (in Preparations page) includes simple techniques for making useful forms of herbal medicine at home.
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