Goldfishbrain

Just a note for people. If you actually want the mushrooms, a TCM herbalist can still provide them for you. I suspect the TGA had problems with packaging and claims. Suppliers are still stocking all the usual fungi, at least in raw (dried) form. Most can still be purchased from larger Chinese groceries.

Well... it's quite possible the botanical Gardens in Melbourne might just have a specimen from which a small cutting might be discretely taken... Near the shrine of the four winds, if that helps.

Usually, you're better off NOT planting natives, especially Eucalypts, in any urban area, IMO. They are usually not friendly urban plants, and the botanical nationalism that masquerades as environmentalism is mostly just Monsanto's agenda. (My father still gets Monsatans little native plant calendar every year) There are a chunk of exceptions. Lilypilis, Midyim berries, most of the Mertyls and Southern Beaches (the latter need area), some of the Acacias if you can cope with the leaf litter and the replacement time.

Well, I do have a bit of free time coming up. I should see what I can knock together...

Ok, there are quite a lot of low-mid level herbal painkillers that are quite legal and fairly easily available. Ru Xiang and Mo Yao (frankincense and myrrh) are great, especially for injury type pains. Can be dissolved in alcohol (both are plant resins) and applied. You can also drink them, but the taste is very harshly bitter, and they irritate the stomach. I very rarely prescribe them for patients for internal use for that reason. Wholesale, I pay less than $40 for a kilo, which would last a darn long time indeed. The mix of the two is better than twice the dose of one. Yu Jin, and Yan hu suo are better if you want to actually have something to drink that will strengthen, be reasonably palatable (ish). Quite cheap, and effective for various skeleto-muscular pains, and a few others as well. These take ordering, but you can get them nice and easily off the net or at a herbal supplier in a major city. Strengthening the back so you don't actually get the pain is the preferred route though, my preferred strategy is to 'treat root and branch simultaneously', stopping pain and fixing the issue causing it. Du Zhong ( Cortex Eucommiae, note that I'm speaking 'herbalist' and not 'botanist' here) and Tu Su Zi ( Semen Cuscutae, 'Chinese Dodder seeds'), in combination can work well here. If the disk needs healing (in TCM terms, the yin is also deficient), then add Shu Di Huang (Radix Rehmanniae Preparata). This is easily obtainable in a larger Chinese grocery. Du Zhong and Shu Di Huang can be had from many Chinese groceries, Tu Su Zi is a little harder to get. There's a vast array of herbs that might actually treat a 'bad back', but a lot of them are a bit dependent on what has gone wrong (and your constitution in general), to reccomend here. These are all pretty safe and easy. Daily dose of the above herbs would normally be in the 6-15 gram range. Hard herbs like these are best boiled in a pot with a lid for half an hour. https://chineseherbswholesaler.com.au/en/products The cheapest if you're going to actually be in Melbourne, they finally got a little showroom. http://www.chineseherbsonline.com.au/ Another Chinese herb supplier, with a showroom, but the internet order actually works for most things. https://www.australherbs.com.au/ Austral herbs, order by net. They have a minimum $50 order, and stock is western herb oriented. For best results, see a T.C.M. professional and get a diagnosis and a script, which you can fill yourself if it contains common stuff. All herbs mentioned are fully legal and available in Australia.... Sometimes I think this forum needs a good guide to herbal painkillers, anxiety and depression treatments and the like.

For those in herb gardens, my big tip to make use of the free bonus 'weeds', from Sonchus/sow thistle, as an edible, to cleavers, giving you a nice free cooling herb. I regularly seed certain herbs on 'waste' land. Fennel loves railway tracks so much I'm convinced it must have nerdy trainspotting plant spirits that love it. Unlike vegetables, many herbs thrive on neglect and do well released into marginal urban land. Aloe vera tends to do well anywhere with sun and not too much water. Yarrow/Milfoil does nicely in a lot of places. Liquorice will grow on quite poor ground too.

I have found a nursery in NSW selling this, but they don't ship anywhere. Does anyone know of a source, be it plants or seeds, that will ship to Victoria?

Mmm, I have on the odd occasion or six, sent out for seed on E-bay. If they show pictures of it, I'm often on safe ground, or if it seeds easily, but I can't get it here. Just had moths destroy my store of Celastrus panniculatus seed, so it might be back to ebay for that. You haven't seen any Smilax glysiphylla seed out there by any chance? The stuff is fairly easy to get hold of further north, but nigh impossible in Victoria.

The Traditional Chinese Medicine usage is either small amounts in a formula (3g per day is most common), or short time use at higher dosage (9-15g typically). Whilst it certainly does have that energy boost effect, it isn't favoured as the main herb in an energy restoring formula due to issues with long term -high dose use. For restoring debilitated energy, Ginseng (either Panax, raw or processed, depending on body constitution or American/Xi Yang Shen) and Huang Qi (Astragalus spp. Usually membranicus, sometimes mongolicus.) Both are very commonly given to patients with chronic fatigue. Huang Qi is agreeable in flavor, like a sweet beany taste, it's the root of a legume. I've given 30g per day long term, and I have seen colleagues prescribe up to 120g per day for really chronic exhaustion, also with no ill effects. Ginseng is safe for long term use, but can be overdone, particularly the processed red panax, which causes overheating if taken to excess. 3-15 g per day is the normal therapeutic range, but care with the red if you aren't cold in body. Typically ginseng is eaten, sometimes soaked in the formula, rather than cooked in with the rest of the herbs, as the expense means you really want to get everything out of it. Very effective indeed for debilitating lack of energy. For personally tailored results, a practitioners diagnosis and prescription is recommended. My tip on picking a T.C.M. practitioner for herbs, is make sure they are using raw herbs by preference, not the granulated stuff.

I am trying to get some seed, or a cutting, or better yet a young plant. I'm in Melbourne, and I can find it nicely available in Sydney. https://burringbarrainforestnursery.com.au/product/smilax-glyciphylla-sweet-sarsaparilla/ Sadly, they don't deliver. Does anyone know of another source that delivers by post or is in Melbourne?

They exist, and are freely available. E-bay and the like are filled with...substitute things of a dubious nature when it comes to seeds. If you are actually in the U.S., then order from Strictly Medicinal. The nursery owner is a well known author of some books on growing medicinal herbs, and I've had no problems with them (other than delivery times to .au). https://strictlymedicinalseeds.com/product/solomons-seal-multi-flowered-polygonatum-multiflorum-packet-of-10-seeds-copy/ If you're actually in Australia, then All Rare Herbs would be the place to go, they have them, and tend to source decently, for the most part.