From common garden plants to medicines

[Alchemica]

I've written some stuff on Magnolia, Aptenia and Coleus.

Please do not use these plants medicinally unless you are skilled and aware of potential risks.

Vinca

 

 

Garden was overrun by Vinca minor, Had to do some removal so I did a full spectrum root and leaf ethanol extract and came up with a black tar last year. I have had interesting effects from bits of the root. It has potential nootropic activity through alkaloids like vincamine. Vincamine is a plant alkaloid used clinically as a peripheral vasodilator that increases cerebral blood flow and oxygen and glucose utilisation by neural tissue to combat the effect of aging.

 

To make a cup of Periwinkle tea, you will need a teaspoon of dried periwinkle leaves. Pour the leaves into a cup full of boiling water and let it steep for 5-10 minutes. Once steeping is done, strain to remove the herbs. After staining your cup of the healthy periwinkle, tea is done. Most people find the tea too bitter. You can sweeten it by adding honey or fruit juice or even Stevia.

 

 Did 1g of the root with some leaves, bitter as anything but drinkable. Supposedly a mild euphoriant, hypnotic tranquiliser, anxiolytic It's got quite a bit of symbolism, the Virgin Mary, love and death.

 

 "V. minor contains monomeric eburnamine-type indole alkaloids including vincamine which has modulatory effects on brain circulation and neuronal homeostasis as well as antihypoxic and neuroprotective potencies. Vincamine is used for the prevention and treatment of cerebrovascular insufficiencies and disorders. A large body of clinical evidence indicates a favorable effect of vincamine in a number of brain disorders of elderly patients, such as memory disturbances, vertigo, transient ischemic deficits, and headache. It increases cerebral blood flow, oxygen consumption and glucose utilisation. In general, Vinca minor is known to be a valuable medicinal plant.

 

Different parameters including climate and soil requirements, agricultural measures such as propagation, planting, fertilisation and harvest date vastly influence the quality of plant material and alkaloid concentration. It has been shown that nitrogenous fertilizers significantly increase the content of alkaloids. Besides, the content of alkaloids reaches its maximum at the flowering stage

 

Five indole alkaloids including vincaminorine, vincaminoreine, minovine, minovincine, and vincamine were isolated from the aerial parts of V. minor. Vincamine was found to be the dominant alkaloid in this plant with the content of 0.057% of the dried plant mass." [1]

 

 

Catharanthus roseus - Medicinal Potted Colour

 

 

While this plant may be merely making itself around as potted colour to some, I frankly get annoyed at those who get locked in at aesthetics in their gardens - it's a welcome addition to my garden, going well with my Vinca minor which is rich in brain nutrition.

 

In Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine) the extracts of its roots and shoots, though poisonous, are used against several diseases. In traditional Chinese medicine, extracts from it have been used against numerous diseases, including diabetes, malaria, and Hodgkin's lymphoma. Many of the vinca alkaloids were first isolated from Catharanthus roseus, including vinblastine and vincristine used in the treatment of leukemia and Hodgkin's lymphoma. It is rich in monoterpene indole alkaloids - Catharanthus roseus is noted for its array of dozens of alkaloids, including alstonine, reserpine, vinblastine, vincristine, yohimbine,and others of yohimbinoid and strychnoidbases

 

It decreases blood pressure and reduces excitement (containing reserpine). It has anti-diabetic activity

 

Strelitzia reginae "Bird of Paradise"

 

 

You can please everyone aesthetically and use it medicinally.

 

It's not just a pretty ornamental. You get a mixture of healing anthocyanins from the flowers and other polyphenols in the whole plant. There are some very debatable speculative rumors on psychoactivity but I can't find any references.

 

The abakwaMthethwa clan in KwaZulu-Natal use the strained decoctions from the inflorence to treat inflammation and venereal diseases. Delphinidin-3-rutinoside has been isolated from the petals and proanthocyanidin polymers, flavonoids (antioxidants and on the whole beneficial healing substances) from the leaves. Leaves of this genus are listed as ‘possibly toxic' to animals so caution is needed. The seeds are supposedly more toxic and will cause vomiting if ingested.

 

The rhizome contains phenalenones, these lack understanding of their therapeutic potential.

 

Rose

 

 

I had a beautiful experience of being drawn to, physically, olfactorily, emotionally, spiritually connecting to a white rose on a long walk. Merging with it's spirit. Learning the medicine of an open heart and how I need to embody that more in my life. Before, I would have never called a rose a medicine.

 

"Rose petals and their medicine help to move and open a heart which has tightened emotionally and spiritually. In both Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and the Unani (Greek-Arabic medicine) traditions, the heart is believed to be a physical organ and the seat of consciousness. TCM uses the term shen, while Unani medicine talks about pneuma. Both schools teach that rose has a powerful affect on the spiritual state of one’s heart. Unani medicine has a category of heart herbs termed as “exhilarants”, which help the spiritual heart feel joy. Rose is considered both a shen tonic in TCM and an exhilarant in Unani medicine.

 

A wonderful nervine, great for uplifting the mood and alleviating depression, rose also has antispasmodic, aphrodisiac and sedative qualities, as well as being anti-inflammatory. Rose helps regulate menstruation as well as stimulate the digestion. Rosehips, which come along after the bloom has faded, are a wonderful source of vitamins C, B2 and E."

 

 

Edited February 23, 2018 by Alchemica

[Alchemica]

Starting to see even more  common 'ornamental' plants as medicines... even the Salvias  I wrote off as uninteresting. A trip to look at plants or even just wandering the streets is like visiting 'The Creator's Pharmacy'... trying to work out the medicine of the Salvia plants I discounted that grow around the garden and nearby.

 

Some I cherish, from my Salvia officinalis which I try to use quite often as a functional food healing tonic, to my Clary sage, which I use as essential oil and have nibbled a few leaves off, to my Pineapple Sage which is antidepressive, anxiolytic and has beneficial effects on blood pressure. This plant, "mirto", is a shrub that has been widely used in Mexican traditional medicine for the treatment of different central nervous system (CNS) diseases, principally, anxiety. These have antidepressant and anxiolytic activity, contain ursolic acid an antidepressant flavanone, 5-O-(6-rhamnosylglucoside)-7-hydroxy-4'-methoxyflavanone. It also has anti-hypertensive activity.

Many have pro-cognitive and very useful all round effects, Salvia officinalis and Spanish Sage are good examples. S. officinalis has anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antimutagenic, antidementia, hypoglycemic, and hypolipidemic effects [1]
 

Interestingly, one I've seen around, is Salvia guaranitica. From what I hear, "Salvia Guaranitica is certainly active. Contains Cirsiliol. Works noticeably well..." Interested in adding that. Quite available. This plant is used as a traditional medicinal plant used in Latin America as sedative. Studies demonstrated the presence of cirsiliol in its extracts and found that this flavonoid is a competitive low affinity benzodiazepine receptor ligand (Marder et al., 1996). Studies have investigated the pharmacological properties of Salvia guaranitica extracts and of its active principle, cirsiliol. A partially purified fraction of this plant, administered intraperitoneally in mice (in a dose equivalent to 3 g of the fresh plant), exhibited sedative and hypnotic effects as measured in the hole board and in the pentobarbital-induced sleep tests, respectively. Salvia guaranitica extracts and its active principle cirsiliol, possess sedative and hypnotic properties; cirsiliol produces these effects probably acting on the benzodiazepine receptor. Definitely sounds like a good addition.

 

I tried the Salvia splendens 'Blaze of Fire', it seems like a potentially medicinally useful plant - the aerial parts of these plants contain flavonoids, triterpenoids, and monoterpenes, particularly in the flowers and leaves, while diterpenoids are found mostly in the roots. It's a good source of phenolics and has hypoglycemic and antiinflammatory activities along antioxidant effects. Salvia splendens is widely used in Indian traditional medicine for the control of diabetes mellitus. Interestingly, it's also a flower anthocyanin source - derivatives of pelargonidin, delphinidin, or malvidin were isolated.

 

One I think may be Salvia argentea which shows the presence of many chemical groups which possess interesting biological activities. It may find use as an anti-inflammatory.

 

Recently a friend pointed out Salvia dorisiana at the Botanic Gardens, I can't find any literature on the medicinal use of that one but it's culinary uses are there - uses for Fruity Sage include using the leaves and flowers in salads, fruits salads, iced teas and fruit punches. It smells wonderful.

While potentially less common and more renowned for it's medicine, the Clary Sage is quite interesting. S. sclarea extract had decent affinity for the 5-HT2A receptors and fairly good affinity for the D2 receptors. Clary sage oil has antidepressant-like effects and potent anti-stress effects, I find it better than Lavender. The antidepressant-like effect of clary oil is closely associated with modulation of the DAergic pathway while the anti-stress effect relies on DA/5-HT1A pathways.

 

There's a thread on other Salvias here.