3 – Intro to Plant Profiles & Tissue States

Posted on 30th June 2022

Nicole (she/her) introduces the elements included in a plant profile, as well as the framework of ’tissue states’ in herbal medicine.

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Find them all at solidarityapothecary.org/podcast/

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Transcript
Nicole:

Welcome to the Frontline Herbalism Podcast with your host, Nicole

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Rose from the Solidarity Apothecary.

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This is your place for all things, plants and liberation.

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Let's get started.

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Hello everyone.

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Welcome back.

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Thanks for joining me again.

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So in this episode, I'm just gonna be reading like a final kind of

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snippet from the prisoners herbal, which is introducing how the plant

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profiles are structured in the book.

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And then yeah, the next few episodes will be doing like a real deep dive

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into, into all the amazing plants.

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So that's super exciting and for me, I just, I just got

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back from Poland this week.

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I was there with our Ukraine herbal solidarity project.

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I know I keep promising an episode, but I promise I will do one soon focused all

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about the project and what we're doing.

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It was brilliant to check in with the Ukrainian herbalist at the site

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who were doing such an amazing job of greeting people from coaches.

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Giving them medicine to support them and their nervous systems,

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whether it's valerian or skullcap or immune tonic or elderberry syrup,

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if they've got coughs and colds.

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Yeah.

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They've been out there really a long time now doing that kind of frontline work.

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And I just had like a little.

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Yeah.

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I just had a little brief check in with them and how they're getting on.

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And I dropped a huge fan load of thousands of medicines off with them.

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And yeah, just did some kind of like faffy jobs really like around the house.

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Yeah.

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Drove them to the site and had some talks about where things were going and you

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know, where we're gonna shift our kind of energy and focus to next, which will

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hopefully be distributing in Ukraine itself as the kind of evacuation site

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gas station stop might be closing down.

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It's been maintained by volunteers for months now, just from the local

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community, local Polish people.

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And yeah, I think that, yeah, every time they wanna close it down, like,

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you know, hundreds of people arrive like the last day when they were planning

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to close it down 35 coaches came, obviously that's like a lot of people,

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so they decided to stay open for longer.

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So it's all in flux, but we will do a bigger episode about that soon.

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And then, yeah, just in terms of, just in terms of shoutouts friends

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from Bristol anarchist black cross, I mentioned them last week, who've

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been doing support work for people imprisoned after the demonstration

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in Bristol last year, they're also supporting someone called Wayne.

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And he is a friend of my best friend, Sam in prison.

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She's kind of like a mother hen of the prison; prison wing.

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And she took him under her wing and calls him her son and yeah.

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Supported him and I remember like the worst day when she called me and said,

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he'd been attacked by officers and yeah, he's black and a trans masc prisoner.

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He's just been released after spending three years inside a

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women's prison and we are doing a Crowdfunder to help him get housing.

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So at the moment he's in a, in a bail house and they're charging him rent

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and he's really struggling with it.

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And, you know, these places, they kind of threaten to recall you back

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to prison at the drop of a hat.

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So we're really trying to get him somewhere independent

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so he can get on his feet.

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And yeah, I will put the link in the show notes if anyone can contribute

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to that, that would be amazing.

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Obviously, this first season is all about the prisoner's herbal.

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And if anyone, you know, listening knows me, like, you know, that I care about

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people in prison and I also care about.

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Keeping people out of prison and it's actually pride month as well.

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So yeah, if you wanna support a black, trans friend of mine, who's

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left prison who really needs your kind of like financial solidarity.

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That'd be amazing.

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He's an absolute babe, like such a sweetheart and yeah, I just, I can't bear

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the thought of him going back inside.

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So we're trying to do everything we can to, to keep him out here.

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Okay, so I'm gonna dive, dive into the show.

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Now first part of the book contains plant profiles.

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These are an overview of different plants with information about their

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medicinal and edible properties, how to harvest and prepare them.

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And some interesting folklore, the profiles also contain advice on

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how to identify the plants below.

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I have tried to clarify what some of the other sections.

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Botanical names.

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Okay.

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So plants like many things within the context of a Eurocentric colonial

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history have been through a process of classification, come to be called

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taxonomy, Carl Linneus and 18th century Swedish botanist, physician,

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and zoologist formalized this modern system of naming plants and animals.

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This classification occupies a complicated territory.

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It is part of the naming controlling, ordering and theft that happened

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under white colonial expansion.

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And it has some use in terms of creating a common language for

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patterns and identification.

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Botanical names can be useful because it means people from all over the world

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can communicate about a plant and know they're talking about the same one,

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because there are so many amazing folk names for plants in all different regions.

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Using botanical names helps us to classify certain plants.

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Latin is often used for botanical names because it is a quote

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unquote dead language that is no longer changing though.

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At times, cumbersome botanical names can hold useful information, showing

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glimpses into medicinal attributes.

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For example, motherwort is called Leonarus cardiaca and cardiac

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means relating to the heart.

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This scientific classification gives the genus and then the species name

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in Latin, for example, Achillea millefolium which is Yarrow.

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Of course, we often know plants more by their common names or folk names.

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In this case, ya, all the names for plants scientific and folk can be a source

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of information about the plant's use.

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Comfrey whose folk name is Knitbone can be used to heal fractures and bone breaks.

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Coltsfoot a lung herb grows in the shape of a Colts foot and in

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Latin and its Latin name Tussilago Farra means cough dispeller

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Plant family.

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Okay.

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Classification of groups of plants into families can sometimes tell us

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about the nutritional and medicinal actions of the herbs that are

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classified together in one family.

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It can also help with identifying plants.

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We are unsure about as we may recognize certain family characteristics.

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Other species.

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These are listed because you might be in a region with different species

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of similar plants that share similar properties, knowing the plant families

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and similar species can give us clues to the properties of plants.

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We might encounter ecological role.

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I always like to include notes on the ecological role that plants play, because

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it helps me to be less anthropocentric, for example, human focused.

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And remember that plants are also there for the birds and the bees,

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and to help the soil in different ways, amongst other reasons.

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And also like plants help other plants, right?

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Like they release like compounds from their roots that may support other

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trees, for example, with diseases.

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So, yeah.

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I like to kind of frame this now, nowadays as like kind of medicinal ecology.

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Okay.

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Sidenote knowing where to find a plant also really helps.

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For example, knowing that Daisy prefer shortly cut lawns means this

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is where we will start our search.

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Chemical constituents.

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I know these can look like a long list of geeky words, but I also know that

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prisons are full of incredibly smart people who love learning about science.

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Constituents are some of the chemicals and compounds found in certain plants.

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They can help us understand how plants work medicinally.

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There is an incredibly fascinating world of plant chemistry,

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Temperature.

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All plants have a different action upon the temperature in the body.

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Some are very cooling and eating them may make us feel colder.

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And if, for example, we have very hot inflammation on our skin we

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might appreciate this cooling action.

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Others can be very warming.

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For example, if we are sick with a bad cold and have the chills, a warming

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herb might be exactly what we need.

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Knowing the temperature of a plant can help us make a decision about

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whether it will help us or not.

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For example, being cold and then taking even more cooling

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herbs might not be a good idea.

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And just like on a side note of this, like I think this kind of

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this stuff is like so relevant.

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Like I have such a warm constitution.

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And when I have kind of like heating stimulating plants, like, it really

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is like, not, not good with my constitution and my kind of like energy

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and my like yeah, my kind of like style of being, if that makes sense.

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I just, yeah, I just, it took me a long time to really like, get

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this stuff, if that makes sense.

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And you know, like other people, like they can just be so cold, like kind

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of like thin and just always feel the cold, sleep with their socks on

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If that's you you're gonna laugh.

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Cuz I know people do that.

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Like my partner, one of my partners does it and I just don't understand it.

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But yeah, like for him having like cooling cold plants.

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Isn't.

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Yeah, it's not ideal, but you know, time and place, right?

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Like someone could also be very hot with a fever and want something cool.

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So I don't want you to have like a binary way of looking at this stuff.

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If that makes sense.

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I just think it's like a useful tool.

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Okay.

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Moisture.

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Herbs can also have different effects on our bodies in terms of moisture.

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Some plants may be very drying and they can work to make us sweat or pee.

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More (a diuretic) are so they can have an overall drying effect on our bodies.

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Others can be very moistening.

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For example, if we have dry or hard stools and tense, constipation,

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certain plants can help lube us up bringing more moisture to the tissues.

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Or if we have a dry hacking cough, we want something silky and smooth

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to soothe our mucus membranes.

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And again, I think this stuff's really relevant.

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Like I have got more, I'm like more prone to like dry heat and tension in my body.

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So for me, like moistening relaxants are like the way to go.

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Like, they're that absolute gold mine for my constitution and for my body.

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And I think when you know that about yourself.

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Like that's when we can like unlock some of these keys to herbal medicine to

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make it like much more effective for us.

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Tissue states.

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Tissue states are a whole world of learning in herbal medicine.

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And there are books dedicated to understanding them.

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I've included them for reference purposes.

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In case people would like to learn more an incredibly brief summary of them

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might be that there are different ways that tissues in our bodies experience

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illness and that these tissue states indicate certain excesses or deficiencies.

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The list of tissue states in these plant profiles are the tissue states

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that these plants can be very useful, useful for, for example, okay, I'm

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gonna run through these now and I'll probably like Adlib a little bit

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Heat or excitation.

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So there may be a lot of actual heat such as a fever, inflammation, or a rash or

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things maybe running faster than normal.

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This would be like agitation or overstimulation emotionally

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or physiologically, such as heart palpitations.

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A herb that is warming can warm up a cold situation or get things that have

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slowed down, moving again, a health situation that has a lot of heat may

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benefit from a cooling or relaxing herb.

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So for example I had costochondritis for like a couple of years and that kind

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of like triggered seeing a herbalist and deciding to train in herbal medicine.

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And yeah, I had incredibly like hot symptoms.

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So I would have literal red rash across my chest.

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I would have sharp stabbing pains lots of heat.

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I was very agitated, irritated, hyper aroused with my PTSD.

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Like I had this excitation in me, if that makes sense.

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And you know, I'm gonna do like a whole other episode about PTSD and cooling herbs

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and herbs to support the nervous system.

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But you can see in that context, you really need things that can that can

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kind of like cool you down and like moisten and lubricate, those tissues.

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Okay.

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Damp stagnation.

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Imagine a swamp that is damp water hanging around, going smelly.

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This often occurs because the body cannot eliminate fluids or waste products.

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Well, this can also lead to inflammation as the body tries

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to deal with the stuck fluid.

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Herbs that can stimulate circulation and lymphatic movement can help move

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things that are stuck or stagnant astringent herbs can also be helpful.

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So, yeah, like here, we're kind of looking at, for example someone

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might have like hemorrhoids and that could be, I mean, hemorrhoids can

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be caused by all sorts of things.

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Like also a kind of relaxed tissue state, but it might be that damp relaxation.

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This is where the tissue is so relaxed that it can no longer hold form or fluids.

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For example, organ prolapse, which is, you know, really serious Varicose veins or a

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flabby tongue, or similarly excess fluid loss like diarrhea or excessive sweating.

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This can also create a similarly swampy environment prone to disease.

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So I know that like really doesn't sound very like scientific, but

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obviously, you know, this book is written for the people in prison.

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Who have like varying levels of, of literacy from, you know,

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like incredibly well educated to people who can't read and write.

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So it's kind of like, I'm trying to use like very accessible language in the book.

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Okay.

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For this tissue state herbs that are useful are those that

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can help tone the tissues.

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These are often called as stringent and they're tanning content

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effectively tightens tissues up when herbs have damp actions, we

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call this moistening or demulcent.

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Moistening herbs are perfect when you have dried out situations for

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softening things that have become hardened or for feeling dehydrated.

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Dry atrophy, think of a desert here is where there is a lack of fluids such

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as water or oil, which longer term can lead to a lack of function or atrophy.

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For this tissue state we'd want oily and demulcent herbs.

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Sometimes a gentle astringent herb can also help tone tissues

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to stop more fluids being lost.

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So like, for example, this is a tissue state that I often see in vegans.

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Like I've been vegan for, for 20, 20 years now.

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Maybe longer God.

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But I can see it where people have like a kind of fat deficiency and they often have

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like a very thin deficient appearance.

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And yeah, I like to then give them herbs with like a high oil content,

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like burdock or literally using things like infused lavender oil, like on

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their, on their tissues regularly to kind of address that kind of that

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kind of dryness and that atrophy.

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Obviously, you know, it's like a bit more complicated internally, but I think

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yeah, that's kind of like a thing I often see in people experiencing burnout

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who maybe have some other forms of like deficiencies or, you know, like deficiency

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of rest, deficiency of nourishment.

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And yeah, I just, I always just wanna like dump them in a bath of oil.

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Cuz that's what their nervous system needs like our nervous system needs fat.

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To kind of support the myelin sheath around the nerve cells.

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So yeah, it's really important tissue state.

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All right.

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Cold depression.

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A sensation of coldness, as well as a general underactivity for example,

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constipation, emotional depression, or the immune system being unable to get a fever,

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going to respond to viruses and so forth.

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Herbs recommended for this state will be warming and stimulating.

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You know, you get people that are like, oh, you know, I never get colds.

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But that can sometimes really be because their immune system's

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actually under underactive and they might have a kind of like general

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sense of depression in the body.

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It's not just kind of doing what it needs.

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It hasn't got that kind of vitality.

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Okay.

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Wind tension.

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Imagine a guitar string that's wound up too tight.

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Too much tension can constrict things like the circulation of blood or body fluids,

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often leading to irritability, muscle, tension, and spasms for this state.

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We want herbs that can relax excess tension.

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So this, this is me.

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This is like, I am that guitar string.

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Yeah.

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I can be very, very tense and anxious and kind of constricted.

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So for me, again, it comes back to this kind of like softening moistening

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relaxing herbs demulcents, things that can relax, like excess tension.

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And, you know, like if anyone has, I mean, everyone's experienced some

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kind of emotional distress, right for people who experience kind of

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traumatic stress or struggling with post traumatic stress effects then yeah.

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They often have this tissue state, like maybe you've got really sore back muscles.

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Maybe you get spasms, maybe you are incredibly irritable and it might be

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that you really need like relaxants.

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Okay.

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Laxity.

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Laxity is when things are much too relaxed.

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Often this comes along with dampness or dryness.

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But in general, too much relaxation means your water will flow in weird ways.

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Laxity can show up elsewhere in muscles that don't get enough movement or in a

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mind that can't hold a train of thought.

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Even in the immune system, when your defenses can't keep you from getting

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sick, gentle astringents may be appropriate, as well as nutritive

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herbs, you can definitely have more than one of these at the same time.

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Just choose the herbs, that address whatever is most uncomfortable

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and make adjustments as you.

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In the end, all herbs share some qualities in common.

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Most have anti-inflammatory actions, most have nutritional benefits and

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most herbs can help strengthen your body's innate ability to find balance.

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So if you can't exactly get what you wished you could work with what you

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have herbal actions, this is the list in the medical communities, understanding

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of how herbs work they can give us an understanding of the wide range of

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actions that plants can have in the body.

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There is a glossary at the back of the book that explains

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what these actions mean.

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Health challenges.

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I have listed the general health conditions and challenges that plants

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are commonly used for on the out.

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So like on the outside of prison and how to practically use them in

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prison, I have written how they can be directly used in a prison context with

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recommendations on how to prepare them.

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And different dosages.

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Okay.

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So that's like an introduction to the plant profiles.

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And then in the next few episodes, I'm just gonna be doing like such

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an epic, deep dive into all of these herbs, gonna be looking at dandelion

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and nettle and self heal and rose and.

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It's gonna be, it's gonna be super fun.

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You'll be like, oh finally, we can talk about plants.

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Yeah.

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So thanks again for your support.

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Take care.

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Thanks so much for listening to the frontline herbalism podcast.

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You can find the transcript, the links, all the resources from the

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