Sundry Natural Products

Sundry Natural Products

Sundry Naturals
Botanical *Sources of Natural Products
*Wild Harvested and commonly cultivated plants.
EXPAND AND ADD TO PPAP

Botanicals used as Aromatic Smudging Herbs
For use in Sachets, Smudging Bundles, Herbals, Pot-Pourri

-Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum): Used as a stuffing herb for Pillows and Matresses. Its high coumarin content gives it a sweet scent of honey.
-White Sage (Artimesia ludoviciana): Used for smudging purposes.
-Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia): Used in pot-pourri and in scented sachets.
-Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens): The bark from this shrub is used in making perfumes.

Botanicals containing the aromatic principal "Coumarin"

Botanicals yielding Resins, Latexes, and Gums

- Liquidamber styraciflua (Sweet Gum): Balsam is collected as a natural exudate, or by making cuts in the bark. The tree is repeatedly beaten to increase the flow of the resin prior to harvesting/cutting. It was used by native americans to heal wounds and promote healing. The Balsam, known as (Su He Xiang), has aromatic, stimulating, antiseptic, and anti-inflammatory properties. Used also for Asthma, Sore Throats, Coughs, Bronchitis, and even frostbite. The Resin was chewed by young native american children, as a chewing gum. It is also used commercially in flavoring of tobacco.
- Silphium lacinittum (Compass Plant): This plant produces a latex that is usefull as a nerve tonic and sedative.
-Lactuca tatarica (Blue Lettuce): Latex used as chewing gum

Botanicals used as Flavoring agents (for food and tobacco) and in Perfume and Incense manufacture - Tagetes lucida is burned as incense
- Tagetes minuta Oil is used in perfumery and tobacco flavoring
- Tagetes patula (french marigold) Oil is blended with Sandalwood oil in India to produce the perfume "Attar Genda"
- Hierochloe odorata (Sweet Grass) Oil is used for Flavoring Tobacco and in Perfumery
- Liquidamber styraciflua (Sweet Gum) is used in flavoring Tobacco
- Cyperus odoratus has aromatic stems and that are used in a Voodoo Perfume called "Priprioca"
- Cyperus scariosus rhizomes yield the Bombayh purfume "Surat"
- Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is used to flavor and color herbal teas as well as various foods
- Melilotus officinalis (yellow sweet clover): This aromatic herb is used for easing pain, insomnia, and a variety of other ailments. The dried herb is used to flavor tobacco and tobacco snuff. The dried herb is used as a moth-repellent. The dried herb is used as a substitute for vanilla in desserts. Leaves are used to flavor marinades, stews, and sapsago cheese.

Botanicals Utilized As Fish Poisons (Stunning Fish)

-Mullien (Verbascum thapsis):
-Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia): Powdered bark used for toothache. Seeds and young foliage are poisonous. The powdered seeds have been used in ponds and slow moving water to catch fish, which become groggy and float to the surface. (Seeds crushed and thrown in water)
-Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens): The roots and stems contain rotenon, which is used as an fish poison,

Insect Repelling Herbs -Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum): Used in sachets for the linen cupboard to repel insects.
-Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia): Dried flowers used to deter insects
-Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens): The roots and stems contain rotenon, which is used as an insecticide
-Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris): Used as a mosquito repellent. Rub fresh mugwort leaves on all exposed skin and then carry the bruised leaves in your pockets. This should be repeated about twice per hour. It is recommended that at least one individual in the group be the scapegoat, either willingly or unknowingly, by not applying the mugwort to the skin which will draw the blood hungry and desperate Mosquito's to him/her rather than you.
-Tagetes species: Nearly all species of Marigold have insect repellant properties. The plants may be hung inside or placed in bedding to deter insects.

Botanicals Used as Coffee and Tea Substitutes -Goosegrass (Galium aparine): Seeds used as coffee substiute
-Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale): Roots roasted to make coffee substitute.
-Kentucky Coffee Tree (Gymnocladus dioica): The pulp from the pod was used by Native Americans to treat "Lunacy". The Meskwaki and other tribes made coffee from roasted. The wood has been used for posts, furniture , fuel, and construction. Small Clones can occur from root sprouts.
-New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus): The root imparts a red color to water. Native Americans used the leaves to make tea. The colonists use it as a patriotic substitue for black tea after the boston tea party.
-Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens): Leaves used to make a pleasant tasting yellow brown tea.
-Tagetes lucida (Mexican Tarragon): The dried leaves and flowering tops are used as a very popular Latin American Tea.
-Lewisia rediviva (Tobacco Root): This plant is roasted as a coffee substitute with sedative effects.
Botanicals that yield dye -False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa): Some species yield a poor indigo dye.
-Devil's Walking Stick (Aralia spinosa): The black fleshy fruits at one time were used for dyeing hair black.
-RedRoot (Ceanothus herbaceus): The roots are a deep red color and can be used to make dye.
-Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida): Native Americans prepared a scarlet dye from the roots to color their color their quills and feathers.
-Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens): Leached leaves and wood yield an auburn hair dye.
-Tagetes patula (French marigold): Extracts of the flower are used to give color to dairy products, poultry feed, and textiles.

Botanical sources of Fibers and Wood -Devil's Walking Stick (Aralia spinosa): Wood once used for small articles such in crafts. The black fleshy fruits at one time were used for dyeing hair black.
-Rough-leaved dogwood (Cornus drummondii): Chew sticks are made by cutting off a small stem several inches long, removing the outer bark, and chewing on the top to soften the fibers, which can then be used to massage the gums.
-Stiff dogwood (Cormus foemina): This hard, tuff, splinter free wood was used in making skewers to hold meat together while cooking.
-Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens): The hard wood from this evergreen shrub is used to make some scientific instruments, flutes, and combs.
-Devils Tree (Alstonia scholaris): The wood from this dogbane family member is used to make masks and coffins.

Botanicals Administered via Smoking (Tobacco Substitutes and Additives) -Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra): Native Americans Smoke the Rolled leaves as a treatment for asthma. A white sticky sap excudes from broken stems. The leaves are reported to have been mixed with tobacco and smoked. The twigs, leaves, and roots were used for staining and dyeing.
-Uva-Ursi (Arctostaphyls uva-ursi): Also known as Bear Berry or KinnickKinnick which translates to "To Be Mixed" . While this plant is great for urinary problems it is also very often used in smoke mixtures, known as KinnickKinnick, although its not the only plant that goes by that name, as is called a smoking mixture.
-Mexican tarragon (Tagetes lucida): Also called pericon by the natives of mexico. The leaves of this mild CNS depressant is mixed with N. rustica and is reputedly a hallucinogen and anesthetic. Dried plant may be burned as incense and insect repellant. Other Marigold species may also have similiar properties. T. minuta is strongly aromatic and relaxes spasms. It is a highly effective insecticide. Oil is used as a flavoring for tobacco. N. patula is also highly aromatic and has almost identical uses. The oil is mixed with sandalwood oil in india to produce Attar Genda perfume.
-Wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus): Native Americans used the powdered bark for tobacco and the wood from the straight stems of the plant for arrows. Relatively fast growing, short lived shrub to small tree, often sprouting from the roots.
-Jimson Weed (Datura stramonium): Leaves smoked to relieve symtoms of asthma
-Mullien (Verbascum thapsis): Leaves smoked to relieve lung ailments.Great for smokers. Tobacco substitute.
-Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus stolnifera, C. sanguinea): The Leaves were smoked by the Plains Indians and are said to produce effects similiar to opium. A decoction of the bark has stimulating properties. This plant is als known as KinnickKinnick.
-Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea): Smoked in KinnickKinnick mixture.
-Wooly Yarrow (Achillea lamlsa): Smoked in KinnickKinnick mixture.
-Yew (Taxus brevifolia): Smked in KinnickKinnick mixture.
-Water Willow(Justicia adhatoda): Leaves are collected and dried for use in herbal smoking mixtures. Smoked to relieve asthma.

Botanicals Used In Making Jewelry and Fashion - Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota): The lacy leaves of Queen Anne's Lace were often used in fashionable headdresses and bouquets of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries.
- Kentucky Coffee Tree: Seeds make excellent beads.
- Hibiscus rosa-sinensis: In China, the juice from the flower petals are used in making Mascara.

Botanicals Applied Topically (Applied to skin) -Basil (Ocimum): Fresh Basil Leaves may be applied directly to insect bites, held in place or rubbed on the area, which will temporarily relieve the irritation.
-Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris): Mugwort is a highly effective poison oak remedy. Fresh
Botanicals Administered via Insufflation (Snuffs) -Magnolia Tree (Magnolia officinalis): Jon Ott reports that leaves of the Magnolia tree are snuffed as a sort of "Mild Dope"
Botanicals Administered Sublingualy (Quids, Medicinally, and for Chewing Gum) -Compass Plant (Silphinum laciniatum): Many Indian Children chewed the resin as chewing gum. This interesting aster family member twists edgewise north and south during midday when growing in full sun. It produces a latex/juice that early american settlers and Indians used for a general tonic, anthelmintic, and sedative. Mothers used a leaf infusion to increase milk flow. The Pawnee Indians made a tea from macerated root to treat general debility. The Omaha Indians used the dried root in a decoction to alleviate head colds or pain.
Botanicals Administered SubCutaneously (Open Wound and Burns)

-Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens):The Omaha Indians powdered the dried leaves and blew them into cuts and open wounds to help promote scab formation.

Botanical Combinations and recipes (Covering everything from Perfumes, Smoking Blends, to Spice recipes) Combinations only Perfumes:
Attar Genda: In India Sandalwood Oil and French Marigold (T. patula) Oil are blended together to make this perfume.
Cyperus scariosus rhizomes yield the Bombayh purfume "Surat"
Cyperus odoratus has aromatic stems and that are used in a Voodoo Perfume called "Priprioca"

Holy Smokes! Smoking Blends and Incense: KinnickKinnick: Cornus stolonifera (Red Osier Dogwood), Anaphalis margaritacea (Pearly Everlasting), Achillea lamulsa (Wooly Yarrow), Taxus brevifolia (Yew) are combined to make KinnickKinnick. This is but one of the many Recipes for the famed KinnickKinnick.

Pericon: Tagetes lucida (Mexican tarragon) and Nicotiana rustica are mixed to create the ancient south american smoking blend known as Pericon.

Flavoring and Foods: Coca Cola: Obviously once a combination of E. coca leaves and Cola nitida nuts, German scientists now believe that Albizzia julibrissin is used as a secret mood enlightening, antidepressant, herbal prozac flavoring agent in coca cola.

Hibiscus sabdariffa: The Seeds are roasted and fermented into a Sudanese meat substitute known as "Furundu".

Willow Stem Rooting Hormone: Cut several pieces (10-20) of willow stems about 4-5'' a piece from a medium size branch. Cover barely with warm water about one inch.Let sit for one - two days. Remove stems from tea. Dip cuttings or soak cuttings in tea before sowing. Soak plants and cuttings in tea prior. Contains indole butyric acid.

Herbal Combinations: For Insomnia: Combine Lactuca serriola, Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens, Humulus lupulus, Passiflora incarnata, Scutellaria laterflora, and Valeriana officinalis.

Go Back To Essays Section.