Translations:Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Recreation/Pioneering/89/en

12. Know five home remedies from wild plants and explain their uses.

Warning: We recommend that extreme caution be exercised with regard to these remedies. Some of them are harmless enough (jewelweed, balsam fir, coltsfoot, and garlic), while others are potentially fatal (boneset, feverfew). All medicines are poisonous if the dosage is exceeded, and the amount of the active ingredient found in wild plants is obviously not labeled.

Jewelweed

The juice from this plant was used as a treatment for poison ivy. However, modern medicine has shown that jewelweed is no more effective than a placebo for treating poison ivy.

Willow

The bark from the willow tree contains salicylic acid, an ingredient in aspirin. Chewing on willow shoots, twigs, branches, or bark was used as a pain reliever.

Balsam fir

The resin of the balsam fir is used to produce Canada balsam, and was traditionally used as a cold remedy.

Coltsfoot

The leaves of the coltsfoot plant were used for making tea or hard candy. Both were used as a cough medicine. Again, modern medicine has shown that this treatment is not efficacious.

Boneset

Boneset, although poisonous to humans and grazing livestock, has been used in folk medicine, for instance to excrete excess uric acid which causes gout. It has many more presumed beneficial uses, including treatment of dengue fever, arthritis, certain infectious diseases, migraine, intestinal worms, malaria, and diarrhea. Boneset infusions are also considered an excellent remedy for influenza. Scientific research of these applications is rudimentary at present, however. Caution is advised when using boneset, since it contains toxic compounds that can cause liver damage. Side effects include muscular tremors, weakness, and constipation; overdoses may be deadly.

Feverfew

Feverfew has been used for reducing fever, for treating headaches, arthritis and digestive problems.

Garlic

Garlic has been used as both food and medicine in many cultures for thousands of years, dating at least as far back as the time that the Egyptian pyramids were built. Garlic is claimed to help prevent heart disease including atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and cancer.