Yerba Mansa--The Gentle Herb

My sons will be the first to tell you that I get excited about little things. I was excited to come across these plants! These are Yerba Mansa plants. Yerba Mansa is Spanish for "gentle herb." These plants only grow where the soil is squishy with moisture. These will get white flowers in the spring.

Yerba Mansa plants are like pharmacies growing out of the ground. Tribal people used different parts of the plant to make different medicines. The roots were used to make cold decongestant. The skins over the roots were used for making a kind of "Bactine" and liquid which relieved stomach ulcers. It was used to purify blood, and to relieve kidney problems and asthma. The leaves were boiled in water and then the water was cooled and used for a "bath" for muscle aches. The list goes on and on. You could call Yerba Mansa a "cure-all."

The cool thing is you can buy this plant. There are online nurseries which carry Yerba Mansa. The plant takes special care as it needs lots of moisture all the time and it needs soil that is more alkaline. Soil can be alkaline or it can be acidic. Alkaline soil has more stuff called "hydrated lime." You can add hydrated lime to your soil to make it more alkaline. Then a Yerba Mansa plant can grow better.

Check out these plants, where they come from, and what they are used for...

Quinine--Bark of a Tree--Used for Malaria
Morphine--Poppy Plant--Used for Extreme Pain Relief
Digitalis--Fox Glove Plant--Heart Medicine
Salicylic Acid--Willow Tree--Aspirin
Penicillin--Mold (A Fungus)--Antibiotic Treatment

Amazing! What disease would you cure? What plants would you experiment with and what part of the plant would you use to find medicine?

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