Remedies from your kitchen shelves and common plants for over 200 ailments.

For early American households, the herb garden was an all-purpose medicine chest. Herbs were used to treat apoplexy (lily of the valley), asthma (burdock, horehound), boils (onion), tuberculosis (chickweed, coltsfoot), palpitations (saffron, valerian), jaundice (speedwell, nettles, toad flax), toothache (dittander), hemorrhage (yarrow), hypochondria (mustard, viper grass), wrinkles (cowslip juice), cancers (bean-leaf juice), and various other ailments. But herbs were used for a host of other purposes as well — and in this fascinating book, readers will find a wealth of information on the uses of herbs by homemakers of the past, including more than 500 authentic recipes, given exactly as they appeared in their original sources. Selected from such early American cookbook classics as Miss Leslie's Directions for Cookery, Mary Randolph's The Virginia Housewife, Lydia Child's The American Frugal Housewife, and other rare publications, the recipes cover the use of herbs for medicinal, culinary, cosmetic, and other purposes. Readers will discover not only how herbs were used in making vegetable and meat dishes, gravies and sauces, cakes, pies, soups, and beverages, but also how our ancestors employed them in making dyes, furniture polish, insecticides, spot removers, perfumes, hair tonics, soaps, tooth powders, and numerous other products. While some formulas are completely fantastic, others (such as a sunburn ointment made from hog's lard and elder flowers) were based on long experience and produced excellent results. More than 100 fine nineteenth-century engravings of herbs add to the charm of this enchanting volume — an invaluable reference and guide for plant lovers and herb enthusiasts that will "delight and astound the twentieth-century reader." (Library Journal).

The most current scientific information from the world's leading medical journals. Although there is growing consumer awareness of alternative and complementary medicine, there is a lack of comprehensive information available on herbal products. While pharmacists, physicians and other health care professionals sometimes offer advice, their patients want more information. The Complete Natural Medicine Guide to the 50 Most Common Medicinal Herbs is a comprehensive, fully-illustrated reference to the 50 most commonly prescribed herbs. A complete description of each herb is featured along with its other common names, possible adverse effects, therapeutic uses for treating illness and disease as well as potential drug interactions. Some of the herbs included are: Aloe Vera Evening Primrose Goldenseal Scullcap Burdock Tumeric Tea Tree Oil Meadowsweet This guide is written by professional pharmacists, one a naturopathic doctor, using the most current research and clinical testing. The authors' easy-to-understand text, combined with the latest findings and clear directions for safe dosages, makes this practical reference on medicinal herbs a primary resource of data.

Echinacea and gingko biloba are well-known herbal remedies for common ailments such as colds and memory loss. But the vast majority of herbal aids are underused as treatments or preventatives for everything from insomnia to arthritis to heart disease. In THE COMPLETE HOME GUIDE TO HERBS, NATURAL HEALTH, AND NUTRITION, herbal practitioner Jill Rosemary Davies explains how to promote good health by understanding the body and how it is affected by a wide range of healing plants. She teaches you how to use herbs as potent tools for natural healing as well as how to combine them with nutrition and exercise for a healthy lifestyle. Additionally, you'll find: Sections on cleansings, immunity, life stages, and body systems; a complete A to Z of diseases and treatments; and a section on first aid. Instructions for making your own herbal teas, decoctions, tinctures, ointments, oils, and more. And because the herbs used in this book are widely available in health food stores, drug stores, and grocery stores-some you'll even find growing in your own backyard-incorporating a greater range of beneficial herbs into your life will be all the more simple. Open the book to any page and you'll feel like you've stumbled upon Mother Nature's best-kept secrets.