Papaya - a world class meat tenderizer, natural digestive aid, prevents ulcers, and also a soft contact lense cleaner.Boneset also known as Feverwort, Sweat Plant
For Colds and Flu
Family: Compositae; (includes Daisy, Dandelion, Marigold)
Genus and Species: Eupatorium Perfolia Tum
Also known as: Feverwort, Sweat Plant
Parts used: Leaves and Flower Tops
Let’s clear up one matter right away: Boneset has nothing to do with mending broken bones. This herb helps treat minor viral and bacterial illnesses by possibly revving up the immune system’s response to infection.
Breakbone Fever
Boneset’s name comes from its traditional use as a treatment for “breakbone fever.” an old term for dengue (pronounced DENG-ee) fever. Dengue is a mosquito-borne, viral disease that causes muscle pains so intense that people imagine their bones are breaking, hence its traditional name Today, dengue is rare in the United States except among overseas travelers, who sometimes return from the tropics with it. Ironically, boneset has never been shown to provide significant relief from dengue fever.
The Indians introduced boneset to early colonists as a sweat- inducer, an old treatment for fevers. The Indians used boneset for all fever-producing illnesses: influenza, cholera, dengue, malaria, and typhoid, hence boneset’s other names, feverwort and sweat plant.
The Indians also used boneset to relieve arthritis and to treat colds, indigestion, constipation, and loss of appetite.
In Every Attic and Woodshed
White settlers adopted boneset so enthusiastically, it was one of early America’s most popular healing herbs. During the Civil War, soldiers used it not only to treat fever but also as a tonic to keep them healthy (Modern science shows this is not a good idea.)
In his classic book American Medicinal Plants, Dr C. F. Millspaugh wrote: “There is probably no plant more extensively or frequently used than this The attic or woodshed of almost every farm house has bunches hanging from the rafters, ready for immediate use should some family member or neighbor be taken with a cold.”
Millspaugh also considered boneset excellent against malaria, a major problem in 19th•century America. He wrote he’d seen the herb cure malaria when it didn’t respond to Peruvian cinchona bark, the source of the anti- malarial drug, quinine.
Herbal Aspirin
Boneset was listed as a treatment for fever in the U.S. Pnarmacopoeia from 1820 through 1916, and in the National Formulary, the pharmacists’ manual, from 1926 through 1950. But over time it fell from favor. replaced by another herbal fever-fighter, aspirin.
Contemporary herbalists continue to recommend boneset enthusiastically for fever In his Holistic Herva/, David Hoffmann calls it “perhaps the best remedy for influenza.”