Herbs & Herbal Remedies @ Green Papaya

No uterine stimulants have been found in bay, but the herb was used for thousands of years to stimulate menstruation and abortion. For that reason, pregnant women should stay away from medicinal doses.

Bay is on the Food and Drug Administration’s list of herbs gene ‘lIly regarded as safe. For otherwise healthy nonpregnant, nonnursing adults, bay is considered safe in amounts typically recommended.

Bay should be used in medicinal amounts only in consultation with your doctor. If bay causes minor discomforts, such as stomach upset, use less or stop using it. Let your doctor know if you experience any unpleasant effects or if the symptoms for which the herb is being used do not improve significantly in two weeks.
You may want to avoid external use of bay if you have particularly sensitive skin, as it may cause a rash.

Native Cultivation - Challenge Your Green Thumb

Bay laurel is a small evergreen tree, which seldom grows taller than 20 feet in the United States. Its shiny, leathery, dark green leaves have wavy edges and grow on short stalks. Its spring-blooming flowers are inconspicuous and have no petals. Bay berries are dark purple or black, have one seed, and are about the size of small grapes.

Daphne played hard to get with Apollo, so perhaps it is fitting that the tree she became is so hard to grow “Notoriously difficult to propagate” is how Gaea and Shandor Weiss put it in Growing and Using the Healing HerDs. “Seeds almost invariably grow moldy; cuttings are very difficult to root, and when successful, take up to six months.”

The Weisses recommend purchasing saplings from nurseries. Bays cannot survive cold winters, but they do well in pots, reaching 6 to 8 feet. Grow them indoors and you’ll have a wonderfully aromatic plant, not to mention fresh bay leaves all year long. Bays like moderately rich, well-drained soil and plenty of sun. Do not take potted bays outside again until danger of frost has passed

Leaves may be harvested year-round.

If all you do with bay is add a leaf or two to soups and stews, you’re missing an opportunity to use a natural soother.

Bay will never replace sleeping pills, but it has a number of benefits, mainly in the area of mental health.

Stress Management - Low doses of bay oil have been found to sedate laboratory animals, and higher doses produce temporary stupor. The herb also reduces blood pressure in laboratory animals, but the effect is mild. Bay has never been shown to put people to sleep or lower their blood pressure, but these animal results are suggestive. Many people find that bay infusions are relaxing. Added to the bath, the herb seems to help some people relax and fall asleep.

Cockroach Repellent - On the subject of stress management, few household situations are more stressful than the sight of cockroaches scurrying around the kitchen. A chemical (cineole) in bay repels them, according to an article in Science News. If you’re plagued by these pesky insects, spread some crushed bay leaves around your kitchen cupboards.

Infection - Like most aromatic spices, bay leaf oil kills disease-causing bacteria and fungi. Bay is not a powerful enough antiseptic to be used in place of appropriate medical treatment, but for minor household accidents, the fresh herb can be used externally.

Intriguing Possibility - In one recent study, laboratory animals were given a fatal dose of strychnine, then promptly treated with a bay oil preparation. They all lived, but scientists aren’t sure why. Clearly bay has medical benefits that are yet to be explained.

Myth - Several modern herbals continue to recommend rubbing bay oil into arthritic joints, but modern research has never demonstrated any anti-inflammatory action. Of course, even if bay has no effect on arthritis, the herb is applied by massaging it in, and massage itself is soothing.

Rx for Bay

For first aid, apply some freshly crushed leaves to minor cuts and scrapes.
For a relaxing aromatic infusion with a pleasantly sweet taste, use 1 to 2 teaspoons of crushed leaves per cup of boiling water. Strain the liquid before drinking (the leaves are quite sharp; swallowing a piece of leaf could prove harmful) Drink up to three cups a day. Or add I to 2 drops of bay oil to tea, brandy, or honey.

If you prefer a tincture, take Ihto 1 teaspoon up to three times a day.

Do not give medicinal preparations of bay to children under age 2. For older children and people over 65, start with low-strength preparations and increase strength if necessary.

Beyond Bug Repellent

Family: Lauraceae; (includes Avocado, Cinnamon, Nutmeg)

Genus and Species: Laurus Nobilis

Also known as: Laurel, Sweet Bay, Green Bay, Grecian or Roman Laurel

Parts Used: Leaves

How ironic that the herb the ancients used to crown . their poets and top athletes should turn out to be useful as a cockroach repellent. Most of the traditional uses for this once-glorious herb have not held up to scientific scrutiny, but don’t toss it out just yet.

Some intriguing new research suggests that bay has yet to reveal its most potent secrets.

A Divine Heritage

Graduating medical students still recite the Hippocratic oath, which begins: “I swear by Apollo, the physician…” Legend has it that we owe the bay laurel to Apollo, Greek god of medicine. It seems Apollo loved the beautiful nymph, Daphne, but Daphne loathed Apollo When Daphne begged the gods to protect her from her amorous pursuer, they transformed her into the bay laurel.

Lovelorn Apollo declared the tree sacred. He bestowed laurel wreaths on distinguished poets and warriors. Mortals adopted the practice, and at the first Olympics in 776 B.C, winners were crowned with laurel wreaths. The Romans crowned their emperors with laurel. Today, distinguished poets are called “laureates,” while the formerly noteworthy are said to be “resting on their laurels.”

Soother for Sore Joints The Roman physician Galen considered bay leaves and berries therapeutic for a great variety of ailments, particularly arthritis. He also used it as a menstruation promoter.

About 1,500 years later, 17th century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper recommended bay similarly, to treat “all griefs of the joints and womb… procure women’s courses [menstruation] …and cause a speedy delivery in sore travail of childbirth.” He also claimed the herb treated worms, cough, itching, shortness of breath, infectious diseases, and “all griefs of the nerves, arteries, and belly”.

As time passed, herbalists backed away from Culpeper’s exaggerations and used bay mostly to treat arthritis and women’s health concerns. In the Middle East, a tincture of bay in brandy was rubbed on sore joints and taken internally to induce labor and abortion.

American Indians and early colonists used bay to promote labor and menstruation and to treat arthritis, headache, stomachache, urinary problems, insect bites and stings, and skin wounds.

But by the 19th century, bay fell out of favor as a healing herb The Eclectic medical text, King’s American Dispensatory, concluded: “All that remains of this ancient medication is the use of the oil for rheumatic [arthritis] pains.”