St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum L.)
I don't know if this herb should be called king of herbs.
It does help everything that an average present day person can be ailing from:
- Depression
- Fatigue
- ADHD
- Slow thought
- Neuroses
- Burns
- Stomach ulcers
- Heartburns
- Infections in internal organs
- ... and aids many more conditions.
The st. Johns wort herb is growing everywhere and that's why it is so widely used. You can find it in forests and green pastures worldwide in elevations no more than 2000 meters (low mountains).
It is small, no more than 1 foot tall shrub with strong crawling roots. Strong single stem spreading to few sub-stems on the top. Black dotted wide leaves and yellow blossoms clustered in groups of one to five. Pollinated blossoms produce small box-like pseudo fruits filled with seeds.
Gathering and drying
is done when blooming starts between June and August.
A full shoot with blossom and part of the stem is cut with short herbalist knife from top of the plant (no more than 10-15 cm, or one palm).
The shoots are dried hanging upside down on a cord or inside a herb drier with temeparture no more than 45 C. The most important ingredient (hypericin) will go away on higher temperature.
When dry, the herb has blue-green color, very pleasant aroma and bitter-acerb taste.
Keep in cool dry place. Preferably paper bag or box.
Use the dried shoots
of the herb as a herbal tea every day. It will keep you in good mental shape, calm you and let you focus better on daily tasks. It is an excellent daily brain tonic.
Also. Your internal organs will battle infections more effectively if you provide daily infusion of hypericin with this tea.
The best way to do this herbal tea is to boil 2 tablespoons of crushed shoots in 1 pint of water (half liter) for 5 minutes (2 servings).
Another use of the herb is to treat
- Stomach ulcers
- skin burns
- skin bruises
- blue eyes
- reumatoid pain
- external hemorrhoids
- blood in stools
- ... and many others ailments based on internal or external bleeding.
For this, you need a bottle of olive oil with a neck wide enough to put shoots of st. Johns wort inside.
Put at least 6 shoots in the bottle and leave it in dark kitchen closet for 40 days (the process is slow).
The resulting oil infusion can be used as a topical treatment of open wound, bruised skin, reumatoid pain in joints or extermal hemorrhoids.
The same infusion can be used internally. Drink one small glass (shot-size) before meals or use the same quantity to season a salad. Up to you.
Internal hemorrhoids, bleeding, heart burns, peptic ulcers and glandular infections can get better or completely go away in two weeks.
