The Herbarium
Printables

Part X

Natural remedies

26 household protocols from the open plates — teas, kitchen spices, gargles, and simple topicals. Each card has a traditional adult dose, how long to use it, and who should skip it. These are folklore notes, not prescriptions.

Herb trays, jars, and a kettle on cream paper

26 of 26 remedies

Infusion

Evening wind-down cup

A gentle kitchen tea when the day will not leave the body.

Warm the cup. 1–2 tsp dried chamomile, a pinch of lavender (more turns soapy), a few lemon-balm or linden blossoms. Cover 8–10 minutes so the oil stays in the drink. Passionflower can stand in when the mind is circular. Strain. Sit down to drink it.

Suggested dose

Adult: one 8 oz cup, 45–60 minutes before bed. Not a second pot. Children: skip, or a clinician’s advice — this folio doses adults.

How long

A nightly habit for a week is fair. If sleep is still broken after two weeks, stop treating it as a tea problem.

Safety warnings

  • Asteraceae allergy (chamomile / lavender)
  • Before driving if you added passionflower
  • Pregnancy in medicinal — not food — amounts of passionflower

Good to know

A habit, not a hypnotic. Persistent insomnia, snoring with pauses, or falling asleep at the wheel needs a clinician.

Infusion

After-dinner settle

Carminative cup for a heavy meal — gas, quease, cramp.

Choose one line: fresh peppermint or spearmint (a small handful, 5 minutes, covered); or ½ tsp crushed fennel or caraway seed, 8 minutes; or 6–8 slices fresh ginger simmered 10 minutes. Chamomile if the cramp is more nervous than spicy. Do not stack mint and a big ginger pot if you already run hot.

Suggested dose

Adult: one 8 oz cup after the meal. Seed teas: ½ tsp crushed seed. Ginger: 6–8 thin slices in 12 oz, sipped. Not three kinds at once.

How long

As needed after a heavy plate. Daily heartburn for weeks is not a mint problem.

Safety warnings

  • GERD (peppermint especially)
  • Hiatal hernia if mint worsens the burn
  • Gallstones in large medicinal ginger amounts

Good to know

Recurrent pain, black stool, vomiting blood, or trouble swallowing is emergency or clinic care, not a second cup.

Decoction

Ginger for quease

Warm a chilled, carsick, or first-morning queasy body — food-level ginger, not a candied binge.

Slice 6–8 coins of fresh ginger (about 2–3 g). Simmer 10 minutes in 12 oz water, lid on. A squeeze of lemon after it comes off the heat. Peppermint only if ginger is not enough and you do not reflux. Candied ginger, thumbnail-sized, is the travel form.

Suggested dose

Adult: 2–3 g fresh rhizome (a thumb of coins) per cup, up to 2 cups in a queasy day. Candied: one or two small cubes, not the bag.

How long

For a journey or a 24-hour stomach. Vomiting that lasts, blood, or a stiff neck is not ginger.

Safety warnings

  • Gallstones in medicinal amounts
  • Late pregnancy without advice at extract dose
  • Blood thinners in high extract dose

Good to know

Morning sickness is a conversation with a midwife or OB, not a blog dose. This is kitchen ginger.

Kitchen

First-scratch cold tray

Short, early kitchen support at the first sore throat or chill — not a flu treatment.

Cooked elderberry syrup by the labeled spoon (never raw berries). Ginger decoction through the day. Food garlic — a crushed clove in honey or soup, not a garlic-oil ear protocol. Onion and lemon in a hot broth. If the skin is dry and hot, one hot yarrow cup then blankets and sweat. Hydrate. Rest.

Suggested dose

Elderberry: follow the jar; typically 1 tsp cooked syrup, 2–3 times, 2–3 days. Ginger: one 8–12 oz cup, 2–3 times. Garlic: 1 crushed culinary clove in food, once or twice. Yarrow: one 8 oz cup, once.

How long

The first 48–72 hours. If fever lasts past three days, breath is short, or a stiff neck appears, stop home care.

Safety warnings

  • Raw elderberry
  • Infants (honey, garlic oil)
  • Pregnancy in medicinal yarrow
  • Autoimmune disease with echinacea — this tray skips echinacea on purpose

Good to know

This does not replace antivirals, asthma care, or a test when you need one.

Gargle

Sage and thyme gargle

A hot, aromatic rinse for a raw throat — spit, don’t make a quart of it.

1 tsp dried sage or thyme, 8 oz just-off-boil, covered 10 minutes. Cool until you can hold it. Gargle, spit. Optionally sip a separate marshmallow or slippery-elm gruel to coat (see that card). Honey in the gargle after it cools a little is food, not a drug.

Suggested dose

Adult: gargle 1 cup, 2–3 times a day, for 2–3 days. Do not swallow cup after cup of strong sage — thujone lives there.

How long

A short sore-throat window. A throat that closes, drools, or cannot swallow saliva is emergency care.

Safety warnings

  • Infants (honey)
  • Pregnancy in medicinal sage amounts
  • A sage quart as a daily beverage

Good to know

White spots, high fever, or a rash with a sore throat can be strep. Gargle is not a culture.

Infusion

Slippery elm or marshmallow coat

Bland mucilage for a raw throat or an irritated gut — a recovery food more than a flavor.

1 tsp powdered slippery-elm inner bark (cultivated) slurried in a little cold water so it does not clump, then topped with 8 oz hot water or milk. Rest 5 minutes. Cinnamon is how people finish it. Marshmallow root: 1 tbsp dried chopped root in cold water 30 minutes (cold infusion keeps the slime). Sip. Take other medicines an hour apart.

Suggested dose

Adult: 1 tsp elm powder or 1 tbsp chopped marshmallow root per 8 oz, 1–3 times a day, short course. Never swallow dry powder.

How long

A few days of a raw throat or a bland-gut week. Fever, blood, or a throat that will not open is not an elm problem.

Safety warnings

  • Wild-stripped elm bark
  • Swallowing dry powder by the spoon

Good to know

A soothe, not an antibiotic. Conservation: buy cultivated elm powder.

Infusion

Thyme-and-honey kettle

A hot aromatic cup for a wet, rattly cough — kitchen thyme, not oil of thyme.

1 tsp dried thyme (oregano if that is the jar you have), 8 oz just-off-boil, covered 8–10 minutes. Honey after it cools a little. Mullein leaf: cloth-strain twice so the hairs do not scratch. Licorice: a small slice of root in the pot, not a daily stick if you have blood-pressure trouble.

Suggested dose

Adult: one 8 oz cup, 2–3 times a day, 3–5 days. Thyme is the teaspoon; licorice is a thin slice, not a handful. Honey: ½–1 tsp per cup. Not for infants.

How long

A short wet-cough week. Blood, whoop, or breath that will not come back is clinic-day.

Safety warnings

  • Infants (honey)
  • Uncontrolled hypertension (licorice)
  • Pregnancy in medicinal licorice
  • Undiluted thyme oil internally

Good to know

Oil of oregano/thyme is a caustic extract, not this cup.

Steam

Kitchen steam

Open a thick head with leaf steam — not swallowed essential oil.

A handful of eucalyptus, thyme, peppermint, or pine needles in a bowl. Pour just-off-boil water. Towel over the head, eyes closed, 5–10 minutes. Come up for air. Blow the nose after. Do not drip essential oil into the bowl if children are in the room; leaf is enough.

Suggested dose

Adult: one steam session, 5–10 minutes, 1–2 times a day for a stuffed cold. Not a closed-bathroom marathon.

How long

A few days of a thick head. Wheeze, facial swelling, or a headache with fever and stiff neck is not steam.

Safety warnings

  • Asthma that worsens with menthol steam
  • Infants over a boiling bowl
  • Swallowing eucalyptus or peppermint oil

Good to know

Steam burns are the main injury. Keep the bowl stable. Essential oil internally is a poison-control call.

Infusion

Nettle before the season

Nettle infusion taken before and through a known pollen stretch.

Strong nettle: 1 tbsp dried leaf (or a gloved handful of young fresh tops) in 12 oz, 10 minutes, or an overnight cold infusion. Start two weeks before your usual season. Elderflower (not raw berry) as a hot cup on thick-head days. Goldenrod leaf/flower as a second hay-scented cup if you tolerate Asteraceae. Plantain leaf in the same pot is a quieter green.

Suggested dose

Adult: 1 tbsp dried nettle per 12 oz, once daily through the season. Elderflower: 1 tsp dried, 8 minutes, as needed. Not a substitute for epinephrine.

How long

Begin 2 weeks before your known season; continue while pollen is high. Then stop.

Safety warnings

  • Anaphylaxis history as a substitute for epinephrine
  • Asteraceae allergy (goldenrod, elderflower caution)
  • GERD (peppermint oil — this card does not use it)

Good to know

Wheeze, throat tightness, or facial swelling is emergency medicine. Nettle stings until it is dried or cooked.

Kitchen

Turmeric-ginger kitchen

Daily food-level kitchen spices for dull stiffness — not a replacement for a rheumatologist.

½ tsp turmeric in food with a fat (oil, milk, coconut) and a crack of black pepper. Fresh ginger in the same pot or as a cup. Devil’s claw only as a labeled, cultivated tuber product if you use it at all — not a wild digging, not stacked on an ulcer.

Suggested dose

Adult food: ½ tsp (about 1–2 g) turmeric with fat, once daily in a meal. Ginger: food amounts or one 8 oz cup. Devil’s claw: follow the cultivated label; do not improvise a desert harvest.

How long

Weeks of food, not a 3-day crash. Swollen hot joints, injury that cannot bear weight, or morning stiffness with rash need examination.

Safety warnings

  • Gallstones in large medicinal ginger
  • Active ulcer (devil’s claw)
  • Blood thinners without advice at extract dose
  • Pregnancy in medicinal turmeric extracts

Good to know

Willow bark is a salicylate — it is not on this tray so you do not double an aspirin. Yellow food is not an MRI.

Topical

Arnica on closed skin

A dilute bruise gel on unbroken skin — never a tea.

Plants
Arnica

A labeled arnica gel or a very dilute flower oil, thin film, on closed skin. Patch-test the inner arm first. Do not use on broken skin, mucous membrane, or as a compress you then drink the water from.

Suggested dose

Adult: a thin film, 1–2 times a day, a few days. Stop if a rash. Not a body-butter slather.

How long

Until the bruise fades, or 5–7 days. Then stop.

Safety warnings

  • Open wounds
  • Internal use of the herb
  • Asteraceae allergy
  • Broken skin

Good to know

The same plant in a teacup has sent people to the clinic. External, dilute, labeled.

Topical

Calendula and aloe skin tray

Simple topical care for chapped, lightly burned, or irritated skin.

Calendula oil or salve on chapped, closed skin. Fresh aloe inner gel — yellow latex rinsed off — on a minor sunburn. Cool chamomile tea as a cloth compress. Crush fresh plantain or chickweed on a sting. Lavender hydrosol or a drop of oil in a teaspoon of carrier — never neat essential oil on a burn. Patch-test.

Suggested dose

Thin film of calendula 2–3 times a day. Aloe: a clean inner-leaf smear, as needed. Compress: 10 minutes, then air-dry. Essential oil: one drop in a carrier, not a puddle.

How long

A few days of a scrape or a sunburn. Spreading redness, fever, or a burn larger than your palm is clinic-day.

Safety warnings

  • Deep or infected burns
  • Asteraceae allergy
  • Eye area with essential oil
  • Aloe latex internally as a ‘cleanse’

Good to know

Rinse the yellow sap off aloe or you learn why the latex is a drug.

Poultice

Plantain on a sting

The oldest first-aid leaf that does not require a kit.

Identify the ribbed rosette (Plantago, not the banana). Chew or crush a clean unsprayed leaf and hold it on a bee sting or nettle patch 10–15 minutes. Chickweed or self-heal the same way. Wash the skin first. This is a field poultice, not a puncture-wound plan.

Suggested dose

One or two fresh leaves, as needed, a few applications. Not a dirty roadside leaf.

How long

Until the sting quiets, usually an afternoon. Spreading redness, wheeze, or a sting in the mouth is emergency care.

Safety warnings

  • Anaphylaxis
  • Deep, dirty, or punctured wounds
  • Sprayed lawns

Good to know

If you cannot name plantain, do not poultice a maybe. The ribbed veins and a seed spike are the picture.

Kitchen

Lion’s mane and tulsi week

Food-like mushroom and holy basil for a foggy week — not a deadline drug.

Lion’s mane seared in butter as food, 3–4 times a week. Shiitake in the same pan. Tulsi tea: 1 tsp dried, 8 minutes, afternoon. A rosemary sprig in the pan is kitchen, not an essential-oil binge.

Suggested dose

Adult: a culinary portion of lion’s mane (about a cup cooked) several times a week. Tulsi: one 8 oz cup in the afternoon. Rosemary: kitchen leaf, not the bottle of oil.

How long

Weeks, not days. Sudden cognitive change, fainting, or hopelessness is not a mushroom problem.

Safety warnings

  • Mushroom allergy
  • Essential oil of rosemary internally
  • Seizure disorder (concentrated rosemary oil)

Good to know

Nootropic marketing found this fungus late. The pan is older and kinder.

Decoction

Winter mushroom pot

Immune-modulating culinary and tonic fungi as broth through the dark months.

A weekly pot: 5–10 g dried turkey tail or a few reishi slices, simmer 45–60 minutes. Shiitake and a garlic clove in the last 20 minutes. Strain the wood, eat the shiitake. This is from a log or block you grew or a grocery bag — not a wild conk you cannot name.

Suggested dose

Adult: one 8–12 oz mug of the strained decoction, 3–5 days a week in winter, or a weekly pot used over two days. Culinary garlic in the same soup.

How long

A winter season. Then stop and eat ordinary food. It does not replace vaccination.

Safety warnings

  • Transplant immunosuppression (reishi, turkey tail extracts)
  • Unidentified wild polypores
  • Mushroom allergy

Good to know

Hospital PSK extracts are not your backyard conk. Identification still matters.

Infusion

Hawthorn hedgerow

Slow, food-like berry tea for aging circulation — adjunct only, not a blood-pressure drug.

1 tsp dried hawthorn berry, 10–15 minutes, daily as tea or cooked into food. Culinary garlic in the same kitchen. Yarrow only as a brief bitter, not a blood-pressure protocol. Olive leaf: a few dried leaves, 8 minutes, a bitter cup — not a replacement for a prescription.

Suggested dose

Adult: 1 tsp dried berry per 8 oz, once daily, with food. Garlic: food cloves. Olive leaf: 1–2 tsp dried, not a concentrated extract unless labeled.

How long

Months, if a clinician is already in the picture. Chest pain, one-sided weakness, or fainting is emergency care.

Safety warnings

  • Undiagnosed chest pain
  • On digoxin or multiple cardiac drugs without the prescriber
  • Pregnancy in medicinal yarrow

Good to know

Hawthorn is a months-long adjunct. It does not come off a statin, a beta-blocker, or a 911 call.

Kitchen

Milk-thistle and dandelion bitter

A short bitter course after a heavy season — not a hangover cheat code.

Ground milk-thistle seed: 1 tsp on food once a day. Dandelion root: 1 tsp dried, simmer 15 minutes, before the day’s main meal. Tulsi as the pleasant cup. Schisandra: 1 tsp berries simmered 10 minutes if you want the sour kettle instead of thistle.

Suggested dose

Adult: 1 tsp (about 3–5 g) ground milk-thistle seed daily with food. Dandelion root: 1 tsp dried decoction, once before a meal. Two to four weeks, then stop.

How long

2–4 weeks. Yellow eyes, pale stool, or dark urine need a lab, not a thistle.

Safety warnings

  • Bile-duct obstruction
  • Jaundice — that is a work-up
  • Pregnancy without advice

Good to know

Silymarin clinics discuss standardized extracts. A cupboard seed is folklore in a mill.

Infusion

Milky oat and linden

A mineral, food-like nervine when the week has been long and the sleep is thin.

A handful of dried milky oat tops or oatstraw, 12 oz water, 20–30 minutes or overnight. Linden blossom: 1 tbsp, 10 minutes, evening. Lemon balm if you have it fresh. Skullcap: 1 tsp dried, 8 minutes — a quieter American nervine, not a miracle.

Suggested dose

Adult: 1 handful (about 1–2 tbsp) oatstraw per 12 oz, once daily. Linden: 1 tbsp evening. Skullcap: 1 tsp, not a quart.

How long

A couple of weeks of a grinding season. Then ordinary food and sleep hygiene.

Safety warnings

  • Oat allergy
  • Uncertified oats in celiac disease
  • Before driving if skullcap makes you drowsy

Good to know

This is breakfast’s cousin, caught a month earlier. It is not a benzodiazepine.

Kitchen

Garlic in honey

A kitchen put-up for the first scratch of a cold — food garlic, not an ear-oil protocol.

Crush 1 fresh clove, let it sit 10 minutes so allicin forms, then mix into 1 tsp honey. Eat. Lemon and ginger in the same kettle if you want a cup with it. Not garlic oil in a child’s ear. Not a raw-clove dare on an empty ulcer.

Suggested dose

Adult: 1 culinary clove in honey, 1–2 times a day, 2–3 days. Honey not for infants under 1 year.

How long

The first days of a scratchy throat. Then soup and rest.

Safety warnings

  • Infants (honey)
  • Bleeding disorders in large medicinal garlic
  • Before surgery without the surgeon

Good to know

Allicin only appears after the knife. A whole uncrushed clove in honey is mostly a pickle.

Kitchen

Onion-and-honey spoon

A folk cough spoon from the allium drawer — kitchen, not a whooping-cough plan.

Slice a small onion, layer with honey in a jar, rest a few hours until a syrup collects. A spoon of the liquid. Optional thyme sprig in the jar. Keep refrigerated and use within a few days. This is a folk spoon, not a sterile pharmacy.

Suggested dose

Adult: 1 tsp of the collected syrup, 2–3 times a day, 2–3 days. Not for infants (honey).

How long

A short wet cough. Blood, whoop, or breathlessness is not an onion.

Safety warnings

  • Infants
  • Onion allergy
  • A jar left on a warm counter all week

Good to know

French and English kitchens both claim this. The honey is the vehicle; the onion is the folk.

Decoction

Rosehip after frost

A tart winter cup from unsprayed hips — vitamin folklore in a strained tea.

1 tbsp dried, cleaned hips (itchy hairs strained), simmer 10 minutes, steep off heat 10 more. Strain through cloth. Hibiscus calyx can join for a redder cup. Lemon after. A garden rose sprayed for beetles is not this tea.

Suggested dose

Adult: 1 tbsp dried hips per 10 oz, once a day in winter. Strain well — the hairs itch a throat.

How long

A winter tin. Then stop when fresh food is back.

Safety warnings

  • Uncleaned hips (itchy hairs)
  • Sprayed ornamental roses

Good to know

The hip after frost is the fruit. The petal is a different, milder tea.

Infusion

Pine-needle winter cup

A bright, resinous trail tea from a named Pinus — not yew, not unknown evergreens.

Plants
Pine

A small handful of fresh Scots pine or other named Pinus needles, chopped, 8 oz just-off-boil, covered 10 minutes. The smell should be pine, not taxus. Yew is a churchyard tree with red arils and flat needles in two ranks — not this cup. Do not boil needles to a tar.

Suggested dose

Adult: a small handful (about 1 tbsp chopped) per 8 oz, one cup. Not a daily quart. Not any evergreen you cannot name to genus.

How long

A walk’s cup, or a short cold. Then stop.

Safety warnings

  • Yew, oleander, or any unnamed evergreen
  • Pregnancy in large pine-needle amounts (some species are traditional abortifacients — this is a named Pinus, a small cup, not a protocol)

Good to know

If you cannot tell pine from yew, do not make tea from a hedge.

Infusion

Birch-leaf spring cup

A mild, green, slightly wintergreen cup from young birch leaf — not a methyl-salicylate oil binge.

1 tsp dried young birch leaf (Betula), 8 oz, 8 minutes. Dandelion leaf or nettle can join as a spring green tea. This is a salicylate cousin — do not stack on aspirin. Do not drink wintergreen oil.

Suggested dose

Adult: 1 tsp dried leaf per 8 oz, once a day, a short spring course of 1–2 weeks.

How long

A spring week or two. Then ordinary greens.

Safety warnings

  • Aspirin allergy / salicylate sensitivity
  • Warfarin without advice
  • Wintergreen or birch oil internally

Good to know

The oil is a liniment and a poison-control regular. The leaf tea is a different, quieter object.

Infusion

Goldenrod late-summer cup

A hay-scented infusion for a thick, allergic head — often blamed for ragweed’s sins.

1 tsp dried goldenrod flowering tops, 8 minutes, covered. Nettle if you already drink it for the season. Plantain leaf for a greener cup. Goldenrod is insect-pollinated; ragweed is the wind-blown August villain. Asteraceae allergy still applies.

Suggested dose

Adult: 1 tsp dried tops per 8 oz, 1–2 times a day through a known stretch, then stop.

How long

Late summer as needed. Not a year-round pot.

Safety warnings

  • Asteraceae allergy
  • Anaphylaxis as a substitute for a plan

Good to know

If goldenrod is blooming in your hand and you are sneezing, look at the ragweed next to it.

Kitchen

Savory in the bean pot

The bean herb — peppery summer or winter savory in the pot with pulses, which is the oldest carminative that still tastes like supper.

A sprig of summer savory (or a pinch of winter savory) in with the beans from the start. Crush ½ tsp caraway or fennel seed if the pot is a heavy one. Eat the beans. The tea of the same herbs is a backup, not the meal.

Suggested dose

Adult: 1 sprig fresh or ½ tsp dried savory per pot of beans. Seed: ½ tsp crushed. Food first.

How long

Whenever the beans are on. Chronic pain after pulses needs a look at the rest of the diet, not a bigger sprig.

Safety warnings

  • Mint-family allergy

Good to know

German Bohnenkraut is this plant. The cube came later.

Gargle

Usnea as a wash

A traditional lichen gargle and skin wash — habitat-sensitive, not a wild-stripped old-growth harvest.

Plants
Usnea

Only from a fallen branch or a purchased, legally collected lichen you can name (white elastic cord in the strand). A small pinch simmered 10 minutes, cooled, as a gargle (spit) or a cloth wash on closed skin. Do not strip standing old-growth beards. Do not make this a daily internal tea.

Suggested dose

Adult: a pinch (about ½ tsp dried) in 8 oz, as a gargle 1–2 times, a day or two. Spit. Not a mug-a-day protocol.

How long

A short sore throat or a small scrape. Then stop. Conservation first.

Safety warnings

  • Stripping living old-growth
  • A daily internal usnea pot
  • Lichen you cannot split to show the white cord

Good to know

Usnea is a slow beard. The white cord is the ID. If you are not sure, this card is a photograph, not a harvest.

Looking for a single cup? Open the tea section. Restricted and poison-garden plants are not dosed here.