.....just mind and eat them before the crystals form. Those aren't good for your kidneys.
Yes though, nettles are excellent for many reason
See, that's the thing about recommending herbal 'cures' and 'remedies'.
Yes, they work, but, and it's an enormous but, one has to be aware of the person, the issue to be helped, and the season and the source and quality of the plant.
What's available now, is not what is available a few months from now.
So, yes, coltsfoot for coughs, etc., but there is no coltsfoot just now....well, I have a couple of really dried out and withered leaves in a flower bed that give indication of where I'll be able to harvest in a few months, but unless one knows the area, and is aware through the seasons, then it's kind of barren just now.
I know where I have meadowsweet growing (natural aspirin, and the root is excellent against toothache) and the comfrey, tansy, mugwort, lungwort, etc., etc., but there's almost nothing to show of any of those, or plantain, goosegrass (I'm learning
regional names are funny to other folks) borage, mare's tail, selfheal....
There's also the issue that it's illegal to advise someone to take a herbal remedy when one is not a qualified medical herbalist....many of the herbs, like St John's Wort, are contra-indicated for some folks. Everybody's different, not everybody reacts the same way to herbal tinctures, potions, etc.,
And, the synergy of herbs comes into it too. If you add horehound to the coltsfoot, it's a better remedy, so that's two plants, but it's better yet if you also add liquorice or marshmallow.
Pity I can't use liquorice, it's a vasodilator and triggers migraines for me.
What does work though, is a list of ailments and folks add on the stuff that they themselves have used successfully.
Like the aforementioned migraines....eat a couple of feverfew leaves (bitter as hell, and a misery to eat, but the relief is wonderful) before it gets really out of hand, and it can often stave it off entirely. Feverfew is as persistant as the wind though, and even now after all this snow and ice, rain and mud, I have two little plants bravely putting out leaves.
Sometimes it's easier to ask either what
could be used effectively for something specific, or what could a particular plant be used to treat.
Just my tuppence ha'penny worth.
M