Natural wild salves

[TeeDee]

I'm interested in experimenting / making some wild medicinal salves or herbal medications

My question is - from history ( as we have so many erudite people present ) what records exist of what salves were made and used in ancient times? and to these concoctions does the modern day science back it up?

Which plants / ointments / salves would be worth making up ( from a modern science aspect ) and would it keep its efficacy and potency after its been made? would it remain actually useful or just herbal larping and hedge-witchery??

 

[FerlasDave]

I would reckon most essential oil type plants have been mixed with animal fat over the years to create simple salves, goose fat lends itself quite easily to this. Some examples would be bog Myrtle and pineapple weed.

Tara Crank did a plantain salve recipe in the magazine not long back too.

 

[FerlasDave]

Ancient Ointments Thanks to the Romans

Ointment making is a good wet weather activity – as long as the herbs are air dried before you use them. You can make ointments out of all sorts of herbs , Comfrey, Calendula, Hypericum, Ya…

myrobalanclinic.wordpress.com

Here is an interesting little article. A good place to start perhaps?

Tiger balm I reckon is a pretty ancient mix too, I use that stuff a lot on aching muscles and when my tendinitis flares up.

 

[TeeDee]

Ancient Ointments Thanks to the Romans

Ointment making is a good wet weather activity – as long as the herbs are air dried before you use them. You can make ointments out of all sorts of herbs , Comfrey, Calendula, Hypericum, Ya…

myrobalanclinic.wordpress.com

Here is an interesting little article. A good place to start perhaps?

Tiger balm I reckon is a pretty ancient mix too, I use that stuff a lot on aching muscles and when my tendinitis flares up.

Tiger Balm IS the apex predators danglies... not too sure what is in it but its effective.

 

[Toddy]

Active Ingredients in Tiger Balm | Tiger Balm U.S.

Wondering what makes Tiger Balm so effective? Read about Tiger Balm’s ingredients here.

www.tigerbalm.com

Native plants ? everything from meadowsweet (good on aching joints ) to the comfrey.
Loooong provenance on those too.

In the medieval period when the English king tried to take Scotland, and lost a battle and his army was routed, they retreated southwards, and did so past Soutra Aisle.
Soutra Isle was an establishment of King Malcolm's. It was an Augustinian friary, and a hospital near the main route south. We have good evidence that the monks treated the wounded there. We know that the 'hospital' was intended to serve the poor though, but the stratigraphy is good.

Anyhow, it was reaquired by the crown sometime in the 1400's and eventually fell into disrepair, surviving only as a family tomb. So has lain pretty much undisturbed.
Escavations on their drains and sewers (it's a 'dirty' site, think biohazard kit, etc.,) have revealed a great deal about the medications they used. It's on clay soil, and it's saturated, so preservation is good.

Research revealed mixtures like black henbane, opium poppy and hemlock....hellish mixture that really; it was used in amputations apparently.
Lot of other stuff came up too, and research on such a thing will always be ongoing.
Dr Brian Moffat has spent much of his working life on the site. If you search for his name then you'll find published papers, etc.,

We have a lot of herbals in the UK and Europe, a lot of medical details from Receipt books and household books among the muniment papers of the estates, etc.,

It's hard to know where to start except perhaps by asking, "what would you use ?".

 

[TeeDee]

It's hard to know where to start except perhaps by asking, "what would you use ?".

I think I am more inclined to dip my toe into salve making by using something that will continue to hold efficacy ( if that's possible ) for some time. I'm talking weeks and months not hours and days , so it maybe MY frame of reference that needs checking.

I'm tempted to experiment with Plantain as have used it in the past with what i think was good , non-placebo effect but I'm thinking I may need an alembic to get best use from the plant?

 

[Broch]

To be honest, the list could be quite long. Here are some; the analysed constituents support most of the claims but I offer no guarantee of efficacity.

Offered without liability - remember that people react differently to herbs, so something that I can use may cause a skin irritation on others. Always try on a small (less sensitive) area.

I have not included any that are considered highly toxic. However, Tansy in particular, is considered mildly toxic and should be used with caution.

I would not use animal fat if you want to keep an ointment/salve for a time. Infuse your plant material in an oil then mix in beeswax until you get the 'thickness' you want - a bit of trial and error. Ointments made this way will keep well.

Petasites hybridus	Butterbur	helps heal wounds
Nepta cataria	Catmint	for rheumatism, arthritis, haemorrhoids
Fumaria officinalis	Common Fumitory	antiseptic and to treat eczema
Verbascum thapsus	Great Mullein	emollient and wound healer, eases the pain of chilblains
Plantago major	Greater Plantain	for piles and ringworm; sap from leaves for insect stings and bites, and nettle stings
Mentha pulegium	Pennyroyal	treats itchiness and formication, eczema, and rheumatic conditions
Hypericum perforatum	Perforate St John's-wort	for wounds and bruising, antiseptic
Sanicula europaea	Sanicle	for wounds, burns, chilblains, haemorrhoids
Pinus sylvestris	Scots Pine	antibacterial, antiseptic, antifungal
Tanacetum vulgare	Tansy	to kill fleas and lice; for bruises, varicose veins and rheumatism
Thymus polytrichus	Wild Thyme	for mastitis, wounds, ulcers

 

[Toddy]

Easiest, and most long lasting, ointment/salve is one made using beeswax and a decent oil. From long experience, sweet almond lasts best. Then again, it's cold-ish in my part of the world, and I'm fine with nuts.
Olive I find heavy and there's always that smell.
Coconut oil is very good, but it goes runny, is very changeable mix wise depending on the seasonal ups and downs.
Grapeseed oil is cheap and it works, but....I don't know, it lacks somehow

Try to keep water to a minimum in your salves.
Soak roots, etc., in oil to 'pull' the goodness from them, better than making a tea though it will take a lot longer.
Tisanes/teas are excellent for quick and as necessary, but the oil/wax ointment or paste will last safely longer.

 

[TLM]

I think beeswax with oil was often used as a base for longer lasting mixtures but honey and resins from certain conifers were used too. As a guess tallow probably was sometimes used.

 

[Toddy]

Thing is though that resins add their own quite determined input into a salve, so yes, definitely good stuff, just it depends on the intended use, iimmc ?

Honey in itself is very sound, but in a mix it's adding 'nutrient' that isn't always a good thing because it's preservation qualities are diluted and thus a tempting target for mould, etc.,
A mix of honey and beeswax with almond oil as a base makes an excellent lipsalve, just make small pots and use them up.

Tallow is good, if it's good tallow, if it's kept tallow rich. It can be very good used as the extraction fat for pulling out the richness from things like the meadowsweet roots, or bog myrtle. Put it in a pot and keep it near enough a fire that the tallow just melts and keep it there for a while, and it'll do a good job.

 

[Robson Valley]

Over here in the colony, I get a salve made from Devil's Club and rendered bear fat from a First Nations medicine woman. Feels good and heals well. Excellent for scrapes and cuts.

 

[TLM]

Two weeks ago kicked into a large stone when trying to avoid falling down in Crocks. Got off a fairly large (1 cm²) piece of skin -deep-, yes it did hurt but not all that much. I guess I also destroyed most nerves close by. Taped the flap (one edge still in me) back with Micropore as I usually do. At first it looked like it might heal but then it started to look like it probably would not. Scrambled into the closest pharmacy for a tube of spruce salve (here a medically approved product with 10% Picea abies resin and various oils). Seems to work, no inflammation and new skin is growing. First time I have used this product, so far very positive experience.

While the product is really not "natural", main ingredients are.

 

[Robson Valley]

It's the touted superiority of the synthetic ingredients that I disapprove of. Here in the west, the all-purpose analgesic and antibiotic ointment is a concoction of Devil's Club with a rendered bear fat carrier. Lots of suppliers in Google using various carriers.

 

[XSR101]

I'm interested in experimenting / making some wild medicinal salves or herbal medications

My question is - from history ( as we have so many erudite people present ) what records exist of what salves were made and used in ancient times? and to these concoctions does the modern day science back it up?

Which plants / ointments / salves would be worth making up ( from a modern science aspect ) and would it keep its efficacy and potency after its been made? would it remain actually useful or just herbal larping and hedge-witchery??

Manuka honey and sterile surgical manuka honey dressings.

Honey has healing properties, internally and externally. Manuka honey has those properties but is far stronger. It tastes strong & a little unpleasant.

Sterile manuka honey dressings are used to treat and pack infected ulcerated wounds, sometimes infected with flesh eating bacteria. (I hope no one is eating & reading this). I have treated a man with leg ulcers 5mm deep 2-3cm wide and 12-15cm long on both his shins. Wounds like this smell strongly & you never get used to that odour. The manuka impregnated fibre dressing is cut to fit into the wound & then the wound is dressed with non adhesive dressing & a cushioned bandage. The Manuka honey attacks the infection and promotes the regrowth of flesh.

Last summer I cut the tip of my finger off -making coleslaw (yeh, I know.. my wife said the same) When it finally stopped bleeding, I used a manuka dressing on the wound, which was down to the bone & it didn't, of course, rebuild the finger but the wound has healed really well.

Manuka dressings are not cheap £6+ each. In my home large first aid kit I have sealed sterile out of date manuka dressings, which I would use. There's nothing wrong with dripping manuka on an infected wound and dressing with a non adherent dressing.



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