Medicinal herbal remedies

Herbs was used a long time ago , even before recorded history , firstly because it helped to flavor food that was not that fresh anymore , secondly it was used for its medicinal value – long before medicine as we know it today was founded . I guess they experimented to see what wild plants was good for human consumption – hopefully without deadly consequences . It is easy to think of the ancient people using aromatic , good tasting herbs but it is difficult to understand why they would consume plants with bad smells and unpleasant taste . Dried herbs were found in excavations all over the ancient world , from Egyptian burial chambers to ancient caves .

One of the first known herbal books was written by the legendary Chinese emperor , Shen Nung , nearly five thousand years ago . Other ancient herbal texts include lists inscribed on tablets and papyri from Egypt . The famous Greek doctor , Hippocrates ( born circa 460 BC ) wrote a few books on the subject and a century after him Theophrastus ( born 370 BC ), a pupil of Plato and Aristotle wrote a book named Enquiry into plants . Herbal remedies recorded by the monks in Britain took the form of charms and incantations . Early Saxon herbals show a wide interest and knowledge of herbs and all their uses . Other historical herbal books include the Herbarium , De Materia Medica and Leech Book of Bald . Nicolas Culpeper emphasized the astrological significance of medicinal herbs .

Herbs were grown in the gardens of cottages , monasteries and castles . Recipes for uses in food and mixes for medicine was plentiful and handed from one generation to the next . The people actually believed that wild herbs was more powerful than those they cultivated in their own gardens . That is why a lot of people were paid to fetch wild herbs and bring it to towns . Seeds , roots and leaves of plants were used and very few parts of a plant was ever discarded . Almost all herbs can be used for medicinal purposes .The most useful part of herbs is the essential oils and glycosides . There are thousands of remarkably herbs, flowers, berries and plants that serve medicinal and health purposes like helping with minor injuries, scrapes, bites and pains . Herbs can be anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, antiseptic, antibacterial, detoxification and even help with fever reduction,

During the two World Wars the using of herbal medicines was revived . The modern world started to use herbs for medicine again . Herbs were needed as addition to a poor diet and because of the high vitamin content therein . we are going back to the use of herbs again . Today people by the thousands are using herbs as medicine and as supplements to their diets again . We are going back to our roots so to speak with good results . In South Africa people are also beginning to use herbs , wild herbs for their ailments and there is a lot of herbal doctors , traditional healers or sangomas all over the land giving herbal treatments to their patients .