My Herbal Notebook

Photos by Jordan Robitaille

If you were stranded on an island, which plant would you want growing there? Serenoa repens, a scrubby perennial member of the Arecaceae family, might be a sensible choice. This versatile native, bestowed its common name by William Bartram, is one of the most multipurpose plants in the southeast.

Its ethnobotanical uses include food and medicine and other uses including fiber, oil, wax, paper, and roofing materials. Native people of the southeast used its stems and leaves to make baskets, brushes, dolls, rope, and other useful items. Cedar Key was the home to a company that manufactured paper from saw palmetto fibers. In the early 1900s, a soda was even produced from the berries and marketed under the name “Metto” by a Jacksonville based company and distributed throughout the state. The strong, and to some offensive taste of the berries, may offer a clue about why this beverage had short-lived fame!

However, saw palmetto berries provide sustenance for bears, white-tail deer, foxes, raccoons, and gopher tortoises. The plants themselves offer habitat for reptiles, birds, and small mammals. Even deer use saw palmetto for cover, and scrub jays retrieve the “threads” for nesting materials.

Found abundantly in pinelands, hammocks, sandy prairies, and coastal dunes throughout Florida, S. repens also grows in moist grasslands. This highly flammable plant is fire adapted and new leaf growth begins as early as a few days following a burn.

Serenoa repens is sometimes confused with Sabal minor. To indentify “saw” palmetto look for sawlike teeth on the leaf petioles. S. minor has smooth petioles. The leaves of S. repens are fan-shaped and up to a meter wide. The fragrant tiny white flowers have 3 to 5 petals and are borne on showy, branched inflorescences, blooming late spring through mid-summer. The black, oblong, berries mature in mid to late fall.

Although the berry is bitter and slightly astringent, the nutritional value is high and contains fatty acids and sterols, sugars, resins and tannins, and small amounts of beta carotene. S. repens was an important dietary adjunct for native people living in the southeast and even served to save the lives of early settlers in some cases. According to Spanish explorer Hernando Descalante Fontaneda (Austin), the Calusas ate the berries fresh and the Choctaw people dried them for use in the winter.

The base (heart) of the terminal bud can be removed and eaten in salads or lightly steamed (Deuerling and Lantz). And unlike cabbage palm, harvesting these “hearts of palm” will not kill the plant. They are not however, as tasty as the succulent base of the cabbage palm. The flowers are a favorite of bees, and honey from hives near S. repens is quite robust delicious.

As a medicine, S. repens has a long history of successful use in the treatment of various urinary and reproductive complaints (for both men and women), including cystitis; treats upper respiratory irritation and infection; and is considered adaptogenic by some herbalists (Kuhn and Winston). The most popular use in modern times is for prostate issues and is typically used in the form of standardized extracts.

Because most people do not enjoy the taste of saw palmetto berries, teas or infusions made from the dried berries are an acquired taste, but a syrup made from the berries makes this remedy palatable. The seeds, high in fatty acids, can be ground and blended into foods (Duke), although it is more efficient to use standardized extracts for medicinal purposes.

Although saw palmetto is not endangered, it has come under assault as “wildcrafters,” spurred by large commercial production of herbal extracts, overharvest the berries which removes food from the animal habitats and potentially reduces the population of S. repens. A large part of the harvests are sent overseas.

Cautions: Saw palmetto has no safety concerns; however, people with digestive issues may experience gastric distress or loose stools from ingestion of the berries. Remember to correctly identify plants before harvesting and using them. And if you are unsure, consult with experienced foragers and herbalists before eating or using plants from the wild.

References

Austin, D. 2004. Florida Ethnobotany. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Deuerling, R. J. and Lantz, P. S. 1995. Florida’s Incredible Wild Edibles. Orlando FL: Florida Native Plant Society.

Duke, J. 1999. Dr. Duke’s Essential Herbs. Rodale Reach.

Kuhn, M. A. and D. Winston. 2000. Herbal Therapy and Supplements: A Scientific and Traditional Approach. Philadelphia: Lippincott.

Winston, D. 1999. Saw Palmetto for Men and Women. Pownal, VT: Storey Books.

Posted in Saw Palmetto on October 21st, 2008
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The title for this post is a false statement because really you can’t grow St. John’s wort Florida, although many of its cousins flourish here. Hypericum perforatum, the namesake of the Hypericaceae family, does not like Florida, although it is rated in most plant guides as suitable for this climate.

For many years, I bought this plant from garden stores hoping it would grow and feeling for certain I lacked the proper skills to keep it alive because every year it died. I so admire and resonate with this wonderful plant: the flowers with their delicately perforated margins, the tiny perforated leaves, and the healing gifts she offers. I especially enjoy the beautiful, luxurious and healing red oil from the flowers. I have been very determined to harvest this plant from my own property. But the green goddess has not been willing in this endeavor.

H. perforatum (called St. Joan’s wort in the Wise Woman tradition) is a multifaceted herbal ally with a variety of properties including antiviral, diuretic, antidepressive, and antispasmodic. St. Joan’s wort is useful externally as an oil for neuralgia, muscle spasms, minor burns or as a wash for minor cuts and scrapes; and internally as an infusion or tincture to treat depression, urinary issues, viral conditions, colic, and migraines.

Despite the fact the cattle consuming huge quantities of the herb have succumbed to photosensitivity, called “hypericism,” there is only a small likelihood of a problem for anyone taking the recommended dosage of 2.7 mg of hypericin per day, which is considerably below the level required to produce phototoxicity. Fair-skinned individuals, however, may want to exercise caution if planning to be out in the sun for extended periods of time while taking St. Joan’s wort internally. Paradoxically, Hypericum oil is recommended for healing minor burns and also protects the skin against ultraviolet radiation and the antiviral properties of the oil may actually be increased by the ultraviolet radiation! (Remember, it is not a good idea to smother a deep wound in oil, as the chances of bacterial growth may increase.)

Although most people I know have never seen St Joan’s wort flower in Florida, this does not stop nursery growers and retailers from selling it and writers of herbals, including growing guides, from claiming it does grow here. I suppose the keyword is “grow.” It grows after a fashion. Trailing like a slow creeping vine. It never grows up and to its normal height of one to three feet, but instead just hugs the ground as if it were afraid of being seen. And it is quite fragile, succumbing easily to not enough water, too much water, too much sun, not enough sun, or too much humidity.

Florida has a number of native Hypericum species including H. cistifolium, H. gentianoides, H. myrtifolium, H. reductum, H. fasciculatum, H. crux-andraea, and the quite abundant St. Andrew’s cross (H. hypericoides ) and St. Peter’s Wort (H. tetrapetalum ). H. perforatum , the Hypericum that produces copious amounts of red pigment from its flowers, is sadly not among them. The compounds that produce the red color are two eight-ringed structures, hypericin and psuedohypericin, which along with other constituents, make H. perforatum the most active pharmaceutically of the Hypericum species. These compounds are specifically found in the specialized glands that appear as black dots on the flower and leaf margins.

H. perforatum is purported to grow in Georgia, but I have not found it in my travels. Friends tell me that it starts to show up in fields in Virginia, and it can be gathered in the Carolinas. Of course, it is quite the “weed” in cooler climates, falling into the noxious plant category in many states and counties.

My fellow herbalists in Florida have been greatly frustrated by this plant’s refusal to flourish here. I know someone who dug St. John’s Wort out of the ground in North Carolina when she was visiting a friend. The plant was upright and healthy. When she returned to Florida, she planted it in her Jacksonville-area garden and after a few weeks, it began to spread out and creep along the ground. Some of us have started them from seed, even stratifying the seeds, with no luck. We have tried growing them in different micro-climates and even growing them in pots. H. perforatum is quite pretty in a hanging basket, but so far in my experience and that of friends, it won’t flower.

If you gather the green leafy tips and squeeze them, you will notice a reddish tinge from the leaf glands. Some studies have indicated that high levels of these active compounds are also found in the leaves. An oil made from the tips eventually gains a reddish hue (after a month in a sunny spot!), but it is not the deep red apparent from infusing the yellow flowers in oil for just week or two.

Hypericum is derived from Greek (huper , above and eikon , image) and, as best as most translations go, means “over an apparition” or “power over evil.” This makes sense as traditionally it was used to banish evil spirits, and its bright yellow flowers, which bloom June through August, were thrown into fires during Roman and Greek solstice celebrations. As was common when the Christian churches began to exterminate traditional festivals and beliefs, saint names were used liberally, and so Hypericum became commonly called “St. John’s Wort.” Similarly, other plants in the Hypericum genus were “christened” with saint names when discovered in the New World.

American native peoples used various Hypericum species including H. hypericoides and H. fasciculatum . The leaves were used in salads or to flavor liquors; and to promote healing, especially of burns, cuts, and varicose veins. An infusion of H. hypericoides leaves was used as a wash sore eyes. The root of H. fasciculatum was used by the Seminole people for treating urinary and bowl blockage, acting as a cathartic. Other native people used the root bark to treat fevers and pain (including toothaches and pain at childbirth). A leaf infusion was reported to have helped treat rheumatism.

References

Austin, D. 2004. Florida Ethnobotany . Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Grieve, M. 1931/1971. A Modern Herbal . New York: Dover Publications, Inc.

Moerman, D. E. 1998. Native American Ethnobotany . Portland OR: Timber Press Inc

Posted in At Flying Cactus Farm, Hypericum in Florida on August 4th, 2008
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If you find that many of your favorite culinary herbs wilt, “melt,” and otherwise succumb to the Florida heat and humidity, consider creating a rock garden. After years of basically abandoning the “kitchen” garden, I finally decided to return to a passion of my childhood.

When I was growing up New Jersey we lived on a sloping quarter acre that curved around to a very steep embankment, a favorite place for sledding in the winter. Once on a trip with my parents, I saw a rock garden and fell in love. When we returned home, I went to library and took out every book available on rock gardening. My dad helped me put together a plan, we located rocks (an easy task in New Jersey’s rocky Appalachian Ridge and Piedmont areas), and set to work. It was beautiful and I tended it enthusiastically until we moved.

So with that memory, I decided what my culinary herb garden needed was some rocks–clearly a challenge to come by in Florida. My husband picks up rocks and stones wherever he can find them on trips and visits to friends. We salvaged rocks, cement slag, pavers, and bricks just before one of his clients bulldozed some old apartments. We rescue old bricks whenever we can. Of course, you can buy rocks and stones at a number of place throughout the state, but what fun is that? Better to scavenge them or ask friends to bring you rocks when they visit from out of state (if they are driving, that is). You can even make your own “rocks” by mixing gravel with cement and letting it dry in various shapes.

The kitchen garden was already located on a slight slope, so we exaggerated it a bit and created the illusion of terracing with our ragtag collection of stones and rocks. I then laid a basket-weave pattern of bricks down the center. After Max took a romp through it the first day, I prudently edged it with inexpensive coated metal “fencing.”

The concept of a “rock” garden in Europe began when people tried to recreate the growing habitat for Alpine flowers, and, of course, Asian cultures, particularly China and Japan, have a tradition of magnificently designed ornamental rocks gardens. But it is the craggy hills in southern Europe that we need to emulate in order to grow the culinary herbs we use most. Mimicking that hot, dry environment, even partially (no way to get rid of the humidity, of course), is the key to significantly improving the quality of your favorite kitchen herbs. Because they naturally grow in poor soil tucked in rocky crevices, many culinary herbs benefit from limestone, and so the cement slag is good choice for creating a rock garden and adding pieces or chips of limestone is beneficial. Good drainage is must to maintain robust herbs in this damp climate.

The rewarding part of cultivating culinary herbs in Florida is that most of them thrive in the worst soil, so the sandy and acidic Florida dirt is not a problem. As a matter of fact, I have found that some of the kitchen herbs do poorly in improved soil, particularly oregano, thyme, catnip, rosemary, and rose geranium.

Sage and lavender struggle in the Florida heat humidity, but they have both fared better in the rock garden. Dig in extra sand when you plant these and similar plants and then spread sand around under the leaves and stems to keep the area from holding too much moisture. If you like lavender in your Florida herb garden, consider the Goodwin Creek cultivar, which fares well in the humidity here. And be realistic, there are some culinary and cultivated medicinal herbs that you can only grow in the winter months: cilantro and chamomile, for instance.

Another pleasure of having a rock garden is that it tends to stay free of unwanted plants because your herbs will spread out over rocks, creating shady areas underneath where the “weeds” get less sunlight. Don’t get too complacent though, after only a few weeks of neglect, you will find grass poking through the basil and oregano, and Phillanthus, matchweed (Phyla nodiflora) or poor Joe (Dioda teres) tangled in your thyme. Note that these green friends should not be dismissed as many have medicinal properties; however, they don’t necessarily make good company for your more persnickety culinary herbs.

Some Medicinal Uses for Your Culinary Herbs

• Basil (Ocimum basilicum ) - Digestive, sedative, anti-bacterial
• Oregano (Origanum vulgare ) - Antiseptic and warming; reduces anxiety and insomnia, and calms nerves; a good digestive, and helps treat winter colds
• Parsley (Petroselinum crispum ) - Nutritional and antioxidant (high in vitamins and minerals: A, C, and B complex, boron, iron, calcium); laxative (dried root); diuretic
• Peppermint (Mentha piperita ) - Digestive, carminative; relieves nausea and flatulence
• Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis ) - Astringent, diaphoretic, expectorant, rubefacient (essential oil)
• Thyme (Thymus vulgaris ) - Antiseptic, antispasmodic, digestive; treats upper respiratory infections and sore throats, strengthens the immune system

Posted in At Flying Cactus Farm, Culinary Herbs, Musings on July 18th, 2008
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