Preparing medicinal plants

Every use listed on a plant page in this database names the form it has been handed down in — as a tea, as a tincture, as a compress. What does not fit on that page is the question of how you actually do it. These pages fill that gap.

The preparation decides whether anything ends up in the cup at all. Water dissolves different substances than alcohol, and alcohol different ones than fat; a mucilage-rich root loses its mucilage if you boil it, and an essential oil leaves as steam if the cup stands open. Each of the following pages explains the method, gives the quantities used in the specialist literature, and says where self-treatment ends.

The plant lists contain no toxic and no legally controlled species, and for plants carrying a caution no internal use resting on folklore alone — none of that belongs on a page showing people how to do something. It all remains reachable through the search and the plant index.

Tea and infusion

The most common preparation — and the one most often got wrong.

137 plants in this form Tincture

An alcoholic extract — concentrated, long-lasting, dosed by the drop.

109 plants in this form Compress and poultice

External application with cloth and infusion — cold or warm, depending on the aim.

103 plants in this form Gargles and rinses

Works only where the liquid reaches — and only if you gargle long enough.

48 plants in this form Steam inhalation

Steam carries essential oils straight to the mucous membrane — with clear exceptions.

24 plants in this form Baths

A full or partial bath with a strong infusion — working through skin and warmth.

48 plants in this form Salve and infused oil

Fat draws out what water cannot — and stays on the skin, where it belongs.

37 plants in this form Essential oils

The most concentrated thing a plant yields — and the most frequently misused.

34 plants in this form Fresh use

Straight from the garden — the simplest application, with the most important precondition.

97 plants in this form As a spice

Kitchen quantity and medicinal quantity are two different things — often confused.

42 plants in this form

All plants · Help with symptoms · Harvest calendar