White willow
Key actions: Anti-inflammatory, analgesic, reduces fever, antirheumatic and astringent.
Uses: Salicylic acid is the main active constituent of White Willow “the forerunner of aspirin, a chemical drug first produced in 1899. Salicylic acid has many of the same analgesic and anti-inflammatory actions as aspirin. It inhibits prostaglandin production, relieve pain, and soothes fevers. Unlike aspirin, it does not thin the blood. Nor does it irritate the stomach lining, a common side effect of aspirin”. (Enclyclopedia of Herbal Medicine Andrew Chevallier, p. 129)
Wild Lettuce – “is a safe sedative that can be given to adult and children to encourage a sound night’s sleep or to calm overactivity or overstimulation. (Enclyclopedia of Herbal Medicine, Andrew Chevallier, p. 225)
Boswelia - is a gum resin from a tree that contains anti-inflammatory boswellic acids. Its most active compound are terpenoids which actions seem similar to those of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, but without side effects. Researchers and clinicians are finding that boswelia is a potent anti-inflammatory, antiarthritic, and pain reliever.
Corydalis - "Research in China from the 1950s onward has shown that corydalis has useful pain relieving properties. The powdered rhizome has up to one-tenth of the analgesic potency of morphine". (Herbal Medicine, Andrew Chevallier p. 89)
Feverfew aerial parts (Tanacetum parthenium) have been studied extensively for head health. “When the wife of a Welsh doctor ended her 50-year-old history of migraine with a course of feverfew, a detailed scientific investigation of feverfew got underway and in clinical trials in Britian during the 1980s the herb was demonstrated to be an effective remedy for migraine”. (Enclyclopedia of Herbal Medicine, Andrew Chevallier, p. 140)
Cramp bark
Key actions: antispasmodic, sedative, astringent and nervine.
“Cramp bark is effective at relieving any tense muscle, whether smooth muscle in the intestines, airways, or uterus, or striated muscle (attached to the skeleton) in the limbs or back”. (Enclyclopedia of Herbal Medicine, Andrew Chevallier, p. 150) Cramp bark also help with constipation, colic, irritable bowel syndrome, nervous tension and high blood pressure.