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Materia Medica

What is a materia medica?
A materia medica is a guide to the medicinal/healing properties of herbs. Think of these as a resume for each herb. The format usually looks something like this:

Common Name
Latin Name
Description (taste, smell, appearance)
Tendencies (energetics - warming, cooling, toning, drying, ect)
Actions (the system on which the plant acts on specific receptors and how the body reacts as a result of the stimulation)

Angelica
Angelica archangelica, Apiaceae

Taste/smell: Bitter, sweet, aromatic
Tendencies: Warming, stimulating, grounding
Actions: A rare warming bitter (most are cooling), carminative, stomachic, antimicrobial, antispasmodic. Traditionally used for colic with gas and eructations (burps); stimulates gastric and pancreatic secretions; used as an expectorant, emmenagogue, and diuretic (in digestive liquors Benedictine and Chartreuse)

Artichoke Leaf
Cynara scolymus, Asteraceae

Taste/smell: Very bitter, sharp
Tendencies: Cooling, drying
Actions: Antioxidant, cholagogue (helps bile flow; we need bile to digest fat), diuretic, hepatoprotective, lipid-lowering; specific for upper digestive statis; indicated for difficulty digesting fat, bloating, flatulence, constipation, bile insufficiency, IBS, and hyperlipidemia (high blood lipid levels), bad breath 

Betony
Stachys officinalis, Lamiaceae

Taste/smell: Slightly bitter, slightly sweet, aromatic
Tendencies: Warming, drying, astringent, relaxing
Actions: Specific for GERD, digestive bitter, toning (tonic) to digestive system, strengthening to the Solar Plexus (where our gut instincts and intuitive faculties reside), headache remedy (particularly from tension, over-thinking, stress), expectorant, styptic, nervine

Burdock
Arctium lappa, Asteraceae

Taste/smell: 
sweet, bitter, mucilaginous

Tendencies: 
cooling, distributes moisture (although ultimately drying)

Actions: digestion: bitter stimulant, antibacterial, antifungal, mild laxative; cleansing organs: alterative, blood and lymph circulating, liver tonic, choleretic;  general: anti-inflammatory antimutagenic, antioxidant, anti-tumor



"your body is a temple. Not a 7-11."
Jennifer love hewitt

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. As such, this information is not intended to diagnose, treat, or otherwise prescribe for disease, conditions or illness, or perform an act that would constitute the practice of medicine for which a license is required.  In the State of Georgia only medical professionals and licensed dietitians are permitted to give nutritional advice, our purpose is for education only.

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