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Northeast School of Botanical Medicine

Northeast School of Botanical Medicine

Northeast School of Botanical Medicine

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SCHOOL | 7SONG | | Blog

Skullcap

October 14, 2017 by 7Song

Skullcap
Skullcap

Additional Information:

Scientific Name: Scutellaria lateriflora

Common Name: Skullcap

Family: Skullcap

Common Name: Lamiaceae

Locale: Ithaca, New York

Specific Region: Northeast

Description: Young Scutellaria lateriflora plants on the right side of photo. Photo ©2017 7Song. All rights reserved.

Date: June 6, 2003.

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One of my dad’s concerns was that he would be fo

One of my dad’s concerns was that he would be forgotten after he died. He is still very much with me, my siblings, and many others. My favorite times with him were when we were on vacation and got to explore the nature around us. I think that he often looked at nature for inspiration for projects and would make things out of leaves, branches, and rocks. I still have some of them. I miss you, dad.
This is a photo of him and my mom getting married in 1953.

If using lighter plant material, you may need to u

If using lighter plant material, you may need to use a lot more menstruum to cover it. This can lead to a dilute tincture as you have greater amounts of alcohol compared to the constituents that will be extracted from the plant material.

One way to reduce this and compress the plant is by blending it. This is especially useful for very fluffy dried plants such as Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), Damiana (Turnera diffusa), and Hops (Humulus lupulus). If they were not blended, the ratio would need to be about 1:7 to cover the plant. After blending, it is closer to 1:4, making it a more concentrated medicine. I use a Vitamix blender and continually add the alcohol while blending to help reduce the herb. I keep a pad nearby to make a note of how much alcohol I am using so I will know the ratio for the next time.

The basic principle when preparing a tincture is to cover all the plant material. If all other aspects of this ratio seem confusing, just use this basic guideline.

In practice, most fresh plant material is tinctured between 1:2 to 1:3. One of the main reasons for this is that you will eventually be extracting all the water from the fresh plant, which will make the final tincture dilute from this water. This will also add bulk to your tincture, especially if using a tincture press to remove all the fluid from the plant.

With dry plants, this dilution will not happen as they will contain very little moisture. They are often tinctured between 1:4 to 1:6. The numbers will vary depending on several other aspects. This includes how much volume of the jar is occupied by the herb. As mentioned, if the herb cannot be compressed, either manually or with a blender, more alcohol will be needed to cover it. Another factor is the constituents you are looking to obtain from the plant material. For instance, with resinous plants such as Myrrh (Commiphora species), a higher ratio might be needed to dissolve the resin in the menstruum. Higher dilutions (such as 1:8) might be used with plants with potential toxicity, such as Yellow Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens).

I hope you find this information useful. ~7Song

Botanical Preparations-Tinctures The Herb to Menst

Botanical Preparations-Tinctures
The Herb to Menstruum Ratio

This article is part of a series in my newsletter. You can sign up at my website 7Song.com. This is abbreviated to fit into 2 IG posts

What is the ‘herb: menstruum ratio’? It is a description of the herb weight to the menstruum volume. To put it into a visual context, you will be measuring the herbs on a scale and the menstruum in a measuring cup. The herb is always the first number.
Here is an example. You have 4 ounces (120 grams) of dried Echinacea purpurea root that you want to make into a tincture, and you are going to use 50% alcohol at a 1:4 ratio. The resulting tincture would be 4:16 (120g:480mL). You would put 4 oz of Echinacea root into a jar and cover it with 16 oz (4x4) of 50% ethanol.
The question is, how did we arrive at a 1:4 ratio?

One avenue is the folk method, in which the Echinacea roots are just covered in alcohol without any measuring. Frankly, this often works fine, as one of the main goals is to have the plant material fully covered by the menstruum.

Then there is the use of a specific set of numbers. Once one establishes a ratio that seems to make the most potent tincture, that same set of numbers can be employed when preparing the same plant in the future. In other words, it can provide consistency between batches of the tincture. For the tincturer, this means keeping good records and having the details on the jar’s label.

There is often a big difference between tincturing fresh and dried herbs. The water in fresh plants tends to make them heavier and more compact. This means that you can use less alcohol since the plant takes up less room in the jar. Dried plants are often much lighter and take up more space in the jar, requiring more alcohol to cover them.

This is important as you will want to cover all of the plant material in the jar. Covering the herb allows you to extract the constituents from all the plant material in the jar and prevents the uncovered plant material from oxidizing or growing bacteria or fungi. Shaking the jar regularly can also help.

Redroot (Ceanothus americanus, Rhamnaceae). The

Redroot (Ceanothus americanus, Rhamnaceae).

The first thing to say is that Redroot is not Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis, Papaveraceae), which also has beautiful bloodred roots, but with very different medicinal properties.
I usually use the freshly gathered root, which makes a delightfully red tincture.
I use it for long-term infections, especially when there are swollen lymph nodes, wherever they may occur in the body. These may be a sign of a lingering infection. I am not sure if Ceanothus works directly on the lymphatic system or if it increases lymphocytes or interferes with the infection. But it often helps reduce symptoms over time. I consider it a tonic and generally use it for long-term rather than for acute infections. It is usually part of a formula with other immune-oriented plants such as Echinacea, Berberis, Astragalus, and Reishi.
Here in the Northeast, it is often used in formulas for Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases.
If folks are interested, I can write more about it in a future post. ~7Song

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