The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Angelica

Episode Date: April 3, 2025

Today we discuss one of my favorite herbs, and why you should learn to identify various members of the apiacea family -- some are edible and medicinal but others are deadly!The Spring Foraging Cook Book is available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRP63R54Or you can buy the eBook as a .pdf directly from the author (me), for $9.99: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-spring-foraging-cookbook.htmlYou can read about the Medicinal Trees book here https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2021/06/paypal-safer-easier-way-to-pay-online.html or buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1005082936PS. New in the woodcraft Shop: Judson Carroll Woodcraft | SubstackRead about my new books:Medicinal Weeds and Grasses of the American Southeast, an Herbalist's Guidehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/05/medicinal-weeds-and-grasses-of-american.htmlAvailable in paperback on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47LHTTHandConfirmation, an Autobiography of Faithhttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/05/confirmation-autobiography-of-faith.htmlAvailable in paperback on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNKVisit my Substack and sign up for my free newsletter: https://judsoncarroll.substack.com/Read about my new other books:Medicinal Ferns and Fern Allies, an Herbalist's Guide https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/11/medicinal-ferns-and-fern-allies.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMSZSJPSThe Omnivore’s Guide to Home Cooking for Preppers, Homesteaders, Permaculture People and Everyone Else: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-omnivores-guide-to-home-cooking-for.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BGKX37Q2Medicinal Shrubs and Woody Vines of The American Southeast an Herbalist's Guidehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/06/medicinal-shrubs-and-woody-vines-of.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2T4Y5L6andGrowing Your Survival Herb Garden for Preppers, Homesteaders and Everyone Elsehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/04/growing-your-survival-herb-garden-for.htmlhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B09X4LYV9RThe Encyclopedia of Medicinal Bitter Herbs: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-encyclopedia-of-bitter-medicina.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5MYJ35RandChristian Medicine, History and Practice: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/01/christian-herbal-medicine-history-and.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B09P7RNCTBHerbal Medicine for Preppers, Homesteaders and Permaculture People: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2021/10/herbal-medicine-for-preppers.htmlAlso available on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B09HMWXL25Podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/southern-appalachian-herbsBlog: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/Free Video Lessons: https://rumble.com/c/c-618325

Hey y'all, welcome to this week's show. This week we're going to talk really about one of my favorite herbs. And I guess when I think about it, it was one of the first herbs that I learned to identify. It rose abundantly in the mountains of North Carolina where I live. And I mean just the memory of the scent of it kind of brings me back to being a teenager in the Blue Ridge Mountains you know. As I've told you many times I learned herbal medicine from the Hicks family and um Angelica was one that Rosie Hicks used for various ailments but especially asthma and chronic bronchitis and that's you know things that I was suffering from that which really got

me started on herbs. I still have a decades old dried angelica root piece of paper where Rosie wrote down the plants medicinal properties. So you know it's really one of my favorites and also it was one that they really emphasized learning to identify and that's because it really has two major poisonous look-alikes. They're not that much of a look-alike once you get to know the plants, but in the spring, early spring especially, they can look really close and a mistake could be fatal actually. Angelica is, well in its youngest younger stages looks a lot like Doll's Eyes or oh what's the Latin name for Doll's Eyes

it's also called Bainberry Apocanym perhaps? I'd have to look it up and I can't do that right now I'm podcasting really creepy looking plant when it's full grown. It's also really abundant in the mountains. It's called Doll's Eyes because it has red stems with white berries that have a little black dot on them that looks like a pupil, you know. And it's creepy looking.

It looks like something out of a horror movie. So when full grown you absolutely cannot mistake these two plants but early in the spring you definitely could. So you got to learn to identify Angelica but you'll also have to be even in the mature stage very careful not to confuse it with water hemlock. Water hemlock is considered to be North America's most poisonous plant. It is nothing to fool around with. They both have purplish stems. They're both in the Apaceae family.

That's the carrot family, if that makes it any easier for you. Unlike poison hemlock, water hemlock doesn't really have carrot-like leaves. That's the other most poisonous plant, by the way. Both these in the same family as parsley and carrots and well several things we eat. So I mean it's not like everything in the family is something to worry about. You just really do have to be sure of your identification and angelica the leaf is what you really want to look at there are different properties of the plant that you will also look like like a hairiness in the stem for the hemlock

for the the the flowers they're they're umbiliferous, but not like a carrot flower. It is for the poison hemlock. It looks almost identical to wild carrot. We'll get into that in another time. And I have discussed that before. Again, you look for that hairy stem on the hemlock. On the wild carrot, there's this little purple flower right in the middle of the umbil. You can learn to identify that one.

This one I would say with the water hemlock, the flower is more like angelica. It's umbiliferous but they actually form like little clusters that look like little balls of Queen Anne's lace or something, okay. So you really do want to pay very close attention to the leaves and look it up online. Just look at the shape of an Angelica leaf. It's very different from the shape of a water hemlock leaf. Another one that you might want to look for in this family is cow parsnip. It, some people could say, can be confused with water hemlock. The flower is totally different.

The leaves are completely different. But some people, I guess some people mistake it for water hemlock and because it can cause dermatitis for some people, it can cause a rash. They think it's a poisonous plant. It's actually an edible and good plant. And again, look at the leaves on that one and the flower on that one because you're not going to mistake that for either angelica or water hemlock or poison hemlock. I mean, for one thing, it's huge. Cow parsnips can grow six, eight feet tall. The leaves can be like two feet across.

I mean, I'm not kidding. This thing is just huge. So anyway, that's why it was so important that I learned to identify Angelica. So I didn't mistake it for a very deadly poisonous plant. And also because Rosie used it in, I'm'm gonna say 75% of her herbal concoctions herbal remedies. It's really really good and it grows plentifully. It's also called Archangelica. It's legend has it was named after I think was the Archangel Raphael. It goes back to a legend. I actually will probably get into that. It was thought to be a cure, a plague. Yeah, I think we will get into that

as I get further into my notes here. But it has a wonderful scent. It has an anis, phenol, caraway, licorice type scent. And a lot of people, it's one of the reasons in most you know herbal cough remedies not only is it a good effective herbal remedy for coughs and colds and all that and congestion but it tastes great too it really does if you like that flavor I happen to love licorice and anise and caraway and

fennel and there's really some of my favorite flavors if you don't like it well you probably won't like it, but it's an edible. The stems are often candied and eaten for foraging. So it's a good one to learn from both a medicinal and edible standpoint, and especially so you don't harvest the wrong thing. I mean, if you, a lot of times in the national forest, you're not gonna have cell coverage, you're not gonna be able to get online, you're not going to have cell coverage, you're not

going to be able to get online, you're not going to be able to do anything. I would save pictures of those four plants on my phone. In fact, I think I'm actually going to do that so that when I'm out with people and I'm teaching them about plants, I can immediately pull it up and say, it's one thing to pull up a field guide, but you can kind of zoom in and out on a picture and focus on that leaf Yeah, I'm gonna save those four plants to my phone and maybe doll's eyes as well But I mean that's really hard to mistake for anything once it gets a little little larger and it while it is poisonous it has a

Depressant effect on the heart rate and blood pressure, it does actually have some medicinal benefits. So it is actually one I teach people about, but I teach them that it should be used with great care, if at all, and probably only by somebody who's really experienced with such. Another would be lily of the valley, you know, probably need a picture of that, and one of ramps so I can show people the difference between ramps and Lily of the Valley. Again, Lily of the Valley has that digitalis-like effect of slowing the heart rate and respiration. And a little bit's great, a little bit's great if you have certain cardiac issues. And we'll talk about Lily of the Valley on another day. But mistaking it for a ramp and eating the whole plant you're probably gonna drop dead. I mean seriously you just you got to be very careful. There are

not that many plants that are that poisonous. Most of what I encounter in the mountains has some additional edible value and most that doesn't would probably just upset your stomach, you know. But there are a few and you got to be really, really careful for those few without a doubt. So yeah, good plant. Go ahead and pull up, you know, there's so many great places to go for images of plants on the internet. NC State University has a great horticultural website.

You can look up Angelica, you can look up all three of these and you're gonna get five or six really high quality photos to choose from. People from all over the state submit them. Dave's Garden always has some great ones. Of course, Wikipedia. The Forager Chef, he does a great job. Really one of my favorite sites.

But there's just so many these days. And of course this was not the case when I was a kid. We didn't have the internet. We did not have any of this kind of stuff. We had field guides with usually just line drawings, pencil drawings. The ones with color photographs were really expensive and I couldn't afford them as a kid.

So it was hands-on learning for me. It was learn to identify this plant by sight while you're in the woods. So, oh and before I move on, usually angelica when put into a cough syrup is combined with wild cherry bark. Wild cherry bark is an antitussive quality. It suppresses cough, essentially. Usually a little sassafras root and honey and some whiskey, moonshine, whatever you got, right? That is like one of the most traditional mountain cough syrup remedies. And at one point, everybody would have had it on hand and sipped on as much for pleasure as for everybody would have had on hand and sipped on as much for pleasure as for for colds, coughs and colds because it's darn tasty actually. And if you like the

taste of anise, do check out William, I mean George Herder, George L. Herder's Bullcook. He put anise in every dessert. He always called it, if he said it had a special taste, it had anise in it. So you can actually substitute for, well, fennel seed or angelica. So, you know, now we got that out of the way. But angelica is really a classic in liqueurs and bitters. It's included in Benedictine, French Absinthe, Vermouth, Chartreuse. It actually was even used to flavor Rhine wines to give them more appeal on the market before they had to list all the ingredients in there.

It's really quite used in European beverages. Even in the old Rodeodeo herb book there was a really good recipe for digestive bitters and it was just simply consisted of an ounce of dried angelica, an ounce of holy thistle. That's the... well I have... we'll get to that. I have a whole chapter on holy thistle. That's another one that has that association with appearance of an angel or something that have a whole chapter on Holy Thistle. That's another one that has that association with appearance of an angel or something that saved the whole army from plague. So that's really interesting. You're going to love that. And a half ounce of dried hops. So Angelica Thistle and hops, you could certainly substitute a few things if you didn't have all that on

hand. But yeah, that's a nice, nice bitters formula. And it said that this bitters formula was carminative. That means it settles and ups its stomach, especially with a lot of gas. Stimulant, diaphoretic means it helps with fevers. Tonic and expectorant. So tonic in that case means helps with appetite. Good for colds, coughs, pleurisy, flash, and it's colic, rheumatism, and urinary troubles. It also notes that Parkinson wrote that it was of special use in tremblings and passions of the heart. We'll get to, I mean, Parkinson was a really, you know, great herbalist and it's tremblings and passions of the heart. So it has a lot of like folklore attached to it for like love potions and such as well which you know we don't really get into.

Complete, let's see, it's also in the Swedish bitters. That's what I was trying to remember. Angelica is one of the key ingredients in the Swedish bitters which of course I've mentioned before. It is listed as sweet, pungent, warm, and generally drying. So you may wonder how it is a bitter herb when it's sweet. Well it has a bitter sweetness, is the best way I can put it. We'll get into this again when we get to like anise and licorice, licorice especially, it totally depends on your taste buds. Some people taste black licorice as bitter. Ex-girlfriend of mine couldn't stand it. To her it was bitter. To me it's sweet. I mean it just totally depends on your taste buds. So, and that actually has a lot to do with your constitution, your kind of

lot to do with your Constitution, your kind of way a professional herbalist would treat you based on, that would be one factor. It's called your energetics or your Constitution. But anyway, we don't need to get into that right now. So no one knows who first used it medicinally or the true origins of the name. Some say it was thought to bloom on the feast day of St. Mark the Archangel. So that may be right. No. Others say the Archangel Gabriel appeared at the time of the Black Plague and informed people that angelica could be used as a remedy for plague. So it wasn't Raphael. It either blooms on the feast day of Saint Michael or the Archangel Gabriel gave it to people as a remedy for the plague. Both legends are very common in Europe. Very common. William Hilton says tradition in Latvia included ceremonial possessions, processions of people carrying angelica plants

through the village. Chanting a language that is so old no one knew what the words meant but were from a pre-Christian tradition. So there's so much folklore associated with Angelica both during the Christian era and before. I mean when you're in Latvia and the language is so old people don't even know what it means anymore. That goes back a ways. That goes back a long ways. But the first reference to Angelica long ways. But the first reference to Angelica in the 14th century was by Matthias Silvesticus. This of course counts as Middle Ages but I'm trying to get a little more modern. Okay in 1588 the great botanist Tabernum on Taberta Montaneus I believe is the way you pronounce it. That's a hard one.

I cannot remember which is which. I've got it written Montana, so I'm going to go with Tabernum Montanaus. But he wrote of Angelica with its extraordinary power and virtue as if the Holy Ghost or the Deer Angels had revealed this plant and wholesome root to mankind. According to him, the plant was primarily used in hospitals for infectious diseases to counteract plague and pestilential air. He also called it poison root as it can be used in cases where poison was either eaten or drunk. The herb seems to be however little known or maybe even unknown by ancient Greek and

Roman herbalists. The only similar plant used by Dioscorides was Levesticum. That's a variety of lovage and they are very similar actually, but somewhat different in their medicinal properties. Lovasticum or lovage is more used in cooking and it seems likely that Angelica entered monastic medicine through folk medicine traditions of Germany and Central Europe. Looking at the Polish, Sophie Hotarowicz-Nabb says, according to archaeological diggings, Angelica was known to Poland 2,500 years ago. It was also found in old Polish monasteries

of the 12th century and called the herb of the Holy Ghost. And according to an ancient Polish herbal, I'm not even gonna try to pronounce the guy's name. I'm not very good with Polish names. I love Polish people and Polish food, but yeah, I couldn't speak that language to save my life. Just give me some pierogies and good kielbasa and I'm happy. So the powder of this root will free the chest and lungs of fluid and also be of service to those heavy in childbearing. A syrup of the

root boiled in wine or honey would draw out any poison or venom. He also suggested in the event of some kind of troublesome misfortune, gather the root with care at the descent of the lion's cub and it's you know astrological sign is starved. People used to tell time by the the constellations time of the year and such and hanging around your neck it will drive away cares and cause a merry heart infusion of this herb is used as a protection against cholera now it's interesting and you may think that's superstition well it may be but there are actually several members of the APHA family that have this scent.

Well, the Vesticum does, as I mentioned. There's another one here in America. Oh, the names are coming to me right now. It's called bear medicine in the Native American traditions because bears love to dig it up and eat it. But a lot, these are similar plants, same family, different traditions in different parts of the world where people would actually take it and wear it around the neck. Now some said it would drive away evil spirits. Well, who knows? I'm not going to get into that. What it actually does, it's an aromatherapy basically.

You're inhaling the scent of this plant and it actually does cause you to be a little happier. It's good for anxiety. There's an herbalist I know that always carries someone on an airplane. He's afraid of flying. He smells it. It helps with anxiety. There's actually a scientific cause behind this. So, you know, it's always interesting to look at the old traditions and try to find out why people thought a certain way about it. Now getting up to the same in the German tradition, but much more modern, this 1890s, Father Nape really loved angelica. He said it grows in damp meadows or woody places.

Yeah, that's true. I'm not going to get into all that. He says it is known for its salutary effects on the human body. If anyone has taken unwholesome or half poisonous food, tea made by boiling its roots, seeds, and leaves is an excellent remedy for removing those injurious matters. The whole, as the blood is prepared from the different kinds of food, he means as different kinds of food nourish the body and blood.

And these are not all good and wholesome for the system. This tea leads bad matters out again. Okay. He's saying it was basically just good for poisonings, food poisoning and all of that. He says, how often does it happen that an uncomfortable coldness takes possession of the stomach? A cup of tea made from such roots brings more warmth to the stomach again. It is best to divide such a cup of tea into three parts and take the first in the morning,

the second at noon, and the third in the evening. If there is morbid matter in the stomach and bowels, or if gripes are caused by gases, this tea is again an efficacious remedy, especially if half wine and half water are taken for the tea. Thick phlegm in the lungs and chest, heartburn, phlegm in the windpipes are by this tea especially most easily removed. The angelica can be highly recommended as an excellent home remedy and country people ought to gather a good quality quantity of it for the whole year. In the meadow and woods, dried in the

air, keep it in a dry place. The roots, seeds, and leaves, well dried, may be made into a powder, and a good pinch of such powder, taken twice or three times daily, will supply the place of the tea. I caution those who have little knowledge of plants against gathering Angelica, lest they carry home hemlock instead. As I said, very wise to say that. I was urged to give this warning by the fact that cases of such dangerous mistakes have repeatedly occurred. Father Napes' protege, Brother Aloysius, recommended Angelica for epilepsy, hysteria, nervous complaints, general weakness, vomiting, colic indigestion, and that was a wild Angelica. There was one that was grown in the garden

Probably a little bit improved. We don't really have a garden variety of angelica anymore But he said used for food poisoning flatulence nervous anxiety fever green sickness cramp like vomiting colic nervous headaches lack of strength inflammation of the windpipe gout scurvy lungsvy, lungs and chest, congestion, phlegm, stomach complaints, scrofula, and pituitous fever. I don't know, some kind of fever. Looking at the Russian tradition, Igor Villovich Zevin says that Russian folk healers used angelica as a tonic to treat hysteria, epilepsy, and insomnia, and as an expectorant and diaphoretic to treat diseases of the respiratory system. They also used it to treat pedagogy and rheumatism, as well as a pain in the lumbar reach of the

back. A decoction of leaves is used to expel intestinal worms. Turn to the British tradition, Gerard, well, they had a garden angelica as well and he says that's Archangelica aficionalis. So I don't see it in seed catalogs these days. If you want to get some from the wild and plant in the garden, go for it. I think that's about the only way we're gonna get it in this country. He said it was a singular good remedy against poison and against the plague and all infections taken by corrupt air. If you do but take a piece of the root and hold it in your mouth and chew the same between your teeth, it

doth most certainly drive away pestilential air. He said it would also through sweat and urine remove contaminations from your body. Angelica is an enemy to poison. He goes into great detail talking about how Angelica given the wine was actually used against snake bites and all kinds of stuff. He said, openeth the liver and the spleen, draweth down the terms, means it can stimulate menstruation, driveth out or expeleth the secondine. I think that's the afterbirth actually so hopefully we don't have to worry about that. The decoction of the root made in wine is good against cold shivering agus or fevers. Yeah, it is very good. It's really

good for fevers and such. Very comforting as well. It's comforting to the stomach. It's a nice fever remedy. This is 1500s England and he recommends it against witchcraft and enchantments. Hopefully we don't have to encounter that either. But remember Protestant England was a very very superstitious place. Very concerned with witches. In fact, the next herbalist we're going to discuss on his use of angelica is Culpepper. And Culpepper had the gall, I guess you would say, to translate the medical texts, which were all in Latin, into the common language of England. So the doctors and pharmacists accused him of witchcraft and tried to have him killed. So that continued really into early America.

That happened quite often in New England especially. You know Protestant New England was just as worried about witches as Protestant England. So I don't know why they were so worried about witches but apparently they were. Who knows? Let's see. He said it is a singularly good medicine against lozomeness to meat. But apparently they were. Who knows? Let's see. He said it is a singularly good medicine against lozomeness to meat.

Now that means it would increase the appetite and make you want to eat meat. And always a good thing. Especially what they call convalescent. If you've been sick and you just don't have a good appetite. He even recommended it for the bitings of mad dogs and venomous beasts. Of course, if you get bitten by a rabid animal, go to the hospital immediately. Dets from the 1500s take it with a great assault. But Colpheap from the 1600s says, it resists poisons by defending and

comforting the heart, blood, and spirits. It doth the like against the plague and all epidemic diseases if the root be taken and powdered with some treacle. That's in our time. Treacle is basically corn syrup or molasses. Treacle is almost a variant of molasses, I guess you would say. It's cane syrup anyway yeah anyway he said the stalks of root can be candied and eaten fasted eaten eaten fasting and are good preservatives in time of infection and other times to

warm and comfort a cold stomach the root steeped in vinegar the root steeped in vinegar, the root steeped in vinegar taken sometimes fasting or even the root smelled is good for the same purpose. So good for the stomach. Stimulate the appetite, make the stomach feel better. Water distilled from the root is much more effectual than water of the leaf. So distillation was better than just a tea, is what he's saying. Let's see if there's anything we need to cover here. Good for colds and windy conditions, that's gas. But, pleurisy, all diseases of the lungs and breasts,

coughs, shortness of breath, and he mentions a syrup, the stock used for that, just as it has been in the mountains. Helps with the pain of colic, the strangery, and the stoppage of urine that suppress urine. Procures wound, of course, to stimulate spensies, expels the afterbirth, opens the stoppings of the liver and spleen, and briefly eases

and discusses all windiness and inward swellings. So good for a gassy stomach, basically. Let's see. He talks about how decoction, that's a strong tea made from the root, we usually reduce the water by half by boiling it, was really good for agnus or fevers. Helps digestion.

The juice or water being dropped into the eyes helps dimness of sight and deafness. The juice put into a hollow tooth eases the pain. The Irish tradition is from the mid-1700s. John Kehoe says the root pulverized and taken inwardly causes sweat, expels all noxious humors, and prevents any malignity that proceeds from the air. It also prevents the same malignity if it be chewed in the morning before breaking the fast.

A decoction of this herb helps cure palpitations, oppressions of the heart, and promotes urine. Now much more modern, up to 1931, Ms. Grieve mentions that Parkinson, probably the greatest British herbalist, in Paradis and Soleil in 1629, they were still writing everything in Latin at the time, that's what a professional medical man did, put angelica in the forefront of all medicinal plants. He thought it was the best and it holds a most high place among village herbalists today. I'm just going to see if she said anything. We have it covered. She mentions again it was held in such esteem that it was called the root of the Holy Ghost and medicinal actions it uses. The root, stalks, and leaves possess carminative, that means

cells, the stomach again, stimulant, diaphoretic, good for fevers, stomatic, tonic, expectant properties which are strongest in the fruit, though the whole plant has the same virtues. Angelica is a good remedy for colds, coughs, pleurisy, wind, colic, rheumatism, diseases of the urinary organs, though it should not be given to patients who have a tendency to ward diabetes as it can increase the sugar in the urine. Good tip. Yeah. I wouldn't have thought about that. It is generally used as a stimulating expectorant combined with other expectorants. Useful for feverish conditions. And she gives various combinations you might want to use for different herbs. I think it pretty much covers the British tradition.

Very popular in America. Resources of Southern fields and forests written in the 1860s. She says the root is edible and possesses more aroma than any other indigenous plant. popular in America. Resources of Southern fields and forests written in the 1860s says the root is edible and possesses more aroma than any other indigenous plant. Well I guess people have to know sassafrasca, certainly isn't as aromatic as sassafrasca. It is often combined with sassafrasca, especially for colds and lung congestion. It is used in spasmodic vomiting, flatulence, colic, nervous headaches. Some say it is powerfully

a metagog. Again, brings on menses. Okay, skipping ahead. King's Medical Dispensatory of 1898 says diuretic stimulant tonic and a medic. It has been applied for swellings topically given internally for enteric fever and other typhoid states, chronic rheumatism, complaints, gout, malarial fevers, a stimulant to the respiratory mucus surfaces, and it's been serviceable in chronic bronchitis. And finally, let's see, modern use. I think this is my last entry here on Angelica. We've got plants for a future. Angelica has a long folk history of use as a medicinal herb,

in particular for the treatment of digestive disorders, problems with blood circulation. The root is the most active medicinally. I agree, the other one said fruit. I'm not even really sure what they meant, but may have just been a typo, and they meant to say root. I don't know. It should be harvested in the autumn of its first year of growth, sliced longitudinally if necessary, dried quickly.

If well stored, the root retains its medicinal virtues for many years. The leaves and seeds can also be used. Maybe by fruit they meant the seed. Yeah, that could be. Yeah, okay. Sometimes, yeah. The leaves are harvested and dried in late spring before the plant comes into flower. The plant is anti spasmodic, carminative, diaphoretic, diuretic, expectorant, stimulant, a stomach tonic, and infusion is used to ease flatulence, indigestion, chronic bronchitis, and typhus. It stimulates the blood flow to the peripheral parts of the body and so is a value in treating poor circulation. Yes another important use in the mountains. You know it's cold and you know your hands and feet get cold if you

have poor circulation. It can actually be pretty dangerous and that's another reason people carry this syrup alcohol combination with angelica. It is considered a specific treatment for burgers disease a condition that narrows the arteries of the hands and feet. Angelica is contraindicated for people with a tendency toward diabetes since it can increase sugar levels in urine. The plant should not be prescribed for pregnant women. Anything that says stimulate menstruation should not be used by pregnant women for obvious reasons. Nor should the juice be allowed to come in contact with the eyes. So remember, Culpepper actually recommended the juice in the eyes. I didn't think that was a good

idea, but that confirms it. Don't do it that way. Essential oil from the seeds is sometimes used as a rub to relieve rheumatic conditions. And well, actually, there's one more thing to mention, and that's there's a Chinese version of angelica known as dong kwae. And it's an angelica root that is cured and prepared very differently than we do angelica in the American and European tradition. It's good diaphoretic, good for digestive cramps and pains. Dong Kui has specific uses

and really you should look at it as a completely different herb. So just because you look in Chinese herbs and it says Dong Kui, it imprecises Angelica, yeah, it's gonna be totally different. It's really more of a woman's herb and can again be very careful with such things here in pregnancy and and all that. So all right I will wrap it up

there. Y'all be sure to look at those four related plants and learn to identify them. Remember that's angelica and cow parsnip are the good ones and water hemlock, water parsley are I mean water hemlock and poison hemlock are the bad ones and also wild carrot that's a good one. So yeah if you put those five images on your phone if you run into one of these members of the APA shave family you should be able to learn to tell the differences in them very quickly and the three I mentioned that are edible are also medicinal and the two I mentioned that are poisonous are the most poisonous plants in North America. So be really careful.

But, you know, no reason to fear the family. Like I said, we eat carrots and parsley and such all the time. The whole family is not poisonous. So anyway y'all, have a good one and I will talk to you next time. The information in this podcast is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. Nothing I say or write has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I'm not a doctor. The US government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine and there is no governing body regulating herbless. Therefore, I'm really just a guy who studies herbs.

I'm not offering any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write or say is accurate or true. I can tell you what herbs have been traditionally used for. I can tell you my own experience and if I believe in herbs help me. I cannot nor would I tell you to do the same. If you use an herb anyone recommends, you are treating yourself. You take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals and no two are identical.

What works for me may not work for you. You may have an allergy, a sensitivity, an underlying condition that no one else even shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. By continuing to listen to my podcast or read my blog, you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices, and not to blame me for anything ever.