The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Basswood, Tilia, Linden or Lime

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey y'all, welcome to this week's show. Today we will continue our series on the medicinal properties of trees and today is every wood carver's favorite tree. It is basswood. Now if you live in America you probably know it as basswood. If you live in the mountains of North Carolina you may know it as the bee tree. Why is it called the bee tree? Because it has these sweet smelling flowers on it that bees go

Starting point is 00:00:28 crazy over and if you're looking for a basswood tree in the springtime all you do is cup your hands to your ears and listen. When you hear the bees they're going to be on a basswood tree. Now occasionally they may be on a holly tree. I have known that to be the case as well but nine times out of ten it's going to be a basswood. In Europe it's often called the lime tree just like the fruit but it's not related at all. You may know it as the linden tree. That's another common, that's an English name for it. Latin name is Tilia. Now we have I don't know 13 varieties that are have documented use in medicinal in herbal

Starting point is 00:01:13 medicine. Three native to my region and at least a couple others that are naturalized. We've got Tilia maricana that's just American basswood. That's the tree that basically everybody carves their little you know gnomes and figures out of. I mean it's like it's soft, it's got a smooth grain, it's just the easiest of all woods to carve. It really is. I mean it's go to a hobby lobby they get a ton of it right. I mean people love to carve basswood., they got a ton of it, right? I mean people loved Carb, Basswood. We've got a particular one to the Carolinas and it's Tilia Americana, Variety Carolina.

Starting point is 00:01:53 So that one's all over the place where I live, of course. And there's White Basswood and that's another variant of Tilia Americana. Like I said, if you're reading anything from Europe, Mexico even, you're probably gonna see it listed, or Canada, you're probably gonna see it listed as Linden or Lime, but it's what we call Basswood. I don't know how, when, or why the names got changed, but it's been used in herbal medicine for thousands of years. St. Hildegard von Bingen writing about Bingen, sorry, yes, somebody got in touch and said the name of that town is Bingen.

Starting point is 00:02:35 Von Bingen means that she was from the town of Bingen, but it's not Bingen, even though that's what it looks like to me. So St. Hildegard von Bingen wrote, A person who ails in his heart should take the interior branches of linden root and reduce it to a powder. He should eat this powder often with bread and his heart will be better. In the summertime, place fresh leaves of linden over your eyes when you go to sleep and cover your whole face with it. It will clarify your eyes and make them clean. If you are vergetz to get. I love that word. That is old German for what we in the south would call all stovet up. Okay it means anything from arthritis to actually

Starting point is 00:03:20 paralysis following a stroke. I mean it means literally any like cramping, any paralysis, any aching joints, you name it. That's what Vrgichteget meant. And she said, if you are Vrgichteget, you should take the earth which lies around the root of Linden and put it on the fire, pour water over it when it is hot, and so bathe in a sauna do this for nine days and you will be cured." It's written around 1080 AD. I mean this is really old medieval herbal medicine but it is true the basswood the lime the linden whether I mean I've never tried it like a sauna the way she said but it's often used in steams for essentially arthritic joints.

Starting point is 00:04:08 The main property of it is somewhat sedative and relaxing. One of the most popular herbal teas in Europe is called Tisan, and it's essentially a Linden or a Basswood or Lime Tree Blossom tea. Very, very popular. Depending on where the tree grows, the sedative properties and pain relieving properties of those flowers can vary greatly. It can be like a chamomile, that's sort of what the tea sawn is like, or one that can actually kind of stone you out. I mean there are some that grow in like certain

Starting point is 00:04:45 parts of Mexico and Europe at different elevations that are strongly sedative and it totally depends. You may have a basswood tree growing in your yard and the blossoms just are tasty. They smell good, they taste good. You could eat them, you can make a tea out of them. It may not have a whole lot of sedative property at all. Actually, some are classified as narcotic, believe it or not. So, Miss Grieve wrote of the lime tree in England, Lime flowers are only used in infusions made in, let's see, in infusion or made into a distilled water as a household remedy for indigestion, hysteria, nervousness, vomiting, palpitations, prolonged baths with infused flowers have been found good in hysteria.

Starting point is 00:05:37 In the Pyrenees they are used to soothe the temporary excitement caused by the waters. I have no idea what that means. What in the world is temporary excitement caused by the waters? I don't know. But she says that a certain doctor used them with great success against spasms. So they have an antispasmotic property, spasmodic. With flowers of several lime varieties are used. Some doctors prefer the light charcoal of lime wood

Starting point is 00:06:04 to that of the poplar in gastric or dyspeptic disturbances, upset stomach in other words, and it's powder for burns or sore places. If the flowers used for making tea son are too old, they may produce symptoms of narcotic intoxication. That again, we're talking about the European lime and that's going to be at certain elevations, certain varieties. I guess it was, I'll probably quote him here in a minute, Yul Gibbons, who tried his best to find Linden Blossoms, basswood blossoms, with a narcotic property and he thought it was just a myth because he kept drinking the tea and it wasn't doing a darn thing. It really is very specific to the area and the variety.

Starting point is 00:06:55 Father Nape wrote of the lime tree, Tritillia grandifolia and parifolia, that means big flower and small flower in Latin, it is almost solely the elderly people of the old school who still gather the once so well-liked lime tree blossoms. They are quite right and need only remain conservative with regard to their old custom. Lime blossom tea together with the older blossom tea are the best-known teas for producing perspiration. Concerning perspiration, as is usually carried on, I have my own particular opinion which is not at all in its favor. He didn't like to sweat by the way. He liked cold baths. On the other hand, I willingly use the blossoms for the vapors which they produce and supply the place of

Starting point is 00:07:44 perspiration. Lime blossom tea has excellent effects on complaints such as coughs, obstruction of the lung and windpipe, troubles of the abdomen which have their origins and obstructions of phlegm, and again the kidneys. Instead of lime tree blossoms I use the St. John's Wort with or without an admixture of common yarrow. And, yeah, it's a good substitute specifically for lung issues. Brother Aloysius was his protege. He wrote, the blossoms of the lion tree are used medicinally for dizziness, migraines, indigestion, chills, nervous complaints.

Starting point is 00:08:22 This tea is highly recommended for old people in particular. The infusion contains 1 eighth to 1 fourth cup per two cups of boiling water. So that's an eighth to a fourth cup of dried blossoms to two cups of boiling water. Hot lime blossom baths are highly recommended for convulsions in children. Charcoal powder from the lime wood is best for internal use. A cup of lime blossom tea in the evening with a half to one teaspoonful of honey is very depurative, strengthening the heart. It is good for the nerves and promotes sleep. In addition, lime tree is recommended for nervous complaints in general, also for hysteria, hypochondria, migraines, epilepsy, indigestion, colic, coughs, chills, shivering, and to avoid strokes.

Starting point is 00:09:10 As you can see, the linden or the basswood, very useful in herbal medicine and it really has just a broad and really ancient herbal use. In America, 1860s, resources of the Southern fields and forests wrote, the botanist wrote, the flowers of our American Tilia sent to me from the Pendleton district of South Carolina I find quite useful as the imported tiliu. So this guy was French and he was used to tisane. And he's saying, I don't know if you know where Pendleton is, I've been there many times, the native basswood tree that grows there was a perfect substitute for French lime blossoms

Starting point is 00:09:51 or linden blossoms. He said, it is quieting, antispasmodic, and I have repeatedly seen prescribed it in France. It is particularly grateful to soothing, and soothing to lying in women. Okay that's basically like cramping. Okay it has some anti spasmodic properties that they were lying down because they weren't feeling well so that was a common term at the time. Quieting nervous excitement and pleasant to the taste. I would

Starting point is 00:10:20 particularly recommend a larger use of these flowers in the southern states. It can be used wherever tea is required. Excellent advice. For some reason I never caught on. For some reason basswood has never been anywhere near as popular either in herbal medicine or as a tea beverage in the United States as it has been in Europe and even in Mexico. I don't know why this... seriously, I can't answer that one. So King's Medical Dispensatory, American Medical Dispensatory of 1898 says, the European Tilia is a common domestic remedy in Europe for the release of relief of many nervous and catural or congested disorders. The leaves, flowers, and buds are employed and their property may be regarded as stimulant, lintive, tonic, and

Starting point is 00:11:11 nervine. So both stimulant and relaxing. That's why it makes a nice tea. That's what you want in a tea, really. The infusion is generally preferred and maybe the fusion is a tea by the way, is generally employed and may be given to allay irritation, restlessness, and promote rest and sleep. The hot infusion is employed to check diarrhea from cold and various forms of cold and cataral or congested conditions. While either hot or cold, it may be used in restlessness, nervous headache, painful and

Starting point is 00:11:44 difficult digestion, and mild hysteria. The effects upon the nervous system are sometimes obtained by an enema or bath prepared from the flowers. The infusion is prepared from 30 to 40 grains of the flowers to one pint of water. That's basically the same measurement in technical terms that Brother Aloysius gave us. It forms an agreeable vehicle for other medicines. A strong tincture may be prepared.

Starting point is 00:12:10 Other species undoubtedly possess similar properties. Other species of tilia. You'll give him, as I said, the use of dried flowers of linden or basswood for making a tea-like hot drink is widespread. The French enjoy a number of herbal teasongs and that made from linden blossoms is one of their favorites. Medicinally, it is reported to be calmative and restorative, being given as a home remedy for nervousness, hysteria, insomnia, And cramps, of course. But plants for a future, getting up to modern

Starting point is 00:12:47 use, says, medicinal use of American basswood. A tea made from the inner bark is applied to burns. It soothes and softens the skin. It is taken internally in the treatment of lung complaints, dysentery, heartburn, and weak stomach. The bark is diuretic. An infusion has been taken to promote urination. A decoction of the bark mixed with cornmeal has been used as a poultice to draw out boils. A tea made from the fresh or dried flowers is antispasmodic, diaphoretic, and sedative. Diaphoretic means it helps break a fever. That's the sweating that Father Nape was talking about. It is used in a treatment of hypertension, hardening of the arteries, digestive complaints

Starting point is 00:13:29 associated with anxiety, fevers, colds, respiratory catar, catar, I guess is the way you actually pronounce it in that tense. I don't like that word. I'm gonna go with congestion, migraines, etc. Lime flowers are said to develop narcotic properties as they age and so they should only be harvested when freshly opened. An infusion of the leaves has been used as an eye wash. A poultice of the leaves has been used in the treatment of burns and scalds, broken bones and swollen areas. A tea or tincture made from the leaves, flowers, and buds has been traditionally used for nervous

Starting point is 00:14:05 headaches, restlessness, and painful digestion. Used with caution, a decoction of the roots and bark has been taken in treatment of internal hemorrhaging and decoction of the roots has been used as a vermiculage to rid the body of worms. A medicinal use of Carolina basswood, in particular a tea made from the flower, is antispasmodic, diaphoretic and sedative and the white basswood, which also grows around here. Tea made from flowers is antispasmodic, diaphoretic and sedative. A decoction of the inner bark has been used in treatment of dysentery.

Starting point is 00:14:38 A decoction of the bark mixed with cornmeal is used as a poultice in treatment of boils. Decoction of the inner bark in twigs has been used during pregnancy to treat heartburn, weak stomach and weak bowels. And of course, anything that has vermiculture properties probably should not be used in pregnancy at all. It could be very dangerous. The Rodeo herb book says, linden flowers and leaves are an old household remedy for nervousness, colds, headaches and ind indigestion. A hot infusion is used to check diarrhea. It was also used in a hot bath to promote sleep. Linden flower wine is used as a tonic and stimulant to the appetite and digestion. And yes, you will find linden

Starting point is 00:15:16 or basswood flowers in many old wines and cordials and some of the various herbal infused wines like vermouth that were usually made in monasteries to be medicine and now we're using cocktails and such. Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Central Medicinal Plant says of American basswood, American Indians use the inner bark tea for lung ailments, heartburn, weak stomach, bark, poultice, draws out boils, leaves, flower, and bud tea, or tincture traditionally used for nervous headaches, restlessness,

Starting point is 00:15:53 painful digestion. Warning, frequent consumption of flower tea may cause heart damage." So that's the first real warning we've seen on this. Botany of the Day says, "'T Tilia, basswood or linden. Linden trees are native to the eastern forests. Modicely, a tea of the inner bark is soothing for burns. A tea of the dried flowers is expectorant, sedative, and diaphoretic in effect and doesn't give any warning. So there you have it. That's linden, that's bass, that's lime, if you're not an American. I don't think anybody in America actually calls it a lime tree

Starting point is 00:16:29 because we have the fruit that is lime and it just gets confusing. Really super useful tree. If you keep bees, plant basswood. You're gonna be really glad you did. If you carve wood, plant basswood, but also an excellent herbal medicine. All right, y'all have a great week and I'll talk to you next time.

Starting point is 00:16:50 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,

Starting point is 00:17:26 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, to your own research, make your own choices, and not to blame me for anything ever.

The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Basswood, Tilia, Linden or Lime

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