The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Ilex

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey y'all, welcome to this week's show. As promised, we're going to continue our series on medicinal trees and shrubs with one of the more common and interesting plants, at least where I live. I think it's pretty much common just about anywhere in North America, except for maybe the deserts, but I do know there are some varieties that grow there. So Ilex. What is Ilex? Ilex is holly. I-L-E-X is the Latin name for holly. There are 21 varieties of holly that have been used medicinally, at least in documented herbal medicine. Who knows how many have actually been used? Common, very common plant, actually fairly potent herbal medicine, a little used now because it is a little strong. You know, they grow everywhere. And I mean, a lot of those that grow here in North Carolina are actually Asian. We have 11 hollies in my region. is obviously native it's the Carolina holly it likes Ambiguia but so many actually are imports from Asia Japanese and Chinese hollies etc we also have the mountain holly but we have one that is well it

Starting point is 00:01:23 doesn't grow in my region the mountains mountains. It likes a hotter climate. This is one I said that, you know, if you live in a more desert area, you might see it a little more often. I know it's really common in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia. It likes hot weather. You know, that's been my experience with it. But also in coastal North Carolina and really up until throughout the Piedmont, you can find this. It's one that Europeans didn't knew nothing about when they came to this continent the Latin name is Illex

Starting point is 00:01:52 vomitoria it sounds pretty awful doesn't it hey you might know it as Yopon though Yopon holly generally considered a kind of a weedy little bush is our only native caffeine containing tea plant the leaves of Yopan holly are made are used to make an excellent substitute for what we used to call Chinese tea that's where tea originates really China and India and that's actually from a camellia. That camellia can be grown in the United States, but it's not native here. And camellias do great in the Sandhills of North Carolina and Eastern North Carolina and all that. But we do have a native caffeine bearing plant and that is Yopan holly, Bilex vomitoria. So named

Starting point is 00:02:43 because the Native Americans who lived here before the Europeans got here didn't really see it as a nice beverage to have for breakfast. They would actually make a very strong brew out of it and use it ceremonially. Consuming so much caffeine, they would then throw up and then start having visions and who knows what. Okay, then throw up and then start having visions and who knows what. Okay. I don't like my tea to make me throw up. Don't worry though. Yopan is no more caffeinated than regular tea and you do actually have to drink a lot of it brewed very strongly to make yourself throw up and you can do the same thing with regular tea. I don't like to throw up and have visions. Apparently, many Native American tribes really like to throw up and have visions. I mean, peyote makes you throw up and have visions, right?

Starting point is 00:03:33 What is it? Ayahuasca, the South American vine, very powerful psychedelic, makes you throw up and have visions. For some reason, our Native American American ancestors in some cases, in my case I have a little bit of Indian blood apparently, but the ones that got here first, boy they really like to throw up and have visions. They use tobacco the same way. I mean sometimes they just had tobacco to relax but that peace pipe that they were passing around actually pretty strong and it's a tobacco mixed with a couple of other herbs including red osier dogwood that's known as kenny knick and what's the other is it squall vine it's a little creeping vine I've done a whole chapter on that. We'll get into that when we get into my topic of woody vines.

Starting point is 00:04:31 It's a really very useful plant, but when those three herbs are combined, and contrary to popular belief, cannabis, marijuana, is not native to the Americas. It was brought in. It's actually native to India. They were not smoking pot, okay? Contrary to popular belief, and for some reason, in the 70s especially, a lot of people petitioned the government and said that smoking cannabis was part of their Native American religion, which actually couldn't be farther from the truth. Native American religion, which actually couldn't be farther from the truth, they were using, however, other strongly stimulant and hallucinogenic plants, a lot of which make you very nauseous, as you may remember from the first cigarette you had as a kid or the first time you dipped a bit of snuff or chewed some Redman tobacco or something.

Starting point is 00:05:20 You were probably sick as a dog, right? Well, if you had kept at at it puked a couple times and kept taking more you'd start to see things okay same thing with any caffeinated beverage if you have enough of it it's gonna make you very sick I remember the what was that jolt jolt Cola if you're old enough you remember jolt Cola now I've been a coffee drinker since I was about three or four years old. My grandmother used to give me coffee with milk in it and everything. And when I was younger, you know, I have asthma and caffeine can actually help open the lungs.

Starting point is 00:05:56 And I had coffee frequently to help against asthma attacks or strong hot tea. And, you know, tobacco was just, you know, natural for me. I enjoyed chewing tobacco. I mean, I was in my teens when I first started using chewing tobacco. I don't use it anymore. Not that I'm terribly opposed to it. If it's natural, homegrown tobacco, it's just the commercial stuff has a lot of additives. Same with smoking tobaccos and such. I mean, I've known many older men in my family and in the mountains who have lived in the late 90s and over 100 years old, chewing tobacco and smoking tobacco, but it was

Starting point is 00:06:31 natural homegrown burley tobacco, like yellow twist bud or another heirloom variety. It wasn't that stuff that has weird flavors and additives in it that is sold in our stores. You have to wonder why what we've been, what we're sold is like the worst version of the product for your health. I mean, you know, who's behind that? You know, I don't know. It's the same thing like if you go to get cold medicine, you may notice that every single one of them has Tylenol in it as the fever reducer. Tylenol damages the liver. They could easily put aspirin in it and it would actually be cheaper and better for you. Why are we stuck with cold medicine that damages our livers? I

Starting point is 00:07:13 don't know. And is this conspiratorial? No, that's the truth. And oddly enough, speaking of cold medicines and allergy medicines and such, you may have noticed that like five or six years ago, they were all reformulated. Instead of having, I think I'm right on this chemical name, pseudoephedrine to reduce nasal inflammation and bronchial congestion, nasal congestion. They changed it to a different chemical that is close it's like one chemical bond different but it causes high blood pressure it can cause strokes and has actually been proven not to do a darn thing to clear out your sinuses but now that's what's in everybody's allergy medicine allergy medicine. Why? I don't know. I could probably speculate there's some sinister motive behind the thing. But anyway, in a, you know, blankets the fan situation, in a grid down situation, if you can't get to your grocery store to buy coffee, and of course you couldn't go to a

Starting point is 00:08:23 coffee shop, there's not gonna be a Starbucks open you know and what a ripoff they are burnt coffee for like a mortgage on a house when it comes to I mean think about what you spend on Starbucks if you drink it every day for a year right it's absolutely insane for the price of one cup of coffee you can get like a pound of regular coffee at the grocery store and decent coffee at that i'm not talking you know the bottom of the barrel stuff anyway you're gonna want a caffeinated beverage um you medically might need a caffeinated beverage if you have asthma if you have um anaphylaxis you know if you react to like insect bites and such that caffeine can save your life so Yopan Holly our native Ilex vomitoria is an excellent plant to grow if you can if you can't there are several tea companies on in on the market that can provide you with Yopan Holly one of which is owned by a friend

Starting point is 00:09:23 of mine named CJ she's an herbalist from Texas. And if you're into conservative talk radio, you may know her as Frank Salvato's fiance. I believe they're, I don't believe they married yet. Now I could be wrong about that. I haven't had an update in a little bit, but she has an excellent tea company and I'll put the information to her company in the show notes. Now let's talk about the other Hollies. Okay we're going to start with more what we call the European Hollies. The ones that Dioscorides would have known in Greece. The ones that Girard and Culpeper then would have known in England. In fact I think I'll start with England on this because it is really more of a, the English holly was more well known and used in herbal medicine than were the hollies

Starting point is 00:10:12 in the Middle East. And Gerard, the herbalist John Gerard said, they are good against colic for 10 or 12 being taken inwardly bring away by the stool thick phlegmatic humors as we have learned from them who often made trial thereof and he's talking the berries he's actually talking about the berries of of holly and he said that holly beaten into a powder and drunk is an experimental medicine against all fluxes of the belly as dysentery and such like. Now Culpeper said it was a tree so well known in England that it was needless to describe. He said the berries expel wind and thereof are held to be profitable in the colic. The berries have a strong faculty with them for if you eat a dozen of them in the morning while fasting, when they are ripe and not dried, they purge the body of gross and clammy phlegm.

Starting point is 00:11:08 But if you dry the berries and beat them into a powder, they bind the body and stop fluxes, bloody fluxes, and the terms in women. It means excess menstrual bleeding. The bark of the tree and also the leaves are excellently good being used in fomentations for broken bones and such members that are out of joint. You'd be using it more as a soak in that case. Pliny saith the branches of the tree defend the houses from lightning and men from witchcraft. So Pliny the Elder, ancient Greek writer, there was actually a lot of superstition connected to holly and they were used, the holly branches,

Starting point is 00:11:43 because they're evergreen they stay green in winter had a lot of religious significance and such to ancient peoples miss grieve really gets into the traditional uses of holly in england she wrote the 1930s in england she said holly the most important of the english evergreens forming one of the most striking objects in the wintry woodland with its glossy leaves and clusters of brilliant scarlet berries is in the general mind closely connected with the festivities of Christmas. If you know anything about English Christmas traditions, they decorate a lot with holly. That's a big thing in England. And that goes back long before Christian, Christianity. I mean, it was just, it was evergreen. It was bright green and was thought to,

Starting point is 00:12:25 you know, be that sign of life in winter, you know, and people like that. They used juniper, similarly, various plants that would, that were evergreen and very important to the Scandinavian traditions, etc. She says, having been from the very early days and the histories of these islands, She says, having been from the very early days and the histories of these islands, gathered in great quantity for Yuletide decorations, both of the church and the home, the old Christmas carols are full of allusions to Holly, such as the Romans of sending bowels accompanied with other gifts to friends during the festival of Saturnalia, a custom adopted by early Christians. In the confirmation of this opinion, a subsequent edict of the Church of Baraka, Barakara, there we go, not Barack Obama, but no, Barakara, has been quoted that actually forbade Christians to decorate their house in Christmas with the green boughs,

Starting point is 00:13:30 just the same as did pagans. It was also traced to the Druids that edict, of course, was lifted, and now we put up Christmas trees and we can decorate with holly and ivy and whatever we like. She says, in the old church calendars, we find Christmas Eve marked as Templa Examantur, the day that churches are decked out with decorations, and the custom is as deeply rooted in modern times as in either pagan or early Christian days. Very true. A lot of people that, you know, are completely secular still like to decorate for Christmas. It just, you know, reminds you of family. It's a good thing to do.

Starting point is 00:14:05 She says, An old legend declares that Holly first sprang up under the footsteps of Christ when he trod the earth, and its thorny leaves and scarlet berries, like drops of blood, have been thought symbolical of the Savior's suffering, for which the tree is called Christ's thorn in languages of the northern countries of Europe. Crown of Thorns of course was probably

Starting point is 00:14:25 more of a hawthorn also very significant in English plant symbology. She says it is perhaps in connection with these legends that the tree is called the holy tree and is generally named that by our older writers so in old English it was not called holly at all but holy. That comes from the word hallow we could go back and back through you know different languages of different times but it always had somewhat of religious significance she said that other popular names were Holver and Holm and it's still called Holver and Norfolk and Holm and Devon etc etc she talks about what Pliny said. We just discussed that. Theophrastus called it

Starting point is 00:15:08 Cretaceous, but that's actually the Hawthorn. So two different trees. Holly leaves were used as a diaphoretic. That means a tea of the leaves would lower a fever or help break a fever and was given to them in cataract, pleurisy, and smallpox, so congested lungs essentially. They have often been used in intermittent fevers and rheumatism for their febrifusional and tonic properties. Febrifusional also means helps lower or break a fever. And powdered or taken in infusion or decoction have been employed in success where chinchona has failed. In other words, she's found it to be more effective than chinchona or quinine, other words, she's found it to be more effective than chinchona or quinine, which is something we always want to remember when these pandemics come around,

Starting point is 00:15:51 right? Their virtue being said to depend on a bitter principle. The juice of the fresh leaves has been employed with advantage and jaundice. The berries possess a totally different quality to the leaves being violently emetic and purgative. It means they'll make you throw up and have diarrhea. That's what I was always told, you know, when Gerard and Culpepper are talking about taking the berries on an empty stomach in the morning. Yeah, it's probably gonna give you the runs and it's probably not gonna be very comfortable. I mean, I was always told they were poisonous as a kid. Not necessarily poisonous, but violently emetic means throw up,

Starting point is 00:16:27 and purgative means gives you diarrhea. A very few, only eating a very few, causes excessive vomiting soon after they are swallowed, though birds eat them with impunity. They have been employed in dropsy also, dried and powdered, and as a stringringe to check bleeding. From the bark stripped from the young shoots and fermented, bird lime is made. Now this is very interesting. If you're in a survival situation and you need to catch small birds to eat,

Starting point is 00:16:59 bird lime made from the bark of holly, is stripped about midsummer, steeped in clean water until it ferments and separates into layers. The inner green portion is laid in small heaps and fermented further. It is converted into a sticky, mucilaginous substance, and pounded into a paste, washed, and laid there again to ferment. It is then mixed with some oily matter, goose fat being preferred, and is ready for use. It wasn't made much in her time. It was actually used more for fly strips, fly paper strips, you know, sticky substance can catch flies. for fly strips, flypaper strips, you know, sticky substance can catch flies. In ancient times and in early America, people really valued bird lime. And this is how it's made. I just told you, okay. They would take it and spread it on twigs and branches on trees. And when a small bird

Starting point is 00:17:59 landed on it, it got stuck and couldn't fly away so in a survival situation um i'm certainly completely illegal right now but if you had to survive that's one way you can catch some birds probably would also help to catch small squirrels or other you know rodents if you had to. Okay, like the plants that we call fish poisons, like yucca root and such that will kind of stun fish. Illegal now, but good to know just in case, right? The leaves of holly have been employed in the Black Forest as a substitute for tea. So even in Europe, they're being used as a substitute for tea, but the European hollies are not, they're being used as a substitute for tea, but the European hollies don't contain caffeine. Paraguay tea, so extensively used in Brazil, is made from the dried leaves and young fruits of another species of Ilex, Ilex paraguensis, which is essentially a South American version of yaupon.

Starting point is 00:19:00 So an Irish herbal states that the berries have a hot nature and it is believed that five of them when eaten will relieve colic and act as a purgative. Again, they're going to clean you out. Now, getting to the American tradition, we find in Resources of Southern Fields of Forest that Ilex opaca, which is one of our natives, the bark of the holly root chewed or tea made from it yields an excellent bitter demulcent. That means bitter and softening like to stools and such, but also is useful in coughs and colds to break up that mucus. It has sort of a expectorant type quality. The bitter principle is also tonic,

Starting point is 00:19:45 which means good for the stomach and the liver, and the holly contains bird lime, as we've just discussed. 1898, King's Medical Dispensatory says, under official actions, medical uses, and dosages in American medicine, circa 1900, holly leaves are tonic and febrifuge. Febrifuge, again, has to do with fevers. Said to be very efficient in the treatment of intermittent fevers. Those are like malarial-type fevers or really the kind of fevers that came with COVID.

Starting point is 00:20:12 In doses of 60 grains of their powder administered one or two hours previous to the chill. The infusion, or tea, has also proved beneficial in pleuritis, icterus, catarata, variola, arthritis, etc. The berries are said to be a metacathartic, as we've discussed, and colagogue. And from 8 to 15 of them, they can help get rid of worms as well, 8 to 15 of them will act as a hydrogogue, meaning increasing secretions. According to Dr. Rousseau, the illicin, which is the chemical present in holly, acts decidedly upon the liver, spleen, and pancreas, producing a sedative effect and is a cheap substitute for quinine. So again, this is really essential information. You probably

Starting point is 00:21:02 got some of these growing in your yard right now. If you don't, I bet you have a neighbor who does, right? And I'm very fond of holly. Like I said, we have many hollies in North Carolina. It's one of my favorite woods to carve. Very fine, smooth grain. Ivory white. Makes some of the finest spoons and bowls and such you can imagine. Really nice wood to carve carve it feels good in the

Starting point is 00:21:27 hands it feels good in the mouth if it's a spoon or something it's very hard and a fine grain it has a flexible flexibility to it so you can use you know a spoon or a fork and it's not going to break it'll actually flex it's wonderful stuff turning the german the German tradition, Brother Aloysius wrote of holly. The white flowers grow in racemes along the stems. They are followed by red berries. The berries have a strongly purgative effect. The leaves are used medicinally. The decoction of holly, decoction of course just means tea, consisting of one-third to one-half cup per two cups water is used for gout, colic, and fever. Decoction is different from infusion in that it's usually used as more woody parts of a plant. Holly being somewhat woody, you know, the leaves are pretty darn tough, actually.

Starting point is 00:22:13 You put it in water, and you boil it down until half the water is gone. As opposed to a tea, which you make out of, like, flowers and more delicate leaves and such, and you pour hot water over them and allow it to steep, a decoction is actually boiled. Take one cup daily. The fruit also has medicinal uses. If 10 to 12 berries are taken, they will have a very purgative effect and are also a powerful remedy for colic. The leaves should be gathered at the beginning of the flowering period, so basically right now. The Rodale Herb Book states the leavesing period, so basically right now. The Rodale Herb Book states the leaves and berries are used for medicinal purposes.

Starting point is 00:22:53 The leaves are astringent and are used in fevers and rheumatism. The berries help in dropsy, or edema, water retention. More modern use, Plants for a Future says of American Holly, the berries are laxative, emetic, and diuretic. So, makes you go, makes you puke, and takes off excess fluids. They are used in the treatment of children's diarrhea, colic, and indigestion. A tea made from the leaves has been used as a treatment for measles, colds, etc. The leaves have also been used externally in the treatment of sore eyes, sore and itchy skin. A tea made from the bark was once used in the treatment of sore eyes, sore and itchy skin. A tea made from the bark was once used in the treatment of malaria and epilepsy.

Starting point is 00:23:28 It has also been used as a wash for sore eyes and itchy skin. Of particular interest is the unfortunately named Ilex vomitoria, which fortunately is more commonly called Yopan holly. Yopan received its Latin name due to the practice of some Native American tribes who made a strong tea of the leaves and drank it ceremonially until they vomited. The leaves of Yopon contain caffeine. In fact, Yopon holly is North America's only native caffeinated tree. Yopon tea is very similar to imported black tea, Camellia sinensis, and is considered to be of superior flavor by many of its inheritance adherents adherents people who like it

Starting point is 00:24:10 to many Americans, Yeopan holly is merely a weedy shrub and often a nuisance. Were we to know it's were we more to know we're more we're more people to know of its value as a tea it might be seen as a valuable crop, especially in light of the costs and concerns over chemical use in the growing and production of imported tea. Ilex cornuta, horned holly, is probably one of the most popular in landscaping in my area. I believe it's one of the Asian ones. Plants for the future says for that one medicinal use of horn holly the whole plant is abortifacient so it can cause a miscarriage okay so pregnant women do not need to be using holly okay carminative contraceptive febrifusion tonic

Starting point is 00:25:00 it particularly strengthens the back and the knees now that's an interesting thing is it in fact the Cherokee made use of certain hollies to strengthen the back and the knees don't know how it works but plants for a future is you know usually pretty solid the stem bark is tonic the whole plant is used in the treatment of arthritis recurring fever and pulmonary tuberculosis tubercular Wow. So, Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Central Medicinal Plants says, American Indians chewed the berries. They're just talking holly in general. They don't even differentiate.

Starting point is 00:25:41 American Indians chewed the berries for colic and indigestion, leaf tea for measles, colds, flu, pneumonia. Used as drops for sore eyes. Externally used for sores and itching. Thick syrup of berries formerly used to treat children's diarrhea. Chewing only 10 to 12 berries acts as a strong laxative, emetic, and diuretic. Bark tea once used in malaria and epilepsy warning fruits considered poisonous and induce violent vomiting so as you can see holly is an incredibly useful tree or shrub depending on which variety you have not just a good ornamental even though it is very nice ornamental it's also a good thorny bush to plant as a hedge to keep people and deer out of your yard. Deer will not walk through a holly hedge. They will

Starting point is 00:26:33 go around it. They will try to jump over it. I've seen that before. But if they can't see the other side, they're not going to jump over it, by the way. Deer will only jump over if they can see the other side. Deer actually have, you know, slender legs that break easily. I can't tell you how many times I've seen deer with broken legs, and that's, it's always awful because that deer is just going to starve to death. I mean, they rarely heal at all, but they, you know, they're careful about their legs. So good to use as sort of a perimeter defense plant. Wonderful carving wood and, you know, a good herbal medicine to know. So hopefully you found some good uses in the hollies for plants that you probably already had growing in your yard.

Starting point is 00:27:21 So remember, check the show notes for my friend CJ's tea company. And y'all, I will talk to you next week. 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 U.S. government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine, and there is no governing body regulating herbalists. Therefore, I'm really just a guy who studies herbs.

Starting point is 00:27:49 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 an herb has helped 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.

Starting point is 00:28:12 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.

The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Ilex

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