Elderflowers are in full bloom this month, both in hedgerows as well as gardens across the country. Whether they are the wild Sambucus nigra or a cultivated variety with green or black leaves they are all beautiful and useful plants.
The black leaved cultivar growing in the SCIence Garden has pink blooms, whereas the wild species has white flowers. It was purchased as ‘Black Beauty’, but is also sold as ‘Gerda’.
Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla ‘Black Beauty’ growing in the SCIence Garden
This cultivar, along with ‘Black Lace’ (Eva) was developed by Ken Tobutt and Jacqui Prevette at the Horticulture Research International research station at East Malling in Kent and released for sale in the horticulture trade in 2000. The leaves stay a dark purple throughout the year and the flowers have a good fragrance.
The shrub will tolerate hard pruning so is useful for smaller spaces and provides a long season of interest. The plant is also a forager’s delight, both in early summer (for the flowers) and in the autumn (for the berries).
Most commonly one may think of elderflower cordial, or perhaps even elderflower champagne, but an excellent alternative to the rose flavoured traditional “Turkish Delight” can be made - https://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/elderflower-delight. I can highly recommend it!
The chemistry of the elderflower aroma is complex. Analyses such as that in the reference below* have identified many different terpene and terpenoid components including nerol oxide, hotrienol and nonanal.
* Olfactory and Quantitative Analysis of Aroma Compounds in Elder Flower (Sambucus nigra L.) Drink Processed from Five Cultivars. Ulla Jørgensen, Merete Hansen, Lars P. Christensen, Karina Jensen, and Karl Kaack. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2000 48 (6), 2376-2383. DOI: 10.1021/jf000005f
Written by Alison Foster: Botanical Horticulturist and Science Communicator
Chemists have created a new type of artificial cell that can communicate with other parts of the body. A study, published in Science Advances this month, describes a new type of artificial cell that can communicate with living cells.
Scientists have created artifical cells that can communicate with living cells.
“This work begins to bridge the divide between more theoretical ‘what is cellular life’ type of work and applicative, useful technologies,” said Sheref Mansy, Chemistry Professor at the University of Alberta and co-author of the study.
The artificial cells are made using an oil-water emulsion, and they can detect changes within their environments and respond by releasing protein signals to influence surrounding cells. This work is the first that can chemically communicate with and influence natural living cells. They started with bacteria, later moving to multicellular organisms.
“In the future, artificial cells like this one could be engineered to synthesizes and deliver specific therapeutic molecules tailored to distinct physiological conditions or illnesses–all while inside the body,” explained Sheref Mansy, professor in the University of Alberta’s Department of Chemistry,
Though the initial study was undertaken using a specific signalling system, the cells have applications in therapeutic use, going beyond traditional smart-drug delivery systems and allowing for an adaptable therapeutic.
The past few years have certainly left many folks with the desire to rid their homes of negative energy. Smudging, or saging, has become a trendy wellness practice that folks use to cleanse their living spaces. But if you tend to poke around smudging social media circles, you’ve probably heard people ask, “is sage burning cultural appropriation?” If you’re not Indigenous and therefore hesitating to strike a match to cleanse the bad vibes out of your apartment, here’s what you need to know about burning sage.
What Is Smudging?
Smudging is an important ceremonial purifying ritual in many North American Indigenous cultures. The practice has a long and rich history that extends way before white witchy practices brought it onto Instagram feeds near you. Before smudging was popularized, it was illegal — at least, for Indigenous folks. “It was illegal for Natives to practice their religion until 1978 in the U.S., and many were jailed and killed just for keeping our ways alive, including my great-great grandfather,” Ruth Hopkins, a Dakota/Lakota Sioux writer, tells Bustle. Smudging was part of those banned religious practices. Today, Native people are still fighting to be able to perform these ceremonies in hospitals. Smudging, therefore, is not to be taken lightly.
Because of all that history, when non-Native people burn white sage to “smudge” their homes or other spaces, it minimizes the cultural importance of this ritual. Instead, advocates say non-Native people can learn to cleanse their spaces in ways that are culturally and ecologically sensitive.
Is Burning White Sage Bad?
Thanks to the recent trendiness of smudging, white sage (which is used in these rituals) is in high demand. The demand has become so great that many Chumash people (of what is now Southern California) are concerned that the plant is being overharvested. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says that white sage has important medical benefits — it is used to cure colds and aid postpartum healing — and it’s a crucial part of the surrounding ecosystem. But some brands continue to sell white sage, despite Native communities speaking out against it. “It’s exploitative and amounts to silencing Native voices and erasing our cultural heritage,” Hopkins says.
For Hopkins, the appropriation of white sage is made worse because the plant is often not being harvested correctly. “When using medicinal plants, it’s important that the plant is used sustainably. When we pick sage, we always leave the root and say a prayer of thanks for our harvest. This is as much a part of smudging (or saging) as burning the plant is,” Hopkins says. In other words, it’s important to leave the root, because that’s how the plant grows back. If someone is harvesting white sage and doesn’t know to leave the root, they’re preventing more plants from growing.
If you’re browsing your fave place to buy herbs and look at the options for smoke cleansing next to white sage, you might find Palo Santo (“holy wood” in Spanish). But you might want to hold off on buying the next available thing. Palo Santo sticks have been getting more popular as an alternative to sage, but buying this Central and South American tree used by Amazonian tribes can also be harmful, in similar ways to sage. Palo Santo has been added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) list, because though the tree is not yet nearing extinction, its overharvesting can put it on that path.
Smoke Cleansing Versus Smudging
If you have used herbs to cleanse your space in the past and enjoy the ritual, you don’t have to give it up in order to so in a culturally conscious way. Smudging refers to a specific healing cultural spiritual practice, but smoke cleansing offers an alternative to smudging for folks who aren’t Native. This form of cleansing can look a bit like smudging, but it’s just the simple act of burning herbs, wood, incense, or other safe-to-burn materials that possess unique cleansing properties. The smoke is then waved over the area you want to cleanse. Some cultures may have spiritual practices connected to smoke cleansing, but the act of smoke cleansing is not inherently spiritual or specific to a certain culture, the way smudging is.
If burning incense, herbs, or wood is part of your self-love practice, there are safe-burning alternatives to sage for smoke cleansing, including lavender, pine, and cloves. It’s important, however, that in the process of cleansing, you’re respecting Indigenous cultures and the ecosystem. That may include educating yourself and others about white sage, appropriation, and smoke cleansing; harvesting your own sage or other herbs sustainably; contacting brands to ask them to stop selling white sage without giving due to Native cultures; or using other plants entirely. Being intentional about how you implement this practice in your life — and being mindful about its origins and significance — is helpful for everyone.
White sage is a closed and SACRED medicine that is not to be bought or sold. You never want to purchase a sacred medicine because the plant absorbs the energies of the person gathering; if the person is profiting off that sage you never know if their intentions are truly good. Do not buy white sage
Those CBDs tho. Focus on Hemp Paste. The thing that makes this product - Hemp Paste - superior to CBD oils/extracts you can find in the market is the extraction or cooking process. Other products use ethanol, butane, olive oil, etc. to extract the CBD from the plant and concentrate it for consumption. Aside from being kind of gross, you lose a lot of the good stuff that stays with the extraction medium, kill some important phytonutrients, and you also concentrate other aspects of the plant, such as THC (which raises the THC content to a level that makes the product illegal in our state and most others unless you have a medicinal license).
My Nutra actually cooks the plant at a LOW temperature for 11+ hours to access the CBD. The strain they use is low in THC (about .24%) which is why they can technically call it hemp (hemp is the marijuana plant with a THC concentration of less than 3%). The CBD comes in between 18-24%. Plus, they keep the whole plant in the end product. It’s a “paste” with all of the pulp and therefore all of the other good aspects of the plant, such as the terpenes, which have been shown to contribute to the positive effects of CBD. Hemp paste has 45% more CBD and 600% more terpenes than oil. It just makes sense to consume the whole plant rather than the byproduct of an unnatural extraction. Best part - buy one GET ONE FREE until April 30th. www.mynutra.com/marjorie #cbd #medicine #healyourself #greenlove #buyonegetonefree
Aloe Nobilis. Or commonly knows as Golden Tooth Aloe, has no real medicinal purpose but they are easy to cultivate in sunny gardens. Its roots require very little room so it’s comfortable in smaller pots as well. My newest succulent baby is due to bloom beautiful orange and red flowers mid summer.
A Salal shrub (Gaultheria shallon) well established on a piece of drift wood as commonly seen along the Oregon coast.
Salal berry could be perhaps one of the most widely abundant and under appreciated wild fruits of the Pacific Northwest. Common along coast lines, coniferous forest, logging roads, and river banks, Salal is a delightful treat that can be enjoyed during most…
· Relief from Skin irritation: When suffering from skin irritation or burning sensation, cut a slice of the ginger and apply it directly on your skin for fast relief.
· Insect bite remedy: The essential oil extract of ginger can be diluted and applied on the skin for a soothing effect and relief from insect bites.
· Stomach trouble: Ginger can also treat most stomach ailments that include motion sickness, colic in infants, stomach disorder due to flatulence and diarrhoea.
