Super Medicinal Plants

Scientific name: Passiflora incarnata Passion flower is a medicinal plant native to woodlands in the eastern United States, passion flower is know locally as "maypop" and was used by many Native American people for swellings, fungal infections, and as a blood tonic. Today it is generally regarded as a sedative and used for problems ranging from hyperactivity in children tot he tremors of Parkison's disease. In natural medicine the passion flower used long before the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, passiflora's calming, relaxant qualities are quickly apparent upon taking the herb, and underlie its many uses. Passiflora is most often employed to relieve anxiety and nervousness and to aid sleep, its use in this respect confirmed by clinical trials. Rarely producing drowsiness, passiflora takes the edge off worry and anxiety, bringing relief to symptoms such as a racing heart and tension headache. A mild analgesic, passiflora can help with migraines and...

Scientific name:  Valerian officinalis Also know as: Garden valerian, phu, all-heal More than 200 species of valerian are found worldwide, most in northern temperate climates, as well as south Africa and the Andes. Most are herbs, thought some are shrubs. Common valerian is a highly variable perennial usually grown from 1 to 4 feet in height, with a short, branched root, which in some variations produces lateral creeping underground stems knows as rhizomes. The leaves at the base of the plant are divided into 3 to 25 leaves, either linear or lace shaped. They are without teeth or coarsely toothed. The tin white or pink flowers, crowded atop a flat topped cluster on a robust stalk, have a sweet vanilla-like fragrance. The bloom from June through August.