Bindweed Medicine

I decided each time I enter the garden I must start with a morning glory walk. Yesterday I pulled a bucket-full. Once, I heard a bit of plant wisdom: one should not pull any unidentified weed. Better to have more intimacy with one's microcosm before going through and changing things. I have a long ways to go before I can truthfully follow such guidance.

Recently I came across the book Invasive Plant Medicine by Timothy Lee Scott, who is an acupuncturist and herbalist living in Vermont. He dedicates a couple chapters to the politics of "invasives", one which is titled "The Intelligence of Plants". He discusses 24 specific plants including barberry and dandelion -- a couple of my favorites -- blackberry, english ivy and scotch broom - restoration ecologist's nightmares - and bindweed - the gardener's bane.

I am fascinated by this book's portrayal of bindweed and now I don't know what to believe! I wonder if I should experiment with medicine making or what.

Convolvulus arvensis of the Morning Glory family, came to North America in the 1730's, and was sold as an ornamental, medicinal plant. In TCM no species have ever been used. In Ayurveda, a couple species have been used as a brain tonic, tranquilizer, blood purifier, for uterine bleeding, ulcers and venereal diseases. In Western medicine, bindweed has been used for internal bleeding, fevers, as a purgative and laxative.

Contemporary pharmacology regards bindweed as a purgative, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, cholagogic (bile stimulant) and tranquilizer. Studies have demonstrated the plant's efficacy in reducing tumor growth, decreasing the absorption of carbohydrates in the intestines, reducing different types of stress, and as antimicrobial.

Beyond the human body, bindweed serves in phytoremediation! It cleanses chromium, copper and cadmium from soil. It can survive areas full of heavy metals and assists in the degradation of fuel oil - for example in the Prestige Oil Spill of 2002. Calystegin compounds found in the roots feed rhizosphere bacteria with carbon and nitrogen.

Considering the ever deepening toxicity of our planet, plants like these we will need to turn to and honor for their ability to adapt. I can only wonder at the power of all these other plants in the book, the ways they serve us without our even knowing how to identify them outdoors. Our relationship to bindweed will surely shift in the time to come. For one, I need to reconsider merely stuffing them in the yard waste bin.

Calendula Medicine

My roommate and I wondered about this plant cropping up everywhere in our raised beds. We tried some of it's leaves raw, which left a tingling sensation on the tongue and slight burn in the back of the throat. I let it grow all around the kale wondering if it would be beneficial. When it started flowering I realized it was calendula - awesome! This will be a great medicine to cultivate, I thought. I noticed the kale was looking diseased and thought, oh maybe not so beneficial! I pulled the calendula out, as well as the diseased plants, and transplanted some young ones. A couple weeks later all the kale plants look burned. I think the calendula was offering something to the soil, which has not been amended for some time, and too, kale has been harvested from that bed for several years. We are not following good crop rotation rules here (after several years the soil is probably depleted of key nutrients). As well, kale volunteers have only appeared in other areas of the yard - which suggests the kale is ready to move on! I think I will pull the kale out and put in cover crop for now.

Anyway I've left a couple beds for calendula cultivation this summer. I love this plant and feel blessed it dwells in our garden.

Back in the 1700's, Linnaeus designated "officinalis" to species of plants with medicinal value, and calendula's healing powers endure today. One of the most popular herbal ingredients in lotions and creams, Calendula officinalis translates as "little clock medicine", or we might say - a medicine withstanding the test of time. Traditionally calendula was used internally for improving digestion, and detoxifying the liver and gallbladder; externally applied to skin conditions, cuts and wounds to prevent infection. Calendula has high flavonoid content to fight antioxidents. I see it claimed online all over that calendula was used for dressing wounds during the American Civil War and WW1.  Current pharmalogical studies demonstrate calendula is effective topically (on the skin) for burns, cuts, bruises and rashes. It's said to contain active chemical constituents that are anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial.

Calendula is contraindicated for anyone with allergies to the daisy/aster family or for pregnant women. It's also contraindicated for anyone trying to conceive a baby. If you are taking other medications, think twice about adding another to the cocktail.