Sometimes, herbalism is more art than science. People often ask how certain plants were discovered to have medicinal properties. After all, they don’t wave big signs around saying, "Eat me! I'm good for the flu."
Of course, we can't go back 40,000 years in time, so we'll never have a definitive answer to that question. History does give us a few examples of ancient peoples observing other animals interacting with plants, and chances are you've seen your dog or cat eating grass in the back yard.
But the question remains: How does the animal (even if not the hairless bipedal type) "know" what plant is good for them and which ones to avoid? It's not huge leap of faith to assume our 4.5 billion years of co-habitation and evolution with all of our other companions might have something to do with it. Remembering we are simply manifestations of Gaia, why should she not have equipped all of her creatures with an innate ability to "know" which companion species to turn to for nourishment as well as healing properties? It is, after all, in Gaia's best interest to continue the unbroken chain of life. Teeth for weapons, thick hide for armor, sight, smell, hearing and the other senses; self-preservation by way of medicinal plant knowledge seems a logical gift as well.
Well this hairless bipedal is willing to give it a go as well. I've always been attracted to Larrea tridentata, also known as Creosote bush or Chaparral. (Both are misnomers, by the way.) Larrea is a ubiquitous plant here in the lower elevations of Arizona, forming "monocultures" by exuding a type of natural growth inhibitor in the surrounding soil. It's been used by the native peoples of this area since their arrival some 10,000 years ago. Larrea is also the oldest living organism on the planet, with once specimen being dated at over 11,500 years old; predating human settlement of this land.
This begs a return to the original question. How did the first people know to use Larrea? And use it they did. Every culture of this area employed Larrea for a variety of medicinal uses. Known as the "pharmacy of the desert" it's uses are legion, ranging from an antiseptic wash to a remedy for cancer; a true panacea of the plant kingdom.
Naturally, you would assume our first arrivals noticed a variety of animals interacting with this plant and simply followed their lead. Trouble is, most desert inhabitants, excluding a few species of insect, give this plant a wide berth. So much for observation. And you can rule out doing it for the taste, too. Nothing, I repeat, nothing tastes as offensive as a nice cup of Larrea tea. Take it from me. No one accidentally ingested some Larrea and thought "Yummy. Can I have some more?" (Shudder.)
But someone, somewhere did discover the medicinal properties of this truly amazing plant. I use the word amazing for good reason, as that initial trial that must have tasted so horrible spread throughout the land. Leap of faith? I doubt it. Someone saw the sign the plant was waving around and listened to it. Speaking of that…
Earlier this year, I began to wonder about using just the flowers of Larrea as a tincture. As I mentioned earlier, Larrea tastes really, really bad in either tincture form or as an infusion. Trying to make a glycerite via displacement seems a waste of time, as you'd just wind up with some nasty tasting sweetened liquid, assuming you could displace that much alcohol. I began to wonder if a tincture of just the flowers, excluding the leaves and green stems, which are normally used, would make a more mild flavored tincture.
So off I go to the east valley in search of some flowering Larrea. Flowers normally appear on this plant after a decent spring rain, although they can flower after any rain if the spring is unnaturally dry. Like this year. As dry as it was, the Larrea in the north valley where I live gave up on the idea of flowering. Luckily the east side had a little more rain that we did. I navigated a good 30 miles from civilization and found a perfect specimen deep in a wash, bristling with blossoms. For the next two hours, I filled a 32-ounce cup with flowers, a tedious but very Zen-like experience. I returned home and prepared my flower tincture, opting for a very inexact preparation of about 75% alcohol mix just covering the top of the flowers.
Fast forward by about a half a year to the start of the cold season. You can always tell when it's here by the changing of the scenery. In most parts of the country, it's the leaves that change colors. In Phoenix, license plates change colors, as "snowbirds" from the chilly north come to enjoy the valley of the sun for five or six months. Now where was I? Oh yes, cold season.
This year, the cold virus hit my family in two waves. I was first, encountering the effects about two weeks ago, and my wife got round two, which happened just last Thursday. Knowing Larrea to have anti-viral properties (amongst many others) I decided to give it a go. 2 mils, taken about three hours apart for my waking hour was the total duration of treatment. Where a cold normally lays me out for two days straight, with a killer sore throat and swimming head followed by two to three weeks of sniffling and congestion, this time I experienced no sore throat at all, only minor dizziness and absolutely no subsequent sinus issues of any type. A one day cold? I haven't been that lucky since I was a kid!
My wife's story is equally astonishing. She started feeling "icky" Thursday morning, but being the stoic neglected to mention anything to her Voodoo doctor (as she affectionately refers to me) until mid after noon. I started her on the Larrea regiment, with only about 1.5 mils (she's about 50 pounds under me) every three hours. By the next morning, she was all better. My wife has had recurring sinus infections since she was 18, and any type of disruption in her system usually wreaks havoc on her nose for weeks on end. Not this time. No after effects. None.
Tincture of fresh Larrea tridentata blossoms… I'm hooked! I just noticed some late summer blooms from our recent rains on the northwest side of town. Think I'll head that way tomorrow and start a batch to get us through the rest of the winter season!
Hi,
I have enjoyed your writing on "larrea tridemtata" and your experiments with it's medicinal properties. I go to the desert as often as it's possible. If you in your looking for excellent desert flora? I reccomend trying the Agua Caliente about twenty five miles South of Arlington. Arizona. About thiry years ago, in New Mexico, were experiments with larrea. The experiments were about Lorreas survival rate without the associated ballances between termites liveing in the plants roots and how would certain assoicated animals would survive after an atomic exposion. The end of the story is that? Not alot effects the survival of larrea. Do you have any books published on the medicinal properties of desert (Sonoran prferably) plants. Thanks .. Jim
Since Larrea is currently the oldest living organism on the planet (one living specimen dated at 13,000+ years old), it's not surprising to me it's (and it's associated bio-community) would most likely withstand high radiation exposure.
Larrea is currently under investigation for it's anti-tumor and anti-carcinogen properties. I've even read accounts of it being used as an adjunct therapy for those patients undergoing radiation treatments.
No, I don't have any books published (yet.) If you're looking for sonoran plant medicine books, my first suggestion would be offered by Michael Moore of the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine in Bisbee. He's the reigning legend and authority on medicinal plants of this area.
Posted by: Evo on March 27, 2003 12:23 PMCheck out this site for more info on Larrea and a better way to take it http://www.larreamed.org and then check out http://www.shegoi.com
Posted by: Chuck Davis on September 29, 2003 11:09 AMChuck,
Larreamed.org does have some good information. I'm not quite as thrilled with the Sheogi site, however. I have philosophic differences with purveyors of multi-level or network marketing. Also, I am not in the "Larrea for everyone, every day" camp. Larrea is indeed the medicine chest of the desert, and should be treated with the respect deserved of such a powerful ally. Larrea heals on the spiritual level as much as the physical, and I think something is lacking when it's presented in a daily supplement form.
That's my $0.02, for what it's worth. Thanks for posting.
Posted by: Evo on September 29, 2003 03:41 PMHi Everyone,
Evo, Shegoi is the marketing engine strapped to the Larrea Products that hold 4 US patents. The process of extraction of the Larrea plant is crucial, and covered by one of these patents.
Yes, we are using "word of mouth" networking to get our message out, but it's no different than AOL, phone services, or cable tv. It's just us little guys get rewarded for our promotion instead of them paying millions in advertising.
Here's an excerpt from a book, that I highly recommend. GIVES FUEL TO MY FIRE TO SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT SHEGOI. We also have a 24/7 recording to hear about the company, complete with testimonials from Doctors on results--512-703-6115. And my website is http://www.healthywisdom.com Enjoy the Article!
Health Miracles from the Oldest Plant in the World
Excerpts from the book, Treating Herpes Naturally with Larrea tridentata
by W. Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Larrea tridentata, is a plant that is native to the Southwest Deserts of the
United States ranging from West Texas to Southern California. This plant
has a long history of folk medical use by Native American inhabitants,
including the Pima, Papago, Navajo, Cocopah and Shoshoni, and
subsequently by the European settlers of that region. Records show that
the plant was, and continues to be, used as a “medicine chest” for a wide
range of infections and inflammatory conditions. Another interesting bit of
information about the Larrea plant is that it is scientifically recognized as
being the oldest living plant on Earth, with some living specimens dated at
up to 12,000 years old.
A recently released book by Arizona State University professor, Dr. W.
Dennis Clark, details the medical uses of Larrea for treating viral infections
and inflammatory diseases. The book specifically details the welldocumented
successes of Larrea for defeating the herpes family of viruses,
which cause cold sores, genital herpes, shingles and a variety of other
common diseases. The question may arise in your mind, “Why should I be
concerned about herpes viruses? I don’t have herpes.”
According to Dr. Clark, the facts are very clear that, “herpes viruses are universal factors in human health.
Virtually 100% of the human population, regardless of location, carries at least one herpes virus. The data
also show that the majority of the human population is harboring at least five herpes virus infections.”
Dr. Clark then continues, “…herpes aren’t just nuisance diseases like once thought. New research links
herpes viruses not only to the well-known diseases like cold sores, genital herpes and shingles, but to even
more serious human diseases such as: heart disease, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, lupus, and
multiple sclerosis. This new link is supported by the fact that all herpes viruses set-up life-long (latent)
infections in people. The old logic held that, since people were not visibly sick most of the time with herpes
virus diseases, these viruses must be “sleeping” during most of our lives and therefore were not dangerous
to our health. Based on the trends in current medical research, it is my opinion that herpes viruses will
continue to be further implicated in an increasing number of life shortening and life ending human diseases.
Once this knowledge becomes widely accepted in the mainstream medical establishment, keeping herpes
viruses in check throughout our lives will be a major goal to extend the length and improve the quality of
human life.”
So, accepting the facts that herpes viruses have important health implications for all humans, this raises the
question, “How can Larrea help me address the health consequences presented by these viruses?”
To address this question, Dr. Clark contributes, “The most important study to date shows that Larrea
extract is 1,000 times more potent than synthetic antiviral drugs, which means that you would need less of
the Larrea extract than of the synthetic drug to get the same result. In this study, a Larrea extract was
shown to inhibit the activities of HSV-1 and HZV.” Furthermore, “The clinical results on Larrea as a herpes
treatment come from credible institutional sources, from doctors, and from many dozens of people who
have individually tried preparations on their own herpes outbreaks. Regardless of the source, the results
are almost uniformly positive. In general, the entire body of results shows that Larrea preparations can
completely drive away a herpes outbreak much faster than Zovirax®, and that such preparations can even
be effective when Zovirax® fails.”
Beside for the direct antiviral effects of Larrea, Dr. Clark explains that there are other health benefits from
Larrea. Specifically, Larrea functions as an extremely powerful antioxidant and immune stimulant. As he
explains, “The same chemicals from Larrea that have antiviral activity also have the property of being
cellular enhancers. I define cellular enhancers as substances that enable cells to be stronger and live
longer. This is a pretty general definition that includes many kinds of chemicals, but the most exciting and
attention-getting cellular enhancers that have come into the public awareness are antioxidants.
Antioxidants are important because they help our bodies battle the toxic forms of oxygen that are
continually being made in our cells. These consist of things that chemists call oxygen radicals, superoxide,
peroxides, and epoxides. Aging, cell degeneration, and susceptibility to disease are all correlated with a
buildup of these oxidants in our cells as we undergo stress and as we age. Leaves of the creosote bush
contain numerous antioxidant flavonoids as well as one of the most powerful antioxidants made by plants,
which is NDGA, along with several of its related lignans.”
Embrace the wisdom. Until now, Larrea was the best-kept secret in health products. All the beneficial
effects of Larrea combine to form an unbeatable partner for maintaining one’s overall health…especially
while facing viral or inflammatory challenges.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
W. Dennis Clark earned his bachelor's degree in biological sciences at Sacramento State
College, emphasizing plant classification and ecology, and his Ph.D. in botany at the
University of Texas at Austin, specializing in plant chemistry. Dr. Clark has been on the
faculty of Plant Biology at Arizona State University since 1976. He has also been a Research
Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the National Science Foundation and
has held research appointments as Visiting Professor at the Institut für Pharmazeutische
Biologie, Universität Heidelberg, Germany, and at the Department of Botany and Plant
Sciences, University of California, Riverside. He has published numerous scientific articles on
the chemistry, classification, ecology, and evolution of plants. His specialties are flavonoids,
especially their functions in plants and their roles in medicinal plants, and the molecular
evolution of genes that control their biosynthesis. Dr. Clark has been an educator for the
past 30 years. During that time he has co-authored a best-selling college-level textbook on
botany and taught courses in general botany, medical botany, plant chemistry, plant
evolution, and the pharmacology of natural drugs.
Dr. Clark provides an engaging and exciting description on a promising new natural therapy
for sufferers of herpes virus infections.
Michael D. Murray, N.D., co-author of Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine and Botanical Influences on Illness
Dennis Clark, a plant biologist has put together a concise, informative book about herpes -- a condition affecting many people. If
you were ever in the dark regarding viruses, this book will illuminate and answer any questions you may have had. Clark's team of
researchers has performed case studies on a desert herb which may be far superior as a complementary treatment than today's
synthetic drugs. I highly recommend this book.
Cynthia Olsen, author of Australian Tea Tree Oil Guide, 3rd edition, and Essiac: A Native Herbal Cancer Remedy,
Winner of the 1997 Small Press Award
W. Dennis Clark's book, Treating Herpes Naturally with Larrea Tridentata, is a great introduction for the layperson to the
problems associated with herpes virus infections and their treatments. Dr. Clark has the unique ability to assimilate the large bodies
of literature concerning both plants and viruses and pull them together in a concise and accurate manner. One is left with the
appreciation that botanicals such as the creosote bush still have great promise as alternatives to current antivirals.
David C. Bloom, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and herpes researcher
Why am I unable to pick up the www.shegoi.com site here in Kenya from either Yahoo, or MSN?
Mostly I am unable to get into this site, from
Yahoo, the page is mostly unavailable.
Hi Angela!
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Posted by: Nancy on November 16, 2003 07:10 PM