Show 262: Symphoricarpos and Yew

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The name down to the clean the clue to them.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Hey all, welcome this week's show. Today we're gonna talk
about a couple of plants, each have some herbal use.
One is really interesting, really dangerous, but will start with
one that isn't. Okay, and the one we're gonna start
with is Symphoria carpos that's also known as wolfberry or

(01:58):
coral berry or snowberry. They're only coral berry is the
only one native to my region, but there are two
that have been naturalized, so and that would be the
wolf berry coral berry. So you may find these depending

(02:20):
on where you are. You can probably grow these without
a doubt. But native to my region is the well,
the coral berry. What was the other one? I said, snowberry, wolfberry, coralberry. Anyway,
they're all here now, but originally it was just the
coral berry. But anyway, Botany and Day says the leaves, bark,

(02:43):
and berries have a stringent properties, poultice used for wounds,
and the tea is an eyewash, and the berries are
considered emetic. Okay, what does that mean? Well, it means
the berries will make you throw up. So normally in
most foraging books like you got you state website and
you're looking for what plants are safe in which you're toxic.

(03:05):
You're going to get a big warning on this family
because the berries will make you throw up. Not always
a bad thing. I mean, you know, Epicac, for instance,
was once plant based from the plant I think epicuana,
and it was kep on hand. If a child ate something,
and we're if an adult ate something that was poisonous,

(03:27):
it would help them to throw it up and get
them out of their system the time. Sonians use labilia
for that purpose. Now it's really hard to find epicac.
There are some chemical emetics, but to find the natural
emetic is a little difficult. And I think the reasoning
is from what I understand, is because vomiting can spike

(03:51):
blood pressure, doctors decided it was dangerous, right, I mean,
because you don't want to throw up and have a stroke. Well, okay,
that's an issue, you sure, But you know we all
throw up from now and then we eat something bad
or we get a bad flu, and we generally survive
it when it comes down to it. For me, this

(04:14):
is my personal opinion. Take it with a grain of salt,
and it's because I as a kid was quite a grazer.
I ate a lot of poisonous plants, and so my
mother kept epicac on hand and was constantly almost inducing
vomiting to get me a throw up whatever I'd eaten.
I think it is probably better to induce vomiting if

(04:34):
you know you've eaten something poisonous then to not. And
I mean, I'm not a doctor, I'm not giving medical advice,
but to me, that makes a lot of sense. You know,
and then you know, there are other treatments we can
use naturally, like French clay is good. Very few other charcoal.

(04:57):
Charcoal is very good for absorbing toxins while they're still
in the stomach and kind of helps move through without
them getting into your bloodstream. Works also very well for
food poisoning. Charcoal and French clay. That's what I'm going
to say, not chalk French clay, although chalk can also
be used, it's got to be very pure. Anyway. I

(05:21):
like emetics now for that reason, I'm not in favor
of the Tomsonian idea of like the first thing you
do when someone's getting sick is induce vomiting and warm
them up to help break a fever. Okay, that is useful.

(05:44):
Vomiting does usually break a fever. Taking the Tomsonians would
always give labilia in doses large enough to make you puke,
and cayenne pepper to increase the body temperature and help
break a fever. That was like the first thing they
did well in some ways. It makes a lot of sense,

(06:04):
and it makes a lot of sense when if you
lived in a time like the Timesnians did from say
early eighteen hundreds to early nineteen hundreds, when sanitation was
not very good, when the water was usually bad, when
meats were often spoiled, and really a lot of the medications,
even prescribed by doctors had really nasty chemicals and heavy

(06:29):
metals in them. People would need to throw up. And
you're also talking about a school of medicine that developed
in New Hampshire. I believe it was New Hampshire. Pretty
not sure about that, either New Hampshire or mott but
I think it was New Hampshire before central heating. So

(06:50):
like priority, get somebody warm, get rid of the fever,
and purge their stomach. You know, this was also the
area people are still doing bleedings and such superge the
blood really the timsonium model made a lot more sense
than the bleedings that doctors were doing. But that's not

(07:13):
necessarily our go to now unless you think you or
your child or somebody has eaten something that could be
harmful and you need to get it out of their stomach.
These days, if you call poison control, they may say
induce vomiting. Usually that's like fingers down the throat. I
don't know why you would prefer that to an emetic,
because it oftentimes does not work. And can you tear

(07:37):
the throat if you have fingernails. I'm not a fan
of the fingers down the throat method, but they'll say
bring them in, we'll have their stomach pumped. And while
that is probably more effective, what if you can't get
to the hospital. You know what if you're miles down
the road and it's bad weather and you've got to

(07:57):
do something. Well, I'm a fan of having an epichec
on hand, I mean, I mean an emetic on hand,
but you know, you have to do your own research,
talk with your pediatrution whatever, and make your own decisions
on that. And there are several really easy to use emetics,

(08:19):
like labilia, like dry mustard powder, actually the same mustard
we used to make. The mustard condiment can be put
in teaspoon salt or so in a cup of hot
water and it will usually induce vomiting. Now, it can
be irritating, as you know, mustard has a heat of

(08:40):
hotness to it, but it will also help break a
fever because it does raise body temperature as well. So
look into that, you know, if it's something you're interested in.
There are many emetic herbs. There are many plants that
have been used traditionally by peoples in every nation on Earth,
from the Native Americans to the Chinese and the Greeks

(09:01):
in between and etc. Etc. That were used specifically to
induce vomiting and were used safely and effectively for thousands
of years before there was ever such a thing made
as a stomach pump. So, you know, it's just something
to think about. But plants for future says of snowberry
particularly says snowberry was commonly employed medicinally by several Native

(09:25):
North American Indian tribes who valued it, especially for the
sapinans it contains. These sapinans can be toxic, but when
implied externally, they have a gentle cleansing and healing effect
upon the skin, killing body parasites and helping the healing
of wounds. The Native Americans used it to treat a
variety of complaints, but especially as an external wash of

(09:45):
the skin. The plant is little, if it all, used
in modern herbalism. Any internal use of the plant should
be carried out with care and prayer from the other
supervision of a qualified practitioner. See the notes on toxicity.
The whole plant is disinfect diuretic, febrifusion, laxative and febrifuge
of course beings heels to break of fever, and infusion

(10:06):
of the stems has been used to treat stomach problems
and menstul disorders. A dicaccia of the leaves has been
used to the treatment of colts. A poultice of the
chewed leaves has been applied, or an infusion of the
leaves has been used as a wash in the treatment
of external injuries. A weak solution of the stems and
leaves has been used as a wash for children, whilst
a stronger solution applied to sores. The fruit has been

(10:28):
eaten or used as an infusion in the treatment of diarrhea,
and infusion of the fruit has been used as an
eye wash for sore eyes. The berries have been rubbed
on the skin as a treatment for burns, rash, itches
and sores. The berries also have been rubbed on wartz
to help get rid of them. This treatment needs to
be carried out for at least three times a day

(10:49):
for a period of a few weeks before it takes
away a warp. A poultice of the crushed leaves, fruit
and bark has been used the treatment of burned sores, cuts,
chopped and injured skin. Chap say chappin into your skin,
and infusion of the roots has been used to the
treatment of fevers including childhood fevers, stomach aches and colds.
To coxture the root bark has been used the treatment

(11:09):
of venereal diseases and to restore the full of urine,
and infusion of the roots has been used as an
eyewash for sore eyes. And infusion of the whole plant
has been drunken also applied externally in the treatment of
skin rashes. To coxture the roots and stems has been
used the treatment of the inability to urinate venereal disease,
tuberculosis and fevers associated with teething sickness, So obviously, I

(11:31):
mean it's got a lot of use. That was the snowberry,
and it reminded me I was really you know, I said,
most plants that are emetic are going to be listed
as toxic in a foraging book or usually Inderstate's website,
and all that not always the case. Okay, this one,
the snowberry, apparently has sapnans. Now, sapnans are a soapy

(11:56):
like substance that are actually used in modern most and
alleopathic medicine or whatever to create basically artificial hormones and
such you're used in the production of we wouldn't have
like birth control pills and such as that without sappanans.

(12:17):
So while sapanans are deadly to fish, they actually will
block the gills and keep them from breathing absorbing oxygen.
I guess the fish doesn't really breathe, but anyway, respiration whatever.
That's how Native Americans often use plants containing sappnants, such

(12:38):
as yukkaroot being one of the most popular ones, as
a fish poison. That is very very illegal now for
obvious reasons, but you might want to know it in
a survival situation. When it comes to sapinins for the human,
while they are considered toxic, our body are especial share

(13:00):
liver doesn't really process sappenings the same way many animals do.
Like there's certain plants that contain sapins that if livestock
eat them it can be poisonous. Well, they just kind
of pass through for the most part for us. So
while technically sapinins are a toxin, oftentimes plants can be

(13:23):
eaten and generally considered safe that are listed as toxic
in many books and state websites and you know, medical
sites and all that. Very good example is honeysuckle. Now,
out of all the members of the honeysuckle family, they're
only a handful that are truly poisonous. I think everybody
is a kid, at least I did. Everybody I know

(13:45):
in the South would pick honeysuckle flowers and suck the
nectar out of them. You know, you're riding along your
bike see some honeysuckle and then you just suck the
nectar out. It was like, honey, it was wonderful, right,
perfume me it was delicious. I have a friend who
makes a honeysuckle syrup in that very way. And I've
known many people who do honeysuckle infused moonshine, essentially, people

(14:09):
who you know what, you call them distillation hobbyists, if
you will. That's very common in the Appalachians to infuse
a batch with honeysuckle. Now, if you're consumed large amounts
of say Japanese honeysuckle, could probably hurt you. You may

(14:30):
be able to absorb enough sappening content to get into trouble.
But most of us grew up snacking on honeysuckle flowers
and enjoying the nectar, and we really never had a problem.
A few months ago I published a well put on

(14:50):
YouTube a video on the use of Japanese honeysuckle and
other honeysuckles too. Like I said, it's a fairly large
family bush. Honeysuckle has a lot use of you be
very careful not to confuse it with go simium. They
can look a little similar when they're not in flower
similar one has more of a pointy leaf, the other's

(15:11):
more obvate or rounded elliptical. Actually. Anyway, so I put
this out and I give you know historical use of honeysuckle,
as I always do. I tell you, this book says
it's good for this, and this book says it's good
for this, and in this country, this ancient writer in
modern medicine, they found this. Well, a guy gets in

(15:31):
touch with me, absolutely livid, absolutely livid, saying that honeysuckles
poisonous and what I'm doing is dangerous. I'm like, let
me explain to you the nature of sappinans. No, my
state website says it's poisonous, therefore you're gonna end up
getting people killed. I'm like, okay, can you show me

(15:51):
documented instances of honeysuckle poisoning in you know, recent decades. Uh,
but my webs my state's website says it's poisonous. I'm like, well,
everybody around here has always used it in these what
my state website says it's poisonous. You're being irresponsible. I'm

(16:12):
gonna report you to YouTube. Okay. I finally took it down,
and I just fegared I would redo it next spring
when the heysuckles and flower again, and give the potential
toxicity with sources probably to his state's website, and also

(16:33):
give sources that say pretty much safe, don't worry about it.
Use in moderation, with common sense, you're probably gonna be
all right. But see, this is where we've gotten to
because it's just like with poke. You know, my favorite,
one of my favorite wild edibles fight a lac. I'm ericana. Yes,

(16:53):
pok has a certain degree of toxicity. When you harvest
the leaves and spring before there's any purple in them.
There's very little you can if you want to follow
the guide books and the websites and cook it in
three changes of water and then fried in bacon fat
and enjoy it. I mean people used to. I mean

(17:16):
they even when I was a kid. You could get
poke shoots and a can at a grocery store. Nobody
was freaked out about it. One of the first things
the colonists learned from Native Americans when they came over
here was making poke berry wine for arthritis. Poke berries
have much more of the toxin in it than the
pok leaves, but they would make a wine out of

(17:37):
the berries, and they would take a teaspoonful of day,
maybe even a little more. And it's actually extremely useful
for arthritis and especially the rheumatoid variety. It's a lymphatic,
it's he cleanses the system. Okay, But every state website,
every federal website, every you know, poison control centers stayed

(18:00):
on there deadly poison. Okay. So poke can be quite toxic.
If you were to, for instance, eat the root or
make a tincture of the root, you could have absorbed
enough of the toxin to actually be deadly. Every year,
kids go eat the berries and parents call poison control.

(18:22):
Poison control usually says to them, yeah, they're toxic. You
might want to bring them in and have their stomach pumped,
but they'll probably throw it up. And the reason is
because the poke berries are emetic. That's the first thing
that toxin causes you to throw up. Those sappenans in

(18:42):
the wolf berrier of snowberry, which are we're talking about,
usually will cause you to throw up. So your body's
not actually absorbing a lot of the toxin. So, while
while these books and websites and so called experts are
probably doing you know, their job in warning people about

(19:07):
certain levels of toxicity, folk wisdom that tells you how
to use these plants as they have been used for
thousands of years over multiple generations, might want to be
taken into account as well. And I don't know. I
don't know a lot of people have way too much
book knowledge and little hands on experience. That's what it

(19:30):
comes down to. I mean, if you've ever consumed poke, greens,
poke salad as it used to be called, or shoots,
and learned how to handle them, you don't have a
fear of poke. I eat them raw. I mean, I've
been eating poke for so long, I guess I've developed
a tolerance to the toxin. I won't recommend you do that.

(19:51):
If you grew up as a kid, you know, eating
honey suckle flowers, sucking the juice out of it, the
whole bit nectar, you don't really have a fear honeysuckle.
That doesn't mean you're going to go sit down to
eat a bushel and a half of it, or that
you're eating the stems or roots or leaves, even whether
you're going to have a higher sappening content. Now those

(20:13):
may have some use in herbal medicine, and in my
video I went quite in depth into the anti viral
properties of honeysuckle, which is very important. But you know,
when you've got a bunch of little chicken littles running
around saying the sky's falling every time you mentioned a plant.
I don't know. People need a lot more real world

(20:37):
experience and a lot less Internet experience. Okay, yeah, that's ironic, ironic, right.
I make my living writing books and doing podcasts and
doing articles on the Internet and doing gosh interviews and
social media and all that. Right without the Internet, I

(20:58):
really couldn't make a living. So I try to write
my books in a way and do my podcasts in
a way that is saying, this is your starting point.
Take this information. Now, go out into the woods or
the meadows or whatever swamps. Find this plant. Learn to

(21:18):
identify this plant, do your research on this plant, learn
to use this plant, or not if you feel like
you don't want to, if you feel like there's too risky.
But I don't say, well, it's a mean semi disclaimer.
Everybody's different, people react to things different ways. I never
say that you know you've listen to my podcasts and

(21:41):
now you're an expert, or you've watched more on my
YouTube videos and you know everything possible you need to
know about this plant. Even if you know everything I
know about the plant, and even if I am considered
somewhat of an expert. You don't know how that your
own body and constitution is going to react to that plant.

(22:04):
So I don't make broad generalizations like this plant is
covidly safe. I say, do your research, use your own judgment,
be careful. But I find it safe for me. I
find it honestly, And I mean people would probably freak
out if I said this at an herbal conference or

(22:24):
a Forger's conference. I mean, but I told you before
on the podcast the way I got over long covid,
I knew I needed a limph cleanse. I went and
dug out a pok root in winter. I knew where
the plant was and took a bite of it. Every
single book and every single expert would tell you that
I would should have dropped dead. Well, I've dealt with

(22:48):
poke a lot. I've dealt with poke most of my life.
I know what my tolerances are on poke, and so
I took a bite of the route. It was a
big bite, but you know, shoot it up real well,
swallowed it down. Within thirty minutes. I began sweating, and
then the fever broke and there was that big flush,

(23:09):
that big cleansing you know, broken fever. Sweat was maybe
a slightly nauseous, but not anymore so that you'd be
like riding in the backseat of somebody's car if they're
a stop and go driver. But after that, I mean
I literally my clothes were soaked, and after that I

(23:29):
felt good. I was back to being healthy again. It
did exactly what I knew it was going to do,
because I have experience with poke. No, I'm not recommending
you do that, but whenever you see one of these warnings,
look into it, see what the toxin is, do a
little research on that toxin. The next plant we're going

(23:52):
to talk about is extremely toxic, and I'm almost going
to give you the exact opposite advice, and that's because
it is one of the two or three most poisonous
plants in the entire world, and really irresponsible people have
been putting out really bad information on it. We'll get
into that in a minute. Belot we finish up on

(24:13):
this one, Wolfberry. This is again from Plants for the Future,
and infusion of the leaves has been used as a
wash for weak and inflamed eyes, and infusion of the
roots has been used to clintse the after birth and
aid in convalescence. And coral berry. The decoction of the
inner bark or leaves has been used as a wash
in the treatment of weak and flame sore eyes. Cold

(24:33):
decoction of the bark the root bark has been used
as an eyew wash treat sore eyes. All right, now,
as promised, Texas, you, you, along with wolf spain, are
maybe one other I could think of something. Maybe you
can get some strychnine or arsenic from you. As one

(24:58):
of the certainly the top five most poisonous plants in
the entire world, five varieties do have documented use in
herbal medicine. All are extremely poisonous. I mean, seriously, this
is one of the most poisonous plants known to man.
We have one shrub type U in my area, Texas

(25:21):
Canadensis Canada you also several have been planted ornamentally, do
not be afraid of you. Ornamentally, teach your children not
to eat the berries. I can't remember what they call it.
I'll probably get to the word it has a unique fruit.
It doesn't matter. I'll probably find that word as I'm
reading my notes. If your kids eat that berry, they're

(25:43):
going to die. More likely than not. Unless you can
get their stomach pumped very quickly, you is extremely poisonous.
But some of my favorite childhood memories there was a
park in the mountain town where I grew up, and
they had this big stand of you, and it was
the Canadasis. It was a shrub form you and I would

(26:05):
just climb in there and play in there and make
little forts in there, and I thought it was fantastic.
Never once did I have the idea that I should
try eating it. So don't freak out if you've got
you growing in your yard or there's you in a park. Actually,
the reason my beloved stand of you is gone is
because some parent, you know, we usually would call them

(26:28):
acharen these days, freaked out and ran to the city
and said, you have to get rid of these poisonous plants.
What if some child eats the berries, Well they look
kind of freaky. I mean I never had a desire
to put one in my mouth. It's a weird looking plant,
I mean to some extent. I mean, we're not animals.
Even I, who grazed on just about anything, knew not

(26:51):
to eat the u berries. And what do you going
to say? So my beloved stand of you is no more,
and that was one of my favorite childhood memories. In Europe,
you was often one of the best woods for making
bows longbows. You has wonderful uses and it's a beautiful
ornamental plant, and there's no reason to eradicate it. But

(27:14):
there's also no reason to say really stupid things about it. Beginning,
I guess in about the eighties, there was a false herbalist,
a faker, a guy who had no idea what he
was talking about. And he called himself doctor So and so.

(27:34):
I'm not gonna say the name. You can look him up.
You'll figure out who I'm talking about. Uh. He worked
with people like Michael Jackson and Oprah Winfrey, and he
was a big celebrity, big big celebrity. And he would
do a tiny bit of research and then Okay, I'm
gonna I'm just this is my supposition. People wont no

(27:58):
cures for cancer. I never give curves for cancer. It's
far too serious a subject. I mean, and there's you
can get people's hopes up or this is the real problem.
He said that you could be used as a cure
for cancer. I never said that. I would never say that,

(28:20):
but he did. And while medical research has found certain
compounds in you, y w to have certain potential in
cancer research. This is not kitchen medicine. This is not
go out and get yourself some you and fix it.
You will die. But he marketed as a cancer cure.

(28:48):
Eventually he ended up fleeing the country. He was found
to be practicing medicine on a license. He was found
to be embezzling. He was found to be a fraud,
a total con man, ripping on of his clients and
selling books books that are silver selling Amazon by the way,
they haven't been pulled. Yeah, he fled the country and

(29:11):
took his millions and went and lived like a king
for a while until, perhaps ironically, he died of cancer.
Apparently all his herbal knowledge that he had been marketing
to people and taking their hard earned money was not
enough to save himself. So yeah, I have a huge

(29:32):
issue with people like that, and people who took his
writing at face value never did their own research. And
sometimes they get in touch with me and they'll ask
me where they can get you and how they can
use you, and I'll say why do you ask And
to say, well, it's a remedy for cancer. I'm like, well,

(29:54):
have you actually done any research on this? I mean,
you may actually want to look and see that while
in medical laboratories, certain chemical extracts from this plant have
been used. It is absolutely not safe for you to
make a tea out of this and drink it. And
they get angry. But doctor S we'll call him, said

(30:20):
that said that this was a cure. I'm like, yeah,
and doctor S died of cancer after defrauding his patients
from millions of dollars. But he said it, yes, and
he was a con man and a liar. And usually
they get angry at me, call me a bunch of names,
and you know, storm away. I mean, seriously, whatever those

(30:44):
storm away version is of an email, you can't just
I mean, there are these guru type herbalists that that's
to me is the worst. You know. Sometimes I have
an issue with the clinical guys that are like, you know,
everything needs to be licensed and everyone needs to go
through this training program. I don't believe that. I believe
in folk erberalism, kitchen medicine. I don't believe herbal medicine

(31:08):
needs to be regulated. But I have a huge problem
with the guru types and I could name five of
the most popular verbalists off the top of my head
that I have no respect for whatsoever. Some of them
are pretty decent herbalists. One of them in particular, does

(31:31):
a lot of work with chemistry, and he's kind of
on the cutting edge. But they the way they present
is like a cult leader. They go in and they
have this secret knowledge, and they're going to share this
secret knowledge with you that somebody else doesn't want you
to know. They don't want you to know they in

(31:53):
quotes right, And you can do this and it will
make you live many, many years longer, and be strong
and virile and vibrant into your old age. And you
can expand your consciousness. That's another one really gets me.
Expand your consciousness, and it elevates your energy and you know, okay,

(32:15):
And they don't mean energy in terms of just like
you know, get up out of the chair faster. They
mean like psychic energy and all that kind of crap.
And that's what it is, just total bullshit, not a
bit true to it whatsoever. And they go in and
they talk to usually groups of young people or women

(32:37):
tend to be particularly susceptible. For some reason. I don't
know why. They go in and they say, oh, they're
hiding this from you and they don't want you to
know this. And they're like guru types, and once somebody
kind of falls for that, they get hooked. They believe
that person's word because that person tells you they have

(33:00):
a secret knowledge that everybody else is hiding from you.
So when you go and someone says I need to
know about you for this and that, and I say why,
and they tell me doctor s and I go through
and show them that he was a con man charlatan
and died of the very disease he said he could prevent.

(33:22):
Instead of believing it even given the ed evidence, they're
more likely to think all the evidence is made up
to slander their great heroic cult leader and they get
angry with me, what are you going to do? You know,
I'm sorry, but that's exact personality type. And the way

(33:44):
people followed, you know, doctor Fauci and stuff. During the pandemic.
People stopped thinking for themselves. They stop thinking period. They've
got scared and they just started doing what they were
told and then got angry at anybody who thought differently.
I mean, I said at the time, if your pants

(34:05):
can't hold in a fart. How can a mask keep
a microscopic virus? A cloth mask now of one layer,
or a bandana which some people are using, keep a
virus from being inhaled. Well, doctor Falti said, and you're
gonna kill everybody. And you're horrible. And I mean we

(34:30):
science and even you know, the folk arts of herbalism
have no room for gurus. We have no room for
cult leaders. You have to have empirical evidence. You're so

(34:51):
much I want to say to my audience, you're so
much better than that. I mean, it says in my disclaimer,
don't just take my word for it, go out and
do your own research. If there's someone who says take

(35:12):
my word for it and don't do your own research,
get as far away from that person as you can.
They should be expelled from all medical or scientific or
herbalist associations, etc. So now back to the legitimate uses
of you with the huge disclaimer of don't try this

(35:34):
at home, okay, And mostly the ancient writers just talked
about how poisonous was Discorities said that chickens that eat
the fruit which grows on it in Italy turned black,
and men that eat it fall into unconsciousness. Wow, there

(35:58):
was actually one that was called Arbonite of NARBONI I
guess a variety that was so strong that it said
men who sat or fell asleep under it were hurt
by the shade, and by that they frequently died. I
don't think that's true, but I mean that's how poisonous
this plant was thought to be in ancient Greece Gerard

(36:18):
fifteen hundreds to England, the yew tree, as galaen and reporteth,
is of a venomous quality and against man's nature. Diascordes
write that generally all heretofore have dealt in the faculty
of herbalism, that the yew tree is very venomous to
be taken inwardly, and that if any do sleep under

(36:39):
the shadow thereof, it causes sickness and oftentimes death. Moreover,
they say that the fruit thereof being eaten is not
only dangerous and deadly in demand, but if birds do
eat of, it causes them to cast off their feathers
and many times die. All which I dare boldly affirm
is altogether untrue. For when I was young and went
to school, died first of my school fellows and likewise,

(37:01):
myself did eat our fill of the berries of this tree.
And right there, boom, Gerard's off the list. No, I'm serious, Gerard.
He was a wonderful gardener. He was the Queen's gardener.
He was friends with Shakespeare, he had the Royal gardens.

(37:22):
Almost all of his herbal writings were taken from other sources.
And if he ate the fill of the berries of
the u he would have died. If he ate his fill,
I'm not saying one or two he might have gotten
away with. I don't know. I don't know the variety
of it. Some are more toxic than others, but all
are toxic. He was obviously mistaking this one with another tree.

(37:47):
But he does say that he slept under the shadow
thereof and among the branches without any heard it all,
And as have I, there's no doubt. I mean, that
is an exaggeration. He talks about Nick andder nickandur was
an ancient herbliss in his book of counter poisons. Doth reckon

(38:09):
the yew tree among the venomous plants. But sit down
also a remedy which is more folklore, and I'm not
going to get into it now. He said there was
a yew tree in England that was not poisonous. As
I said, I do not know that variety. And if
he did actually eat a bunch of the berries and whatever, okay,

(38:33):
but the user gon encounter poisonous, and Gerard was not
not a source to be taken as truth. Usually anyway,
He's let's say Culpepper Good one hundred years later, talks

(38:57):
about the government and virtues. He gets a little folklor
which is always interesting. You know, I love that stuff.
We're run a little bit long here, he says. The
leaves are said to be very poisonous, but the wood,
if it grew with more regularity, would be very valuable.
And it was a nice wood. It was very good
for bone making. But this plant has no place among
the physical plants that means medicinal. Yet it does deserve

(39:23):
it does not deserve so bad a character as the
ancients give it. While it is a most poisonous vegetable,
the berries of which threaten present death to the man
that eat them, many in this country have eaten them survived. Okay,
So they have one that's a little ex toxic, do
we probably not? Let's see, he says, however, that be

(39:46):
it has a very poisonous quality, especially that rise by
distillation in this form most active vegetable poison. It is
the most active vegetable poison known in the whole world,
for in a very small and instantly induces death without
any previous disorder, and its deleterious power seems to act

(40:06):
entirely upon the nervous system without exciting the least inflammation
of the parts to which it more immediately enters. It
totally differs from opium and other sleepy poisons, where it
does not bring on lethargic symptoms, but more effectively penetrates
and destroys the vital functions without immediately affecting the animal.
These observations would not have been made or the article

(40:27):
anserted here, but caution against any rash application of it,
for though it sometimes is given in is given useful
in obstructions of the liver and biless complaints, those experiments
seem too few to be recommended it to be used
without the greatest caution. Yeah, I mean, it's truly one

(40:48):
of the most poisonous plants. Now Miss Grieve goes into it.
She says, no tree is more associated with the history
and legends of Great Britain than the you. That's very true.
It was one that the druids liked. Who knows, maybe
they like to poison people. She said. Many cases of

(41:09):
poisoning amongst cattle have resulted from eating parts of the u.
She's the fruit, the seeds and stems are the most
poisonous part, whereas Colpepper said it was the needles the leaves,
as he put it. Under uses, she said, the wood
was much valued in archery for making longbows. The wood

(41:31):
is said to resist the action of water, is very hard,
and before the use of iron became general, was greatly valued.
Let's see King's American Dispensatory eighteen ninety eight. Let's see
if there's any By eighteen ninety eight, were there any
uses they could use medicinally? No, they mainly just yeah

(41:55):
to talk about how poisonous is Symptoms occasioned by the
jew extract of the leaves very according to the quantity
is taken. In larger doses, there's power, vertigo, spasm, symptoms
of collapse with gastric and enteric irritation, enfeebled and deranged
cardiac action, coma, and death not unfrequently very large doses

(42:16):
are followed by a prompt diminution of vital forces. In
other words, they kill you very fast. Post mortem investigations
have found some of the indication of inflammation with stomach
and bowels also not pleasant. They mentioned that in former
times a jelly or syrup was made that was useful

(42:38):
for coughs. Yeah, we're not gonna even consider that. I mean,
there are a lot better call remedies we could use,
you know, cherry bark. If we want a good call remedy,
plants are a future Canadian. You Canadian is very poisonous,
though it was employee medicinal several Native American Indian tribes

(43:01):
who used minute amounts of the leaves internally and externally
in order to treat a variety of complaints including rheumatism, fever, influenza,
expelling of after birth, and dispelling clots. Modern research it
shows that it contains the cbic taxil and it shoots
and bark. Taxil has shown exciting potentials an anti cancer drug,

(43:23):
particularly the pre treatment of ovarian cancer, but this remedy
is very toxic and even when used externally, should only
be used under supervision of a qualified practitioner. The plant
is a bortifacian, analgesic andim romatic, anid tumor, diphoragic, diarregic,
and minagogue, fabric fusion, depictorial known hazards. All parts of
the plant except the flesh. Only of the fruit are

(43:46):
highly poisonous. And yes, that was what I was trying
to remember when we were talking about culpepper. Apparently the
birds eat the berries and not the seeds, and apparently,
in probably some of the lesser toxic ones, the berries
are technically edible, so long as you don't swallow the seeds,

(44:07):
I'm not even gonna try it. They look weird too.
Many instances of poisonings have actually been recorded from people
eating the berries of you. So if you've got one
of these in you are, I tell you kids not
to eat it. But if you see birds eating it,
don't really freak out because apparently they don't digest the seeds,
so they either don't swallow them or they pass through

(44:29):
without breaking down in their system. So yeah, highly poisonous,
highly poisonous. Piers and field goetes from distal plants as
American Indians used by new amounts, just like they just said,
but they mentioned that U sap was used by the
Celts to poison arrows. Yes, the sap of the U

(44:50):
is actually an arrow poisoning so that you know, you
get hit by an arrow, it enters your bloodstream and
you drop dead. Warning all parts of the plant except
perhaps the red aerrol that was it. It's not a
very It's actually an aeryl of some use contain toxic

(45:10):
oxaline alkaloid, contain the toxic alkaloid taxine, and are considered poisonous.
Ingesting as few as fifty needles has resulted in fatalities.
I frankly have no idea why you would want to
ingest the needles of a U tree. But you know,

(45:30):
the guy that sticks out in my mind who got
so upset when I told him about doctor S, was
wanting to make a U needle tea to drink because
doctor S apparently had recommended I don't know I've ever
read that. I'm not saying he did. But taking a
chemical extract of you, the taxol, and using it in

(45:56):
laboratory studies is a very very different thing then making
a tea of you needles. They said, you know, we
just read that even the chemical extract being used in
pharmaceutical studies was very toxic. Making this needle tea is suicidal.

(46:22):
You may survive it, you may not. A little too
much is going to kill you. And it sure didn't
do doctor s any good. So y'all that's it. Just
remember avoid, especially in herbal medicine, especially in allopathic medicine.

(46:43):
What do you call modern medicine. I don't care if
it's a doctor an herbalist, if they act like a
guru type, if they act like they know everything, if
they don't want to be questioned, if they tell you
they have some secret they're going to share with.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
You, run run Okay, y'all have a going and I
will talk to you next week. The information 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.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
I'm not a doctor.

Speaker 4 (47:19):
The US government does not recognize the practice of verbal medicine,
and there is no governing body regulating herbless. Therefore, I'm
really just a guy who stays herbs. 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 Earth has been traditionally used for. I can tell
you my own experience, and if I believe in herb
has helped me, I cannot, nor would I tell you

(47:41):
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.
What works for me may not work for you. You
may have an allergy of sensitivity and underlying condition that
no one else even shares.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
And you don't even know about it. Be careful with
your health.

Speaker 4 (48:02):
By continuing to listen to my podcast or read my blog,
you reread to be responsible for yourself, to your own research,
make your own choices, and not to blame me for
anything ever.

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