Autumn herbs and autumn people by Caroline Sheldrick  We all have our favourite season, and while most people will say they prefer the summer, many gardeners opt for the spring or the autumn. Summer is over and the goodness is returning from the aerial parts of the plants back down into the earth. Moulds are sending out their branching microrrhiza in a vast underground network, soon to send up their fruiting bodies as toadstools. The flowering plants have set their seed and are storing energy in their underground roots, rhizomes and tubers. It makes some people sad, feeling the end of summer, but others love it and really enjoy the natural harvest and, like the animals, storing the harvest away for the winter in the form of preserves. Some gardeners store root vegetables in earth clamps: piles of roots covered in straw and then turves, keeping them moist but frost-free until the spring. Edward Thomas wrote a poem (‘Swedes’) comparing the unearthing of a swede clamp, roofed in clay, to the discovery of a pharaoh’s tomb in Egypt, describing ‘the white and gold and purple of curled fronds’ as they are uncovered.In the autumn garden one of the most popular flowering plants among the Compositae are the Rudbeckias and the Echinaceas. These coneflowers have really taken off in recent years, and a wide variety of cultivars are now available with flowers in all shades of pink and red, white and even green. Echinacea is the most well-known medicinal herb and is widely taken as an over-the-counter remedy for winter infections. It is an American plant, used for hundreds of years by the native people there and brought back to Europe by settlers. Graham Stuart Thomas (Perennial Garden Plants) describes Echinacea purpurea as having... ‘branching stems [which] display several exceptionally handsome large daisy-flowers, wide-rayed, of rich mauve-crimson, flushed with cerise, of varying intensity, the tips of the petals often being pale grey. An extraordinary touch is the large central boss of orange-brown.’ It is hardy to -20º, but much loved by slugs. How nice to be called ‘exceptionally handsome’! Echinacea is somehow a masculine plant, with a very strong action. It is the root and rhizome of the plant which is used in medicine. It contains seven major pharmacologically active compounds, the chief of which has significant immune-enhancing and mild anti-inflammatory properties. It promotes tissue regeneration and is antiviral and antibacterial, active against Staphylococcus aureus and other organisms. It is readily available in tincture form so do not be tempted to dig it up from the garden. Another important root harvested in the autumn is that of another Compositae member, Inula helenium, the elecampane with its yellow daisy flowers. Found growing wild and in gardens, Inula is a remedy primarily used for the lungs. The essential oil is antiseptic (active, like Echinacea, against the TB bacillus) and stimulates the ‘escalator’ of tiny hairs which bring mucus up from the lungs, and the saponins it contains stimulate the bronchi to expel mucus. A valuable remedy for congested lungs, especially in the elderly, it is prepared by chopping the fresh root into small pieces for drying. The powdered root can be infused in water in a vacuum flask the better to extract the volatile oil.  Unlike Echinacea, liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) is unlikely to feature in the flower garden. It is a leguminous plant which makes a rather straggly bush with delicate (for which read ‘insignificant’) flowers. But what a root! Harvested in autumn, glycyrrhiza (meaning ‘sweet root’) contains, among other active compounds, triterpenoid saponins which interact closely with the hormones of the adrenal cortex. It has anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic effects similar to hydrocortisone. It also creates a viscous lining to the stomach, reducing gastric erosion and is widely used for treating people with peptic ulcers. It is much sweeter than sucrose and is used to make delicious confectionery. In large doses it can raise blood pressure and should only be used cautiously without medical advice. Just as the year has four seasons, many systems of healing have a fourfold classification of the ‘cold, hot, damp and dry’ kind. The traditional ‘humours’ of sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic are still useful in identifying medicinal herbs which will suit individual people. Just as we have a season which suits our nature, so we have a natural affinity to different plants. Finding out what ‘humour’ a person has is a helpful guide to the remedies which will suit them. Liquorice is often a favourite of autumn-loving people. They also tend to like mushrooms, cheese, bread and other yeasty food. Like autumn squirrels, they prefer to save than to spend, are often uncomfortable in hot, humid climates and are prone to moist ailments: catarrh, chestiness, candida and athlete’s foot. They like bonfires more than sea bathing, and enjoy kicking about under walnut trees in the fallen leaves to find fresh walnuts in their black fruit cases, closely followed by eating stewed blackberry and apple. Caroline Sheldrick is a practising medical herbalist. Most common herbal remedies are safe to use at home, but if in doubt seek advice from a qualified medical herbalist such as a member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists (www.nimh.org.uk). |