Self Heal — The Little Weed With POWERFUL Benefits

every one of my parents and hanging out here in the woods in western Pennsylvania and I want to introduce you to a plant that's probably growing in your lawn right now this plant right here and it's one you're very likely to overlook because of its small size however we'd be wise to pay more attention to this plant four main reason umber one it's an edible wild plant number two it's a medicinal loud plant number three it's ubiquitous it's found all over and number four it tends to appear in such large numbers every single year so what is this particular plant and what is so special about it well stay tuned because that's the topic of today's video this is a plant that's known as self heal also known as all heal and the latin name is prunella vulgaris and vulgaris means common or usual this is a plant that has a long history of use in traditional Chinese medicine traditional European medicine and traditional North American medicine so I really like this plant not because it has a lot of traditional use by various cultures throughout the world but it has a lot of modern research to back up its claim now before we get into the specifics of the medicinal actions of self heal let's talk about the identification because we should talk about the identification so you know how to properly identify this plant before going out and harvesting something that looks like this this is a short perennial plant that can grow to be a few inches tall and as I mentioned has oppositely arranged leaves and each leaf is much longer than it is wide the stem terminates and Spica flowers and this plant typically flowers from May through about October they're actually two parts to each flower the purple upper lip then is a white lower lip and there isn't really any floral scent so just like whenever you crush the leaves you don't really detect any aroma same thing with the flowers not really any floral scent to this plant you'll typically find self-healed prunella vulgaris in your lawn such as if you live anywhere in the United States to look this time of year for a purple flowering spike in a plant that has oppositely arranged leaves we also see it along roadsides you'll see it along woodland trail sometimes into the woods but not always but those are typically places where I'm seeing self-healed now you might confuse this for other members of the mint family like purple dead meadow or henbit or maybe even creeping Charlie but those plants typically flower earlier in years if you're seeing a purple flowering like this time of year with oppositely arranged leaves probably in your lawn then you most likely have prunella vulgaris selphie oh alright so what had self-heal been shown to do in the scientific literature well there are three main areas where this plant prunella vulgaris really shines when it comes to human health and number one is UV protection number two is anti-inflammatory support number three is immunomodulatory support working with the immune system so let's take a look at number one UV protection we're look at the Sun we see that the sun's electromagnetic radiation can basically be categorized into three main groups number one is UVA radiation which is longer wave radiation number two is UVB radiation which is medium wave radiation and number three is UVC radiation which is shorter wave radiation most of that give absorbed by the ozone layer and it seems that cell field offers protection against both UVA and deuce injury to the skin and UVB induce injury to the skin now specifically in 2006 a study was published in the Journal of photochemistry and photo biology showing that selfie offered protection against UVA induced oxidative stress and DNA damage and a couple years later in 2010 and the archives of dermatological research Sophia prevented UVB induced injury to keratinocytes so what the heck are keratinocytes will keratinocyte want to a predominant type of cell found in the outermost layer of our skin now of course the Sun isn't always to blame right we absolutely need healthy sun exposure for optimal health despite what many people in the media and despite what many health professionals might want us to believe and we can take full responsibility in these situations and one of those ways to consume a lot of antioxidant rich foods throughout the summer months but also consume foods and medicines like cell feel that offer specifically protection against UVA and UVB induced damage to the skin so cell feel has been shown to offer both protection against UVA induced injury and UVB induce injury to the skin the second key area for which cell feel has been shown to shine in the research is in the areas of inflammation now 2009 specifically a study was published in toxicology in vitro showing that this plant cell feel attenuated inflammation associated with gingivitis so anytime you see itis after something that typically means inflammation so gingivitis is inflammation of a gum tissue so perhaps this plant that's probably growing in your backyard right now might make for good oral rinse or mouthwash and then a more recent study in 2013 in the Journal BMB Reports found that self-heal suppress inflammation associated with the condition that's responsible for 33% of all deaths in the United States it's 1 in every 3 deaths that's attributed to atherosclerosis now atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with the arterial wall and it typically manifests itself as acute coronary syndrome a stroke and its various peripheral arterial disease is so this planets shown to be effective as an anti-inflammatory associated with atherosclerosis now these aren't the only areas of inflammation itself email has been shown to be effective for however many people are experiencing gingivitis today and a lot of people are really experiencing atherosclerosis and so if that's you or if you know somebody who is experiencing these conditions maybe turn them on to this video or turn them on to this research and see what this common plant which can be found probably in your backyard see what this plant can or can't do for you or then the third key area where cell feel really shines in the scientific literature is when it comes to something known as immunomodulation so what the heck is immunomodulation well immunomodulation is essentially the ability of something to either stimulate the immune system or suppress the immune system in a dual directional way based on the body's needs in a 2005 a study was published in the International Journal molecular medicine showing that an extracted polysaccharide the long-chain sugar from self-heal offered immunomodulatory support in two ways one by stimulating the immune system specifically by up regulating macrophages and monocytes these are white blood cells but also by attenuating inflammation associated with an overactive immune system so this is immunomodulation at its finest and what's so fantastic that you don't always see this property immunomodulation in the plant kingdom you see it in the fungal kingdom specifically with many medicinal mushrooms like chaga reishi turkey tail shiitake and other medicinal mushrooms but to see it in the plant kingdom is absolutely fantastic and that's what makes this plant cell feel prunella vulgaris especial its ability to offer immunomodulatory support in a dual directional way so now that we can properly identify cell field now that we know a little bit about the medicinal property ease of selfie Oh what else can we do with it or how can we apply this to our lives well as I mentioned early on in this video it is an edible plant so you can just eat this plant you can eat the aerial portions of this plant what I like about this plant is it doesn't really develop those bitter flavors that many other weedy plants do this time of year and also it's not too fibrous either so I basically treated the trails that nibble on they belong the flowers and I'll nibble on the leaves as I walk in the woods you can also bring some of this home and add it to a salad or use it as a pot herb you can also make effective medicines out of this plant in three main ways number one you can make a tea or an infusion out of this plant by adding dried material to hot water and letting that simmer for maybe 10-15 minutes 30 minutes or overnight and straining them out and drinking it you could add the soups as well number two you can make an alcohol extract by using for example of vodka and adding dried material one third of the way full of a 32 ounce mason jar and topping that off with vodka straining that out after about 2 to 6 weeks and you have an alcohol extract of prunella vulgaris and you can also make a topical salve out of this product by adding it to it oil and letting that infuse for about two to six weeks and straining that out then you get also add that's a melted beeswax and I actually have a product at home that I use a contained selfie oh and I use it topically it's very very effective for treating cuts scrapes burns minor cuts scrapes burns but it is a fantastic product there's a lot of other things that you can do with this plant but this is three main things that I can think of right now and I encourage you to get out there and look for this fantastic plant prunella vulgaris self you'll also notice all heal and see what this plant may be able to do for you is a lot of research out there on this plant and I'd like to give this plant a lot more credit than many people are currently giving it so let's do all we can to make sure that happens thanks for watching this video truly appreciate it I encourage you to subscribe to the YouTube channel follow me on social media at learn your land head on over to learn your landcom sign up for the email newsletter so we could stay in touch thanks again I'll see you in the next video you

Channel: Learn Your Land

Views: 1,448,799

Keywords: Adam Haritan, Learn Your Land, Foraging, Plants, Mushrooms, Hunting, Nature, Universe, Outdoors, Gardening, Weeds, Invasive, Wild Edibles, Medicinal Mushrooms, Chaga, Reishi, Turkey Tail, Stuart Wilde, Foraging Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Thank You, Self Heal, Prunella vulgaris, Mint

Id: Jse1wUz_9ys

Length: 8min 50sec (530 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 12 2017