Yarrow: Bioregional Folk Polycrest by Paul Manski

Yarrow: Bioregional Folk Polycrest

I was alerted to the concept of a bioregional polycrest, by MT in our conversations back and forth, while traveling last month back and forth from the mid sonoran saguaro/ocotillo desert

to piñon/juniper/manzanita woods and back to ocotillo/saguaro desert and back again   with MT, a student of

MC, 7, field herbalists,

we were looking at the plants and she expressed the idea that the way the plants were combined in the environment is the way they should be combined in a formula, that could nourish the biospirit. So the plants just in the way they are together,  the space that they were sharing, the adjacent plants were themselves a formula. The three points plant, person, place. The small plant groupings are a way of healing that we had to understand. It struck me just at that moment that these groupings of plants are the same concept as the Navajo life medicines. These are the plants, we are the people. We are going to use the plants that are here. Not in the sense of using plants of commerce to develop a formula but the plants that are here.  We are here. We will use the plants that are here.

      I think that bioregional polycrest remedies, have to have a significant place in our bioregional folk herbalism. The unique biospirit unfolds in a place.

     Yarrow as a polycrest plant in our bioregional folk herbalism. Yarrow, our own variety, Achillea lanulosa var occidentallis is a circumpolar plant native here and in the northern forests of Europe to our Gila/Salt rivers bioregion. It grows in the high country It has a 60,000 year history of our  bio spiritual use. It is a widespread and powerful healing plant. It is found around the world, and in all 50 states of what have been called and once we're, United States. 

     Yarrow was named Achillea millefolium by Linnaeus in 1753. So based on this Latin name there is a question, what is our local high elevation yarrow's name? Is it A. millefolium? Is it A. lanulosa? Is it A. occidentallis? Some dispute whether the plant here in Arizona is a distinct species as compared to the one on the east coast of the United States and in Europe. Peebles and Kearney in Arizona Flora, 1943 describe it as, "Achillea lanulosa, western yarrow, a certainly indigenous plant, is not clearly distinguishable from the introduced A. millefolium common in the eastern United States."  A. lanulosa is our native Arizona species. It is quite similar and in many ways nearly identical to the eastern US variety which is said to have naturalized from Europe. 

"A. lanulosa is most commonly found in the mountains of the western United States at higher altitudes.In the Sierra Nevada range of California it occurs from ca. 800 to 3350 m altitude (CLAUSENK,ECKand HIESEY1948).It is a small, tetraploid herbaceous perennial native to North America,and has been regarded as part of the Achillea millefolium species complex"(CLAUSENKE, CK and HIESEY 1948). 

      Yarrow has one of the longest associations with humans, going back 60,000 years, traced to the cave burial site in Iraq at  Shandiar. In Yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.): A Neglected Panacea? A Review of Ethnobotany, Bioact- ivity, and Biomedical Research. By Wendy L. Applequist, and Daniel E. Moerman 2011

 "Yarrow is one of the oldest known botanicals used by humans (sensu lato): it is among the six medicinal plants whose pollen was found in a Homo neanderthalensis grave at Shanidar, dated to 65,000 B.P. (Leroi-Gourhan 1975, 1998; Solecki 1975)"

Our Neanderthal euro people, the first people of Europe, were familiar with yarrow as we are. So herbs like yarrow have deep spiritual resonance with our biospirit. 

 And yet no human single use clinical trial for yarrow has yet to be conducted. Which shows you where regime science is with regard to understanding the use and effectiveness of our herbs in a clinical practice. This is an herb which has a history of our use of 60,000 years yet not one human use clinical trial. Try to comprehend that reality because that is the reality of our plant cultural history today.

     

Yarrow, belongs to the family Asteraceae, considered the largest family of flowering plants with 23,000 species. Achillea, the Latin name of yarrow, refers to Achilles the Ancient Greek hero of the Illiad. Although, it is Patroclus, the beloved comrade of Achilles who uses the healing herb, "Book XI, line 844 Patroclus helps Eurypylus as follows: “...help me to my black ship, and cut out the arrow-head, and wash the dark blood from my thigh with warm water, and sprinkle soothing herbs with power to heal on my wound, whose use men say you learned from Achilles, whom the noble Centaur, Cheiron, taught...There upon, Patroclus made him lie at length, and with a knife cut from his thigh the sharp-piercing arrow, and from the wound washed the black blood with warm water, and upon it cast a bitter root, when he had rubbed it between his hands, a root that slayeth pain, which stayed all his pangs; and the wound waxed dry, and the blood ceased.;” Pliny the Elder in, "The Natural History", 73AD, mentions, "Achilles too, the pupil of Chiron, discovered a plant which heals wounds, and which, as being his discovery, is known as the "achilleos." It was by the aid of this plant, they say, that he cured Telephus." 

This is an accurate description of yarrow, Achillea millefolium, it was used in the American Civil war as a hemoststic, with marigold petals in the American South as a wound dressing and up until WWI to heal wounds and stop bleeding. 

"Wound healing is a complex process characterized by homeostasis, re-epithelization, and granulation tissue formation and remodeling of the extracellular matrix. Medicinal plants may affect various phases of the wound healing process, coagulation, inflammation and fibroplasia."-. Priya KS, Gnanamani A, Radhakrishnan N, Babu M. Healing potential of Datura albaon burn wounds in albino rats. J Ethnopharm. 2002;83:193–199.  

     Our great western herbalist pioneer physicians, the eclectics preserved their knowledge in books. Unlike the native people who didn't pass their knowledge on except as it lives on in the writings of western white men and women. Truely what pride to own that privilege and carry forward that knowledge into the future. It is mainly through these great western men that we know plants today. One such giant was Finley Ellingwood writing in 1898 of yarrow, "Therapy — Yarrow is advised by Webster in uterine hemorrhage. It is a mild astringent, probably acting also as a tonic. It is useful in passive hemorrhage when not persistent in character. It is a beneficial remedy in diseases of the mucous surfaces, relieving irritation and profuse secretion. It soothes intestinal irritation and overcomes mild forms of diarrhoea. It is of benefit in improving the tone of the urinary apparatus, relieving irritation, overcoming strangury and suppression of the urine. It acts best in strong infusion and its use must be persisted in. In general relaxed conditions it is a cure for leucorrhoea, where there is a profuse discharge, or thick, heavy mucus from enfeebled mucous membranes." -from "Materia Medica and Therapeutics: Finley Ellingwood, MD 1898.

Nicholas Culpeper another great western herbalist preserved his vision in his writings. Every time I read these white western teachers I am grateful to their tradition and my kind. Culpeper writing in 1652, likewise  "Government and virtues.] It is under the influence of Venus. An ointment of them cures wounds, and is most fit for such as have inflammations, it being an herb of Dame Venus ;

it stops the terms in women, being boiled in white wine, and the decoction drank ; as also the bloody flux ; the ointment of it is not only good for green wounds, but also for ulcers and fistulas, especially such as abound with moisture." When Culpeper referred to yarrow as under the influence of Venus he meant it's aromatic quality, secondly it's tonic quality to the female reproductive system and its help to the menstrual cycle. Thirdly it's place in the tonic to digestive, kidney and urinary issues. 

      There are long documented uses for wounds both topically to stop bleeding and as a salve applied topically as an anti microbial to prevent infection, and to speed healing by facilitating growth of granulation tissue, internally for ulcers, gastric distress, and painful periods as an antispasmodic, as a headache reliever and as a diaphoretic to induce sweating. 

         Michael Moore,   Describes a standard method of preparation: tincture or infusion ACHILLEA (Yarrow, Milfoil, Plumajillo) WHOLE FLOWERING PLANT.Tincture [FRESH 1:2, DRY 1:5, 50% alcohol] 10 to 40 drops. Standard Infusion, 2-4 ounces. ROOT. Fresh Root Tincture, topical to gums as needed.      

     In a "Guide to the Ethnobotany of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Region", editor Kevin Jernigan interviewed elders and there accounts, "The whole plant can be boiled and used as a hot compress to treat arthritis. According to Rita Blumenstein of Anchorage, the roots can be chewed to help relieve sinus infections and toothaches. The whole plant can also be boiled and put in a spray bottle to use for sinus infections, or boiled to steam for coughs and colds. Another way to treat coughs is by making a tea with the younger plants. One elder, Oscar Alexie of Bethel, said his mother used to dry the roots for treating asthma and pneumonia. Chewing on them opens up the air channels in the same way that menthol does. Oscar tells the story of a friend at the hospital who was being treated for pneumonia. She chewed on the fresh roots (while also receiving western medicine) and reported that she had no more problems in the month following her release. Elders noted that the plant does not lose its medicinal properties when dried. Antispasmodic flavonoids have been isolated from this species and it has also been studied for the ability of aqueous (water) extracts to inhibit gastric ulcers (Saeidnia et al. 2011)." 

      The use of it in the Kuskowim region parallels it's use by the Dinè people of mid-Arizona, The Navajo consider it a 'life-medicine' it does  not need to be fresh, so it can carried and used dry. "Achillea millefolium L. var. lanulosa (Nutt.) Piper.

Achillea lanulosa Nutt. Common Milfoil, Common Yarrow, Sneeze- weed. 1. 'Azee'iiltshee'ih (medicine, dried ; j. e. [plant which is] dried [and used for] medicine) . 2. Xazéeiltshee'éh (chipmunk tail ; i. e. [plant whose leaves look like a] chipmunk ['s] tail). A universal tonic or remedy known as a "life medicine" is applied in cases of "impaired vitality." A provision of this medicine is usually kept in stock and carried on journeys for even- tual use. The stems and twigs of various herbs are gathered in season and dried, in which condition they are called 'azee'tshin (medicine twigs)(26 :44) . They are eventually pulverized, mixed with water, and applied internally as well as externally... In an emergency two or four of these plants may be used, but it is better to have six. Any others may be added if at hand"- Ethnobotany of the Navajo, by Francis H. Elmore 1944. Without these western Euro writers we would not have the knowledge, it's so important now to embrace our privilege. I can remember one incident with several Dinè, we were walking after a meeting back in 1991 when I was trimming a horse. Later we walked by some kinnikinnick and Nicotiana, tobacco. I said, "There it is.", and pointed down and said, "Prayers and smoke." They didn't know their own ceremonial plants. It had been lost to them. Embracing our privilege and culture is really about, do no harm. These plants, this knowledge as part of our western tradition is for anyone who can benefit by part. It is based on love and compassion. Others can do what they need to with the knowledge because it is our tradition it is an open tradition, much different than theirs which is locked down and closed.

Yarrow as a polycrest?: while studying yarrow, and spending time with yarrow in the Sierra Blanca, Ancha, the Chiricahua, the Mule Creeks and along the Blue and Gila, I began to be aware of yarrow serving as a healing remedy in many different situations. Yarrow as having the possibility of being an anticoagulant hemostatic. Yarrow  being used to balance and work on stuck periods and menstrual flow. Yarrow as a root medicine used by the Yup'ik people, in a way similar to how I experience osha, Ligusticum porteri

, for colds,  and lung issues, coughs. Yarrow to induce sweating, diaphoretic and diuretic.  

     Yarrow and the concept of of 'Life Medicine', The practice of using five or six different herbs, life medicines, used within the base of your materia medica as a way to return to balance, as mentioned by Francis H. Elmore is attractive to me. Local herbs and plants gathered from the bioregion that aid and strengthen the life force in returning to balance. In the concept hózhó, the balance is with above and below. Often times with healing I see the above as the little and great bear in the sky Ursus major Ursus minor we turn and rotate below on the earth, but above us at the sky and between us and the earth is the great star that doesn't, move the great Polaris. In the healing and return to balance we must go that far to include the great stars above us in the earth below us.  The balance is not solely the balance of the body. And I think it appropriate to say that if the disease state was somehow cured but Hózhóni was not returned then the disease state would return. 

     My teachers were using the term polycrest, I first heard JS

use it not with regard yarrow but to estafiate, Artemesia ludoviciana. In the sense that estafiate had many uses,  a single herb with many uses.

The word polycrest or polychrest, was originally first used by Dr Samuel Hahnemann, 1755-1843 a German physician, the founder of homeopathy  who first used the term polychrest in an essay about the medicine Nux vomica. The word polycrest is derived from a 19th century Greek origin where ‘polu’ means many and ‘khraosos’ means use. So a medicine that has many uses and applications and acts simultaneously on many systems of the body. -"Complete Cure in Homeopathy by Polycrest Remedies" Author: Dr. Apurva A. Tamhane http://www.kasakaru.com/240-complete-cure-in-homeopathy-by-polycrest-remedies/?v=7516fd43adaa  However although yarrow certainly fits this use of the word, both in western herbal use of Achillea and in the Yup'ik and Navaho use of yarrow. I think the key use and understanding of poly crest lies not so much as a single herb with many uses but a single remedy with many uses a poly crest remedy. 

    Closely connected to polycrest in homeopathy is vital force. "Vital force is the inner animating force in a living being which helps to perceive, understand, analyse and respond to a situation and thus, maintain the body in normal function and rhythmic sensation.", Dr Apurva A. Tamhane. Disease is a disruption in vitality, so that the rhythm of the life force is disrupted. The tendency towards health and vitality which guides the whole person becomes a tendency towards illness and imbalance. So instead of walking with a steady gait one continues to move but awkwardly, stumbling and falling. The disease state itself becomes a force of inertia which takes over the vital force and leads the person into greater and greater problematic states. These can be seen by both the person himself and others in terms of diseased body states: chronic inflammation, pain, shortness of breath, whatever the symptoms may be; as the disease state continues it manifests further into a psychological component of malaise. 

      I am seeing yarrow, within the context of bioregional herbalism as a poly crest. With the caveat being that not so much a single herb with many uses, but a single remedy crafted from the place with many uses.  In short yarrow as a leading ingredient in a folk polycrest formula. The remedy being connected intimately with the bioregion in terms of herbs that are here. Connected intimately with the bioregion in terms of place, growing together in a place, gathering those herbs that grow together in a place and then having them be the salient points of remedy. A lot of these ideas crystallized for me recently on a short trip to Oak flat.

I was traveling with MT, a student of 7 and MC.

      As we traveled from the low desert to the montane,

at one point in a white out snow storm we sought to understand the plant relationships in front of us.  M kept insisting, "the formula is there. We need to mark the spot with our eye and see the relationship between the plants and build a formula on those plants right there directly in front of us." As i wrote and studied on yarrow, I kept seeing yarrow coming up with other plants. I can recall a day, I was gathering redroot up near Mule Creek and I kept seeing the yarrow. Gathering osha, and there's the yarrow. Yerba del Lobo (Hymenoxys hoopesii),

and cut leaf coneflower, there's yarrow. It's these combinations that we have to utilize, they are the polycrest.