Danshen vs Salvia columbariae: Blood Sports, Rambling Danshen

 Spending time these past few months in our lower desert Redsage forest with
Salvia columbariae our Red sage, mint family Lamiaceae. As a plant it has a history of being used to wake the dead.
                         

      Chumash legends tell of a plant called ‘ilepesh (pronounced gheelaypaysh) that was used to ‘wake the dead, or the nearly dead’, [1University of Southern California, School of Pharmacy, Los Angeles, CA, USA]. And as many of us are seemingly approaching that state this certainly would be a good plant to approach. "The presence of tanshinone IIA and similar compounds in chia could explain the historical use of this plant, to ‘wake the dead, or the nearly dead’ such as with stroke and heart attack patients. Tanshinones have a range of pharmacological activities including inhibition of clotting (6), vasodilatation (7) and inhibition of NO synthase." [Yokozawa T, Chen CP. Role of Salvia miltiorrhiza radix extract and its compounds in enhancing nitric oxide expression. Phytomedicine. 200;7:55–61. [PubMed]]  

So we are relating to this plant, using this plant and trying to understand how it could help us given some of the situations we may be in.
     It certainly is a pleasure and a blessing to me to find a plant previously known with uses that have not really been explored in our tradition. This spring we had an exceptional bloom of red sage, in the limestone, Low desert at about 2200 feet elevation. Throughout the spring I've been sitting with this plant and trying to understand what it's about. If you have the opportunity I certainly would encourage you to do the same.
         https://youtu.be/X-1keB6YjPY

                                 

      "TCM theory states that the occurrence of the disease depends on the interaction between zheng qi (nonpathogenic qi) and xie qi (pathogenic qi). The idea of disease is the struggle between pathogenic qi and nonpathogenic qi; in this struggle process, there will be changes between yin and yang." 

     "Traditional Chinese Medicine does not classify diseases according to their viral strain. Rather, TCM classifies diseases according to the accompanying signs, symptoms, and the surrounding pathology (development of the disease)."

                         
       In the Far East used in TCM, there is a similar plant in the same mint-family also known as red Sage. Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, also known as red sage or Danshen. Danshen has been used clinically in TCM for over 2000 years. It's understood as a very safe plant to use given it's a long history for use in, cardiovascular disease, "CVD is a class of disorders that involve the heart and blood vessels, including coronary heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, heart failure, congenital heart disease and cardiomyopathies "
Danshen is characterized as a common drug for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis. It exerts a beneficial action by promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis and assuage pain, clearing heart heat to relieve restlessness, and cooling blood.
"Salvia columbariae (chia) was examined and found to contain miltionone II, cryptotanshinone and tanshinone IIA. These compounds may be of interest in the treatment of stroke and heart attack."
"and as always...If you're still able to speak openly and a hard enforced dominant culture shun hasn't erased and silenced your voice, please help share these plant teachings freely for our people..."

1. Zhou, L.; Zuo, Z.; Chow, M.S. Danshen: An overview of its chemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and clinical use. J. Clin. Pharmacol 2005, 45, 1345–1359. [Google Scholar]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1062160/

https://pgmanski.blogspot.com/2020/03/sambucus-nigra-rambling.html?m=1

https://pgmanski.blogspot.com/2020/03/algerita-rambling.html?m=1

Traditional Chinese Medicine: Scientific Basis for Its Use

edited by James D Adams, Eric J Lien

http://pgmanski.blogspot.com/2015/12/mahonia-bajos-pelvic-steam-and-bilis-by.html?m=1

https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/13/10/13621/htm