an oxazine chloride, used for staining lipids and lipid pigments. Nile blue A (Nile blue sulphate), which stains fatty acids, changes from blue to purplish at pH 10–11.
Habitat: Marshy places in Central America.
Features ? Rhizome cylindrical, compressed towards larger end, where is cup-shaped stem scar. Breaks with sharp fracture, showing dark purple internally. Taste, acrid and pungent.Part used ? Root.Action: Alterative, diuretic, cathartic.
Skin affections; stimulates liver and other glands. Dose of the powdered root, 20 grains as a cathartic.... blue flagBluebelle, Blubell, Blubelle, Bluebella, Blubella... bluebell
This is usually due to a structural defect of the heart or the major arteries leaving the heart.
Such defects may need to be corrected surgically (see heart disease, congenital).... blue baby
Habitat: Around ledges and roadsides.
Features ? Several erect, hairy stems, two to three feet high. Leaf and flower stalks also hairy. Roundish leaf has five to seven lobes, middle one longest. Numerous flowers (June-September), large reddish-purple, clustered four or five together on axillary stalk.Part used ? Flowers, herb.Action: Demulcent, mucilaginous, pectoral.
1 ounce to 1 pint infusion makes a popular cough and cold remedy.... blue mallowNutritional Profile Energy value (calories per serving): Low Protein: Low Fat: Low Saturated fat: Low Cholesterol: None Carbohydrates: High Fiber: Moderate Sodium: Low Major vitamin contribution: Vitamin C Major mineral contribution: Calcium
About the Nutrients in This Food Blueberries have some protein and a little fat. They have no starch but do contain sugars and dietary fiber—primarily pectin, which dissolves as the fruit matures—and lignin in the seeds. (The difference between blueber- ries and huckleberries is the size of their seeds; blueberries have smaller ones than huckleberries.) One-half cup fresh blueberries has 1.5 g dietary fiber and 9.5 mg. vitamin C (13 percent of the R DA for a woman, 11 percent of the R DA for a man).
The Most Nutritious Way to Serve This Food Fresh, raw, or lightly cooked.
Buying This Food Look for: Plump, firm dark-blue berries. The whitish color on the ber- ries is a natural protective coating. Avoid: Baskets of berries with juice stains or liquid leaking out of the berries. The stains and leaks are signs that there are crushed (and possibly moldy) berries inside.
Storing This Food Cover berries and refrigerate them. Then use them in a day or two. Do not wash berries before storing. The moisture increases the chance that they will mold in the refrigerator. Also, handling the berries can damage them, tearing cells and releas- ing enzymes that will destroy vitamins. Do not store blueberries in metal containers. The anthocyanin pigments in the berries can combine with metal ions to form dark, unattractive pigment/metal compounds that stain the containers and the berries.
Preparing This Food R inse the berries under cool running water, then drain them and pick them over carefully to remove all stems, leaves, and hard (immature) or soft (over-ripe) berries.
What Happens When You Cook This Food Cooking destroys some of the vitamin C in fresh blueberries and lets water-soluble B vitamins leach out. Cooked berries are likely to be mushy because heat dissolves the pectin inside. Blueberries may also change color when cooked. The berries are colored with blue anthocyanin pigments. Ordinarily, anthocyanin-pigmented fruits and vegetables turn red- dish in acids (lemon juice, vinegar) and deeper blue in bases (baking soda). But blueberries also contain yellow pigments (anthoxanthins). In a basic (alkaline) environments, as in a batter with too much baking soda, the yellow and blue pigments will combine, turning the blueberries greenish blue. Adding lemon juice to a blueberry pie stabilizes these pigments; it is a practical way to keep the berries a deep, dark reddish blue.
How Other Kinds of Processing Affect This Food Canning and freezing. The intense heat used in canning the fruit or in blanching it before freezing reduces the vitamin C content of blueberries by half.
Medical Uses and/or Benefits Anticancer activity. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, wild blueberries rank first among all fruits in antioxidant content; cultivated blueberries (the ones sold in most food markets) rank second. Antioxidants are natural chemicals that inactivate free radicals, molecule fragments that can link together to form cancer-causing compounds. Several ani- mal studies attest to the ability of blueberries to inhibit the growth of specific cancers. For example, in 2005, scientists at the University of Georgia reported in the journal Food Research International that blueberry extracts inhibited the growth of liver cancer cells in laboratory settings. The following year, researchers at Rutgers University (in New Jersey) delivered data to the national meeting of the American Chemical Society from a study in which laboratory rats fed a diet supplemented with pterostilbene, another compound extracted from blueber- ries, had 57 percent fewer precancerous lesions in the colon than rats whose diet did not contain the supplement. The findings, however, have not been confirmed in humans. Enhanced memory function. In 2008, British researchers at the schools of Food Biosciences and Psychology at the University of Reading and the Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences at the Peninsula Medical School (England) reported that adding blueberries to one’s normal diet appears to improve both long-term and short-term memory, perhaps because anthocyanins and flavonoids (water-soluble pigments in the berries) activate signals in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that controls learning and memory. If confirmed, the data would support the role played by diet in maintaining memory and brain function. Urinary antiseptic. A 1991 study at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel) suggests that blueberries, like cr anber r ies, contain a compound that inhibits the ability of Escherichia coli, a bacteria commonly linked to urinary infections, to stick to the wall of the bladder. If it cannot cling to cell walls, the bacteria will not cause an infection. This discovery lends some support to folk medicine, but how the berries work, how well they work, or in what “dos- ages” remains to be proven.
Adverse Effects Associated with This Food Allergic reaction. Hives and angiodemea (swelling of the face, lips, and eyes) are common allergic responses to berries, virtually all of which have been reported to trigger these reac- tions. According to the Merck Manual, berries are one of the 12 foods most likely to trigger classic food allergy symptoms. The others are chocolate, corn, eggs, fish, legumes (peas, lima beans, peanuts, soybeans), milk, nuts, peaches, pork, shellfish, and wheat (see wheat cer ea ls).... blueberries
Uses: Early American settlers and Indians claimed its power to prevent premature labour and miscarriage, prolonged painful labours and rigidity of the os. Indicated in labour with no expulsive effort and to counter false labour pains with bearing down sensations in the abdomen. Dr Farrington (Ellingwood’s Therapeutist) knew a single dose to arrest them after lasting several hours.
For persistent amenorrhoea and to increase menstrual flow; painful adolescent menses. Habitual abortion. Painful inflammation of the vagina, internally; and as a douche. Adolescent leucorrhoea. Acute rheumatic pains of the menopause. Combines well with Motherwort for rapid recovery after childbirth. Preparations. Thrice daily, or as dictated for an acute condition.
Powder: by capsule or for decoction: dose, 0.3-1g.
Liquid Extract BHP (1983): 1:1 in 70 per cent alcohol; dose, 0.5-1ml. Tincture. One to ten parts 70 per cent alcohol. Dose: 1-2ml.
Note: Chiefly used the latter half of pregnancy. ... blue cohosh
Action: anti-inflammatory, astringent (liver), cholagogue, diuretic, laxative, stimulant, anti-emetic, blood and lymph purifier, anti-obesity. A powerful alterative for passive sluggish conditions involving the liver, gall bladder, lymphatics, veins and glandular system. Restores loss of tonicity to involuntary muscle structures.
Uses: Chronic liver conditions to increase flow of bile. Cirrhosis, psoriasis, eczema and scrofulous skin disorders, acne, shingles, anal fissure. Combines well with Yellow Dock, Red Clover. Poke root and Queen’s Delight for skin disorders BHP (1983). Soft goitre (persist for months). Migraine or sick headache of liver origin. Reported to be of value in thyroid deficiency. Jaundice (Dr M.L. Tyler). Uterine fibroids: combined with Goldenseal and Balmony (Priest). Promotes secretions of pancreas, intestines and salivary glands.
Traditional combination: With equal parts Yellow Dock and Sarsaparilla as a powerful lymph cleanser. Henry Smith MD. “I use Blue Flag when there is any local disease involving the lymph glands. The vessels become enlarged and congested because of obstruction. Disease in these vessels is the forerunner of chronic skin disease. Blue Flag can be given in expectation of satisfactory results.”
Colonel Lydius, explorer. “The Indians take the root, wash it clean, boil it a little, then crush it between a couple of stones. They spread this crushed root as a poultice over leg ulcers. At the same time, the leg is bathed with the water in which the root is boiled. I have seen great cures by the use of this remedy. (Travels in North America, II. 606)
Preparations: Thrice daily.
Decoction: half a teaspoon to each cup water; simmer gently 15 minutes: dose – one-third cup. Liquid Extract, BHC Vol 1. 1:1, 45 per cent ethanol. Dose: 0.6-2ml.
Tincture, BHC Vol 1. 1:5, ethanol. Dose: 3-10ml. Powdered root. Half-2g.
Blue Flag is an ingredient of Potter’s Irisine Mixture.
Note: Tincture is best made from fresh root in early spring or autumn. ... blue flag root
FAMILY: Myrtaceae
SYNONYMS: Gum tree, southern blue gum, Tasmanian blue gum, fever tree, stringy bark.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: A beautiful, tall, evergreen tree, up to 90 metres high. The young trees have bluish-green oval leaves while the mature trees develop long, narrow, yellowish leaves, creamy-white flowers and a smooth, pale grey bark often covered in a white powder.
DISTRIBUTION: Native to Tasmania and Australia. Mainly cultivated in Spain and Portugal, also Brazil, California, Russia and China. Very little of this oil now comes from its native countries.
OTHER SPECIES: There are over 700 different species of eucalyptus, of which at least 500 produce a type of essential oil. Many have been extracted simply for experimental purposes, and research is still being carried out with regard to the different constituents of each oil. In general, they can be divided into three categories. 1. The medicinal oils containing large amounts of cineol (or eucalyptol), such as the blue gum, but increasingly the blue malee (E. polybractea), the narrow-leaved peppermint (E. radiata var. australiana) and the gully gum (E. smithii). 2. The industrial oils containing mainly piperitone and phellandrene, such as the peppermint eucalyptus (E. piperita), grey peppermint (E. radiata var. phellandra) and increasingly the broad-leaved peppermint (E. dives var. Type). 3. The perfumery oils containing mainly citronellal, such as the lemon-scented eucalyptus (E. citriodora). See also Botanical Classification section.
HERBAL/FOLK TRADITION: A traditional household remedy in Australia, the leaves and oil are especially used for respiratory ailments such as bronchitis and croup, and the dried leaves are smoked like tobacco for asthma. It is also used for feverish conditions (malaria, typhoid, cholera, etc.) and skin problems like burns, ulcers and wounds. Aqueous extracts are used for aching joints, bacterial dysentery, ringworms, tuberculosis, etc. and employed for similar reasons in western and eastern medicine. The wood is also used for timber production in Spain.
ACTIONS: Analgesic, antineuralgic, antirheumatic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, antiviral, balsamic, cicatrisant, decongestant, deodorant, depurative, diuretic, expectorant, febrifuge, hypoglycaemic, parasiticide, prophylactic, rubefacient, stimulant, vermifuge, vulnerary.
EXTRACTION: Essential oil by steam distillation from the fresh or partially dried leaves and young twigs.
CHARACTERISTICS: A colourless mobile liquid (yellows on ageing), with a somewhat harsh camphoraceous odour and woody-sweet undertone. It blends well with thyme, rosemary, lavender, marjoram, pine, cedarwood and lemon. (The narrow-leaved eucalyptus (E. radiata var. australiana) is often used in preference to the blue gum in aromatherapy work, being rich in cineol but with a sweeter and less harsh odour.)
PRINCIPAL CONSTITUENTS: Cineol (70–85 per cent), pinene, limonene, cymene, phellandrene, terpinene, aromadendrene, among others.
SAFETY DATA: Externally non-toxic, non-irritant (in dilution), non-sensitizing. ‘When taken internally eucalyptus oil is toxic and as little as 3.5ml has been reported as fatal’..
AROMATHERAPY/HOME: USE
Skin Care: Burns, blisters, cuts, herpes, insect bites, insect repellent, lice, skin infections, wounds.
Circulation Muscles And Joints: Muscular aches and pains, poor circulation, rheumatoid arthritis, sprains, etc.
Respiratory System: Asthma, bronchitis, catarrh, coughs, sinusitis, throat infections.
Genito-Urinary System: Cystitis, leucorrhoea.
Immune System: Chickenpox, colds, epidemics, ’flu, measles.
Nervous System: Debility, headaches, neuralgia.
OTHER USES: The oil and cineol are largely employed in the preparation of liniments, inhalants, cough syrups, ointments, toothpaste and as pharmaceutical flavourings also used in veterinary practise and dentistry. Used as a fragrance component in soaps, detergents and toiletries – little used in perfumes. Used for the isolation of cineol and employed as a flavour ingredient in most major food categories.... eucalyptus, blue gum
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