Number 31 - Kwao Krua

Pueraria mirifica, translates to "wonderful child", also sometimes known as Kwao Krua, is a native Thai herbal medicine. This particular variant is the White Kwao Krua.

The myths and mystery behind the herb date back to 13th Century AD. Instructions hidden within a buddist temple told of benefits including being able to enhance your memory, improve skin conditions, improve youthfulness including extending life span,

However, one thing for sure about this plant, is it contains a lot of chemicals called phytoestrogen. What these chemicals do is mimic our own estrogen and create effects of the same nature within our bodies. These would make the herb beneficial for stablising mood swings, easing menopause, and encouraging hormonal changes in male-to-female (MTF) trans individuals. This herb has also been discussed as a natural breast enlargement.

As with estrogen replacement, do not take this herb if you are at risk of breast and uterine cancers.

Credit: http://cheekyphysique.com/

Hello, World. Part II.

Hello! Now, I know it's been five years since I last updated, but so much has gone on since then. I left my course at University to focus on improving myself. I loved learning about herbal medicine, but my anxiety left me at a loss. Now I'm working as a games tester, which is a really cool job I must say, but I am missing my old subject.

Young Herbal never really did take off. I never got round to writing properly. I wanted to rewrite all the posts and I never really had time before.

There's going to be a big tidy up of the blog. I'm going to be revamping the posts and updating them with the new things I have learnt going to University. I will also be creating a bibliography for all my books I use on the blog.

Now I hope my followers are with me here. It's been a long time, I know, but I hope to get posting again. I've found some really cool plants I want to share with you all!

Take care, and I hope time has been kind over these past few years,

Herbie x

My new herbal blog!

Hey guys. I know I mentioned last time that I was considering starting a new herbal blog. Well, I am going to. It's called Young Herbal and will be about the politics and news in the herbal community in the UK. I would really like to go back over the herbs I wrote about, but from writing essays about herbs, I feel like I couldn't stop writing about a single herb. I would give myself too much work, and I study herbs everyday. It's really horrible to think I've done that all day, and I'll have to come home and write about it. With my new blog, I can  write about the regulations and the news and issues that I need to sort my opinions on. I hope you will check it out. Unfortunately it's a Tumblr, but nevermind.

This is my new herbal blog... Young Herbal.

Thank you very much for the support and I felt what it felt like to run a mildly successful blog. I hope to repeat my success and I hope I can interest you in looking at my new blog. Thank you again, you were lovely viewers.

Thank you so much.

All the best.

Herbie xxx

EDIT: Hello! Young Herbal has been retired, and I'll be posting here once again! Thanks for your viewership!

I'm sorry!

I've had whooping cough and so have not been able to update recently, or begin updates at all.

Shame really. I'm tempted to give up on the blog... idk, just getting a bit bored.

Or I may change the title of the blog to something like Herbies' Adventures or something. To those new to the blog, I study Herbal Medicine at Uni. So I am tempted to make the blog more generally about that. May even start a vlog.

Suggestions?

Updates!

Hey all,
I'm currently at University studying Herbal Medicine. I want to thank you for all the support you guys have given me even though I rarely post now. I'm going to set up some sort of schedule for myself for my homework, my social stuff, and the blog. I feel awful for not updating for such a long time, but what I want to do is to go over all 39 herb posts and update them, rewrite them better, check for any broken links or so forth. Again, thank you very much. I'm amazed I haven't lost any followers.

I may change the name of the blog to something herbal, but not purely about the herb of the day.

Much love!

Herbie.

Number 29 - Aniseed

Anise, Pimpinella Anisum or Aniseed is a plentiful flavoured flower from the Apiacae family.

The smell and taste of the flower is sometimes overbearing, I know as a child I always found the taste to be very intimidating in the british sweet of aniseed balls. It is said to be a flavour similar to liquorice, fennel and tarragon. Medicinally, Anise can be used in relieving menstural cramps. It can also be used as a natural female hormone suppliment as it contains a type of estrogen. The plant has a calming effect, which could aid with stress and sleep issues. The essential oil can rid the head of headlice and clothes of mites.

When combined with blood, however, aniseed can cause high toxicity levels in the blood and possibily lead to death. Its oil can be harmful to an unborn child. Otherwise, the herb is pretty safe.

The plant is taken and eaten in many different ways around the world. It is often added to food as flavouring. As well as the popular British sweet, Aniseed can also be taken as a tea.

Yes, balls. Typical British. (Aniseed Balls are a traditional treat in the UK. These are branded Sweets 'N' Candy)

Number 28 - Abyssinian Shrivelfig

The Abyssinian Shrivelfig is a fictional plant from the Harry Potter series. It's Latin name could be Ficus Resilio, meaning 'Shrinking Fig'.

The fig holds shrinking qualities, which is why it is used in Shrinking Solutions. This potion has the ability to shrink the drinker into a infant form, and also works on animals and items. Neville's batch of Shrinking Potion also turns his toad into a tadpole, showing the age reversal techniques in animals.

The colour of the solution is important in indicating the safety of the mix: if the solution is green, it is drinkable. However, if it is orange, it is poisonous. This explains why the potion is only brewed by third years at Hogwarts.

(A successfully brewed Shrinking Potion. Image from one of the Harry Potter video games. Shrivelfigs and other content in this post is the creation of J.K. Rowling)