HERBAL PREPARATIONS TAKEN ORALLY

PREPARATIONS USING A MENSTRUUM

Water-based menstruum
Infusions, teas (one can also use fruit juice as a water-base
menstruum)
Hot infusions
Cold infusions
Decoctions
Concentrates
Jellos
Jellos
Hydrosols
Flower essences
Alcohol-based menstruum
Tinctures (maceration)
Folk method
Weight/volume method
Tinctures (percolation)
Fluid extracts (1:1 w/v extracts)
Wine-based menstruum
Wine infusions
Vinegar-based menstruum
Vinegar infusions
Glycerin-based menstruum
Glycerites
Oil-based menstruum
Oil infusions
Sugar or honey-based menstruum
Syrups
Oxymels
Electuaries (honeys, confections)

PREPARATIONS NOT USING A MENSTRUUM

Succus (expressed plant juice)
Capsules
Pills (tablets)
Pills (tablets)
Powders
Lozenges (troches)
HERBAL PREPARATIONS FOR TOPICAL APPLICATION
i.e., Skin, vaginal mucosa, or rectal mucosa
Liniments
Lotions and creams
Hydrosols
Flower essences
Medicinal oils and salves
Ointments and balms
Suppositories, boluses
Fomentations (a.k.a. compresses or hot packs)
Poultices
Baths
Full body bath
Sitz bath
Foot and hand baths
Eye washes
Douches

PARTS OF PLANTS EMPLOYED AS HERBAL MEDICINES

PLANT PART EXAMPLE
Barks (Cortices) Willow, Crampbark

Bulbs (Bulbi) Garlic, Onion

Cellular

Hairs Cotton

Piths (Loose spongy tissue) Sassafras pith

Spores (Primitive reproductive bodies) Lycopodium

Glands Lupulin (from the strobiles of the Hop)

Excrescences (An abnormal outgrowth) Nutgall (highest source of tannic acid)

Corms (Cormi; a short, bulblike, Trillium

underground, upright stem having
a few scale-like leaves)

Flowers (Flores) Calendula, Chamomile,Hawthorn, Elder,

Clove buds, Gumweed

Fruits (Fructi) Cayenne, Vitex, Elder berry,Hawthorn berry,

Saw Palmetto, Fennel

Fruiting bodies of fungi Herbs(Herba) Reishi, Maitake, Turkey Tail

Juices (Succus; the fluid portion

of a plant) St. John’s Wort, Yarrow,Scullcap, Nettle,
Peppermint, Mugwort

Leaf and leaflets (Folia et Foliola) Cleavers, Plantain,Wheatgrass

Lichen(Thallus; a composite organism Uva Ursi, Plantain Usnea

consisting of a fungus Comfrey,Mullein,
Ginkgo,living symbiotically with an algae)

Rhizomes (Rhizomata; an Ginger, Wild Yam, Goldenseal, Black Cohosh

underground root-like stem) Valerian
,

Roots (Radices) Echinacea, Burdock, Yellow Dock, Comfrey,

Dandelion,Marshmallow, Siberian Ginseng

Seeds (Semina) Burdock, Echinacea,Psyllium, Chia, Flax

(Linseed), Nettle

Thallus (A plant body showing Kelp, Dulse

no differentiation into distinct
members, as stem, leaves, roots,
etc.)

Tubers (Tubera; a short, fleshy, Aconite, Devil’s Claw,Western Peony

usually underground stem or
shoot)

Woods (Ligna) Quassia, Sandalwood