Medicinal Herb – Chickweed

Chickweed 1

Medicinal Herb post #38 written July 31, 2018

Chickweed – Stellaria media

Chickweed is a delicate looking annual with pretty star like flowers that prefers rich soil, a sunny location, but also a cool area. It will do well in partial sunny areas too. It can become invasive so harvest often and use in salads or smoothies. It contains many vitamins and minerals.

Chickweed contains wonderful demulcent properties, making it a great herb for skin irritations, eye inflammation and a great liver and kidney tonic as it is a diuretic. I use it as one of my main ingredients in my salve recipe to relieve itching from bug bites. It works immediately. It’s also beneficial for eczema, rashes, skin ulcers, psoriasis, nettle stings and diaper rashes. Make a tea with chamomile and chickweed for an eye wash to soothe irritated tissues. It can be used for bowel problems like IBS, constipation and other GI distress due to its anti-inflammatory properties.  It also has anti-pyretic properties to help lower fevers.

It is best to harvest, dry and use chickweed right away. Either making a tincture or salve with it.

Emily Saddler

Emily is married to her best friend Ryan, homeschool mom of 7 awesome kids, Holistic Health Practitioner in the state of Utah and Traditional Naturopath outside of the state of Utah, master gardener, yoga/pilates instructor, certified clinical and master herbalist, licensed massage therapist, and doula. She is a very passionate advocate of all things Mother Nature! Emily maintains a blog called “Sage and Sourdough Wellness and Herbs” where she shares gardening advice, delicious recipes made with fresh, organic ingredients, herbal and natural home care product recipes and loves teaching classes on gardening, plant identification and herbal remedy workshops. Check out the events and classes page for more info.

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