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Medical disclaimer: always check with a physician before consuming wild plants, and make positive identification in the field using a good source such as Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West.  Michael Moore also has a glossary of medical terms in his books, and maps in later editions. ) 
#84
Common Name: Desert Lavender
Latin Name: Hyptis emoryi  
Family: Lamiaceae
Range: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=HYEM Arizona, California, Nevada
Photo: (Here)
Appearance and Habitat: Desert Lavender is a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae) which includes herbs or shrubs, rarely trees or vines, ususlly with stems square in cross-section, 4 sided,  and flowers in long clusters, heads, or interrupted whorls on the stem. The flowers are Blue to violet and bloom from Jan-May, and again in September. (1) This large attractive greyish shrub is rather compact in form and can reach heights of 9 feet tall.  It forms stands and colonies in gravelly flats and along arroyos ridges.  The flowers are violet balls, along the terminal stems, sometimes covering the edges of the bush.  The leaves, when crushed, smell of lavender and pine. After a desert rain you can locate a stand using your nose.  It is found in frost free washes throughout the Colorado, Mojave, and Sonora deserts.  They are found just above the Chaparral belt. (2)
Edible Uses: None
Medicinal Uses: Collect the leafy branches and dry them in a paper sack.  Desert Lavender is an anesthetic to the esophagus and stomach and helps with irritated stomach linings.  It is a first-class tea for hangovers with the usual nausea and for that horrible period after gastroenteritis (stomach flu). To make the tea use 1 part dried plant to 32 parts of boiled water, adding the plant after removing from the stove.  Let it sit over-night, strain out the plant, and return the original level of liquid by adding water.  Drink the tea cold for hyper-acidity and hot for everything else.  The plant also has distinct hemostatic effects and was used by desert Indians for staunch heavy menstruation and bleeding hemorrhoids. (3) 
Foot Notes: (2, 3)  Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon West by Michael Moore;page 42,  publisher: Museum of New Mexico Press, Copyright 1989; ISBN 0-89013-182-1 
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# 85
Common Name: Trumpet Creeper, Trumpet Vine, Cow Vine, Tecoma radicans, Cowitch
Latin Name: Campsis radicans
Family: Bognoniaceae
Range: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CARA2 all states east of the Mississippi R., except Vermont and Maine, all plains states except Minnesota, plus Colorado, Utah, Washington, California, in Canada – Ontario.  
Photos: (Here)
Appearance and Habitat: Low woods and thickets – an aggressive weed of arable fields.  Southeast N. America – Florida to Texas and north to New Jersey and Michigan.   A deciduous Climber growing to 12 m (39ft 4in) at a fast rate.  It is hardy to zone 4. It is in leaf 10-Jun It is in flower from Aug to September. (1) A high-climbing, aggressively colonizing woody  vine  to 35 ft., climbing or scrambling over everything in its path by aerial rootlets. The pinnately  compound leaves with 4 to 6 pairs of leaflets  and a terminal one on an axis up to 12 inches long.  Leaflets dark green on the upper surface, lighter on the lower, broadly to narrowly ovate,  with coarse teeth, an elongate tip, and a rounded to wedge shaped base,  the blade extending along the p  petiolule (leaflet stem) to its base. Flowers showy, waxy, broadly trumpet shaped, up to 3 1/2 inches long, orange to reddish orange, clustered at the ends of branches, appearing throughout the summer.  Fruit a pod  up to 6 inches long with 2 ridges running lengthwise, tapering more gradually to the base than to the tip, and roughly round in cross section.  Native to eastern North America as far north as New York and Ontario, this vine  is often cultivated for its attractive, reddish orange flowers and can escape  cultivation, sometimes colonizing so densely it seems a nuisance, particularly in the southeast, where its invasive qualities have earned it the names Hellvine and Devils Shoestring. Its rapid colonization by suckers and layering makes it useful for erosion control, however, and its magnificent flowers never fail to attract Ruby-throated Hummingbirds within its range. Adapted to eastern forests, Trumpet creeper grows tall with support. It climbs by means of aerial rootlets, which, like English Ivy, can damage wood, stone, and brick. (2) The leaves are shiny and ornately compounded with branches on opposite sides of the vine stem. It is a native of the Southeast and spreads to both Texas and Colorado, but can be found growing wild in the West near old mining camps.  Apparently it was cultivated by early settlers in those camps.  It has been seen in Seachlight, Nevada; Bisbee, Arizona, and around crumbling adobe structures in New Mexico.  (3)
Warnings: There have been isolated cases reported of people suffering from dermatitis after handling the leaves (4)  Wear gloves when picking it, after it has dried it is OK to handle. (5)
Edible Uses: None (6)
Medicinal Uses: The root is diaphoretic and vulnerary. (7)  When collecting take the whole vine while it is in flower and dry it in a paper sack. The dried plant makes an excellent douche to get rid of candida infections and also for hemophilus infections.  Use a vinegar tincture at 1 part plant to 5 parts vinegar.  When used, use 4 tablespoons of the tincture  in a pint of warm water (isotonic) which has had a 1/2 teaspoon of salt dissolved in it.  Use the douche every other day for a week or two. ( 8 )
Foot Notes: ( 3, 5, 8) Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon West by Michael Moore;page 124,  publisher: Museum of New Mexico Press, Copyright 1989; ISBN 0-89013-182-1 
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# 86
Common Name: Horehound, White Horehound, Mastranzo, Concha
Latin Name: Marrubium vulgare
Family: Labiatae
Range: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=MAVU all states except N. Dakota, Louisiana, Florida, New Hampshire; in Canada- British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia.  World wide plant.
Photo: ( Here )
Appearance and Habitat: Downs, waste places and roadsides southwards from central Scotland, though perhaps only native near the south coast of England.  Europe, Britain, south and east N. Africa, the Azores, central and western Asia.   A perennial  growing to 0.5 m (1ft 8in) by 0.5 m (1ft 8in).  It is hardy to zone 3 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from Jun to November, and the seeds ripen from Aug to October. (1) A distinctive and common member of the mint family.  It has white woolly square stems, and Sage like puffs of spiny flowers at the top of the stem.  Depending on whether it grows in the north or south depends on the scent.  In the south it has nearly no scent, while in the north it has a disagreeable musty scent.  As with all mints the leaves are opposite along the stem.  The whole plant is bitter to the taste.  Those that grow in some shade are a darker green and less hairy, while those that grow in full sun are hairier an lighter in color.  It is found throughout the United States in drier sandy areas, such as vacant lots, abandoned land, and old disturbed earth.  It can be found at all altitudes.  (2)
Edible Uses: The leaves are used as a seasoning. Bitter and pungent, they are sometimes used to flavour herb beer or liqueurs. Horehound ale is a fairly well-known drink made from the leaves. A mild pleasantly flavoured tea is made from the fresh or dried leaves, it is a favourite cough remedy (3)
Medicinal Uses: White horehound is a well-known and popular herbal medicine that is often used as a domestic remedy for coughs, colds, wheeziness etc. The herb apparently causes the secretion of a more fluid mucous, readily cleared by coughing. The leaves and young flowering stems are antiseptic, antispasmodic, cholagogue, diaphoretic, digestive, diuretic, emmenagogue, strongly expectorant, hepatic, stimulant and tonic. Horehound is a very valuable pectoral, expectorant and tonic that can be safely used by children as well as adults. It is often made into a syrup or candy in order to disguise its very bitter flavour, though it can also be taken as a tea. As a bitter tonic, it increases the appetite and supports the function of the stomach. It can also act to normalize heart rhythm. The plant is harvested as it comes into flower and can be used fresh or dried. The root is a remedy for the bite of rattlesnakes, it is used in equal portions with Plantago lanceolata or P. major (4)  It is an old and revered expectorant.  Collect the plant after right after full flower as the seed puffs get rather stiff.  When making tea add several teaspoons of honey and maybe a squeeze of lemon to make it taste better.  You can make the tea by pouring a pint of boiling water over a half ounce of the dried herb.  When taking the tea mix it with one half cup of hot tap water to make a full cup. To make a syrup for coughs and congestion, boil an ounce of Horehound in a pint of water for 20 minutes, then strain.  Using 1 cup of the strained tea, mix it with 2 cups of honey while stirring over low heat.  Then mix it with lemon juice and a half cup of brandy.  You can also add several tablespoons of powered Osha root, take a tablespoon of the mix as needed.  Commercially produced Horehound is rather worthless, another case of home grown herbs or collected in the wild, are best.  Avoid chronic use for extended lengths of time as it can cause hypertension. (5)
Foot Notes: ( 1, 3, 4)
Foot Notes: ( 2, 5) Medicinal Plants Of the Mountain West  by Michael Moore, 1st Edition, page 86 , publisher:  Museum of New Mexico Press ; copy right 1979 

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