Scullcap

Skullcap was well known among the Cherokee and other Native American tribes, as a strong emmenagogue and female medicinal herb. It was used in some tribes as a ceremonial plant to introduce young girls into womanhood. Followers of a 19th century Anglo-American school of herbal medicine were called Physiomedicalists and were the first to discover Skullcap's use as a nerve tonic. They recognized that it had a "deeper" action on the nervous system.

One of the great benefits of Skullcap is for insomnia and sleep disorders. While many remedies, both traditional and herbal, can lull you to sleep like skullcap, most leave you groggy in the morning. Skullcap promotes sound sleep without the unwanted side effects, leaving you feeling refreshed and revitalised in the morning.

Benefits:

• Strengthening nerve and immune tonic
• Enhance global mood
• Help relieve pain from nerve-related disease
• As brain tonic supports focus, attention, memory and mood.

Parts used: aerial part

Preparation: tea, dried and fresh herb

Primary activities: nerve-related disease, relieve pain, digestive distress, agitation, and poor quality sleep

Caution: May increase menstrual flow. Use only in the last weeks of pregnancy