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Herb info 16/2017: Angelica.

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Herb card 16.2017: Angelica. Herb card 16.2017: Angelica. In Finland, we have two species of Angelica: garden angelica (Angelica archangelica) and wild angelica (Angelica sylvestris). All species of Angelica can be used the same way.

Garden angelica is wild along the banks of Lapland and along the shore of the Baltic sea. South of Lapland, it's protected in Finland. It's easy to grow, if you plant the seeds as soon as they ripen in fall.

Wild angelica is common in all of Finland except for Lapland.

Use the root, seed, leaf and young stems of the angelicas.

They are very spicy (aromatic) and thus drying and warming. They're not quite as bitter, so not quite as drying and cooling.

Angelicas have a very strong taste. The dried herb (root, seed, leaf) keeps for about a year, so don't pick more than you need. Tinctures keep for longer.

Angelica is very effective for menstrual pain. I give magnesium and vitamin B for normal menstrual cramps, but that's not quite enough for the really bad pain that comes with endometriosis. A chewed piece of angelica root works very fast for that kind of pain.

Use angelicas in coughs and hoarseness, in gut upset like gas and the nausea in cold people. It's an antispasmodic herb.

Make the herb into an elixir: fill a glass jar with fresh seed or pieces of root, fill it to one third with liquid honey and top it up with brandy. Let steep for 2–4 weeks, strain, pour into a bottle and label: "Angelica elixir for coughs, July 2017".

If you harvest angelicas in the wild, you must know how it differs from the deadly water hemlock, Cicuta virosa.


Henriette's herb cards: buy yours here!