Alternative Herbal Medicine Net

This page may be printed for use in public education. Photos taken by Karen Shelton. All rights reserved.

Herb Photos March 25, 2002. 

Common flowers and yard weeds often  have medicinal uses. If you look close to the ground in early spring you will see a variety of small wildflowers you may never have noticed before. I have seen as many as 5 to 10 varieties of tiny wildflowers within a square foot. To learn how some of these plants are used in herbal medicine and remedies, see Alternative Nature Online Herbal.

	This is the flower of a common yard 'pest' called chickweed. The plant is a few inches tall and sprawls along the ground in early spring. The flowers are actually only about 1/4 inch across. I have run across two other varieties of chickweed. Giant Chickweed has much larger flowers and is often found near woods. Mouse-ear chickweed is also a common yard weed, but it did not survive last weeks hard freeze.
Cleavers. Sticky little plants with an interesting shape.  It is a sprawling plant  that you may see crawling up the side of your house. The flowers are hardly noticeable and will bloom when the plant spreads out next month. Cleavers are used for skin conditions and cleansing of the lymph nodes. To use as a remedy, it is best to tincture the fresh herb.
	These are tiny field pansies, only about 4 inches tall.  James Lust mentions the use of pansies as an anodyne in his book, The Herb Book.
St. Johnswort plants huddled close to the ground since late winter. If you look close you can see the pinhole marks on the leaves that are a trademark of the medicinal qualities of this plant.
	Wild Onions.  Not real tasty in my book, but could use as flavoring in a pinch. This is what stinks when you mow your yard in spring.
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