The AMAZING Tea Tree Oil!!

I personally LOVE tea tree oil (from Melaleuca alternifolia) because of it's antibacterial properties. It can get rid of a pimple in about a day, and, compared to expensive acne medicines and creams, this is really an inexpensive way to go. A 1 oz bottle will cost on average ten dollars, but it will last you a LONG time.



Tea tree oil has become very common lately. Everyone is starting to learn of it's panacea properties. While tea tree oil is a very good anti-bacterial, it is also a great anti-viral and anti-fungal. Many people use it to treat cold sores, shingles, or chicken pox. It's also been used to treat athletes foot as well as other fungal infection of the skin. Tea tree oil is NOT to be taken internally though - this oil is very toxic. It's probably a good idea to always dilute the amount that you use in water or in whatever product you plan on using. Many people have found that using it to wash your animals kills fleas that may have taken shelter in their pet's fur.

The uses of tea tree oil really are infinite. It's very inexpensive, very easy to use, and very efficient. I often mix a drop of it in with my face wash for added benefits. You can find many products such as face wash, mouthwash, toothpaste, deodorant, cleaning supplies, and other bathroom supplies that contain a small amount tea tree oil in them. Using tea tree oil has saved me from some pretty harsh pimples several times, so I really recommend giving this product a try!

Yellow Jasmine (Jessamine)

Yellow Jasmine has been South Carolina's state flower since February 1, 1924 because of several reasons. It is one of the first bloomers of Spring, it is very aromatic, and the yellow color of the flowers resemble purity like gold. Also, it returns every year-even after incredibly harsh winters-symbolizing patriotism.



But with this purity and beauty comes danger. Yellow Jasmine contains very strong alkaloids called gelsemine and gelseminine which are very toxic when someone comes into contact with them. Many children are poisoned each each year because they are often mistaken for Japanese honeysuckle. Little girls also like to make "crowns" of flowers out of them. In one incident, a young girl was in a coma for several weeks after wearing a crown of these beautiful flowers. Even touching the vine and rubbing your eye could cause irritation. So, if you love growing yellow jasmine or have some growing nearby, make sure that you know this plant is a look but don't touch species.

Some of my favorite plants

Ok, so this is kind of random, but I love plants and nature in general. Every now and then I will post some pictures of plants that I see that are unusual or just interesting. Here are some pictures I have taken recently:



This picture is of Agave or "Century Plant". It is one of my favorite plants because of how big it can get and how unusual it is:



Here is a writing spider. I've always thought these were very interesting.



And a random assortment of other pictures:

Start of an already bad day....

So...today started off kind of rough already. I missed my alarm clock at seven and was late for work...thank goodness for built in alarms! I woke up right about the time that I should have been walking through the doors at work. I love how I can always wake up right at the time I'm supposed to be somewhere but never fifteen or twenty minutes earlier so that I actually have time to do something about it. I wake up with just enough time to have a panic attack and still be late. So today's post will be attributed to plants that can calm you or give you an overall good feeling.

I have previously taken a yoga class in which we learned many ways to control our emotions and to calm ourselves in times of distress. Meditating in the corpse pose or several sun salutations will definitely do the trick, but often in our practice we would incorporate lavender in several ways. At the beginning of our practice we would take lavender essential oil and rub a couple drops on our wrists, temples, and I always rubbed some down the sides of my neck. This, in a sense, opens you and relaxes the muscles and nerves. We also burned lavender oil. Having the smell wafting through the air is a great way to further the calming effects. At the end of the session we would have what we called "dessert". This was basically our cool down where we would meditate on the things we had learned during practice. We would often lay in corpse pose with an eye pillow infused with lavender. These are just some of the many ways that lavender can be utilized to calm or de-stress yourself.

Here is a little something that can help you sleep at night:

Here is what you need:
A small pillow case (tinier than your normal size pillow case)
4 handfuls dried hops flowers
4 handfuls dried lavender flowers

This comes from a show on BBC called "Grow Your Own Drugs".

Place the hops flowers and lavender flowers inside of the tiny pillow case or fabric sleeve and zip/sew the fabric up. You now have a great sleep aid that is inexpensive and will last you a while! I know that hops and lavender flowers are kind of hard to find, but at organic stores (Earthfare, World Market), farmers markets, or herbal stores you may come across some. They aren't as rare as you may think.

Most people don't realize that hops flowers can induce sleep. When picking these flowers in hops fields, many people find themselves growing tired and will often have to take naps while harvesting.

Zac

First Post!

Hello everyone,

First and foremost, I LOVE plants and learning about the impact they play on our lives. Many people don't realize the important roles that plants play in their lives. Musicians rosin their bows with the sap of pine trees, doctors treat patients with pain medicines containing acetylsalicylic acid which is similar to that of the salicin found in the bark of willow trees, and when people throw on blue jeans they don't realize that they wouldn't be blue without the help of a compound from the indigo plants. Although most of the compounds we use today are synthetic, they would have not been discovered so easily without the help of plants. This blog will mostly be about the effects that plants play on humanity. I'll be posting some of my favorite plants, stories that I find interesting or entertaining, and maybe some medicinal recipes that involve plants. I'm very excited about this blog and I hope that everyone else finds it interesting and useful in some way. There will be a little something on here for every one no matter what the age or gender.

Zac