hello, I am medic mark,ask me a question.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Mark have you considered adding a plastic bottle cap to your packs?

As you will be aware the oales modular has a pressure cup well ghetto style diy version:

The Dr who treated me after I stabbed myself said it was "err ingenious" and agreed it helped keep direct pressure

[tanstaafl]

Not bad methinks after several pints standing on one leg with blood all over the place, tho I think my idea of drinking a few pints of Guinness Porter to replace the blood paid off

[Arzosah]

Tanstaafl: hope you're properly on the mend, that doesn't look good!

MedicMark, ParamedicPrepper - I'm dehydrating some alchemilla mollis/lady's mantle today, as the leaves are edible, and I'm getting contradictory info about using it medicinally. PFAF give it a 3 hearts medical rating, says it's mostly used as an astringent, but WebMD has nothing on it, it usually does for genuinely effective plants. And wikipedia actually says: "According to some accounts, lady's mantle has been used for centuries as a herbal remedy. According to other authorities it has never been used medicinally, but has been confused with two species that have a history of medicinal use: A. alpina (alpine lady's mantle) and A. xanthoclora"

Do either of you guys know anything about it, please? I realise its herbal and off-base, just wondering.

[ParamedicPrepper]

Tanstaafl: hope you're properly on the mend, that doesn't look good!

MedicMark, ParamedicPrepper - I'm dehydrating some alchemilla mollis/lady's mantle today, as the leaves are edible, and I'm getting contradictory info about using it medicinally. PFAF give it a 3 hearts medical rating, says it's mostly used as an astringent, but WebMD has nothing on it, it usually does for genuinely effective plants. And wikipedia actually says: "According to some accounts, lady's mantle has been used for centuries as a herbal remedy. According to other authorities it has never been used medicinally, but has been confused with two species that have a history of medicinal use: A. alpina (alpine lady's mantle) and A. xanthoclora"

Do either of you guys know anything about it, please? I realise its herbal and off-base, just wondering.

Not a clue! But would be interesting to know the answer if you find out. Sorry I can't help

[medicmark]

sorry, I also dont have a clue. :0

[Arzosah]

I checked out some foraging books I happen to have out from the library - nothing there either. Will carry on, and write up any discoveries, thanks for replying anyway

[Jamesey1981]

Had a look in one of my books, Collins Nature Guide, Herbs and Healing Plants of Britain and Europe by Dieter Podlech.
No mention of A.Mollis, but it does mention A.Alpina and A.Monticola, so may be helpful to you, it does have a black X next to A.Monticola, that means it's either protected, endangered or threatened in at least part of its range.

I'll post a picture of the page here, doesn't go into huge detail in this book, it's a pocket field guide, but sometimes it can give you a pointer.



Here's the page with photos, top right is A.Alpina, bottom is A.Monticola

[/URL]

[Arzosah]

Thanks Jamesey! The bottom one, the one they're describing as A. Monticola, is the one I've been on about.

I remembered about the National Institute of Medical Herbalists - and wouldn't you know it, we're in the middle of Herbal Medicine Week there are a few activities still to come: http://www.nimh.org.uk/herbal-medicine- ... 17-events/

Just found that James Wong references A xanthochlora, like wikipedia; I'm coming to the conclusion that the subspecies name might be a bit unreliable!

Since all of them say the leaves are edible, I'll go ahead on that basis; it could certainly be used for a gargle etc if nothing else was available, but given the lack of research, it's not cast iron medical.

[Jamesey1981]

It does say that there's many subspecies that only an expert could tell apart, so I would say that they are different species, but they're so similar that it doesn't matter, I'm not 100% sure about this particular book, but usually with these Collins ones they mention plants that you could mistake them for if they're poisonous.
From what I could figure out from a scout around I think the A.monticola is pretty rare in the UK, but that A.Mollis is very similar and is popular as a garden plant.