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Page 67
| of its similarity to aspirin, willow bark should not be taken with drugs that carry aspirin warnings, and, like aspirin, it is a short-term pain reliever, not a long-term cure for any illness. |
| Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) |
| A familiar aromatic ingredient in sports rubs and liniments, wintergreen contains an essential oil that is rich in methyl salicylate, a natural aspirin, which accounts for its ability to reduce inflammation and pain. Wintergreen leaves can be heated in olive oil to create a pain-relieving lotion (see the instructions for making an oil infusion on pages 4041) or they can be brewed as a strong tea (4 tablespoons herb per quart of boiling water) and added to bath water. Peppermint has similar antispasmodic and anti-inflammatory properties, and the essential oils of both wintergreen and peppermint are common ingredients in liniments, sports rubs and analgesic massage lotions. |
| Yarrow (Achillea millifolium) |
| A familiar wayside plant in much of the U.S. and Europe, yarrow is also cultivated as a garden flower. For medicinal purposes, be sure to use the common weed. Bitter in taste and also useful in the treatment of indigestion, yarrow has a long history of use in North America in the treatment of painful inflamma- |
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