Teasel.

Daydreaming about teasel roots.

I've got the seeds, but we still have between 0 and 10 degrees C in the mornings (colder at night), so I haven't planted them yet.

And somebody in the UK asked on a newsgroup, "what's this plant?", describing teasel leaf to a T.

Pretty, is teasel (Dipsacus fullonum).

So then I said "oooh, dig some up for me!", and somebody else on that newsgroup said "I've lots in my backyard, what was that you said about connective tissue?"

So I'm getting fresh plump teasel root from underneath leaf rosettes (and possibly a few flowerstalks) in the mail soon. I hope.

Matthew Wood is behind most contemporary herbal uses, and he's used it for Lyme's, and for joint injuries, chronic muscle pain, and to-be-chronic arthritis.

I'll use the fresh root tincture (1:2 95 %) and give 3-10 drops 2-3 times a day.

Chronic muscle pain, almost-arthritis, and joint troubles. It'll also help a lot of people (but not all) with Lyme's disease, and those deer ticks are spreading ever further in our woods. I have to have some fresh teasel root to tincture up.

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But now I'm off, outside, digging out some flowerbeds for the plantlings on my windowsill and for the bundles of seeds that can be sown straight out.