Black Cohoah

These plants grow all over my area and it is a leaf that seems to be familiar but no one seems to be able to identify it in the wild. O.K., maybe it is just me. I was visiting my neighbor and mentioned that she had Black Cohosh growing in her yard. She told me that the plant was really something else. I took a leaf off from her plant and brought it home to my Black Cohosh, it looked very close to the same leaf. (After a while you can't imagine all the leaf shapes that there are.) When mine flowered and put the tall spikes up, I took one over to her house, but her plants had fluffy feather-like flowers on a very short flat top. So they weren't the same plant even though they look alike.

So how do we know when we have a certain plant? I usually use a couple of identification books to help me do this and even when I can't find it in my books, I take a leaf off the plant and put it into the book to be pressed and identified later. The books that I have found helpful are: PETERSON FIELD GUIDES – MEDICINAL PLANTS and EYEWITNESS HANDBOOKS - HERBS. I like these two because they have drawings as well as pictures in them. I find that photos of plants don't give one all the characteristics to make a definite identification.

Black Cohosh made a big splash having to do with estrogen replacement for women who were in Menopause. It seems that this Herb was the buzz word for "I need help." I didn't understand that from an herbalist point of view because I could name fifteen to twenty herbs that are loaded with phyto-hormones. Black Cohosh is just one as is Catnip, Chamomile, Hops, Garlic, Raspberry leaves, Garden Sage and many more.

The problem is that most of the people talking about this herb are on some drug that is supposed to do this for them, like Pregnant Mare Urine, Premarin or some other medical drug high in Estrogen. The high estrogen found in these drugs is detrimental to the body in regard to bone loss and even some thyroid problems.

The reason that I prefer one or more of the organic plants with estrogenic properties is that for the most part we don't need estrogen but by taking an herb with estrogenic properties, the body can decide what it needs and how much. It isn't given this choice with pills.

What the body really needs are herbs that give the body the phyto-hormones that allow it to make what it needs to get and stay healthy. If the body needs more progesterone, the building blocks are available. If the body needs more testosterone, again the building blocks are there. The body is back in control and the symptoms lessen or stop all together.

According to The School of Natural Healing's director, David Christopher; for centuries women went through menopause without the help of a doctor. What we really need are minerals, vitamins and phyto-chemicals. With our present life style, we are not getting whole foods. There aren't any Black Cohosh farms. Wild plants have what we need and are not messed up with present time farming processes.

Black Cohosh is a wonderful plant. It is not only attractive and living in my yard but grows wild in my State. For those of you that still have trouble identifying it, Let me suggest that you head to the raspberry patch and make a tea out of raspberry leaves, or one of the other plants that I have mentioned in this article.

The School of Natural Healing suggests that by eating the proper diet of Whole Grains (Loaded with phyto-hormones), Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts and Seeds your body will be getting what it needs to help you weather a lot of storms.

Eat well and be well.