Elderberry: Sambucus
Part used: Flowers, berries and root
Diaphoretic, gently stimulant, diuretic, alterative, aperients
Flower in infusion –hepatic, derangement of children, erysipelas. Expressed juice of the berries will purge. Juice will also promote all fluid secretions. Much used in dropsy. Blossoms beaten up with lard make a good ointment in burns, scalds. Inner bark has been used by taking from branches one or two years old and scraping off the grey outer harks. In have used the blossoms together with peppermint leaves, the tea sweetened with a little honey, for colds with exceptional results. I have given small amount to very small children who were close to having pneumonia and overnight they were much improved. I have also simmered the blossoms in vegetable oil and applied it warm to caked breasts with fine results. When one of our boys was eight months old, he was severely burdened about the face, chest and one arm. Everyone who saw him was certain he would be scarred for life. That night I had a dream. I was shown how to make an ointment to apply to his burns. Elderberry blossom was one of the ingredients I was shown to use. Today he has no trace of a scar. The berries also have therapeutic virtues. They have been found to contain as much if not more vitamin C than orange juice. An ointment can be made with the blossoms to beautify the complexion.
