Skullcap

We have a little skullcap plant in the front but I really had no idea what to do with it. At first I thought it looked a little scraggly but it turns out that it's supposed to look that way. No wonder most people don't like planting it. It's not a showy plant or even lush. If I didn't know better I would have pulled it up and tossed it into the weeds.



I may be making a tea out of it soon to see if it helps my wife sleep, I still need to do a little more research just to make sure there are no calamitous side effects. So far as I can tell an overdose may lead to confusion, giddiness, and possible liver damage over a long time, then again so do a LOT of things. I love those commercials that end in the disclosure, "Side effects vary and may include, nose bleeds, liver damage, eyes bleeding, skin peeling off and possibly death." Ok, so I exaggerate, but everything has a side effect that's usually why something is taken.

Skullcap is also listed in a tea for arthritis which includes rue, angelica, black cohosh, colombo, valerian root, and gentain root.

Rue is another thing I don't currently have much of an idea of what to do with but that will be another day and probably after I get another plant of it, the last one died, I think....