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Today we’re continuing our “herbs on our shelf” from A to Z series! This week, our herbs are schisandra and skullcap.

Schisandra (Schisandra chinensis) is SOUR. That flavor stands out most strongly when you taste the herb. But it’s also bitter, pungent, acrid, and a little bit sweet – that’s why it’s sometimes called five-flavor berry. Schisandra’s a great herb for modern people, not least because it helps a lot with anger and with sugar. It does have some drug interactions to be aware of, though!

Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) is one of the ‘bitter mints’. It’s not powerfully bitter, like motherwort, but more like betony, ground ivy, or self-heal. This group includes mostly relaxants, lymphatics, alteratives, & anti-inflammatories, and skullcap is primarily a relaxant. Its specific affinities are tension in the neck & shoulders, or else tension that’s intermittent. It makes a great base compound with betony and passionflower, whether that’s for a nervine tea blend or a before-bed tincture.

Schisandra & skullcap are featured herbs in our Neurological & Emotional Health course. This is a user’s guide to your nerves & your emotions – including the difficult and dark ones. We discuss holistic herbalism strategies for addressing both neurological & psychological health issues. It includes a lengthy discussion of herbal pain management strategies, too!

Like all our offerings, these are self-paced online video courses, which come with free access to twice-weekly live Q&A sessions, lifetime access to current & future course material, twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with us, open discussion threads integrated in each lesson, an active student community, study guides, quizzes & capstone assignments, and more!

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Our theme music is “Wings” by Nicolai Heidlas.

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!