Some quick notes on individual herbs....
RED CLOVER
Red Clover has become a bit of a 'Darling' to the Female Health marketing strategists as it is so beautiful that it is very easy to use it as a poster herb and, coupled with the fact that it works so wonderfully well, it is a 'natural'.
It is a short lived perennial (We use it as an annual though) with the usual stems of three oval leaflets that we associate with the clover family.
The flowers yield an anti-inflammatory and cleansing treatment that can benefit the skin as well as Rheumatic and arthritic complaints.
According to Lesley Bremness there is American research that suggests that it's anti coagulant properties could be helpful in coronary thrombosis.
A tea or decoction of the flowers is used as a daily treatment for breast cancer and the whole plant is included in experimental formulas for many cancers.
This having been said, we have found it an extremely potent herb, that needs to be treated with caution. It is one of those cases where 'less is more'.It's rather extreme cleansing ability can catch you unawares and you may not always feel better first.
Once again, the diagnosis that may lead you towards Red Clover should be accurate.
From a gardening point of view, once having harvested the flowers to dry for when it is needed, the greens can be either dug back into the soil or added to the compost where it's richness can continue the circle.
HOMEOPATHIC description by Dr. William Boericke
TRIFOLIUM PRATENSE
Red Clover
Produces most marked ptyalism. Feeling of fullness with congestion of salivary glands, followed by increased copious flow of saliva. Feeling as if mumps were coming on. Crusta lactea; dry, scaly crusts. Stiff neck. Cancerous diathesis.
Head.-Confusion and headache on awaking. Dullness in anterior brain. Mental failure, loss of memory.
Mouth. Increased flow of saliva (Merc; Syphil). Sore throat, with hoarseness.
Respiratory. Coryza like that which precedes hay-fever; thin mucus, with much irritation. Hoarse and choking; chills with cough at night. Cough on coming into the open air. Hay-fever. Spasmodic cough; whooping cough, paroxysms; worse at night.
Back. Neck stiff; cramp in sterno-cleido muscles; relieved by heat and irritation.
Extremities. Tingling in palms. Hands and feet cold. Tibial ulcers.
Relationship.Compare: Trifolium repens.--White clover- (Prophylactic against mumps, feeling of congestion in salivary glands, pain and hardening, especially submaxillary; worse, lying down. Mouth filled with watery saliva, worse lying down.
Taste of blood in mouth and throat. Sensation as if heart would stop, with great fear, better sitting up or moving about; worse, when alone, with cold sweat on face).
Dose. Tincture