Emergent Herbalism: Using Wild Plants for Health and Healing

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Do you ever wonder if that plant emerging from the sidewalk can share its resilience? Or if that pesky weed can teach you something about being grounded and nourished?

Even in urban centers plants find ways to break into cracks and thrive. Some plants are more resilient than others, and their chemical constituents, medicinal properties and folk lore combine to tell stories of resilience. Plant stories are embedded with medicinal knowledge and lessons on living in uncertain times. Here’s a short one about an eye opening experience of emergent herbalism.

After the earthquake that rocked Haiti in 2010, I joined a group of first responders to provide mutual aid. We were there for two weeks. Me, an herbalist trained as a wilderness first responder, three wilderness EMTs, a paramedic who’d just finished nursing school, a rural EMT and street medic, and a person who glommed onto our group.

Not doctors. Not surgeons.

Just some people with limited skills wanting to help out. The first challenge was packing. We knew from other groups (who’d run out of food and water or didn’t plan for those things at all) that not packing adequately could mean that we’d take resources meant for earthquake victims. That’s a whole other class that I will offer in the future.

For the moment I want to talk about this photo. I wasn’t expecting to have my picture taken. This was a candid moment.

You might say, why did you smile for the camera if you weren’t posing? I was smiling for emergent herbalism. Moments before the photographer captured this moment, I leaned over to examine an almond sapling.

I didn’t know at the time that almond trees, native to Asia, are a crop in Haiti. They pop up everywhere like a weed. Growing up in California I was acquainted with almond trees. In that moment of emergent herbalism I realized several things.

One, that some of the conditions we identified in our makeshift clinic could benefit from almond leaf, such as skin rashes and high blood pressure.
Two, that despite the desperate poverty, weedy plants were abundant and could be used.
Three, that I knew almost nothing about Haitian herbalism and natural healing.
And finally, the most important realization: everyone in Haiti is an herbalist

Because, as I stood back up, I told Odson, our interpreter, that almond leaf could be used for skin conditions and high blood pressure.

At the same time, the crowd began chattering and when I asked Odson, what are they saying? He said, they say it’s for blood pressure. We both laughed and that’s when he said everyone is an herbalist in Haiti, and snap goes the camera.