Antimicrobial Herbs
Antimicrobial herbs are herbs that help the body to either kill or disrupt pathogens (pathogens are microorganisms that can cause disease like viruses, fungus or bacteria).
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Some antimicrobial herbs will be effective more broadly (ginger is effective against all three pathogens) while others will be effective against a particular pathogen.
Antimicrobial herbs can be used to shorten the duration of a cold or flu and get rid of fungal infections.
Note that antimicrobial herbs are NOT antibiotics. Antibiotics are pharmaceutical and they kill everything in the digestive track (really broad spectrum).
When Can We Use Antimicrobial Herbs
We would use antimicrobial herbs to combat:
- Flu
- Viral infections
- Herpes
- Bacterial infections
- Viral infections
List of Some Antimicrobial Herbs
- Allium sativum – Garlic
- Arctostaphylos uva-ursi – Bearberry or uva-ursi
- Artemisia spp. – Wormwood, sweet annie, sagebrush
- Baptisia tinctoria – Baptisia or Wild indigo (root)
- Calendula officinalis – Calendula
- Capsicum spp. – Cayenne peppers
- Ceanothus spp. – Redroot (root)
- Commiphora mol-mol – Myrrh (resin)
- Hydrastis canadensis – Goldenseal (root)
- Hyssopus officinalis – Hyssop
- Inula helenium – Elecampagne (root)
- Isatis tinctoria – Woad (root)
- Juglans nigra – Black Walnut (hull)
- Juniperus spp. – Juniper (needle)
- Ligusticum porteri and L. canadensis – Osha species (root)
- Liquidambar styraciflua – Sweet gum (resin)
- Lonicera japonica – Honeysuckle
- Lomatium dissectum – Lomatium
- Mahonia spp. – Oregon grape (root)
- Melissa officinalis – Lemon balm
- Mondarda spp. – Bee balm, wild bergamot
- Rosmarinus officinalis – Rosemary
- Salvia officinalis and S. aparine – Garden sage and White sage
- Hypericum perforatum – St. John’s Wort
- Sambucus canadensis and S. nigra – Elderberry (flower & fruit)
- Spilanthes acmella – Herb for toothaches
- Thymus vulgaris – Thyme
- Usnea spp. – Usnea lichen
- Xanthorhiza simplicissima – Yellowroot
- Zingiber officinale – Ginger (root)
Make Your Own Antimicrobial Vinegar Cleaner with Only 3 Ingredients
This antimicrobial cleaner is VERY easy to make! It is a great 100% natural herbal cleaner very effective for cleaning your kitchen countertops, kitchen, sink, windows and in the bathroom. This cleaner will cut through grease easily! And it smells superb. Here’s what you need to make it:
- 4 cups distilled white vinegar (a natural disinfectant – vinegar is probably the only cleaner you’ll ever need) – get it here
- 1.5 cups dried thyme leaves – get it here
- 1.5 cups dried lavender buds – get it here
- 12 drops rosemary essential oil – get it here
To make your antimicrobial cleaner place the thyme and lavender in a mason jar (you can get it here). Fill the rest of the jar with the distilled white vinegar. Make sure to cover with a plastic lid (NOT a metal lid) and let it sit for around 24 hours.
After the time has passed strain out the vinegar, bottle up (you can get the bottles here) and add the 12 drops of rosemary essential oil.
Always shake well before using so the oil mixes with the rest of the liquid (otherwise it will sit at the top).
Patri xx
