Coldamber blinked as Cobwebpaw appeared before her out of thin air. Ah, she'd been so sure she'd gotten them all the first time, but it seemed to not be the case. She nods to the cat that offers to fill her in. She's almost done and she did not wish to have to go back over it all again.
She already resembled a broken record as it was.
Her eyes glanced back over Mistypaw as she asked a question.
"Yes, poppy seeds can, it is an occasional side effect of the relaxing quality of the herb."
She had not seen it often in her own time, if she was being honest. She could only assume that some were more susceptible to drifting off to sleep than others, as well as their state of mind and the extent of their injuries.
Next, Seabreeze had another question.
Her ears twitched as she shifted her attention, and then sat as she considered his words.
"To my knowledge, yes: they are interchangeable."
She wanted to give a mini speech about how this does not discount one herb or the other in terms of usefulness, but decided against it. She had too much to get to, and too little time.
Besides, there did not seem to be a trace of believing that one herb was entirely useless for having a similar purpose.
She took a moment to bring up the image of a juniper shrub in her minds' eye, focusing on the small and distinct details of the plant before willing forth a shrub, it's trailing branches and needle leaves giving it a round shape despite the way it sat low to the ground. The needles were a pale green and almost sickly looking if compared to any other plant, each bushel of scaley needles protected a few, bruise coloured berries.
She did not have the shrub grow to be much taller than the tallest present cat, not wishing to exhaust herself on this little party trick when she was so far from being done.
"This is a juniper bush. The berries, hidden beneath the needle-y leaves, are eaten by your patient to soothe stomachaches. The bush grows year-round, and will produce fruit during even the harshest of leaf-bares.
They grow in areas where there is less plant life, seemingly to escape possible competition as the soil conditions seem to be inhospitable for most.
I've found them in dry, and rocky soils as well as more acidic types of soil. The common denominator I've noticed is they like places that allow for good drainage of water, seemingly not appreciating soil types that hold water."
After a few moments, allowing for her students a chance to memorize what they needed from the lesson, Coldamber clicked her tongue. This led to the rapid retreat of they shrub back into the holy grounds on StarClan, and allowed another, smaller plant to sprout forth.
The plant had very large oval leaves with heart-shaped bases and rounded tips, a few of the lower leaves sported red stems.The edges of the leaves appeared to be slightly wavy. The bundle of leaves, rather than connected, each grew individually from a center point in the ground in a small, but dense patch of greenery.
The leaves themselves were smooth, hairless, and a dull-green with distinct white midrib down the center.
"This is a dock plant. It is placed in the nest of a cat suffering from certain internal injuries: such as broken bones, wrenched joints, pulled muscles. In addition to encouraging healing, it seems to offer some pain relief and aids in falling asleep and getting more restful sleep that would otherwise be interrupted by their pains.
It grows in many places, to name a few: meadows, ditches, shorelines, riverbanks, woodland margins, and forest clearings. There does not seem to be anything in common with the types of soil and environment they choose to grow in, from my experience."
The next plant was a large, tall-growing plant, with large leaves and clusters of drooping, tubular purple flowers, much like bluebell flowers if one squinted while looking. The veins in the large, oval, and long leaves were heavily textured and made a distinct, raised pattern on the skin of the leaf in addition to the fine fur that seemed to line the stem of the plant.
"Comfrey. Unlike the last few herbs, this one has a variety of uses. Firstly, I feel the need to address the hairs on the plant: they are not dangerous and do not pose any long lasting discomfort when touched unless you are particularly sensitive to textures.
The roots of the plant can be chewed into a poultice and applied onto wounds, burns, and skin irritation, as it relieves topical pains and itchiness.
The leaves are to be harvested unbroken, as you will use the whole leaf to wrap around broken bones and drenched joints to promote healing and soothe inflammation.
The flowers die during leaf-fall and leaf-bare, but the leaves can survive all but the harshest of colds. They love sunny spots, and prefer to grow in the bottomland forests, moist upland forests, and banks of streams and rivers, especially where the soil quality is particularly rich."
While she would normally pause here and allow everyone to take in the knowledge she'd imparted, she felt an uneasy prickle beneath her fur, as if she was running out of time.
So onwards she pressed.
Next, she brought forth a ground-covering vine-like plant with small round leaves and sparse, tiny white flowers.
"Eating the leaves can lessen and sometimes cure the symptoms of white cough. I am unsure of the effectiveness against green cough, but I do not recommend experimenting in such a way unless you have absolutely no other options.
It likes damp areas, almost similar to marsh lands. They are most prevalent around the colder moons, such as late leaf-fall and into early leaf-bare before the leaves go into hibernation for the year."
Coldamber quickly sprouted, a green, leafy stalk of a bushel like shrub poked through the earth where the chickweed once lay, thin sprigs of aromatic leaves reaching for the star strewn sky.
""This pungent little plant is rosemary and one of the few herbs that the patient chews rather than you. They're excellent for many conditions concerning the mouth. Chewing on any part of the plant will help the body fight off against viral and bacterial infections of the mouth, and is especially effective against other conditions such mouth sores, ulcers, and scratches. It can be safely eaten, and it does have benefits in and of itself, but unless you're tight on available herbs, I'd recommend using your usual to help with headaches and fevers, as it is significantly weaker in potency.
They like to grow along hills and prefer sunny, sheltered spots, in well-drained soil."
The good part was, at least once a shrub was found, as much of it could be picked as necessary for an individual trip, as these bushes grew to be quite large compared to other shrubs that might be found.
For a final time, the misty grey nebelung allowed the plants in attendance to return to their earthen homes to sleep, and only a single plant would come to replace them.
A wicked looking plant, it's flower covering in hairs that almost looked like those that graced the stinging nettle, the yellow flower within, safely tucked away, nestled in its wire-y bedding and protected by the protrusions that surrounded it. The leaves were wavey, rippled, frilly, and made up the majority of the plants mass.
"This is blessed thistle. It has many uses, and is a wonderful addition to any herbal stock. The flower, when eaten, can stimulate milk production in heavily pregnant or nursing queens and can also increase productivity of the liver, helping with indigestion and loss of appetite by stimulating the production of bile and saliva. The leaves can be eaten to help with coughs, fatigue, brain fog, and internal infections.
The leaves can be applied topically in a poultice to decrease swelling and for open wounds. The flower should only be used on the skin for boils or to draw out poison in an abscess, as it tends to sting due to the strength.
It is also incredibly bitter and many a kit might complain about the taste if there is ever need to have them eat it.
This plant loves full sunlight and prefers soil that will drain rather than hold water. As for the soil type, it's not very picky and will even grow in poor quality or even rocky soil."
//I am so so so so so sorry about how late this is; in an attempt to expedite the process, I've crammed the last six herbs into one post instead of splitting it into two part. Thank you for being so patient with me\\
[ @
Bean , @
Dolomedes , @
starry , @
Katiethewolfchild , @
finley.exe ]