Reply #6: Native plants and supplements [View All]

[hvn_nbr_2]

May I ask what you are using these supplements for? Could there be a native plant that grows in the area where you are living that would have the same properties? Connecting and getting to know the spirit and essence of the plant is just as important.

I'm not actually taking the supplement. I was considering the possibility of experimenting with it in herbal liqueurs that I make. Someone I know makes a damiana-based aphrodisiac liqueur that is somewhat notorious in northern California pagan circles, and I've been experimenting with other things to add to damiana, both for flavor and for effect.

Based on the info in one of the links people provided (don't remember which one right now), epimedium would apparently not be very suitable for this purpose, since it is better extracted in water alone and not in alcohol.

Since I live in a condo in an urban area, with no yard, and since the only accessible open areas are public parklands where gathering plants isn't allowed, growing or gathering the local plants isn't really a viable option, except growing them in pots on a very small scale on my balcony. But there are local and reginal herbalists who grow stuff.

It seems like there really just aren't equivalents of a lot of the Chinese herbs. But I'm just beginning to learn about them.