Herbs [to love and hate]

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From Secrets of the Clans by Erin Hunter


Borage Leaves

To be chewed and eaten. This plant can be distinguished by its small blue or pink star-shaped flowers and hairy leaves. Great for nursing queens as it helps increase their supply of milk. Also brings down fever.

Burdock Root

A tall-stemmed, sharp smelling thistle with dark leaves. A medicine cat must dig up the roots, wash off the dirt, and chew them into a pulp to apply to rat bites. Also can cure infection.

Catmint

A delicious-smelling, leafy plant that's hard to find in the wild; often found growing in twoleg gardens. The best remedy for greencough.

Celandine

Herb with bright yellow flowers, used to soothe the eyes.

Chamomile

Herb that looks a lot like the daisy; strengthens the heart.

Chervil

A sweet smelling plant with large, spreading, fern-like leaves and small white flowers. The juice of the leaves can be used for infected founds, and chewing the roots helps bellyache.

Cobwebs

Spiders can be found all over the forest; be careful not to bring along the spider when you take the web! Medicine cats wrap it around an injury to soak up blood and keep the wound clean. Stops bleeding.

Coltsfoot

A flowering plant, a bit like a dandelion, with yellow or white flowers. The leaves can be chewed into a pulp, which can be eaten to help shortness of breath.

Comfrey

Identifiable by its large leaves and small bell-shaped flowers, which can be pink, white, or purple. The fat black roots of this plant can be chewed into a poultice to mend broken bones or soothe wounds.

Dock

A plant similar to sorrel. The leaf can be chewed up and applied to soothe scratches.

Dried Oak Leaf

Collected in leaf-fall and stored in a dry place. Stops infections.

Feverfew

A small bush with flowers like daisies. The leaves can be eaten to cool down body temperature, particularly for cats with fever or chills.

Goldenrod

A tall plant with bright yellow flowers. A poultice of this is terrific for healing wounds.

Honey

A sweet, golden liquid created by bees. Difficult to collect without getting stung, but great for soothing infections or the throats of cats who have breathed smoke.

Horsetail

A tall plant with bristly stems that grows in marshy areas. The leaves can be used to treat infected wounds. Usually chewed up and applied as a poultice.

Juniper Berries

A bush with spiky dark green leaves and purple berries. The berries soothe bellyaches and help cats who are having trouble breathing.

Lavender

A small purple flowering plant. Cures fever.

Marigold

A bright orange of yellow flower that grows low to the ground. The petals or leaves can be chewed into a pulp and applied as a poultice to wounds. Stops infections,

Mouse Bile

A bad smelling liquid that is the only remedy for ticks. Dab a little moss soaked in bile on a tick and it'll fall right off. Wash paws thoroughly in running water afterward.

Parsley

Leafy plants with thin stalks that stops a queen's milk production if her kits die.

Poppy Seed

Small black seeds shaken from a dried poppy flower, these are fed to cats to help them sleep. Soothes cats suffering from shock and distress. Not recommended for nursing queens.

Rush

This herb is used to bind broken bones. It has long narrow leaves and lavender colored head stalks.

Stinging Nettle

The spiny green seeds can be administered to a cat who's swallowed poison, while the leaves can be applied to a wound to bring down swelling.

Snakeroot

A big green plant with tiny stunning white flowers in clusters. Heals snake bite and poisoning.

Tansy

A strong smelling plant with round yellow flowers. Good for curing coughs, but must be eaten in small doses.

Thyme

This herb can be eaten to calm anxiety and frayed nerves.

Travelling Herbs

Two leaves of different colors which must be eaten before a journey. The dark green leaf stops hunger. The other leaf gives the cat strength. Both taste extremely bitter. A certain poultice made from several different leaves is a variation of the traveling herbs.

Watermint

A leafy green plant found in streams or damp earth. Usually chewed into a pulp and then fed to a cat suffering bellyache.

Wild Garlic

Rolling in a patch of wild garlic can help prevent infections, especially for dangerous wounds like rat bites.

Yarrow

A flowering plant whose leaves can be made into a poultice and applied to wounds or scratches to expel poison.

Poisonous Plants

Nightshade

As poisonous as Deathberries, nightshade is a green plant with beautiful purple flowers.

Deathberries

The most well-known poison, it can be fatally poisonous to kits and elders, and can makes warriors very sick. Steer clear of these!

Holly Berries

Not quite as dangerous as deathberries, holly berries can still kill a young kit. This plant has shiny green leaves, and shiny bright red berries.

Foxglove Seeds

Rarely found plant, but it is rumored that the seeds are poisonous, though not a clan cat knows just how poisonous. Cute pink bell-shaped flowers that hang downwards.