Agarita Tincture

Agarita (Berberis Trifoliolata, a member of the barberry Berberidaceae family) is a beautiful Texas native shrub, unfortunately vehemently disliked by most of Texas' native people due to its very poky personality. When the plant blooms in March, the smell is wonderful, but indeed you have to watch how you go about sticking your nose in to get a whif because each set of flowers is guarded by an army of leaves (think holly leaves.)

Technical Jargon:

If you look beyond surface characteristics however, Agarita is a strong, survivor of a plant that has a long history of use in the region. The twigs and root, if broken in half, are a vibrant yellow, complements of a compound called 'berberine.' Berberine is the same compound found in the more popular Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) that thrives in rich soil of forests floors further east. It has been relatively extensively studied, exhibiting many typical characteristics of plants, including antibacterial and antifungal properties which is all good and well, but it has a few really unique and cool uses.

First of all, it happens to up-regulate (increase amount of) LDL receptors, which are the guys that bind low-density lipoprotein (LDL which carries 'bad' cholesterol in the blood) the compound which is then endocytosed and eliminated in the liver. Yay! This is good news for helping reduce arterial plaques (accumulated cholesterol on artery walls) which can lead to heart attacks and strokes that are more and more common nowadays.

When it comes to cancer, I think berberine is much more suited for use as a component of a whole drug that would be used for treatment, as its effects seem to me to be scattered across the map and don't pack a strong punch. However, I don't think this negates it deserving a place in our minds as an herbal anti-tumor remedy. It shows tumor-suppressing activity in melanoma, leukemia, and breast cancer by regulating gene expression of various cell-proliferation factors. Exciting stuff! It all really gets quite complicated (above my understanding, anyhow) with numbers and abbreviations and whatnot, but it gives me hope that it has proven on some level effective in more than one study, each independent from each other, and against more than one type of cancer. They may have something here!

My less-technical conclusion:

When I look in to the medicinal profiles of each plant out there, it seems they each have hundreds of different minute effects in our body system. Some plants have one or two predominant actions which seem to outshine their other medicinal facets, but the majority cast small spells and work small magic all throughout our bodies. Combined, all these inputs bring about a single characteristic in our bodies; health. Each alkaloid, flavanoid, volatile oil and lignin fiber synchronistically work to keep us brimming with life and vibrancy.

Tincture:

The whole point of this blog rant was initially to summarize my (very first ever!) attempt to make a tincture.

A tincture is a method of extraction aimed at drawing active components out from a plant and in to an alcohol solution. The great thing about alcohol is that it has the potential to capture those components that are perhaps not-so-soluble in water (think herbal tea) as well is that it acts as a natural preservative. Have you ever looked through some old abandoned back cabinet of yours and happened across a handle of liquor and wondered to yourself if you'd have to throw it out? Of course not! Alcohol stays good for....a very long time? This goes for your tinctures as well, in contrast to dried herbs which will lose their potency with time due to oxidation and evaporation of volatile compounds.

To make my Agarita tincture I took my shovel (not so primitive, but highly effective!) and went out to a thriving patch of Agarita where I wouldn't be eliminating it from the area in order to harvest. As you can see in the photos, the root system of this young plant was not too large and once I had the soil loosened it was easy to pull up. Gloves, calluses, or a high pain tolerance recommended!

The root bark (outer 'sheath' on the root) has by far the highest concentration of active components, but it seemed to me that the root was pretty yellow all the way through and I decided that with my planned 1:2 plant-to-alcohol ratio that I could use the lower-potency inner bark as well, thus using as much of the plant I had just sacrificed as possible!

Smashing it into bits with the hammer was the fun part, and I think I pretty well maximized the surface area that the alcohol could then act on. Do watch for pieces of the precious root bark flying to and fro, however!

I then took a scale my grandma uses to measure envelope weights, tared the scale to zero with a glass bottle on top, packed in as much herb as I could fit (1/2 oz I believe), and then used 1 oz of 80-proof vodka to cover the herb.

Now it is sitting in a bag in my car for a total of three weeks after which point I will strain out and discard the herb and bottle up the tincture in a dropper bottle!

I plan on using the tincture internally as a liver tonic and digestive aid. To be honest, though, I don't know what dose I am going to use! I will have to do more research on doses before I decide on a safe amount, or test in moderation on myself I suppose. It depends so much on the plant's initial strength and whether I am after a medicinal or a tonic effect. Hrm.

Sorry I don't have photos of the tincture! I assure you it is a very pleasing yellow.

Fun Fact: Agarita is great for dying and is unique in that it doesn't require a mordant to fix its yellow color to most fabrics.

In WW2, it was used to dye parachutes for increased visibility and ease in locating people who had landed.