Valerian extracts are currently used in scores of compounds and teas in Europe. Valerian is perhaps best characterized as a minor tranquilizer when administered in the form of a tea, a tincture or an extract. Borage is an annual plant that grows wild in the Mediterranean countries. The hollow, bristly, branched stem grows up to 2 feet tall. Borage has been used for various medicinal purposes over the years as an aperient, diaphoretic, febrifuge, galactagogue, pectoral, and tonic.
Borage is good for reducing fever and for restoring vitality during convalescence from illness.
Its diaphoretic action is also credited with some antidotal effect against several poisons. This herb also exhibits some calmative properties that make it useful for nervous conditions. Borage has also been recommended for pleurisy and peritonitis for its calmative and anti-inflammatory action. In China, extracts of the fruit and leaves of the ginkgo tree have been used for over 5,000 years to treat lung ailments such as asthma and bronchitis, and also as a remedy for various cardiovascular diseases. Recently, western researchers have been studying Ginkgo biloba as a treatment for senility, hardening of the arteries, and as a treatment for oxygen deprivation.