Musk Mallow Poultice

I mentioned yesterday that I was making Jewelweed salve and my neighbor got stung. Today he was cleaning out the nest and has a few more stings. He said they itched like crazy. So I scrounged around and yard at the edge of the woods in a weedy looking area.

I found a variety of beneficial things growing out there. Lamb’s Qurters, Golenrod, Foxtail Millet, Sunflowers…even some tall Mullein. But what I found today that was really helpful was some musk mallow.

Musk Mallow is a plant with pretty distinctive seed pods. Many of them were already brown, but I found a number of greenish ones. And plenty of leaves.

You can’t mistake one of these plants for anything else.

So I broke out my blender and pulped a handful of the musk mallow. I added a bit of water as I pulped it to make a poultice.

Ordinarily I would make a tincture with high test clear vodka or even some Everclear. It takes 6 - 8 weeks for the tincture to soak up the benefits of the chemical compounds in the musk mallow, but a poultice is the quick and dirty way of treating stings and bites short term. A poultice is great for the short term, but it doesn’t last. Musk Mallow is full of a mucilage sap that contains water soluble polysaccharides that have anti inflammatory properties. The mucilage also has phenolic acids and tannins that act as a demulcent…. Which soothes the skin. It’s not as fast acting as the jewelweed salve, but it’s longer lasting.

I’m no “witch doctor” and I don’t even call myself a herbalist. It takes YEARS to become a herbalist with proper training. All I know about are the quick fixes to get you by when things get nasty…. Like stumbling into a bees nest, or tripping into a patch of poison ivy.