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By Root 870 0

soft) is overall more active in dissolving an herb than hard water (which is relatively full of dissolved mineral). Theoretically, distilled water is completely empty of dissolved minerals and is therefore a hungry, most powerful solvent, ready and eager to dissolve any water-soluble thing it can get its lusty molecules up against. Rainwater is the soft water I most like to use. It’s more wild and whimsical than distilled water, but it’s not always there for you when you need it. I’ll talk more about the dynamics of active and saturated menstrua when I discuss “circulatory displacement” in the chapter on infusions (which will clearly illustrate why it’s prudent to “shake your tinctures”).

PRINCIPLE CONSTITUENTS OF PLANTS AND THEIR SOLVENTS

When speaking the language of the pharmacologist, these principal constituents are often called the “active ingredients” of the plant, or the isolated plant chemicals that have a salient, definable physiological activity on the body. If an individual has developed the insight to focus on the activity of the whole plant as a remedy within a wholistic framework for assisting a person to heal, specific knowledge of these ingredients is not of great importance. However, to formulate an efficient menstruum for making a plant extract, there is value in gaining a general knowledge of these constituents and an understanding of the specific menstrua in which they are probably soluble and insoluble. More whole, intact, and aesthetic herbal medicines can be prepared with this awareness.

When considering the solubility of individual constituents found in a particular herb, please remain aware that the solubility and insolubility of the various components I am about to outline for you come from data created in the reductionist science lab. This information was derived from each constituent in its isolated form, totally separated from the organic organization of the whole living plant. Due to this, Western science is often unable to explain why and how plant remedies work. Scientific method routinely inhibits a true understanding of the action of whole herbs or their individual constituents because the unique organization of the entire plant is rarely, if ever, tested. So when a plant constituent is said, for example, to be insoluble in water, this might not be and very likely isn’t entirely true when that constituent is functioning in the dynamic context of the whole plant. Science is profoundly humbled by what actually goes on within the brilliant flesh of a whole herb. Therefore, in your study of plant constituents, beware of attempting to understand any medicinal plant by reducing it to its so-called “active ingredients.” Again, the whole of the plant is the true reference, the one which one’s whole body is most biologically familiar with.

Now, to assist you in formulating a suitable menstruum for your plant extracts, the following discussion of plant constituents and their solubility is given as a guide to help you make an educated guess as to what solvent or combination of solvents you will ultimately find to be your best menstruum for a particular plant. This discussion is not the final word, for to my knowledge no one, regardless of his or her credentials, knows the final word in any area of Herbalism.

Alkaloids

Alkaloids are organic bodies, derived chiefly from plants in which they are believed to exist in combination with organic acids, forming salts (a safer, more soluble form of the alkaloid). These alkaloidal salts are usually well-defined, colorless, odorless, crystalline, and soluble. Some are not colorless; for example, the bitter-tasting berberine in Goldenseal and Oregon Grape is yellow. Alkaloids may be unstable when heated. Most pure alkaloids are bitter, slightly alkaline, soluble in ether and chloroform, and often less readily in alcohol. In water they are comparatively insoluble. On the other hand, the solubility of the alkaloidal salts usually follow an opposite pattern: they are freely soluble in water and somewhat soluble in alcohol. The ready solubility of the salts