Angelica: Roots with Angel Wings
Today’s study: the roots of the angelica plant.
Angelica is used by midwives, most commonly in tincture form, to encourage the expulsion of the placenta!
Here’s young CB taking a tea break at Tao Health Clinic. ^^
The roots below are Dong Quai… vv
A quick little back story- Several years ago, before I ventured into the world of midwifery, I worked part-time at a wonderful Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic in North Austin. (Shoutout to Tao Health Clinic! They offer incredible services, please go check them out.) One of my duties there was to help unpack shipments of herbs and sort them into their designated apothecary jars. When I opened one of my favorites I would take a deep inhale of the aroma and admire the texture and the detail of the plant.
There was one order that I specifically loved more than others... dong quai. I didn’t know much in the way of herbs at the time, and I remember talking to one of the practitioners about how much I loved this root. He smiled in reply and told me that is was powerful and important plant for women.
Little did I know (although maybe I intuitively knew more that I realized?) that those beautiful and fragrant slices of golden brown roots that I lovvvved to hold and smell and transfer to that big glass jar were from an angelica plant(!!) ...which I would later study and learn to draw up in a glass dropper and administer to a mama as she held a fresh squishy baby and waited on that round, deep red and blue afterbirth to show itself!! Woah!
Dong quai, or angelica sinensis, is the strain of the angelica plant often used in Chinese medicine. Sometimes referred to as “female ginseng,” dong quai offers mannnnny different healing benefits such as balancing hormones, increasing sex drive, helping to ease menstrual cramps, treatment of infertility and more.
The strain that I often use as a midwife to encourage the delivery of the placenta is angelica archangelica. The two have similar properties and are incredibly healing, warming, and decongesting.
Angelica is part of the parsley family and as you can see in the botanical drawing and photographs, the plant has beautiful firework-esque. flowers that can be soft blushy pink or a bright pure white.
Angelica thrives in damp regions and loves to dwell near trickling streams, rivers, and salty seashores, swaying in the wind and sunshine.
My mentor taught me that “angelica brings the placenta like an angel.”
What a gift this amazing plant is. I’m thankful to carry it in my birth bag and have its powers on my team.
xo,
P.S. I AM UNSURE OF THE ORIGINAL SOURCE OF PHOTOS AND ILLUSTRATIONS IN THIS POST APART FROM THE PHOTO OF MYSELF. ;) IF YOU KNOW THE SOURCE, PLEASE REACH OUT TO ME DIRECTLY AND I WILL EDIT THE POST ACCORDINGLY. MUCH LOVE! 