Overview
Aerial Parts at a Glance
Aerial parts means the whole above-ground plant. Stem, leaf, bud, and flower go into one cut, a hand's width above the ground.
It is a harvest decision rather than a plant organ. On a soft-stemmed herb, separating the leaf from the flower buys nothing worth the labour.
The cut is taken at or just before full bloom, when the plant's chemistry is at its most complete. Once seed begins to set, the plant has moved its resources on.
Some herbs give their medicine no other way. St John's wort holds hypericin and hyperforin in the dark glands of its flowering tops, so a cut made out of bloom misses them.
Most of the rest are cut whole by convention. Melissa and holy basil give rosmarinic acid, passionflower gives flavonoid glycosides, and echinacea gives its alkylamides and cichoric acid.
This is the cut behind the nervine and alterative traditions. Motherwort, skullcap, catnip, and yarrow are all whole-plant herbs, and most of that work lands on the nervous system.
The trade-off is dilution. Stem is largely cellulose, so a herb cut whole is weaker by weight than the same plant's leaf or flowering top taken alone.
Working Notes
Cut in bloom, but cut early in the bloom. — The peak is the moment most buds have opened and none have set seed, and a week later the plant has already begun shifting its resources into seed.
Discard the woody bottom third. — Whole-plant does not mean whole stalk: the lower stem is mostly cellulose, adds bulk weight without medicine, and quietly dilutes every dose you weigh out afterwards.
Not every aerial part is edible just because the root is. — Rhubarb is the standing warning, since the leaf blades carry oxalate loads that make them unsafe whatever you do with the stalks.
Check the interaction profile before reaching for the gentle-looking ones. — St John's wort and kanna both look like mild nervines on the shelf, and the soft green appearance of an aerial-part herb tells you nothing about its pharmacological reach.
Preparation
How Aerial Parts Are Prepared
The whole-plant cut is mixed material. Tender flowering tops sit alongside woodier stem, so the method has to serve the most fragile fraction in the bundle rather than the toughest.
01
Infusion
Steep 1–2 g of dried herb per cup in covered water just off the boil for 10–15 minutes. Never boil aerial parts: the flowering tops hold the volatile oils and the pigments, and both are gone within a minute of a rolling simmer.
02
Tincture
Fresh flowering tops go in at 1:2 in 95% alcohol, packed down and macerated 4–6 weeks; dried herb at 1:5 in 40–50%. The higher percentages matter for the resinous and glandular herbs, where the actives are frankly lipophilic.
03
Cut & Bundle
Cut a third to a half of the standing plant, leaving enough growth to recover, and hang in loose bundles in shade with airflow. Bundles tied too fat mold at the core.
Strip and garble once the stems snap, then store whole.
04
Infused Oil
For the herbs whose actives are oil-soluble, wilt the fresh tops for 12 hours, cover with olive oil, and stand in gentle warmth for 2–4 weeks. St John’s wort turning deep red is the visual cue that the extraction has worked.
Aerial Parts Medicines
Herbs Used for Their Aerial Parts
65 herbs are harvested as aerial parts, the whole-plant cut that carries much of the nervine and alterative tradition.
Action
Abuta Cissampelos pareira Abuta is a tropical climbing vine of the moonseed family, known in South America as the midwives' herb. Its root and vine are used for menstrual cramps, heavy bleeding and pain, and its alkaloids include curare-like muscle relaxants.
American Skullcap Scutellaria lateriflora American skullcap is a small North American wetland mint whose leaves and flowering tops are a classic nervine of Western herbal medicine, taken for anxiety, nervous exhaustion and poor sleep. Its aerial parts are rich in the flavones baicalin and baicalein.
Andrographis Andrographis paniculata Andrographis is an intensely bitter annual herb of India and Sri Lanka, known as the king of bitters and used for colds, sore throats, fevers and liver complaints. Its main active compound is andrographolide.
Ayahuasca Vine Banisteriopsis caapi Ayahuasca vine is a giant woody climber of the Amazon rainforest and the main ingredient of the ayahuasca brew. Its stems are rich in harmala alkaloids such as harmine, which block the enzyme MAO-A and let the DMT from a companion plant take effect.
Bacopa Bacopa monnieri Bacopa (Bacopa monnieri), or brahmi, is a creeping wetland herb and a classic Ayurvedic brain tonic. Its extracts, rich in saponins called bacosides, are taken for memory, focus and stress.
Black Horehound Ballota nigra Black horehound is a strong-smelling perennial of the mint family whose flowering tops are a traditional European remedy for nausea, vomiting, digestive spasms and nervous tension. The tops are rich in phenylpropanoid glycosides such as verbascoside.
Blue Vervain Verbena hastata Blue vervain is a tall North American wetland wildflower with spikes of small violet-blue flowers. Its bitter aerial parts are used as a calming nervine and mild sedative, and they contain the iridoids verbenalin and hastatoside.
Broom Cytisus scoparius Broom is a European shrub of the pea family with bright yellow flowers, used in herbal medicine for the heart and for fluid retention. Its green tops contain the alkaloid sparteine, which slows the heart and makes the plant toxic in excess.
Butterfly Bush (Petalostylis) Petalostylis cassioides Butterfly bush is a shrub of the pea family from arid inland Australia, with finely divided leaves and orange-yellow flowers. Aboriginal people rubbed its crushed leaves on the skin, and its leaves and stems contain tryptamine alkaloids, including DMT.
Calea zacatechichi Calea ternifolia Calea zacatechichi (Calea ternifolia) is a bitter shrub from Mexico and Central America, known as the Mexican dream herb. The Chontal of Oaxaca take the leaf as a tea and smoke it to bring on vivid dreams, and in Mexican folk medicine it is a bitter tonic for appetite, digestion and fevers.
California Poppy Eschscholzia californica California poppy is a golden-flowered wildflower of western North America and the state flower of California. Its flowering aerial parts are a gentle herbal sedative used for anxiety, restless sleep and pain, and carry isoquinoline alkaloids such as californidine and (S)-reticuline.
Catnip Nepeta cataria Catnip is an aromatic perennial of the mint family, best known for its effect on cats. In people it is a gentle herbal tea for restlessness, indigestion and colic, and its essential oil, rich in nepetalactone, is used as an insect repellent.
Chanca Piedra Phyllanthus niruri Chanca piedra is a small tropical American herb whose Spanish name means "stone breaker". It is used for kidney and gall stones, the liver and viral infections, and its chemistry is led by the lignan phyllanthin and the tannin corilagin.
Chickweed Stellaria media Chickweed is a small, sprawling annual of the pink family, eaten as a wild green and used fresh on itchy, irritated skin and for dry coughs. It contains triterpenoid saponins and flavonoid C-glycosides.
Chilca Baccharis latifolia Chilca is a resinous Andean shrub of the daisy family whose leaves are laid on as a warm poultice for sprains, bruises and aching muscles and joints. Its leaves contain the flavonoids quercetin and rutin and a limonene-rich essential oil.
Chinese Clubmoss Huperzia serrata Chinese clubmoss is a small evergreen clubmoss of Asian forests, used whole in Chinese medicine for bruises, sprains and swelling. It is the natural source of huperzine A, an alkaloid that slows the breakdown of acetylcholine and is studied for memory and Alzheimer's disease.
Cleavers Galium aparine Cleavers is a sprawling, clinging annual herb whose fresh aerial parts are a traditional lymphatic and urinary remedy, used for swollen glands, cystitis and skin complaints. It is rich in iridoid glycosides such as monotropein.
Echinacea Echinacea purpurea Echinacea, or purple coneflower, is a North American prairie perennial whose root and flowering tops are taken for colds and upper respiratory infections. It carries alkylamides and caffeic acid derivatives such as cichoric acid.
Epazote Dysphania ambrosioides Epazote is a strongly aromatic herb of the Americas, used both as a seasoning in Mexican cooking and as a traditional remedy for intestinal worms, which gives it the English name wormseed. Its essential oil is rich in ascaridole, a monoterpene peroxide.
Ephedra Ephedra sinica Ephedra, or ma huang, is a small, almost leafless shrub whose green stems are rich in the stimulant alkaloids ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. In Chinese medicine it is a warming herb for colds, cough and wheezing.
Erva Tostão Boerhavia diffusa Erva tostão is a sprawling tropical herb whose root is used as a diuretic and a tonic for the liver and kidneys. In Ayurveda it is punarnava, a classical rejuvenating herb for swelling and fluid retention.
Feverfew Tanacetum parthenium Feverfew is a small, aromatic plant of the daisy family, taken daily to prevent migraine. Its leaves contain parthenolide, a sesquiterpene lactone studied for its anti-inflammatory activity.
Fish Mint Houttuynia cordata Houttuynia (Houttuynia cordata), or fish mint, is a creeping wetland herb eaten as a leafy vegetable and used in Chinese medicine for lung infections. Its leaves carry a fishy-smelling essential oil and flavonoids studied for antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects.
Goat's Rue Galega officinalis Goat's rue is a European and west Asian legume used in herbal medicine to support milk supply and to lower blood sugar. Its alkaloid galegine was the chemical starting point for the diabetes drug metformin.
Goldenrod Solidago virgaurea European goldenrod is a yellow-flowered perennial of the daisy family whose flowering tops are a traditional European remedy for the urinary tract, taken as a tea to increase urine flow and ease bladder irritation. It is rich in flavonoids, the phenolic glycoside leiocarposide and triterpene saponins.
Greater Celandine Chelidonium majus Greater celandine is a yellow-flowered plant of the poppy family whose orange sap is rich in isoquinoline alkaloids. It is a traditional bitter for the liver and gallbladder, and its fresh sap is applied to warts.
Holy Basil Ocimum tenuiflorum Holy basil, or tulsi, is a sacred aromatic herb of India in the mint family, taken as a daily tea and tonic for stress, mood and respiratory health. Its clove-scented leaf oil is rich in eugenol.
Honeysuckle Lonicera japonica Honeysuckle is a climbing vine whose unopened flower bud, jin yin hua, is one of the most widely used cooling herbs in Chinese medicine. It is taken for the early, feverish stage of colds and flu and for sore throats, and its bud is rich in chlorogenic acid.
Horsetail Equisetum arvense Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) is a spore-bearing plant whose green summer stems are rich in silica. It is taken as a tea to increase urine flow in minor urinary complaints, applied to wounds, and used for hair and nails.
Hyssop Hyssopus officinalis Hyssop is an aromatic, semi-woody herb of the mint family, taken as a tea for coughs, colds and chest congestion and for sluggish digestion. Its essential oil is rich in the ketones pinocamphone and isopinocamphone.
Ice Plant Delosperma spp. Ice plant (Delosperma) is a genus of low, mat-forming succulents from southern Africa, grown as cold-hardy ground covers for their bright daisy-like flowers. It shares a family with kanna, whose mesembrine alkaloids are studied for mood and anxiety.
Kanna Mesembryanthemum tortuosum Kanna is a low succulent from the dry western Cape of South Africa, traditionally chewed as fermented kougoed to lift mood and ease hunger, thirst and fatigue. Its mesembrine alkaloids block serotonin reuptake and inhibit the enzyme PDE4.
Lemongrass Cymbopogon citratus Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) is an aromatic tropical grass grown as a culinary herb and brewed as a tea for digestion and calm. Its essential oil is rich in citral, the source of its lemon scent.
Lesser Periwinkle Vinca minor Lesser periwinkle is a trailing evergreen ground cover of European woodlands, once used as an astringent for bleeding. It is grown commercially as a source of the alkaloid vincamine, from which the supplement vinpocetine is made.
Lobelia Lobelia inflata Lobelia, or Indian tobacco, is an annual herb of eastern North America used in Eclectic medicine for asthma and spasmodic cough and, in larger doses, as an emetic. Its main alkaloid is lobeline, and the margin between a useful dose and a toxic one is narrow.
Maconha Brava Zornia latifolia Maconha brava is a low, creeping tropical legume of South America whose dried leaves are smoked in Brazil as a cannabis substitute. Its leaves are rich in flavonoids, and its cannabis-like effect has been traced to the rare flavone syzalterin.
Marjoram Origanum majorana Marjoram is a sweet, aromatic Mediterranean herb of the mint family, used in cooking and as a tea for digestion, cramps and nervous tension. Its essential oil is rich in terpinen-4-ol and sabinene hydrate, and its leaves in rosmarinic acid.
Meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria Meadowsweet is a tall perennial of damp meadows in Europe and northern Asia, with foaming heads of creamy flowers. Its flowering tops contain salicylates, flavonoids and tannins and are used for colds, minor joint pain and acid indigestion.
Melissa Melissa officinalis Melissa, or lemon balm, is a lemon-scented herb of the mint family used as a calming nervine for anxiety, low mood, poor sleep and nervous digestion. Its leaf is rich in rosmarinic acid, and a concentrated leaf cream is used for cold sores.
Mexican Tarragon Tagetes lucida Mexican tarragon is an aromatic marigold from Mexico and Central America whose anise-scented leaves are used as a tarragon substitute and brewed as a calming, digestive tea. Its oil is rich in estragole, and its coumarins, including herniarin and scoparone, have been studied for effects on mood, pain and inflammation.
Motherwort Leonurus cardiaca Motherwort is a bitter perennial of the mint family, used in European herbal medicine for nervous tension and for palpitations and other nervous heart complaints. Its marker compounds include the betaine stachydrine and flavonoids such as hyperoside.
Mugwort Artemisia vulgaris Mugwort is a tall, aromatic perennial of the daisy family, known in medieval Europe as the mother of herbs. It is used as a digestive bitter, a menstrual herb and a dream herb, and its dried leaves are the moxa burned in moxibustion.
Oregano Origanum vulgare Oregano is a Mediterranean herb of the mint family, used in cooking and in herbal medicine for digestion, coughs and sore throats. Its essential oil is rich in carvacrol, a compound studied for its antibacterial and antifungal activity.
Passionflower Passiflora incarnata Passionflower is a North American climbing vine whose leaves and stems are taken as a calming herb for anxiety, restlessness and poor sleep. Its main constituents are flavonoids such as vitexin and isovitexin.
Periwinkle Vinca major Greater periwinkle is a trailing evergreen ground cover from the Mediterranean, used in older European herbal medicine as an astringent for heavy bleeding. It contains indole alkaloids, and is a close relative of lesser periwinkle, the source of vincamine.
Rooibos Aspalathus linearis Rooibos is a needle-leaved South African shrub whose leaves and stems are brewed as a caffeine-free red tea. It is rich in aspalathin, an antioxidant flavonoid found in few other plants.
Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis Rosemary is an evergreen Mediterranean shrub in the mint family, grown as a kitchen herb and used medicinally for digestion, circulation and memory. Its leaf carries an aromatic oil rich in 1,8-cineole and camphor, and the antioxidant diterpenes carnosic acid and carnosol.
San Pedro Echinopsis pachanoi San Pedro is a fast-growing columnar cactus of the Andes whose stem contains the psychedelic alkaloid mescaline. As huachuma, it has been taken for thousands of years in Andean healing ceremonies.
Shepherd's Purse Capsella bursa-pastoris Shepherd's purse is a small, common weed of the mustard family, named for its flat, heart-shaped seedpods. Its flowering tops are a traditional remedy to stop bleeding, above all heavy menstrual bleeding, and are rich in flavonoids and amines such as choline.
Sinicuichi Heimia salicifolia Sinicuichi is a willow-leaved shrub with bright yellow flowers, native from Texas and Mexico to Argentina. Its leaves are made into a lightly fermented drink with mild psychoactive effects, and it contains a family of alkaloids led by cryogenine, also called vertine.
Spearmint Mentha spicata Spearmint is the common garden mint, a sweet, aromatic culinary herb used for digestive upsets. Its oil is rich in carvone rather than menthol, and its tea has been studied for lowering testosterone in women with hirsutism and PCOS.
St. John's Wort Hypericum perforatum St. John's wort is a yellow-flowered perennial whose flowering tops are used for low mood and, as a red infused oil, for minor wounds and burns. Its standardised extracts are licensed in Europe for mild to moderate depression, and its constituent hyperforin speeds the breakdown of many prescription drugs.
Sweet Wormwood Artemisia annua Sweet wormwood is a sweetly aromatic annual herb of the daisy family, known in Chinese medicine as qinghao and used there for fevers. It is the plant from which artemisinin, the basis of today's front-line malaria drugs, was first isolated.
Tarragon Artemisia dracunculus Tarragon is an aromatic perennial of the daisy family whose narrow, anise-scented leaves are a classic culinary herb and a traditional digestive. Its flavour comes mainly from estragole in the essential oil.
Tea Camellia sinensis Tea is an evergreen shrub whose young leaves and buds make green, black, white and oolong tea, the most widely drunk beverage after water. The leaf carries caffeine, the calming amino acid L-theanine and catechins such as EGCG, studied for blood pressure, cholesterol and focus.
Thyme Thymus vulgaris Thyme is a small aromatic shrub of the mint family, grown worldwide as a kitchen herb. Its leaf and flowering tops are a traditional European remedy for coughs and chest colds, and its essential oil is rich in thymol.
Tick Trefoil Desmodium spp. Tick trefoil is the common name for Desmodium, a large genus of tropical legumes with clinging seed pods. Two species are used in medicine: D. adscendens, a West African and South American remedy for asthma, and D. gangeticum, the Ayurvedic root Salaparni.
Tribulus Tribulus terrestris Tribulus is a low, spreading annual herb known for its spiny fruit. In Ayurveda the fruit is gokshura, a urinary and reproductive tonic, and standardised extracts rich in the saponin protodioscin are studied for sexual function in men and women.
Usnea Usnea spp. Usnea is a beard lichen, known as old man's beard, that hangs from trees in clean-air forests worldwide. It is used as an antimicrobial for respiratory and urinary infections and on wounds, and its key constituent is usnic acid.
Warrior's Plume Pedicularis densiflora Warrior's plume is a red-flowered lousewort of California and Oregon whose leaves and flowers are used in teas and smoking blends as a gentle muscle relaxant. Like other louseworts it is a partial root parasite, and its genus is rich in phenylpropanoid and iridoid glycosides.
Wireweed Sida acuta Wireweed is a tough, wiry tropical weed of the mallow family, used across Africa, Asia and the Americas as a folk remedy for fever and malaria. It contains the alkaloid cryptolepine, which is active against malaria parasites in laboratory studies.
Wood Betony Stachys officinalis Wood betony is a European herb of the mint family with spikes of purple-red flowers. Its leaves and flowering tops are taken as a tea or tincture, as a gentle nervine for tension and headaches and as a digestive astringent.
Wormwood Artemisia absinthium Wormwood is an intensely bitter, silver-leaved perennial of the daisy family, used as a digestive bitter and a traditional remedy for intestinal worms. It flavours absinthe and vermouth, and its essential oil contains thujone, which limits use to short courses.
Yarrow Achillea millefolium Yarrow is a feathery-leaved perennial of the daisy family, used in Western herbal medicine to stop bleeding, heal wounds and break fevers. Its bitter, aromatic flowering tops are also a traditional digestive.
Yerba Maté Ilex paraguariensis Yerba maté is a South American holly whose dried leaves are brewed into maté, a caffeine-rich drink shared from a gourd. The leaf is rich in chlorogenic acids and has been studied for blood sugar, cholesterol and body fat.
No herbs match these filters.
Phytochemistry
Aerial Parts Phytochemicals
Taking every tissue at once gives the broadest chemistry of any harvest. Aromatic oils from the leaf, glandular actives from the flower, and structural polyphenols from the stem all arrive in one cut.
Volatile Oils The dominant fraction in the aromatic mints and labiates.
Rosmarinic Acid & Phenolic Acids Water-soluble caffeic-acid derivatives abundant throughout the Lamiaceae.
Anti-inflammatory and antiviral in their own right, and — unlike the volatile oils — they survive a hot infusion perfectly well.
Found in MelissaHoly BasilRosemary
Flavonoid Glycosides Vitexin, isovitexin, apigenin and relatives, concentrated in the flowering tops.
These carry most of the gentle anxiolytic and antispasmodic reputation of the nervine herbs, and they extract readily into water.
Found in PassionflowerHyssopWarrior's Plume
Naphthodianthrones & Phloroglucinols Hypericin and hyperforin, held in the dark glands of the flowering tops — which is why St John’s wort must be picked in bloom.
Also the source of its serious and well-documented drug interactions.
Found in St. John's Wort
Alkylamides & Caffeic Acid Derivatives The tingling alkylamides plus cichoric acid make up the immune-active pair in echinacea.
That mouth-tingle is a genuine potency assay — a tincture that does not buzz has lost its alkylamides.
Found in Echinacea
Mesembrine-Type Alkaloids Serotonin-reuptake-active alkaloids concentrated in the fermented aerial parts.
Potent at small doses and a real interaction risk alongside SSRIs — this is not a herb to layer casually onto psychiatric medication.
Found in Kanna
Purine Alkaloids & Saponins The stimulant aerial-part herbs pair caffeine with saponins and polyphenols, giving a slower, smoother lift than isolated caffeine and a distinctly bitter, mouth-drying finish.
Found in Yerba MatéTea
Steroidal Saponins & Lignans Soap-like glycosides and lignan complexes found across the tonic and hepatoprotective aerial herbs.
Foaming, poorly absorbed alone, and better delivered in a decoction or tincture than a light infusion.
Found in TribulusChanca Piedra
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