Borage is applied to the skin for infantile seborrheic dermatitis and is also used in a dressing to soften the skin.
In foods, borage is eaten in salads and soups. As flowers have an antioxidant effect, borage flowers are used in skin care products. |
Borage
One of the few hardy annual herbs which can be raised
to flower twice in the same season: i.e. sown in Septem. ber, the plants flower in late May; sown in March, they flower in July, and in mild parts the May-flowering Borages seed themselves and flower in autumn. These beautiful annuals are usually allowed to grow far too thickly. They should be thinned out 2 feet apart to allow them to branch out. Thinned to this distance, they naturally last far longer than plants left within 6 inches of each other. Borage does not respond well to trans- planting. Light soil. Borage flower and leaves are used for fever, cough, and depression. Borage is also used for a hormone problem called adrenal insufficiency, for "bloodpurification," to increase urine flow, to prevent inflammation of the lungs, as a sedative, and to promote sweating. Borage is also used to increase breast milk production and to treat bronchitis and colds. Borage seed oil contains a fatty acid called gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) that seems to have anti-inflammatory effects. |