Black Currant Bud - Ribes nigrum

Blackcurrant extracts have demonstrated utility in quelling airway inflammation; reducing eosinophilic infiltration and their ability to perpetuate inflammation, in vitro. In a two year, placebo controlled study blackcurrant anthocyanin extract demonstrated the ability to significantly increase 24 hour ocular blood flow in open angle glaucoma patients. Traditionally, blackcurrant is viewed as an herb with actions reinforcing energy and longevity via anti-inflammatory, drainage, and anti-allergy mechanisms. 

When you think of adrenal support via a cortisone-like action, blackcurrant bud is the chief remedy. It pairs well with other phytotherapies that exert anti-histaminic and immune effects; rosemary, black alder, and sea buckthorn. Finally, blackcurrant bud provides urogenital support via anti-inflammatory support of mucosa.

On the mental-emotional and spiritual levels, blackcurrant bud defends the psyche from overwhelming negativity, allowing one to defend against attack.

Phytoembryonic plant medicine, similar to western botanical medicine, relies on the extraction of a variety of plant phytochemicals, nutrients, and energetics to exert therapeutic effects. The plant bud, composed mainly of meristem cells, is the most concentrated and vital part of the plant, since it houses all of a plant's developmental information. Meristem cells are undifferentiated embryological tissue capable of specializing function based on living conditions. Thus, meristem cells are the factory, motor, and blueprints for an immature plant, giving functional instructions to the embryonic tissue, and driving its growth to thrive in a specific environment.