Artemis Herbal Medicine - quality

Quality

In European herbal medicine as in any herbal tradition, the specific healing properties of medicinal plants are essential for a therapeutically successful recipe. But there are additional fundamental aspects that are intrinsic to the quality and potency of a herbal remedy; freshness, purity, concentration and consistency.

The 4 key points to quality:

• freshness
• purity
• concentration
• consistency

Fresh
For the compounding of creams and tinctures (oral drops) plant extracts are needed. Plant extracts from freshly harvested herbs have a more profound healing effect and ensure better therapeutic results than extracts made from dried herbs (Valerian and Passion flower are two of the very few exceptions to this rule). The experiences of traditional herbalists over centuries, and modern scientific studies have proven this.

Fresh herbs have a wider spectrum of active ingredients like enzymes, vitamins, essential oils and minerals and as a result work more efficiently and profoundly. By harvesting herbs in the right season and processing them immediately we capture the active constituents and vital essence of the plant. For this reason the ARTEMIS Fresh-plant Cream & Tincture range has optimal bioavailability and outstanding healing impact. They are effective already at a low dose and typically only require 1/5 of the dose of a dry plant tincture, making them very economical.

Pure
ARTEMIS takes care to use organically grown herbs - locally grown whenever possible - and our manufacturing processes are inspected and audited regularly by AsureQuality, New Zealand's official organic certification agency. Our entire herbal remedies range is strictly GE free. This ensures top quality herbs for optimal therapeutic impact and safeguards our environment.

ARTEMIS is proud to manufacture our remedies in the purest form possible. NO artificial colours, flavours or fillers are added to our Tea Therapies, Body Care Therapies or Health Tonics making these quality herbal products hypo-allergenic, safe and suitable for all age groups, including infants and children (check for individual product indications).

Potent
ARTEMIS Body Care Creams are the strongest herbal creams in New Zealand, providing professional quality for fast and long lasting relief. ARTEMIS is the only company in New Zealand that adds the maximum percentage of liquid herbal extract (30%) to creams, thus ensuring the swift easing of discomforts. The superior strength of ARTEMIS Body Care Creams which is up to 6x stronger than other creams on the market makes them popular for personal as well as for professional use in Physiotherapy, Osteopathy, Chiropractic, Massage Clinics, Sports Centres and Herbal Dispensaries, where reliable therapeutic results are expected and required. Try checking other herbal creams for their volume of tincture content - it's usually an amazingly tiny percentage - if it is declared at all!

Consistent
At ARTEMIS we use the holistic, traditional protocol of standardisation achieved by careful harvesting (e.g. right time of the day, the season) and processing according to well proven herbal manufacturing guidelines. In other words, we do not use chemically manipulated standardisation, so our remedies are a true reflection of how the plants grow in nature.

Consistent Quality

The holistic method of standardisation

This is the traditional method of herbal medicine to ensure consistent quality of remedies and the system practised by ARTEMIS. It is solidly based on centuries of clinical observations that herbs harvested from different habitats, at different times of the growing cycle and even at different times of the day show a different therapeutic effect. It was easy to optimise this method by experimentation and to set specific harvesting and processing rules. For those who want scientific proof, it should be mentioned that modern research has shown that the old laws about the right location and the right times to harvest a herb have a solid basis in plant chemistry. The traditional herbal Materia Medica specifies when a herb needs to be harvested for optimum therapeutic effectiveness. These centuries-old observations are reflected in the official modern pharmacopoeias of many countries.

We are proud to follow the traditional holistic method of preparing top quality herbal remedies. Let us give you an example and explain where, when and how we harvest St John's Wort for our ARTEMIS Health Teas, Fresh-plant Creams & Tinctures and for our very special ARTEMIS Nerve & Skin Rescue Oil.

Harvesting St John's Wort

The habitat where a plant naturally occurs in abundance and in good health reflects its preference of climate and soil type and its success in competition with other plants. For St John's Wort these conditions are ideally met in Central Otago, a sun-drenched area in the heart of New Zealand's South Island, where it was introduced by the early settlers from Britain and other parts of Europe. It is amazing to see that this herb with its connotation of encapsulating liquid sun grows best on sandy and stony ground where it soaks up sunshine directly, and absorbs the reflected and stored warmth of its chosen soil.

Concerning the time of harvest, the first and most important traditional rule is already indicated in the name of the herb. St John's Wort relates to St John the Baptist's anniversary day on the 24th of June, mid-summer Europe. This corresponds in the Southern Hemisphere to Christmas time, when this herb is in full bloom in New Zealand. Incidentally it is at this peak in its growing cycle that the phytochemical profile shows high levels of both hypericin and hyperforin, ensuring maximum therapeutic efficacy of the plant. It is fascinating how precisely the old herbalists knew when St John's Wort was at its best!

As well as these seasonal aspects the right time of the day and the moon cycle are contributing quality factors in obtaining plant material with highest levels of active constituents. The flower heads of St John's Wort are best gathered late morning until early afternoon as that is the time when the majority of plant juice is in the aerial parts. It is important to avoid the morning and evening dew, as plants with too much moisture are in danger of becoming mouldy and may be spoilt. The ancient herbal lore further maintained that the juices of the plant rise more with the increasing moon and flow more into the roots with the decreasing moon. Therefore aerial parts are best harvested between two days after new moon and two days before full moon.

For a good harvest the weather pattern also needs to be observed. If it has rained for extended periods it is important to wait for a few sunny days to allow the plant to rebuild good levels of essential oils. Luckily Christmas time is usually the most stable summer weather in Central Otago, ensuring a prolonged hot and dry period ideal for gathering high quality St John's Wort.

This holistic method of standardisation by observing tried and trusted harvesting rules combined with further gentle processing of the plant material ensures consistent high quality remedies that are second to none! We at ARTEMIS have a cheerful time in the unpolluted and beautiful environment of Central Otago sustainably wildcrafting this healing herb. In adherence to the old herbal protocols we always see that after picking our St John's Wort flower heads there is plenty left for its continued existence and plenty for the insects, too!

Glossary