Bot Med Test Questions

Make sure you know the different terms on the bot med terms list !

1) Shelf life of a plant is for how long ?

a. 2 years dry herb?
2) Concentrating plant constituents shelf life?
a. With ETOH makes an herb last for 5 to 10 years
3) What types of herbs are will have the most benefits?
a. Good herbs/herbs that have specific properties at specific times
i. Ex: milk oats are only during 1 week of their life span a year.
4) How should we give a medicine to a patient? What should we base that off of?
a. You base the medicine by the patient that is in front of you; off that persons constitution
5) What is the most important part of plants and plant extraction?
a. The quality of the plant is the MOST IMPORTANT!
b. The better the plant the better your medicine will be
6) What is the rate limiting step in Soil ?
a. Nitrogen
7) What is the rule of thumb about wildcrafting?
a. Do NOT take more than 10% of the population
b. Be mindful of roots as you’re taking the plants life line and killing that plant.
c. Harvesting the seeds, leaves and other parts of the plants are fine but leave the root only.
8) What are some examples of plants putting energy into their specific parts?
a. Getting leaves for example, you want to pick them when they start to have leaves, like in the spring,
later on in the summer they have flowers for seeds and for seeds fruits and roots in the fall. The plant
that is actively putting energy to these specific areas
9) When are flowers, leaves, roots, berries and barks best harvested?
a. Flowers are usually best harvested when the flowers are very new, barely open.
b. Leaves are best harvested before the plant flowers.
c. Roots are best harvested in the fall, or when the energy moves back down into the roots.
d. Berries are usually harvested when ripe.
e. Bark should be harvested when the sap isn’t running, but ideally from pruned branches or felled
branches from storm damage.
10) When drying a plant how and at what temperature should it be done at?
a. Should be done as FAST as possible without damaging the constituents.
b. Should not dry OVER 110 degrees
c. Don’t put in direct sunlight as that will start to burn off/degrade plant materials.
11) How should we store plants?
a. In air tight containers to minimize exposure to air.
b. Store away from direct light, moisture, heat and critters
12) What is the difference btwn TLC and HPLC?
a. Thin Layer Chromotography (TLC) – identifies plant
b.
c. High Pressure Liquid Chromotography (HPLC) – identifies plant and can measure quantity of specific
constituents.
d. active constituents vs. bio-markers
e. AC: the thing that is the most medicinal part of the plant. Specific plant parts that are considered to
be active in the plant.
 f. BM: might be the same as an AC, the are more to do the ID of the plant then the medicinal part of the
plant.
13) What is the most important thing that we can do to ensure that our tincture is right?
a. Check for the polarity of our herb and match it with our menstruum
b. Ex: non polar herbs need an oil emersion
c. Ex: polar herbs need water or ETOH
14) What do oils, resins and gums need for extraction?
a. A higher ETOH
15) What do water soluble, poly saccarides, sugars, bitters, minerals nee d for extraction?
a. Low ETOH and high WATER content
16) What do alkaloids need for extraction?
a. Middle of water and ETOH
b. Very common for tinctures
17) What is water considered?
a. Universal solvent
18) What is the difference with reverse osmosis, distilled and spring water?
a. Omosis lacks minerals, distilled has NO minerials and spring has lots of minerals.
19) What is the action of tannins?
a. Bitter and drying (astringent)
20) What is the purpose of plant extracts?
a. to concentrate them;
b. to make them more absorbable
c. to increase their shelf-life;
d. to make them more convenient;
e. to create standardized products.
21) What should we use to make a botanical medicine ?
a. Heat-tempered glass, stainless steel or ceramics
22) What is the oldest form for medicine and the shortest shelf life?
a. Simple plant medicine or simples
i. Its just water and the plant itself
23) What is the shelf life of a simple?
a. 2 to 3 days at most
24) Infusions are similar to what?
a. Teas
25) What parts of the plant do we use?
a. Tender parts
b. leaves, flowers, soft berries; also softer roots such as fresh ginger, and roots with high volatile oils, such
as valerian
26) Why would we use a cold infusion?
a. This is required when a desired constituent (e.g., mucilage, a very long-chain polysaccharide) would be
damaged by the hot water
27) If we grind up herbs what is the shelf life?
a. 1 year because we created more oxygen to damage the herbs
28) How long should we let a decoction simmer for?
a. 30 to 45 mins or sometimes 20 mins to an hour.
29) Know the difference:
 a. More volitle you want to infuse
b. Decocotion is fruit, seeds, barks and roots: harder to extract use this!
30) What is the marc to menstruum for a dry plant?
a. 1:5
31) Techinically a tincture is more dilute than a?
a. Extract
32) What is the standard marc to menstruum ratio?
a. 1:5 to 1:10 w/v
33) What are the ranges for hydroenthanolic extracts?
a. Ranges for hydroethanolic extractions:
b. Tincture: 1:6 – 1:10 w/v (a 1:10 extraction is a 10% solution.)
c. Extract: 1:2 – 1:5 w/v ( a 1:2 extraction is 50% solution)
d. Fluid extract: 1:1 w/v
34) With Hydro-ETOH extractions, there is a second ratio. The water to etoh makes up the total menstruum. The
ratio is always writien as what?
a. A percentage of the ETOH
35) Steps to follow for percolation
a. 1. Calculations to determine amount of plant material to weigh.
b. 2. Weigh and powder herb to approximately a #20 powder.
c. 3. Calculate and measure total menstruum.
d. 4. Dampen marc. Let stand for 1-2 hours.
e. 5. Prepare percolation cone by fixing paper filter in place.
f.
g. 6. Pack cone with dampened marc. Secure filter paper on level surface
h. of packed marc.
i. 7. Open valve in perc cone and slowly pour menstruum over marc
j. until marc is saturated and there is standing menstruum at the top
k. of the cone (above the packed marc). Once menstruum has made
l. its way to the bottom of the packed marc and begins to drip,
m. close valve (i.e., do not allow menstruum to drip through).
n. 8. Cover perc cone. Wrap in plastic to minimize evaporation.
o. Allow saturated marc in cone to macerate for 24-48 hours.
p.
q. 9. After maceration, slowly adjust valve so that menstruum drips
r. at a rate of approximately 1 drip every 3 seconds.
s.
t. 10. Continue to pour the unused portion of the menstruum into the
u. perc cone until all measured menstruum has been added.
v. Do not allow top of packed marc to become dry until the last
w. of the menstruum has been added.
x.
36) With fresh plants what do we have to take into account for?
a. The water content of the plants.
37) A Fresh hydroethanolic extraction is considered to be what?
a. A passive extraction
38) What happens to the water in the plant of a fresh extraction?
 a. It becomes part of the menstruum
39) Succus is preserved with how much ETOH?
a. 25%
40) A menstruum for an infused oil is called a what?
a. Fixed oil
41) What is the most preferred oil?
a. EVOO
42) What is the difference with Fixed and Essential oil?
a. Essentials oils are volatile oils, usually derived through steam distillation; they are an isolated
constituent of a plant. They are used in aromatherapy, not whole-plant medicine-making. A fixed oil is
a non-volatile lipid.
43) What is the term for a heated infused oil?
a. Digest
44) What is the most common preservative you can used for a fixed oil?
a. Vit E
45) In a salve what is the medical part?
a. The infused oil part
46) What is an excellent solvent for minerals?
a. Vinegar!
b. Specifically potassium
47) If a lable doesn’t indicate glycerin, what can we assume it is?
a. Petroleum and you shouldn’t eat this
48) How is veggie glycerin obtained?
a. Hydrolysis of plant oils
b. Oils are separated into glycerol and fatty acids
c. Has a sweet taste
49) Glycerin is a hydro…?
a. Hydrophilic
50) Glycerin is what type of solvent?
a. ETOH and Water in its usefulness as a solvent
51) Extracts made with glycerin and water are called what?
a. Glycerites or glycerates
b. Most useful in plants that extract well in water.
52) What percentage needs to be glycerin for the menstruum?
a. 70%
53) What is the shelf life of a glycerite?
a. ***Glycerites have a shelf-life of about 1 year usually; up to 3 years if kept refrigerated. So vegetable
glycerin is a fair preservative – certainly unlike alcohol, but better than water.
54) Why would you want to put glycerin in a hydroETOH extract?
a. Smoother tasting
b. To keep tannins from ppt
c. Pulls tannins into solutions
55) What is the most important thing with glycerin and tannins..
a. Tannins can bind with other constituents that we do want in solution, esp. alkaloids
b. Tannins can cause ppt with alkaloids.
56) What ingredient can cause bacteria to desecreat?
 a. Honey
57) What is another use for veg. glycerin ?
a. Displacement.
b. It displaces ETOH for glycerin
c. Have to evap the ETOH first!
d. With displacements, we make an extract using ethanol and water as menstruum, and then displace
most of the ethanol with glycerin, via evaporation, since glycerin evaporates at a higher temperature
than alcohol. This makes an “alcohol-free” or “low-alcohol” extract.
e.
f. This is a useful process when we need the “stronger” solvent strength of ethanol, but don’t want all that
ethanol in the final medicine.
58) What is an oxymel?
a. Oxymels are remedies made of some combination of vinegar, honey, and sometimes water.
b. . It’s a traditional remedy for cough, sore throat, expectoration, and is made extemporaneously,
although it can keep in the refrigerator for several weeks
59) When ingesting a capsule what is considered to be the menstruum?
a. Our stomach acids
60) What is the most common capsule size?
a. 00 (or double ott)
61) What is the strength of a double ott?
a. 400 to 500mg
62) What is a pastilles?
a. they’re basically a syrup that has been cooked to the “hardball” stage, which then cools to a hard
consistency; think “cough drop.”
63) How do most syrups begin?
a. As a decoction
b. The menstruum is water
64) How long is the bare minimum for decoction?
a. 1 what
65) What is a simple syrup?
a. A “simple syrup” is water that holds enough sucrose (table sugar) to almost fully saturate the water.
Near the saturation point, microorganisms can’t survive. Depriving microorganisms of sufficient
water is the same thing we do when we dry the herbs for preservation. Making medicinal syrups with
simple syrup was a common and practical way to preserve herbal medicines before refrigeration was
common.
b. Nowadays, the sugar is strictly to help with compliance, so we don’t need to add sugar to the
saturation level; nor does the sweetener need to be sucrose (it can be honey, vegetable glycerin,
agave syrup, etc
66) How longs does a syrup last ?
a. F for one year if refrigerated
67) What is the standard dosage for a syrup ?
a. 1tsp to 1 tbsp
68) What is the measurement for a simple syrup ?
a. 85 g of sugar to 47ml of what
b. Usually want to do 100 ml : 180g for avoiding bacterial growth
69) A solid extract as what inverse relationship?
 a. Marc to menstruum
70) What is a solid extract?
a. Solid extracts are made by first making a hydroethanolic extraction of a plant. Then the extraction is
reduced, through evaporation, to a solid. Honey and/or vegetable glycerin are added to the solid to
bring it to a very thick but liquid consistency.
b.
c. Solid extracts usually have a marc: menstruum ratio of 2:1 or 4:1
d. In other words, for every 1mL of the extract, 2g of plant is represented.
e. (as opposed to a 1:2 ratio, where, for every 1mL of exract, 500mg of plant is represented)
71) See week 7 notes for more!

Terms List for the week:

Organoleptic Assessment: like a sense organ, eval your plant material with your senses: taste, touch,

look, feel, etc. etc. ALWAYS start with good plant material!

Organoleptic - a sensory impression, using sense organs to assess identity and quality of herbs and their

extr act ions; it is a dying art.

Organic Cultivation: – compost, chickens, crop rotation, green manures, etc. Healthy soil will grow healthy plants,
and, like a healthy body, the plants will be far less susceptible to problems.

Organic Cultivation - awareness of purchasing botanicals from farmed areas is becoming paramount as we

see medicinally active botanicals becoming endangered from over-harvesting. Medicine plants cultivated for

preparations should be fanned organically.

Wildcrafting –

Someone went to where these things grow and picked them. Have to ID the herb, have to pick the at

the right time.

Wildcrafting - signifying that the plants have grown wild in nature without human intervention and has

been consciously harvested with full regard for the plant communities and care for ecological balance „

wildcrafting practices are placing a great burden on a growing number of wild plant populations however,

pursued with intelligence and understanding, wildcrafting is an herbal art and craft of harvest pruning.

Gatrbling: pick out only the good things of the plant and leaving the bad parts of the plant.

Garble, garbling - to seperate out usable parts of the herb by removing all impurities and adulterants

marc: plant material;

Marc - the insoluble residue remaining after extracting the soluble components of an

menstruum: solvent;

Menstruum - the solvent used to produce solution in making extracts (tinctures);

Tincture - herbal extraction usually using alcohol and water as solvents, the herb is macerated (soaked) in

specific ratio (ETOH to H20) for specific time (at least two weeks), then herbs are separated out. this term

is interchangeable with "Extract" in commerce.

Decoction - aqueous extracts of time and heat to obtain mineral salts and bitter constituents tenaciously held

in plant parts that are dense like bark and roots.

Infusion - Aqueous extract of labile constituents like vitamins, enzymes, mucilage, and volatiles from soft,

non-woody plant parts, herbs are steeped or soaked in hot or cold water.

Wanting a specific concentration, amount, size, yield, and reproducibility. Medicine making is more like baking then
cooking.