OrganiServe

The Balance (or Imbalance) of Nature

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 21:48:41 +0000

Bust of Herodotus (484-426BCE)

A fitting introduction to this controversial topic must, methinks, begin with Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian (c. 484 BC – c. 425 BC). He is known as the “Father of History”, because he was the first to (1) use systematic collection methods, (2) test premises for accuracy, and (3) construct historical expositions in an ordered, vivid, imminently readable format.

Herodotus was a prolific writer. He authored, among others, The Histories, in which he described a personal inquiry into the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars.

Besides writing of otherwise dry historical facts in an entertaining style, he was also subject to wide digressions into practically every subject under the sun. His focus was on warfare, and he constantly questioned why men fought one another with such apparent gusto. In his inquiries of this kind, he used metaphor and analogy whenever possible, seeking answers from his observations of the natural world of animals and plants.

As he sought answers to questions about human nature, he did not shrink from speculating afield about the natural world about him. It comes as no surprise that at one point he described the relationship between predator organisms and their prey.

Keep in mind that it fit neatly into his broader focus on human warfare to see animal warfare through an anthropological mirror. In speculations on the curious observation that predators and prey seemed to achieve a stasis within the environment they shared, he wrote that predators wisely avoided preying on their food sources to excess, as that would reduce the levels of the latter below those needed for the former to survive. Thus he envisioned a natural world in which predators and prey were present in a mutually beneficial balance.

Never mind that in the natural world such static balances almost never occur. The concept of a balanced natural state, one in fact that is best left alone and not “tinkered with” by man, carries with it an inherent appeal. In fact, I find that appeal almost overwhelming, as did many of the best minds in science during the 20th century. The mantra “Don’t Mess With Mother Nature”, tied as it is to the threat that to do so is to court disaster, is based on this concept.

We know better, of course, at least we do if we understand the Red Queen Principle of Selective Adaptation. My views about this counter-intuitive principle are discussed on the page linked to in the foregoing sentence.

Unfortunately, however, the implications of the Red Queen Principle are not well understood, even by those who embrace it. As a result, much of what is classiified as pseudoscience has knelt at the altar of the Balance of Nature. Simultaneously, at least since the mid-1970’s, many ecologists have found solace in the belief that chaos, not equilibrium, is the hallmark of the natural–even the unnatural–world.

Serious controversy revolves around the proper ways one can relate either of these polar opposites to legitimate scientific endeavors, without crossing the line into junk science. While we cannot blame Herodotus for the way his concept has been misused, we must make a strenuous effort not to fall into that pit.

I am presently conducting further studies, with the goal of insuring that I deal with this issue here in accord with scientific fact. Please bear with me as I consult with the best authorities in academia in that regard.

More to come…

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Unless otherwise specified, the photos and textual content presented in this post were obtained, assembled, written and edited by Jerry Cates, EntomoBiotics Inc. Questions? Corrections? Comments? BUG ME RIGHT NOW! Contact Jerry via telephone at 512-331-1111 or via E-mail at jerry.cates@entomobiotics.com. Please also consider registering, logging in, and leaving a detailed comment in the space provided below.

Each post on this website is a moderated blog; We encourage comments. Please consider leaving a detailed, but pertinent, comment on pages that you find interesting. Questions left as pertinent blog comments are answered quickly, not only in the blog commentary itself, but via a personal email to the comment provider.

NOTICE: All comments are moderated for content before being posted. SPAM comments, impertinent comments, commentary without direct reference to the content of the blog, or that includes expletives, spurious language or vocabulary, and/or links to non-related sites, are summarily deleted, absit invidia. Contributors are advised that this website is intended for all age groups.

Insect & Spider Monitoring

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:40:32 +0000

Low-Profile Insect/Spider Monitor

To determine how balanced the ecosystem inside your home is, you can monitor that area for the presence of insects and spiders.

By determining what kinds of spiders and insects are living inside your home–and especially by finding out whether any of them are harmful (like brown recluse spiders), you can tell a lot about the balance of nature, not only within your home but also in your home’s surroundings.

This is true because the insect and spider mix inhabiting your yard affects the mix of such organisms inside your home. There are several good reasons for this:

1. Every time your lawn is mowed, some of the organisms living outside will be forced inside, as they seek to escape from the sounds and other disturbances caused by the lawn-mower.

2. Whenever a door or window is opened, the organisms occupying the voids around the door or window frame have an opportunity to come inside. Unless you are unusually observant, you won’t even notice when they come in, especially after dark.

3. Whenever the weather changes, either from hot to cold, cold to hot, wet to dry, dry to wet, or from calm to windy, the same thing happens.And these organisms don’t have to use open doors and windows, either. If your home has a masonry exterior, the weep-holes at the base of your brick or rock walls act like tiny doorways for them. Wood and composite siding has even more spider and insect “doorways”, at their lower edges, and at seams and trimmed joints.

By the way, please don’t run out and caulk or stuff something into all those little “doorways.” Healthy homes are never tightly sealed against spiders and insects. We tried that in the 1970’s, and learned our lessons the hard way: Such seals lead to unhealthy mold and mildew problems that not only affect your well-being, but that of your home as well.

So, how balanced is your home’s ecosystem? That’s a good question. It happens that there’s a good way to find out: Monitor your home’s interior to see what kinds of organisms live there with you. The sticky glue-board monitor shown above is one way to do that.

This monitor, which is made in the U.S.A. by Atlantic Paste & Glue Co., Inc., is used by professional pest managers all over the world to monitor for the presence of pests. Some actually use this as a sticky trap to capture insects and spiders, in hopes of reducing their numbers. We recommend that you use these monitors to get a picture of the kinds of insects and spiders that are inside your home, garage, attic, sheds, etc.

The monitor can be erected several different ways. Our favorite, shown in the photos, provides a low profile that insects and spiders seem to prefer. The low profile also simplifies shipping the used monitors to us for analysis.

It has voids where creepy-crawlies can hide, and that entices them inside. Once there, they become mired in the monitor’s sticky glue, so they cannot come back out. When monitors like this are placed on the floor (and in other places where you have seen bugs or spiders in the past) and left there for a period of time, they become a living record of the insect and spider activity in that area. Later, the monitor can be examined to determine what kinds of spiders and insects you are living with.

If you are well-versed in identifying spiders and insects, you can carry out your own analysis. Alternatively, someone who is trained in that work can do it for you.

We provide a set of twelve low-profile insect and spider monitors that you can place around any place you want to keep track of insects and spiders. After leaving them out for a period of time, you will notice that bugs and spiders have gotten into them. That’s when you mail back to us for a free, expert analysis. Shipping to your location is free, too. You only pay the postage needed to ship the use monitors back to us.

Once we receive your used monitors, Jerry–who has 30 years of experience in the field–will study the bugs and spiders they contain under a microscope, to identify them to genus and, if possible, to species. When that is done, he will e-mail a full report to you, at no additional cost. Jerry tries to get those reports out within 7 days after the used monitors are received at our lab. During periods of high volume the delay between receipt of the monitors and issuance of an analysis report can take up to two weeks.

Everything you need–including a self-addressed box for mailing the monitors back to us–is included. You pay only to ship the used monitors to us.

Pricing:

12 Low-Profile Monitors: $ 24.95 each, plus applicable sales tax.

Shipping and handling is FREE for all orders placed in the continental U.S.

Sorry, but we do not not sell or ship to non-USA locations.

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Unless otherwise specified, the photos and textual content presented in this post was assembled, written and edited by Jerry Cates, EntomoBiotics Inc. Questions? Corrections? Comments? WANT TO BUY THIS PRODUCT? BUG ME RIGHT NOW! Contact Jerry via telephone at 512-331-1111 or via E-mail at jerry.cates@entomobiotics.com. Please also consider registering, logging in, and leaving a detailed comment in the space provided below.

OrganiScent™ Essential Plant Oil Blend

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 00:30:35 +0000

OrganiScent™ Essential Plant Oil Blend, in 7 oz. Bottle

OrganiScent™ Essential Plant Oil Blend is available in individual 7 ounce bottles and and in four-packs (28 ounces total). OrganiScent™ Essential Plant Oil blend contains Cedar, Rosemary, Cinnamon Leaf, Corn Mint, and Eucalyptus Lemon essential plant oils in a base of Jojoba Oil, Phenethyl Propionate, and food-safe White Mineral Oil.

This formula has a natural, clean fragrance, with odor neutralizing and habitat modifying qualities that, when used sparingly, makes it suitable for use on skin and clothing, and for applications to dog and cat fur, as a fragrance enhancer, habitat modifier, and odor neutralizer.

The essential plant oils in this formula have been used for centuries as habitat modifiers and odor neutralizers.

Sensible Precautions: COMBUSTIBLE—KEEP AWAY FROM OPEN FLAMES; NOT FOR INTERNAL USE—AVOID CONTACT WITH EYES; PLANT HAZARD—DO NOT APPLY TO LIVE PLANTS; ALWAYS TEST BEFORE USING ON PLASTIC OBJECTS; SLIPPERY IF APPLIED TO HARD FLOOR SURFACES; KEEP OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN.

Pricing:

Bulk wholesale quantities: Call us at (512) 331-111 for pricing information.

Individual 7 ounce bottles: $ 14.95 each, plus applicable sales tax.

One Four-Pack (28 ounces): $ 39.95 each, plus applicable sales tax.

Shipping and handling is FREE for all orders placed in the continental U.S.

Sorry, but we do not not sell or ship to non-USA locations.

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OrganiMulch™ 5128 Granular Habitat Modifier and Macro-Cleanser

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 23:50:54 +0000

OrganiMulch™ 5128 Granular Habitat Modifier, in 5 gallon box

OrganiMulch™ 5128 Granular Habitat Modifier, Close up view of Granules

OrganiMulch™ 5128 Granular Habitat Modifier and Macro-Cleanser is available in 5 gallon and 1 gallon boxes. OrganiMulch™ formula 5128 contains a blend of Cedar, Rosemary, Cinnamon Leaf, Corn Mint, Eucalyptus Citriodora, and d-Limonene essential plant oils, with Jojoba Oil, Phenethyl Propionate, and food-safe White Mineral Oil, in a base of Cedarwood Meal and Corncob Grit.

This formula has excellent mulching qualities that makes it suitable for mulching yards and landscaping, broadcasting throughout yards, patio areas, around pools, cooking and dining areas, and applying as an odor neutralizer inside homes, closets, garages, sheds, and similar structures.

OrganiMulch™ 5128 Granular Habitat Modifier can be used as an important adjunct to mechanical habitat modification techniques at homes and businesses. Each granule macro-cleans the tiny spot that it touches after it is applied, dissolving and neutralizing grime and producing a natural, pleasant fragrance. The essential plant oils in this formula have been used for centuries as habitat modifiers and odor neutralizers for centuries.

Sensible Precautions: COMBUSTIBLE—KEEP AWAY FROM OPEN FLAMES; FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY—KEEP OUT OF EYES; PLANT HAZARD—KEEP CONTAINER TIGHTLY CLOSED WHEN NOT IN USE; STORE IN A COOL, DRY PLACE; KEEP OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN.

Pricing:

For bulk quantities: Call us at (512) 331-111 for pricing information.

5 gallon Box: $ 59.95 each, plus applicable sales tax

1 gallon box: $ 19.95 each, plus applicable sales tax.

Shipping and handling is FREE for all orders placed in the continental U.S.

Sorry, but we do not not sell or ship to non-USA locations.

NOTE: Customers who buy this product also buy OrganiWash™ 5129 Natural Plant Oil Habitat Modifier.

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OrganiWash™ 5129: Natural Plant Oil Cleanser

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:17:50 +0000

OrganiWash™ 5129 Natural Plant Oil Habitat Modifier

OrganiWash™ 5129 Natural Plant Oil Cleanser is available in 5 gallon pails and 32 ounce bottles. OrganiWash™ formula 5129 contains a blend of Cedar, Rosemary, Cinnamon Leaf, Corn Mint, Eucalyptus Citriodora, and d-Limonene essential plant oils in a base of Jojoba Oil, Phenethyl Propionate, and food-safe White Mineral Oil.

This formula has excellent cleansing qualities that makes it suitable for removing dirt, grime, grease and oils, insect and spider feces and webbing–including egg sacs and similar organic debris–from wood, metal, epoxy and most other plastic surfaces (but see the sensible precautions listed below).

OrganiWash™ 5129 Natural Plant Oil Cleanser can be used as an important cleansing adjunct to mechanical habitat modification techniques at homes and businesses. The pleasant-smelling essential plant oils in this formula have been used for centuries as habitat modifiers and odor neutralizers.

For general information on how this product can be used around homes and businesses, see the discussions in the linked postings, below, on how its cleansing action helps housekeepers clean up insect and spider feces, and the annoying spider webs produced by, for example, the common house spider and the black widow spider, while also washing away the annoying and disgusting odors produced by rodents and other organisms.

Sensible Precautions: COMBUSTIBLE—KEEP AWAY FROM OPEN FLAMES; NOT FOR INTERNAL USE OR FOR DIRECT APPLICATION TO SKIN—KEEP AWAY FROM EYES; PLANT HAZARD—DO NOT APPLY TO LIVE PLANTS; ALWAYS TEST BEFORE USING ON PLASTIC OBJECTS; SLIPPERY IF APPLIED TO HARD FLOOR SURFACES; KEEP OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN.

Pricing:

5 gallon pails: Call us at (512) 331-111 for pricing information.

32 ounce bottles: $ 19.95 each, plus applicable sales tax.

Shipping and handling is FREE for all orders placed in the continental U.S.

Sorry, but we do not not sell or ship to non-USA locations.

NOTE: Customers who buy this product also buy OrganiMulch™ 5128 Granular Habitat Modifier

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Definition: What is a Pesticide?

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:06:02 +0000

pes·ti·cide: Function: noun Inflected Form(s): -s Etymology: pest + -i- + -cide: an agent (as a chemical) used to destroy a pest : ECONOMIC POISON Source: Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (3 Aug. 2010).

Webster’s definition seems, on the surface, quite satisfactory. A pesticide is an agent–such as, for example, a chemical–that is used to destroy pests. Fine. But that expression “as a chemical” should perk up our ears a little. What is the definition of a chemical, in the first place? And what, besides those kinds of pesticides, are also considered pesticides as well? Let us now go to the fount of knowledge on this subject, namely the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).It is the responsibility of this agency to define terms such as this in sufficient detail that anyone who formulates, packages, distributes, applies, or uses anything that might be a pesticide will know if the definition truly applies to them or not.

According to the EPA, the term “pesticide” applies to any substance or mixture of substances intended for (1) preventing, (2) destroying, (3) repelling, or (4) mitigating any pest. The EPA also points out that though the term pesticide is often misunderstood to refer only to insecticides, it applies to herbicides, fungicides, and various other substances used to control pests as well. Furthermore, under United States law, the term pesticide also refers to any substance or mixture of substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant.

Read through the EPA definition carefully. Notice, as you do, that some of the terms used in that definition are rather broad. Anything that is intended, that is, purposely used, to prevent pests, for example, fits the definition of “pesticide,” but what exactly does that mean? Anything that is intended to destroy pests is included, too; such things seem rather straight-forward, and is the definition we are most familiar with, but it, too, can include unexpected chemicals, materials, processes, and procedures. Anything intended to be used as pest repellents are pesticides, too, and it is important to recognize that if a material is intended to be used to repel pests of any kind, that material meets the definition of a pesticide and therefore falls under the regulatory scrutiny of the EPA and other agencies, federal, state, or local, that are charged with insuring that pesticides are used safely and properly. But, anything that “mitigates” pests?

mit·i·gate Function: transitive verb Inflected Form(s): -ed/-ing/-s Etymology: Middle English mitigaten, from Latin mitigatus, past participle of mitigare to soften, mitigate, from mitis soft, mild + agere to drive; akin to Old Irish mith soft, mn smooth, gentle, Sanskrit mayas enjoyment, pleasure, Lithuanian mielas, mylas dear — more at AGENT. 1 : to cause (as a person) to become more gentle or less hostile. MOLLIFY. 2 : to make less severe, violent, cruel, intense, painful : SOFTEN, ALLEVIATE mitigate the horrors to which condemned criminals were subjected — Science> mitigated — K.S.Davis> : TEMPER mitigates the cold — C.W.DeKiewiet> : LESSEN mitigated to 10 days — Naval Orientation> mitigate these differences in students — General Education in a Free Society> <mitigate the sincerity of what I said — Mary Austin> synonym see RELIEVE. Source: Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (3 Aug. 2010).

Now, that’s about as broad as you can get. The lesson to be learned here seems to be that–as viewed by the EPA–practically anything that is intended to be used, in any way, to target pests, in any way, falls under the definition of “pesticide” and is, therefore, subject to its regulatory authority. Still, although that statement is essentially correct, it happens that the EPA has chosen to exempt certain substances from regulation and registration under its authority.

For example, drugs used to control diseases of humans or animals (such as livestock and pets) are not considered pesticides; such drugs are still regulated, but not by the EPA. Instead, they are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

Furthermore, fertilizers, nutrients, and other substances used to promote plant survival and health are not considered plant growth regulators and, on that basis alone, are no classified as pesticides.

Also, biological control agents, except for certain microorganisms, are exempted from regulation by EPA. (Biological control agents include beneficial predators such as birds or ladybugs that eat insect pests.)

Perhaps most importantly, products which contain certain low-risk ingredients, such as garlic and mint oil, have been exempted from Federal registration requirements, although State regulatory requirements may still apply. A list of ingredients which may be exempt, and a discussion of allowable label claims for such products, is provided in EPA’s Pesticide Registration Notice 2000-6, “Minimum Risk Pesticides Exempted under FIFRA (the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act) Section 25(b)”

So, what are these minimum risk pesticides? The following list includes the active ingredients which, according to the EPA, may be in minimum risk pesticide products that are exempted under section 25(b) of FIFRA:

1. Castor Oil (U.S.P. or equivalent)

2. Cedar Oil

3. Cinnamon* and Cinnamon Oil *

4. Citric Acid*

5. Citronella and Citronella Oil

6. Cloves* and Clove Oil*

7. Corn Gluten Meal*

8. Corn Oil*

9. Cottonseed Oil*

10. Dried Blood

11. Eugenol

12. Garlic* and Garlic Oil*

13. Geraniol

14. Geranium Oil

15. Lauryl Sulfate

16. Lemon grass Oil*

17. Linseed Oil

18. Malic Acid*

19. Mint* and Mint Oil*

20. Peppermint* and Peppermint Oil*

21. 2-Phenethyl Propionate (2-phenylethyl propionate)

22. Potassium Sorbate

23. Putrescent Whole Egg Solids (See 180.1071)

24. Rosemary * and Rosemary Oil*

25. Sesame* (includes ground Sesame plant stalks) (See 180.1087) and Sesame Oil*

26. Sodium Chloride (common salt)*

27. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

28. Soybean Oil

29. Thyme* and Thyme Oil*

30. White Pepper*

31. Zinc Metal Strips (consisting solely of zinc metal and impurities)

* These active ingredients are exempt for use on all food commodities from the requirement of a tolerance on all raw agricultural commodities at 40 CFR 180.1164(d).

Almost all of these 31 ingredients are natural materials, and most are essential plant oils, derived from herbs or spices of one kind or another. Dried blood (item 10 in the list), and putrescent whole egg solids (item 23) are obvious exceptions that are derived from animal-based sources. Sodium chloride (item 26) and zinc metal strips (item 31) are obvious exceptions that are derived from minerals and metals. Others, including 2-Phenethyl-propionate (item 21) are possible to produce synthetically, though the synthetic form is essentially identical to that found in nature.

It is important to note that, although the items are listed as exempt from EPA regulation under FIFRA 25(b), they may still be subject to state and local regulation and registration. Even though a product, intended to be used as a pesticide, is formulated entirely with materials on this list, the formulator may still have to register that product in the state or local area where it is intended to be sold and used. Furthermore, as long as the formulation is intended to be used as a pesticide, under any of the definitions described above, the label used for that formulation must meet a strict standard prescribed by the EPA. Failure to follow the guidelines established by EPA in this regard can lead to fines and other penalties.

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OrganiServe™ is a Division of EntomoBiotics Inc., 8411 Columbia Falls, Round Rock, Texas 78681.

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Unless otherwise specified (our thanks to the various sources linked to in the above text for the excerpts posted here; though those excerpts were modified somewhat, and supplied with our interpretation of their content, to fit the subject matter of this post) the materials presented in this post were produced by Jerry Cates, EntomoBiotics Inc., who is fully responsible for its content. Questions? Corrections? Comments? BUG ME RIGHT NOW! Contact Jerry via telephone at 512-331-1111 or via E-mail at jerry.cates@entomobiotics.com. Please also consider leaving a detailed comment in the space provided below.

Each post on this website is a moderated blog; please consider leaving a detailed, but pertinent, comment on pages that you find interesting. Questions left as pertinent blog comments are answered quickly, not only in the blog commentary itself, but via a personal email to the comment provider. Note that our blogs are moderated for content before being posted. Impertinent comments, commentary that is laudatory without direct reference to the content of the blog, or that includes expletives and/or links to non-related sites, are summarily deleted, absit invidia. Contributors are advised that this website is intended for all age groups.

Definition: What is a Pest?

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 21:38:58 +0000

Pest: Function: noun Inflected Form(s): -s Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle French peste, from Latin pestis 1 : an epidemic disease associated with high mortality; specifically : PLAGUE 2 : something resembling a pest especially in destructiveness or noxiousness; especially : a plant or animal detrimental to man or to his interests. 3 : one that pesters or annoys: NUISANCE pests of society, mercenary informers — Edmund Burke> Source: Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (3 Aug. 2010).

The term “pest” covers a wide range of subject matter. Here, we are chiefly interested in Webster’s second and third definitions, i.e., one that pesters or annoys, or one that resembles such. Definition 2 would not be needed except that, in point of fact, our perception of what, exactly, is doing the pestering, and how serious that pestering is, often becomes so complicated that we miss the point and pronounce as pests those animals amongst us that are–in truth–our greatest benefactors. In other words, we pronounce as pests those things that resemble pests when, in fact, most of the latter are truly beneficial. Rat snakes do much more good than harm, but most of us, besides preferring never to see one, would take a hoe to one this instant should it show up in our back yard. Tachinid flies, because they resemble houseflies so perfectly (except for their speedy flights) are loathed along with them, except by those who know how good they are at keeping the most noxious caterpillars known to man under control.

Back to the subject at hand: According to one of the more accepted definitions, a pest is anything

(1) that causes injury to humans; our livestock, poultry, or pets; or our crops, structures, or possessions;

(2) that enters into competition with humans, our domestic animals, or our crops for limited food, feed, or water resources;

(3) or that serves to spread disease to humans, our domestic animals, our crops, structures, or food.

To be specific, according to this same definition, pests can be categorized into four main groupings:

(1) Insects and similar animals, including insects that feed on, cause injury to, or transmit diseases to humans, animals, plants, food, fiber, and structures. Examples are flies, mosquitoes, fleas, termites, aphids, wasps, and beetles, but also can include–under “similar animals”–spiders, millipedes, centipedes, sowbugs, and the like;

(2) live plants or processed plant product (such as structural wood) diseases, specifically harmful conditions that alter a plant’s growth, appearance, or function, including bacteria, fungi, viruses, and nematodes;

(3) weeds (by definition, any live plant that is creating problems due to its behavior and placement) cause harm by spreading contact dermatitis or other annoying conditions such as poison ivy; producing respiratory discomfort via pollen and kindred allergies; competing with non-pest plants for limited resources of food, water, and sunlight; contaminating harvested seeds and grains; harboring, attracting, and nurturing pest insects, mites, vertebrates, or plant diseases; poisoning grazing animals; producing unwanted changes in the palatability of milk and meat; hindering fish growth and development; increasing mosquito breeding and infestations; hindering boating, fishing and swimming activities; clogging irrigation ditches, drainage ditches, and channels; creating transportation hazards by blocking vision, road signs, and crossroads; and by increasing road maintenance costs by damaging roadways with root infiltrations and so on.

(4) vertebrates of all kinds, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. When they damage crops or ornamentals, eat or contaminate our foods, prey on our livestock and poultry, soil our buildings, spread disease, damage our possessions and structures, or produce noxious smells or noises, they become serious pests.

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OrganiServe™ is a Division of EntomoBiotics Inc., 8411 Columbia Falls, Round Rock, Texas 78681.

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Unless otherwise specified (our thanks to http://www.extension.org/pages/What_is_a_Pest for the excerpts posted here; though those excerpts were modified somewhat to fit the subject matter of this post, they provide the basic framework for the text that is displayed) the materials presented in this post were produced by Jerry Cates, EntomoBiotics Inc., who is fully responsible for its content. Questions? Corrections? Comments? BUG ME RIGHT NOW! Contact Jerry via telephone at 512-331-1111 or via E-mail at jerry.cates@entomobiotics.com. Please also consider leaving a detailed comment in the space provided below.

PestAvoidance™

admin — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:01:24 +0000

PestAvoidance™ is an advanced technique for avoiding environmental pests of every kind. It obeys, at its heart, a fundamental medical precept of Hippocrates (ca. 460 BC-ca. 370 BC), expressed in the Hippocratic oath as a promise: ἐπὶ δηλήσει δὲ καὶ ἀδικίῃ εἴρξειν, “to abstain from doing harm”, and later, in the physician’s code of Thomas Sydenham (1624-1689), as a dictum: Primum non nocere, “First, do no harm“.

PestAvoidance™ uses habitat modification, based chiefly on mechanical processes. It specifically excludes the use of pesticides of any kind, to produce an environment that does not nurture or attract pests. As such, it distinguishes itself as quite apart from the practices carried out by most of today’s licensed dispensers and applicators of pesticides. PestAvoidance™ never intentionally kills, repels, prevents, mitigates, or manages pests. Instead it simply avoids them in the first place by creating, from the perspective of prospective pests, a non-nurturing, non-attractive environment that they have no reason to enter, linger or nest within, or infest. And it focuses on enabling home and business owners to carry out every facet of their particular PestAvoidance™ project on their own.

How many times have you heard (or said) these words: “If you want the job done right, you probably need to do it yourself.” There are, of course, important exceptions to that rule. Even experienced surgeons should not perform major surgery on themselves, and lawyers who try to represent themselves generally do, indeed, have a fool for a client. It would be just as true for the subject of this article, except for one thing: PestAvoidance™ doesn’t involve using toxic sprays or pesticides of any kind to kill, repel, prevent or sterilize pests.

Only someone personally interested in the outcome can be trusted to do certain things right. PestAvoidance™ is like that. The home or business owner has the most to gain, and is most familiar with conditions at their site. Furthermore, the owner also has the authority and motivation to make decisions affecting the nature and manner of any site modifications that need to be done. Thus they are–in many if not most cases–the best people around to carry out, or at least directly supervise, the work that a good PestAvoidance™ program requires.

Although PestAvoidance™ may appear quite novel, it is not at all new. It is based on natural methods and substances developed and honed by the forces of selective adaptation. Over the thousands, millions, even hundreds of millions of years that have passed since life first emerged on earth, living plants and animals have been forced to adapt in order to survive. Suboptimal conditions dictated that habitats be dimensionally reconstructed, and most of the time that was, by itself, sufficient.

DID YOU KNOW THIS?

Left untouched by human intervention or unusual calamities, most natural ecosystems manage, through the adaptive stratagems just described, to achieve a more-or-less static balance between pests and beneficial organisms. Pest organisms tend to constitute less than 1% of the organisms found in such ecosystems. The remaining organisms are either neutral (also usually less than 1%) or beneficial (over 98%). Beneficial organisms are so-called because they tend to keep pest populations under control. In fact, they are so effective that, within such balanced ecosystems, it is common to find small, natural oases where beneficials reign supreme and pests are practically non-existent.

How balanced is your eco-system? Find out by monitoring the kinds of organisms that are crawling around inside your home. Find out how.

When, within certain locales in such a balanced ecosystem, conditions exist that are devoid of pest nurturants and attractants, those limited locales will not be troubled by pests at all. This is because (1) pests are only present in low populations throughout the ecosystem, and (2) the remaining areas of the ecosystem are sufficiently nurturing and attracting to keep them satisfied to remain there, but not so nurturing that they enable pest populations to explode, out of control.

TWO PRECONDITIONS:

Note that two specific conditions must exist for PestAvoidance™ to take place: first, the ecosyhstem must be naturally balanced, so that it has a low percentage of pests throughout (usually less than 1%), and second, the target PestAvoidance™ zone must be devoid of pest nurturants and attractants. Nothing else is needed. No pesticides, repellents, pest preventers, pest mitigants, pest growth regulators, or anything else.

Contrariwise, when poisons are used to kill or repel pests within a previously balanced ecosystem, they destroy or repel about 98 times as many beneficials. Since nearly all of today’s pesticides are broad-band, indiscriminate poisons, introducing them into such an ecosystem initiates a vicious cycle, such as we see in the unbalanced ecosystems of our own making today. That ruinous cycle requires constant pesticide applications to repeatedly wipe out an ever-rebounding endemic pest population. In such dysfunctional ecosystems, the natural balance is reversed, to the point that pests tend to outnumber beneficials by a wide margin.

That’s why PestAvoidance™ methods avoid the use of poisons and pesticides. Rather than requiring that we kill, prevent, mitigate, or repel pests, they simply create conditions under which pests become naturally habituated elsewhere. Thus, they are not found in the PestAvoidance™ zone. The process is mediated entirely by the use of mechanical, non-lethal, non-toxic approaches and substances, and ultimately creates relatively large oases that are–for all intents and purposes–devoid of pests, much like the small oases found in nature’s balanced ecosystems but more expansive.

BENEFITS OF A NATURALLY BALANCED ECOSYSTEM

It takes but a little reflection to realize that, in a naturally balanced ecosystem, it is much easier to establish, and maintain, such oases. Even in a dysfunctional, unbalanced ecosystem, things can be turned around and pointed in the right direction by simply using natural, non-toxic habitat modification techniques and substances throughout. Gradually, but inexorably, a desirable balance will eventually be achieved. Then, because the habitat-modified ecosystem neither nurtures nor attracts pest organisms, they do not forage, nest, or even linger there. That, in a nutshell, is what PestAvoidance™ is all about.

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OrganiServe™ is a Division of EntomoBiotics Inc., 8411 Columbia Falls, Round Rock, Texas 78681.

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Unless otherwise specified, the materials presented in this post were produced by Jerry Cates, EntomoBiotics Inc., who is fully responsible for its content. Questions? Corrections? Comments? BUG ME RIGHT NOW! Contact Jerry via telephone at 512-331-1111 or via E-mail at jerry.cates@entomobiotics.com. Please also consider leaving a detailed comment in the space provided below.

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum)

admin — Sat, 22 May 2010 23:51:21 +0000

Cinnamomum verum, as illustrated by Franz Eugen Köhler, in his Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen und kurz erläuterndem Texte, published in 1887

The cinnamon plant (Cinnamomum verum) is a diminutive evergreen tree in the Laurel (Lauraceae) family. This family contains some 55 genera and upwards of 4,000 species.

These are distributed throughout the world, but are particularly suited to the warm, tropical locales of southern India, Southeast Asia, and Brazil. Most members of the Lauraceae are evergreens, but some, including the north American Sassafras, are deciduous.

It is characteristic of nearly all the species comprising the Lauraceae that their bark, roots, flowers, and leaves tend to contain abundant quantities of aromatic, essential plant oils.

In the case of the “true” cinnamon plant, a native of Sri Lanka–an island nation previously known as Ceylon, positioned some 31 km off the southern coast of India, with whom it shares important cultural, linguistic, and religious affinities–these qualities are unusually virtuous.

The true cinnamon herb, and the spices derived from it, has been well-known throughout history, and has been called by a variety of names.

A mysterious spice for many centuries, its source was kept secret and obscured by numerous ruses and stories. These stories were spread by spice traders, ostensibly to maintain the highest price possible for their cinnamon sticks.

Thus, at various times in history, the price of cinnamon exceeded that of gold, ounce for ounce.

Even today, true cinnamon is a rarity among the spices that are, at least within the United States, labeled with the name “cinnamon.” In most other countries, only the herb derived from Cinnamomum verum can be labeled by that name, while herb from other species must be labeled as Cassia or under another name (the use of the name “cinnamon” being banned for them).

True Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum); close up of cinnamon stick

These other spices are derived from species in the Lauraceae family whose bark and leaves express considerably different fractions of plant oils from those found in true cinnamon. The bark of these species is hard, and rolled into sticks from a single sheet that cannot be ground with ordinary spice grinders.

True cinnamon, on the other hand, is encased in a thin, semi-hard shell that encloses numerous paper-thin sheets at the heart of each stick. These true cinnamon sticks are so soft they easily crumble in the hand, and can be ground with ease even using manual grinding implements, including–if the chef or apothecary desires–a simple mortar and pestle.

In Old Testament scriptures, cinnamon is first mentioned in a command to Moses to use sweet cinnamon and cassia–the latter being a spice derived from another cinnamon species (Cinnamomum aromaticum) that is native to southern China, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia–in holy annointing oil.

By designating the bark of Cinnamomum aromaticum as cassia, ancient spice merchants distinguished between true cinnamon and the produce of similar, but quite distinct species of the same genus.

Cassia bark, as well as the bark of every other Cinnamomum species except Cinnamomum verum, has a decidedly different chemical composition, fragrance, and taste from that of true cinnamon. Of particular chemical importance is the near-total absence of coumarin, a benzopyrone, in the bark of Cinnamomum verum.

This and the other variances in the chemical makeup of true cinnamon work together to make it exceptionally delicate. Other chemical constituents of this plant are as described below:

True Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), close up view of cross section of cinnamon stick

I. Essential Oil: 0.5 to 1.0% of the bark; higher fractions of the fresh leaves, comprising the following:

Cinnamic aldehyde or cinnamaldehyde: approximately 60-90% of the bark oil, this chemical is the organic compound responsible for its flavor and odor. It is a pale yellow viscous oil consisting of a phenyl group attached to an unsaturated aldehyde. It is used as a flavorant in chewing gum (where it has also been found effective against oral bacteria growth at the dorsal base of the tongue), ice cream, candy and beverages, at from 9 to 4,900 ppm (thus <5%), and as a fragrance in perfumes to impart a sweet, natural, fruity scent. As a highly effective fungicide, it is applied to botanical root systems. As an insecticide, applied to aquatic sites as sparingly as 30 ppm, it has proven extremely lethal to the larvae of certain mosquito species, killing them within 24 hours of application. Laboratory trials have shown cinnamaldehyde effective at inhibiting proliferation, invasion, and tumor growth when used in certain types of human melanoma.

Ethyl cinnamate: the ester of cinnamic acid and ethanol, this chemical is present in the essential oil of cinnamon, and imparts a fruity, balsamic odor.

Eugenol (obtained primarily from the leaves): an allyl chain-substituted guaiacol, eugenol is a member of the phelylpropanoid class of chemical compounds and is extracted from clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, basil, and bay leaves. It is nominally soluble in water, and highly soluble in organic solvents. It is commonly used as a flavorant of foods, cigarettes, and confections, a fragrance in perfumes and colognes, and as an anaesthetic, analgesic, and antiseptic in medicine.

Anethole (obtained primarily from the leaves): an aramotic, unsaturated ether, and known–besides as anethole–as paramethoxy phenyl propene, p-propenylanisole, and isoestragole. This chemical occurs widely in nature, particularly in the essential oils of certain botanicals. It is largely responsible for the flavors imparted by anise and fennel, liquorice, and star anise, and is a valuable commercial flavorant that is some 13 times sweeter than sugar. As a precursor to certain pheromones, it attracts honey bees and cucumber beetles. It acts as an antimicrobial, attacking bacteria, yeast, and fungi, with potential medical utility; it also acts as an antihelmintic against the eggs and larvae of the sheep gastrointestinal nematode Haemonchus contortus; and as a nematicide against the plant nematode Meloidogyne javanica. As an insecticide, it is effective against certain mosquitoes and fungus gnats.

True Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), ground and sticks.

Beta-caryophyllene: often cited as caryophyllene, is a natural bicyclic sesquiterpene constituent of essential botanical oils. It is unusual, in terms of chemical structure, in that it has a cyclobutane ring. Caryophyllene contributes to black pepper’s spiciness, and has been shown to bind to the cannabinoid receptor type-2, and is, therefore, a kind of cannabinoid (in fact, the first such cannabinoid approved by the FDA as a food additive). It has, not surprisingly, been shown to exert important cannabimimetic antiinflammatory effects in trials with mice. Because it does not bind to the centrally expressed cannabinoid receptor type-1, its effects are not psychomimetic.

Linalool: a natural terpene alcohol found in flowers and spice botanicals. It has many commercial applications, many of which are based on its floral fragrance. Certain botanicals in the Lamiaceae, Lauraceae, and Rutaceae families, comprising more than 200 species in all, are the most prolific sources of linalool. Molecularly it has a stereogenic center at C3, and thus is found in two stereoisomers, each of which evokes distinct neural responses in the human olfactory sense. Licareol–also known as (R)-Linalool–is present in cinnamon essential oil as well as in lavender, laurel, sweet basil, and others, and has a woody, lavender-like fragrance with an odor threshold of 0.8 ppb. Coriandrol–also known as S-linalool–is also present in cinnamon essential oil as well as in coriander, palmarosa, sweet orange, and others, and has a sweet, floral, petitgrain-like fragrance with an odor threshold of 7.4 ppb.

II. Aqueous (water) Extracts:

Cinnamtannin B1: Investigations into active compounds that influence adipogenesis (the process of cell differentiation by which preadipocytes become adipocytes, i.e., the natural development of fat cells) have shown that water soluble extracts of Cinnamomum verum, which are now known to contain cinnamtannin B1, mimic insulin in the human body. This finding partially explains how diabetics, particularly those with type 2 diabetes, benefit from supplementation with true cinnamon products.

Essential Plant Oils

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:31:03 +0000

Historical & Current Uses

essential oil: Function: noun: any of a large class of volatile odoriferous oils of vegetable origin that impart to plants odor and often other characteristic properties, that are obtained from various parts of the plants (as flowers, leaves, or bark) by steam distillation, expression, or extraction, that are usually mixtures of compounds (as terpenoids, aldehydes, or esters), and that are used often in the form of essences in perfumes, flavoring materials, and pharmaceutical preparations — called also ethereal oil, volatile oil; distinguished from fatty oil and fixed oil. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002.

herb: Function: noun: Inflected Form(s): -s Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English erbe, herbe, from Old French, from Latin herbe. 1 : a seed-producing annual, biennial, or herbaceous perennial that does not develop persistent woody tissue but dies down at the end of a growing season. 2 : a plant or plant part valued for its medicinal, savory, or aromatic qualities . 3: archaic : GRASS, VEGETATION . 4 : the leafy top of an herbaceous plant considered separately from the root. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002.

What are Essential Plant Oils?

Many years ago, while digging into the vagaries of herbal science, I pondered the meaning behind the expression “essential plant oil.” My first guess? That these words reflected the importance of such oils to the plants they came from. It was a natural conclusion. Their ability to protect plants from insects, fungi, bacteria, and viruses was–and is–well known. None can doubt they are essential to the plants’ survival.

Yet, etymologically speaking, I was mistaken. Essential plant oil, as a descriptor used in herbal science, says almost nothing about the relation between such oils and the plants that produce them. Instead, it speaks to how those oils imbue essential qualities upon the perfumes, flavorings, attractants, repellents, pesticides, poisons, and pharmaceuticals formulated from them.

This focus, on exploitation, is an artifact of a lengthy and profitable–though somewhat esoteric–past. The household, medicinal, and prescriptive uses of essential oils are described in some of the most ancient records known. The history of herbal science, as reconstructed from a huge body of public and private records, chronicles man’s development and application of the arts of medicine, healing, disease prevention, and pest management. Some of what ancient herbalists learned entered the public domain as soon as the discoveries took place, but much was also kept secret–often for centuries–to curry favor with the elites and the ruling classes. Much could be achieved by conferring special advantages upon such people, while concealing the same from the common man. In any case, essential oils continue to be used, today, in each of these arts, and for a myriad of diverse applications. Rarely, concentrated essential oils are used. Diluted oils, powders and coarsely or finely chopped preparations of fresh or dried flowers, leaves, stems, and roots, supply the herb’s valuable properties to the user, either directly–in pills, capsules, teas, infusions, and decoctions–or indirectly–in salves and dilute carrier oils.

In light of all this, it seems paradoxical that herbal science is not championed–or even respected–everywhere, or by everyone. Unenlightened “experts” often equate the use of essential oils to quackery, old wives tales, and the brews of witches. In fact, some of our most authoritative professional associations, particularly in the fields of medicine and pest management, have lent support to that equation despite a mountain of easily verified facts that tells quite another story. In medicine alone, over 25 percent of today’s most valuable prescription and over-the-counter drugs contain, as key ingredients, herbal extracts. Many of today’s most successful pesticides are also based on herbal extracts. A much larger fraction of important products in both groups includes synthetic versions of chemicals that originally came only from herbal sources.

Provocative examples abound. One is the active ingredient used in modern aspirin. That ingredient is a modified salicylate, the acetyl derivation of salicylic acid. Raw salicylates were first used as medicines over 5,000 years ago, as herbal preparations from the willow plant. We know this because a stone tablet devoted to medicine, dating from the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 3000 BCE), contains cryptic descriptions of remedies based on willows. Over the ensuing centuries, the efficacy of such extracts became well known and widespread. The Ebers Papyrus (ca. 1543 BCE), an Egyptian medical text, details how willow and myrtle plants were used for analgesic, anti-inflammatory purposes. Today, among all the medicines known, aspirin is one of the most widely prized. But it is not unique in having its origins in herbal science. Thousands of other important and widely used medicines have near-identical roots. It is no exaggeration to assert that, were all herb-derived medications withdrawn from our pharmacies and drug stores, medical science would revert to a state remarkably like that of the Dark Ages.

Pest management has also been blessed by discoveries of herbal preparations that exterminate and repel vermin and pests. Some–for example, red squill, extracted from bulbs of the sea onion lily (Urginea maritima), and cited in ancient stone tablets for its utility as a rat poison–are as poisonous to humans as they are to rats. Others–for example, pyrethrum extracts of chrysanthemum flowers–kill insects on contact, but produce only transitory effects on humans. Still others–and this is the group that excites me the most–are exceptional pesticides and pest repellents yet, wonder of wonders, are entirely harmless to humans, dogs, and cats; some in this latter group are based on essential oils that we regularly use in our kitchens as health-enhancing dietary ingredients and culinary flavorings.

Far from quackery, then, herbal science is the keystone of the foundation on which the arts of modern medicine, disease prevention, and pest management are built. Yet, notice this: less than 2 percent of the herbs known to exist on earth have undergone serious analysis of their herbal characters. Do you realize what this means? Important, earth shaking discoveries await our careful investigation, analysis, and testing. It is a safe bet that the future of herbal science is secure, and will be every bit as glorious as its past.

Glorious, indeed. But what about our present knowledge? What–contrariwise–of the abundant misinformation about herbal science that leads so many to unfairly distrust it? I added the qualifier “unfairly” for a reason. Thinking persons should never trust anything without good cause, so we shouldn’t give herbal science carte blanche control over any aspect of our lives, but neither should we reject that science out of hand. Aspirin is only one of its many known gifts. How many more gifts from that source are capable of improving, extending, or even saving, your life and the lives of those you love? Expect to be pleasantly surprised by the answers to that question, but also expect to have to dig a little to come face to face with those answers, as most are neither common knowledge nor broadcast in loud, visible ways. Some, in fact, are so well hidden that serious sleuthing is required to bring them to light.

Recovering at least part of the veiled, lost, even undiscovered knowledge on this subject is one purpose of the material presented here. Encouraging others–like you and your family–to delve deeper and conduct your own investigations, is another. Methinks you owe that to yourself, and to your posterity, especially now that you can get involved more easily than in the past. We are fortunate that, in these early years of the new millennium, a renewed interest in, and appreciation for, herbal science can be seen all around us.

In this article, I touch only lightly on the (internal) medicinal properties of essential plant oils. My primary focus is on external applications, including the use of essential plant oils as bacterial and viral microbicides, broad-band insecticides, fungicides, and acaricides, and as repellents of spiders, scorpions, flies, mosquitoes, frogs, lizards, and snakes. In the process, it is shown that although we still have much to learn, a rich body of ancient but valuable knowledge already exists. One can only guess at the huge store of undiscovered truths that await our discovery, but it would be folly to presume that store to be anything less than a significant multiple of what we already know.

Essential Plant Oils in Antiquity

We needn’t dig very deep to find ample evidence that essential plant oils have been used by mankind for as long as humans have gathered together in communal settings. It seems logical that the humans who used them sought to satisfy many, if not most, of the same needs addressed in a similar fashion today. Now, as presumably then, the objectives served are quite simple, focusing as they do on relieving human misery, improving human health, and extending human life.

When archeologists excavate Neolithic sites dating from 4,000-7,000 BCE, they sometimes find scattered evidence suggesting that the occupants of those sites were combining certain plants, known to contain high fractions of volatile essential oils, with olive and sesame oils to produce what we would today describe as ointments. In 1975, Dr. Paolo Rovesti found a terra-cotta implement, in a Taxila museum in the Indus Valley, that appeared as a crude still; it was displayed along with terra-cotta perfume containers that dated around 3,000 BCE. Later, a similar implement, in this case clearly a still that dated to 2,000 BCE, was uncovered in Afghanistan. Such stills likely were used to extract essential oils from local aromatic botanicals.

Tablets from Babylonia, written in cuneiform, have been found that contain orders–to import cedar, myrrh, and cypress–among recipes for scented ointments and descriptions of medicinal uses for cypress. In Asia, similar writings dating to 2697 BCE, describe how aromatic herbs should be used. Biblical passages describe recipes for holy anointing oils for priests that include–in an olive oil base–the fragrant ingredients myrrh, cinnamon, and calamus. Other references to essential oils, from the Old and New Testaments, number in the hundreds, and testify to their ancient uses in practically every venue that such oils are utilized in today.

The Americas, Europe, and Asia

In the Americas, archeological digs show that the most ancient of natives studied and used herbal science from the earliest of times. European settlers, within decades of the discovery of the New World, subjected the native herbs they found to intense study, seeking to learn the properties of their essential oils. Native Americans, already steeped in the lore of these herbs, freely–even eagerly–shared their knowledge and understanding. For example, the Ojibwa Indians who lived near the Great Lakes explained to the settlers why they took such great pains to gather a hardy swamp perennial that eventually came to be known as Joe Pye weed (often cited as Eupatorium purpureum, but probably any or several of a number of species in the genus Eupatorium that have whorled leaves), and how they used it for a multitude of medicinal purposes, including the prevention and treatment of kidney stones.

Having some Native American blood in my veins, I have a special interest in the ways Native Americans studied and used botanical extracts. Their unselfish–often naive–willingness to pass this lore on to others, withholding nothing and expecting little or no recompense for sharing nature’s truths, is a model worthy of, at the very least, an enlightened form of emulation. It is undeniable that the European settlers in the New World benefited greatly from the body of knowledge bequeathed by their native hosts, but the sharing didn’t stop there. For example, a 19th-century Native American herbalist and healer known as Joe Pye (possibly a transliteration of a native American name, e.g., Zhopai) was reputed to have saved an entire colony of European settlers from the scourge of epidemic typhus by serving them decoctions of Eupatorium herb. The medicine is reported to have caused them to sweat profusely, thus cleansing their bodies of typhus toxins.

Besides such examples from North America, Eupatorium extracts have a long history of usage elsewhere, including Asia, but also in Western Europe. In the Mediterranean basin, its use dates to a time prior to the reign of Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus (c. 119-63 BCE), after whom the genus is named. Mithridates is thought to have used the herb as a remedy or an antidote, though the exact applications have been lost. It seems likely that the medics of the day discovered many if not most of the herb’s rather easily demonstrated properties, and took advantage of them accordingly. However, unlike the simplistic mores of many Native American Indians, it was characteristic of some, if not most, Old World cultures to reserve the body of esoteric knowledge surrounding herbs and their extracts for society’s most powerful members. Which helps explain why ancient public records on herbal science are often terse and cryptic.

A Famous, Ironic Use of an Essential Plant Oil

Not all ancient uses of essential plant oils were shrouded in secrecy, and not all such applications benefited the recipient.

Socrates, a veteran of the Athenian military, as a young man participated in the Peloponnesian war. In his later years he became the quintessential questioner of all things taken for granted. His peripatetic style of discourse and teaching of mores, ethics, and governance–by forcing his students to examine life and all its aspects with fresh eyes and open minds–ranks him among the greatest philosophers in all of history. His reward was to be sentenced to death after being convicted of, among other things, impiety. His fate was sealed by a democratic jury of dikasts who worried that democracy risked too much when its citizens were goaded into thinking too freely.

Socrates was executed in 399 BCE. He and his supporters, resigned to his fate, chose to have the court’s sentence carried out by having him drink a decoction of hemlock (Conium maculatum).

Progressively, the piperidine alkaloids in the essential oils of the hemlock plant paralyzed Socrates’ body, reaching in due course the muscles of respiration. As expected, this caused the philosopher to suffer a fatal respiratory arrest. Hemlock was chosen because its toxic properties, and the relatively painless way it works, had already been known and publicized for centuries.

A Reprehensible, yet Efficacious Application of Essential Plant Oils

One of the most reprehensive utilizations of essential oils took place during one of the middle bubonic plagues. A series of these scourges devastated Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the British Isles. The sequence began in the 6th century CE, when the first recorded plague ravaged the Byzantine Empire, and ended in 1665-1666, when the last outbreak took place in Europe.

In the narrative that follows, I am purposely vague about dates and locations. Many versions of this story are in print, and some are attributed to unusually credible sources. However, important variations in the details exist. This justifies a certain skepticism, not as much about the core features of the story, as about the minute details themselves. Accordingly, I am conducting additional research, in hopes of getting closer to the truth of those details, and will make appropriate revisions as those emerging truths dictate:

A cloud of superstition enveloped the bubonic plague during the years of its worst manifestations. Its cause is now known to be the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is spread by fleas infesting the rats and mice that carry the bacterium. Many years passed, however, before the role of the rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis) came to light. In the meantime, various theories–steeped in and shaped by the religious and mystical lore of the day–were bandied about to explain why the disease had visited man, and how it spread within the population.

Most theories assumed that vapors of one kind or another were involved, since coming into close association with an infected person, even for a short time, was enough to contract the disease. Since everybody knew how risky it was to chance an exposure, the homes of plague victims were usually abandoned, unguarded, to the dead and dying. Still, a few enterprising criminals–enticed by the quantity of costly goods, jewels, and precious coins ripe for the taking in such places–took to looting not only the victim’s homes, but the sickened bodies and corpses of the human victims as well. Many of these miscreants contracted the plague in the process, but one group of four did not, despite–we are told–having carried on a long, lucrative career of such thievery. That career eventually came to an end, when the group was caught, convicted, and sentenced to death by burning at the stake.

Before the death sentence was executed, a representative of the reigning monarch interrogated the condemned. The most pressing question asked was how they had managed to come into direct contact with so many plague victims without contracting the disease. Did they, as others had intimated, make use of hitherto secret, protective concoctions?

The prisoners confessed that secret concoctions were, indeed, involved. However, they balked at divulging the nature of those concoctions unless their sentences were reduced. When the king agreed, the prisoners revealed that, prior to engaging in their spree of looting, they had worked in one capacity or another for the perfume trade. Over time they had become privy to carefully guarded secrets regarding the unpublished characters of certain essential oils, including the fact that those oils, when applied to one’s skin, hair, and clothing, would protect the bearer from contracting certain diseases such as the bubonic plague. After stealing quantities of these essential oils, they mixed up a batch for their own use, but instead of using it for good, they chose to apply it as a means of facilitating their criminal behavior.

This confession was dutifully written down and filed away in the king’s annals. However, neither the precise formula they used, nor the list of essential plant oils involved, was included with the official record of the confession. Some speculate that the king and his courtesans considered such details to be so valuable that–rather than publish them abroad as a means of saving lives–they kept them secret, thus (to my way of thinking) perpetuating the sins of the thieves.

Many years later, the confession was rediscovered and a host of analysts–chief among them the French physician and herbalist Jean Valnet–took great pains to delve into the panoply of available essential oils, hoping to divine which among them might have performed as the convicted looters described.

Knowing, by now, the role played by the rat flea in transmitting Yersinia pestis from rats to humans, these analysts knew what the essential oils would have to do. Each would need to (1) efficiently kill or neutralize bacteria, including Yersinia pestis, on contact, (2) quickly kill or neutralize rat fleas before they could bite, and/or (3) successfully repel rat fleas so well that they would not be given an opportunity to bite. Because the essential oil trade in existence at the time the prisoners confessed included fewer spices than are commonly traded today, the list of candidates was relatively short and easily resurrected.

The candidates on that list, as described below, were subjected to careful examination to see what roles, if any, they might have played in protecting ordinary individuals from the bubonic plague. Over time, the investigators were gratified to discover that many of these essential oils satisfied one or more of the stated criteria. Surprisingly, several of them satisfied all three.

Powerful Antibacterials, Antiviruses, Pesticides, and Pest Repellents

Four important spices of antiquity–cloves (Syzygium aromaticum, syn. Eugenia aromaticum), cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), and bay laurel leaf (Laurus nobilis)–contain high fractions of a phenylpropanoid known as eugenol. Even when cut to less than one percent of the potency found in undiluted essential clove bud oil, eugenol kills rat fleas on contact and repels rat fleas by its vapors alone. Eugenol also has analgesic, antiseptic, microbicidal, antihelminthic, and anesthetic properties.

Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) oil contains the monoterpenes camphene, cymene, and pirene. These natural insecticides and insect repellents also have antiseptic, microbicidal, and fungicidal properties.

Cedarwood (Juniperus spp.) oil contains cedrol, cedrene, and the terpene thujopsene, which kill and repel insects besides having antiseptic, bactericidal, and fungicidal properties.

Citrus (Citrus spp.) oil, whether from orange, lemon, or lime, contain high fractions of the cyclic terpene limonene, and the terpene alcohol linalool, both of which kill and repel insects, serve as microbicides and fungicides, and act as solvents. It is likely that, as with penicillin’s ability to strip the protective outer coating from dangerous microbes, their ability to dissolve the protective coatings and skins of noxious fungi, insects, and arachnids plays a prominent role in their pesticticidal faculties.

Rosemary (Rosemarinus officinalis) oil contains the phenolic diterpenes carnosic acid and rosmarinic acid, which are broad-band insecticides, insect repellents, and microbicides.

Elecampane (Inula helenium) root oil, harvested from plants no more than two or three years old, contains the stearoptene helenin, a powerful antiseptic and bactericide that has recently been shown capable of destroying the modern-day “superbug” methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, besides a broad spectrum of other bacteria including Yersinia pestis.

Angelica (Angelica sylvestris) root contains β-terebangelene, which is effective against various bacteria, including Yersinia pestis, as well as against fungal infections and viruses.

Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) oil contains the bitter elements absinthine and anabsinthine, and among others, the ketone and monoterpene thujone; both absinthine and anabsinthine are powerful vermicides, insecticides, and bactericides.

Sage (Salvia officinalis) oil contains cineole, borneol, and thujone; both cineole and borneol are powerful insect repellents, though pure cineole–which is also found to some extent in essential oils of bay leaves, wormwood, rosemary, and others–while repelling most insects, including rat fleas, is an attractant of orchard bees, which probably gather it to synthesize pheromones.

More To Come…

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Did this brief article help you understand the value of essential oils as natural medicines, pesticides, and pest repellents? I hope it did. Ignorance about the existence, and efficacy, of natural essential oils that function in such roles, is not unusual today. Rather than discouraging you, that fact should make you want more than ever to get involved in helping us fill in the gaps and make strides forward in our understanding and knowledge. The field is still wide open, quite contrary to what you may have previously believed. Step forward and do something positive that cranks our knowledge upward. If you have questions about essential oils and how they might benefit you and your family, feel free to leave a comment below. Comments on postings here are moderated quickly, and replied to personally using the commenter’s email address. Whenever possible, every inquiry is answered immediately–in fact, I try to answer within minutes of reading each comment.