Women's topics in folk herbalism

'Women's herbs' are a folk category, not a pharmacological one. In the European herbals it is held above all by lady's mantle and yarrow, with raspberry leaf, pot marigold, common bistort and bitter fumitory — exactly the ten the catalogue lists under this topic.

The frame tends to be general rather than targeted: warmth, rest, bitter taste, regularity. The tradition does not work with hormones here, even though today's texts often retell it that way.

This is the field where tradition and evidence part ways the most. The label 'women's herb' did not come from measurement, and plant compounds with hormonal activity are not the same as a hormone — part of the claims comes from laboratory experiments, not clinical trials.

The catalogue is especially careful with advice for pregnancy. It is the state in which self-treatment is riskiest and in which the commonly recommended herbs rest on habit, not on data.

Bleeding between periods, after intercourse and any bleeding after the menopause always need an examination — these are not complaints to wait out.

Do not delay either with pain that stops the ordinary day, a palpable lump, a discharge with odour or fever, and anything unusual in pregnancy. Check herbal products in pregnancy and while breastfeeding beforehand.