Rhizome Community Herbal Clinic

Rhizome Community Herbal Clinic A community Herbal Clinic Bristol, set up to provide affordable herbal appointments & courses Herbs are gentle, safe and effective with very few side-effects.

Herbal Medicine uses plants that have medicinal value to help treat a wide range of health problems. Its use has been recorded over thousands of years and still has relevance in today's world. We use whole plants believing that is more beneficial than isolated plant constituents. They can be used to treat specific health conditions, prevent the recurrence of health problems or to promote good heal

th when taken on a regular basis. The approach of a herbalist is always to try and treat the underlying root cause of the illness, alongside the symptoms. Medical herbalists combine traditional knowledge of plants with more recent scientific research to create an individually tailored treatment plan. Nutritional and lifestyle advice is also included if necessary. As herbalists we are trained to give herbs in conjunction with orthodox medicine and be aware of any possible contra-indications. Our role is not in conflict with your GP. Most conditions treated by a GP can also be supported by herbs. Commonly seen conditions in herbal practice:
Skin conditions: eczema, psoriasis, acne, fungal infections
Digestive conditions: IBS, constipation, diarrhoea, indigestion, peptic ulcers, colitis, high cholesterol
Circulatory conditions: High blood pressure, varicose veins and ulcers
Respiratory conditions: colds, asthma, bronchitis, sinusitis, hay fever
Muscolskeltal disorders: arthrtis, bursitis, gout, tendonitis
Endocrine disorders: Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome
Women’s health: period pains, irregular menstruation, PMS, fibroids, fertility, menopausal symptoms
Men's health: BPH, urinary conditions, stress and infertility
Children's health: skin disorders, allergies, tonsillitis
Emotional Health: Anxiety, stress, insomnia and depression
Supportive treatment for chronic illnesses

The above conditions give you an idea of what herbal treatments can support. However, it is also important to emphasise that herbalists, contrary to conventional biomedicine, treat the person and not the disease. We always strive to see the person as a whole and provide healthcare based on a holistic model.

28/07/2026

Have you seen meadowsweet in bloom? July is the perfect time for harvesting this common hedgerow herb, historically known as Queen of the Meadows, and we've seen these fluffy white flowers in abundance!

Did you know that the salicylic acid in meadowsweet inspired the invention of aspirin?

But the two things have very different effects on the body.

💊 Manufactured aspirin isolates one compound, salicylic acid, and changes it to acetyl salicylate, which relieves pain but can cause stomach ulcers or upset.

🌿 Meadowsweet, however, doesn’t have this side effect, and can actually soothe upset stomachs and digestive problems by balancing stomach acid production, as well as providing anti-inflammatory pain relief. It can also be used to treat arthritis, colds, or to bring down fevers.

Thank you to our students who came to this year's Herbal Summer School! We had our last session yesterday at The Haven, ...
23/07/2026

Thank you to our students who came to this year's Herbal Summer School! We had our last session yesterday at The Haven, finishing our 5-week course by learning about the parsley family (including angelica, fennel and celery) and making a medicinal ointment for everyone to take home.

If you're keen to learn with us and missed out this time, or did this course and would like to learn more, keep your eyes peeled 👀 for some exciting course news to be announced soon...

17/07/2026

Teaching the rose family is always a joy! This week our students learnt how to make an aromatic distillate or hydrosol and we met agrimony, meadowsweet, hawthorn and of course rose.

We nibbled some fragrant rose petals 🌸 Which is safe to do for all roses as long as they are free of pesticide sprays. You can brew a delicious tea from the fresh petals - a deeply nourishing and uplifting drink that soothes the nervous system.

Rose has been used all across the world to raise the spirits and heal broken hearts, and we've found it to be a particularly useful herb for grief.

In the autumn, rosehips provide an abundant natural source of vitamin C in the UK, and can be made into a syrup to boost the immune system through the cooler months 💪

The highlight of our year-long Wild Medicine course is the weekend camping on the North Devon coast studying the gorgeou...
14/07/2026

The highlight of our year-long Wild Medicine course is the weekend camping on the North Devon coast studying the gorgeous medicinal coastal flowers and foraging for the exciting nutritional and medicinal powerhouse that is our native seaweed.
It was hot hot hot…but armed with hats and umbrellas for shade, sun cream and shades 😎 , we made the most of the views, the plants, the sea and all the medicine contained in the experience.
As always, we have an amazing group of students who make teaching such a joy.
Back home again now…tired, sun-kissed and a bit hoarse…till next time North Devon, you were glorious!

Our 14th year of running the herbal summer school evening classes. We’re over halfway through this years…just two classe...
09/07/2026

Our 14th year of running the herbal summer school evening classes. We’re over halfway through this years…just two classes left.
It’s so wonderful to learn about the plants whilst standing amongst them, making medicine, drinking tea and learning botany and plant I.d.
It really feels joyful, and reminds us every year why we love teaching. We always get such lovely people on our courses.

Hollyhocks are such impressive plants with so many beautiful flowers on one plant. These are growing in the clinic garde...
02/07/2026

Hollyhocks are such impressive plants with so many beautiful flowers on one plant. These are growing in the clinic garden and are in their second year.

They are in the same plant family as Marshmallow and Common Mallow and have similar soothing properties. You can use the flowers, leaves (if not covered in rust) and roots. They have lots of the soothing, anti inflammatory mucilage which can be used for sore throats, dry coughs, urinary tract infections (in combo with more antimicrobial herbs), interstitial cystitis and any inflammation of the digestive tract.

Usually used as a hot or cold water infusion.


I was caught out at the weekend as my son woke up on Saturday with a fever but we were camping in the Gower so far from ...
29/06/2026

I was caught out at the weekend as my son woke up on Saturday with a fever but we were camping in the Gower so far from my dispensary. Obviously the first aid kit was full of tick removers and spray and stomach bug herbs but I had forgotten, with a heat addled brain, to fill the antiviral herb bottle. So off for a forage I went.

I found self heal and cleavers in the hedgerow banks. Self heal is a great antiviral herb, cleavers supports lymphatic drainage and are an immuno modulator, allowing the immune system to be as efficient as it can be. Fortunately there was still a blooming elder tree as the flowers are a great diaphoretic, promoting sweating in a fever to help it pass quicker. I infused all these on hot water with a little honey for him to drink as a hot tea.

The second photo is of self heal.

In the afternoon I found yarrow and wild thyme on the cliff tops. Both of these are diaphoretic and antiviral herbs. So these were infused for 20 min for his second cup of tea.


Love this time of year when nature is in full abundance. Albeit that it's worryingly crazy hot. We picked these cherries...
24/06/2026

Love this time of year when nature is in full abundance. Albeit that it's worryingly crazy hot. We picked these cherries from our beautiful tree on the solstice. We have eaten so many, given bags of them away to friends, frozen some and made some cherry herbal vinegar.

Cherries are full of those colourful anti-inflammatory pigments. Cherries lower uric acid in the body so good for gout. There are different types of cherry trees that offer different medicines. The bark of the Wild Cherry tree bark is used as a traditional cough medicine, Montmorency cherries contain natural melatonin and are used for sleep.

The clinic garden is looking gorgeous in Bristol 💚 Considering we moved in 5 years ago and it was gravel with a lone Hol...
19/06/2026

The clinic garden is looking gorgeous in Bristol 💚 Considering we moved in 5 years ago and it was gravel with a lone Holly tree and scattered chives. We try to grow as many herbs as we can in the garden so people are surrounded by the medicinal plants as they come for their appointments.

But what do people do about growing catnip?? Also known as catmint. This is the third catnip plant in the garden and the cats just sit on them all the time. We've tried putting bamboo poles around the plants so they won't but the cats still manage to. Any tips are welcome. Thanks!!!

Come and learn herbal medicine with us. Over the course of 5 summer evenings you will learn to identify useful herbs, un...
15/06/2026

Come and learn herbal medicine with us. Over the course of 5 summer evenings you will learn to identify useful herbs, understand their medicinal uses and make medicines from them.

This is one of our favourite courses, which we have been teaching for over a decade, as we are outside in 5 different bountiful community gardens around Bristol. Seeing and harvesting the fresh herbs is a wonderful way to start your herbal learning. You will make and go home with a tincture, an infused oil, an ointment and a herbal vinegar, alongside making an aromatic water on site. You will finish the course with skills to develop your own herbal medicine chest!

You will learn botany, a herbal approach to digestion, immunity and supporting the nervous system and medicine making skills.

The course will be for 5 Wednesday evenings starting June 24th 2026.

It is a foundation course accessible for beginners. It is different material from any other course we teach and complements all our other courses if you have studied with us before.

Cost
There are three tiers to our sliding scale and guidelines to what that means.These are very rough guidelines so please pay the tier that you feel comfortable with. No judgement, just get in touch if you have queries. We are striving to keep things affordable whilst making our living
Top tier £270
So this is the tier that is appropriate if any of these apply to you: You have a full time reasonably paid job, home/land owner, you are able to afford holidays and other luxuries
Middle tier £250
So this is the tier that is appropriate if any of these apply to you: low waged or part-time waged or struggling to afford holidays/luxuries.
Low tier £229
This is the tier for those who are unwaged

More reviews in the comments 💚

To book: https://www.rhizomeclinic.org.uk/herbal-summer-school.html


Address

Whitehall
Bristol
BS59AH

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