This article is part of the Safe & Gentle Series and it follows the last blog, "More Safe Herbs."

In addition to the nourishing, gentle tonic herbs, we are lucky to have other safe herbs that aren't gentle enough to call tonics but they are still useful and reliable, and they're safe when used in moderation and on a short-term basis for specific needs.

For instance, garlic is a food and most people use it as a safe and trustworthy herbs. But we know not to eat too much of it because it can trigger a stomachache or even upset the lining of the digestive tract. However, it's safe on a short-term basis and in moderation to address specific issues.

This article shares 9 herbs common to Western herbal medicine that are not tonics but are safe and reliable on a short-term basis for specific needs. In my formulary theory, these generally are Tier 2 Specifics or Tier 3 Corollary herbs. But regardless whether you use formulary, it's important to know these herbs because they can be very helpful as short-term remedies in a wide range of specific cases such as indigestion, poor sleep, stress and anxiety, topical first-aid, nausea, infection, and many others.

Thyme

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) is a fragrant culinary herb and is one of the most powerful medicinal plants with strong antimicrobial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory properties. Originating in the Mediterranean, thyme is rich in essential oils, particularly thymol and carvacrol, which provide its incredible fragrance and are highly effective in fighting bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Thyme an excellent herbal remedy for supporting the body’s defenses against infections, whether used internally or topically. As I teach my students, I consider thyme as an incredibly versatile herb for infection prevention and recovery. 

Using Thyme Internally

You can brew a tea or take a tincture for both respiratory and digestive infections. Thyme's antimicrobial compounds help combat bacteria and viruses in the respiratory tract, making it a stellar natural choice for colds, bronchitis, pneumonia, and sore throats. Thyme also acts as an expectorant, loosening mucus and easing coughs. As a carminative, it supports digestive health by reducing gas and bloating while its antiseptic qualities help fight infections in the gut. Drinking thyme tea during illness can boost immune response and promote faster recovery.

Again, these conditions require a short-term use of thyme, such as 2-to-3 weeks maximum. Because it is so potent, I do not advise using it for a longer duration. When using thyme with children, cut the adult dose to 1/3 to 1/4.

Using Thyme in First Aid Situations

Thyme leaves are strongly antibacterial and antifungal, making it extremely useful for treating skin infections, wounds, and fungal conditions. Make a compress using thyme tea or make a poultice using thyme leaves dipped in water and applied directly to the skin. Thyme-infused oil (a carrier oil such as olive or sunflower) can be applied to minor cuts, scrapes, and insect bites to prevent infection and promote healing. Use it for fungal infections like athlete’s foot or ringworm. Thyme's anti-inflammatory effects also help reduce redness, itching, and swelling. Thyme combines well with yarrow, red clover, comfrey leaf, elder leaf, plantain, and other skin-healing herbs.

Garlic

Garlic (Allium sativum) is a widely loved culinary and medicinal herb known for its potent health benefits, especially for cardiovascular health and immune support. In these instances, garlic shines as a safe herb for short-term use. Because it is rich in sulfur-containing compounds, especially allicin, garlic has powerful anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties that support the heart and the immune system.

Garlic for Cardiovascular Health

Garlic supports heart health by helping to lower blood pressure, reduce cholesterol levels, and improve blood circulation. Allicin, which is released when you crush or chop fresh cloves of garlic, relaxes blood vessels and improves blood flow, which can help reduce hypertension. Garlic also helps reduce “bad” LDL cholesterol and may prevent arterial plaque buildup, lowering the risk of heart disease and stroke. Its antioxidant effects help protect blood vessels from oxidative stress, contributing to healthier vascular function overall.

There are numerous studies of garlic's usefulness, and I like to pair it in hypotensive formulas with other blood-pressure reducing herbs such as hawthorn, motherwort, roses, oats, and ginkgo.

Garlic for Immune Support

Garlic is well-known for its immune-boosting properties, and not just because of its vampire-repelling fame. Its antimicrobial and antiviral compounds help the body fight off infections, including colds, flu, and other respiratory illnesses.

Garlic has also been shown to stimulate immune cells, making the body more resilient against pathogens. Regular culinary consumption of garlic, especially during the cold and flu season, can reduce the frequency and severity of infections. Note: this means eating garlic as part of meals. I do not recommend taking a strong garlic supplement or a garlic tincture daily for more than 2-to-3 weeks at a time.

How to Use Garlic

Garlic is best consumed raw, as cooking can reduce its allicin content. Crush or chop fresh garlic and let it sit for a few minutes before adding to foods, allowing allicin to form. You can add raw garlic to dressings, dips, or sprinkle it on cooked dishes just before serving. My favorite way to take raw garlic is to mince it and put it in a small jar of apple cider, orange juice or grapefruit juice. The juice helps you drink it down quickly without tasting it.

Garlic supplements, such as aged garlic extract, are also available and provide benefits without the strong odor. However, those taking blood-thinning medications should check with your healthcare team (which should include a physician AND an herbalist) before using garlic regularly, as it can increase bleeding risk.

Hops

Hops (Humulus lupulus) is a fantastic climbing vine that twirls around every fence post and branch it can find, trailing its funky-shaped leaves and gorgeous strobiles higher and higher. If you've visited beer gardens or hops farms, you've seen incredibly tall stakes or trellises where the vines have free range. I grew hops in my herbal teaching garden and would collect the strobiles by the bucketful, peeling my way carefully through the sticky vines.

I'm including hops here because it's one of those herbs that herbalists tend to forget about, but it is so incredibly useful. Primarily, it's effective for sleep disorders because it is sedative and for digestive disorders because it is bitter. (And for someone suffering with anxiety symptoms of nausea and inability to sleep...what a perfect remedy.)

Though it is best known as a key ingredient in brewing beer, hops is one of our most helpful medicinals. The lightly yellow, quite sticky flowers or “strobiles” of the hops plant contain bitter compounds, including humulone and lupulone, as well as essential oils, making it an excellent herbal remedy for a range of issues.

Using Hops for Digestive Support

Hops' bitter compounds stimulate the digestive system by promoting the release of digestive enzymes and bile, which enhances digestion and helps ease symptoms like indigestion, bloating, sluggish digestion, and poor appetite. Bitter herbs like hops are often taken before meals to prepare the digestive system, improving nutrient absorption and easing digestive discomfort.

Hops for Sleep

Hops is mildly sedative, similar in strength to catnip, passionflower and valerian and, in my opinion, slightly stronger than chamomile. Its volatile oils, such as myrcene, usually have a calming effect on the nervous system, so it works well for insomnia and other sleep disorders, particularly when the insomnia is related to stress or nervous tension. 

How to Use Hops

Hops can be taken as a tea, tincture, or in capsule form (and of course, in beer, but using it as a medicinal herb is preferable to drinking alcohol long-term). To aid digestion, hops tea or tincture is taken about 15–30 minutes before meals. For sleep support, hops tea is drunk in the evening or hops tincture can be taken an hour before bed. Its naturally bitter taste can be a bit strong, so I recommend taking it as a hot tea with chamomile or fennel (slightly sweet) or taking the tincture with apple cider. 

Calendula

I've grown calendula for years and it was a star in my salves, lotions and ointments when I ran my apothecary. I laud ways to use calendula topically here and want to share a bit about why it's included here in this article on short-term herbs for internal use.

Calendula officinalis, commonly known as pot marigold, is a worthwile medicinal herb when seeking remedies that are antimicrobial and immune-supporting. Its compounds flavonoids, triterpenes, and carotenoids have strong anti-inflammatory and antifungal effects, making it especially useful for skin and immune health as well as for treating fungal infections.

Calendula for Immune Support

Calendula helps the body combat infections and support overall immunity, making it a useful herb to combine with sage, echinacea, and thyme. By reducing inflammation and promoting lymphatic function, calendula helps the body expel toxins and pathogens, strengthening our defenses against illness. Use it when recovering from colds and respiratory infections in particular, as it helps reduce inflammation in mucous membranes.

Use Calendula for Yeast Infections and Thrush

Calendula is a potent antifungal, meaing it is useful against hard-to-eliminate infections like Candida albicans, which causes yeast infections and thrush (yeast in babies). For vaginal yeast infections, I recommend calendula topically in creams or ointments to soothe irritation and also as boluses or suppositories inserted vaginally. Combine, if desired, with garlic, sage, and/or yarrow.

For oral thrush in babies and also on the nursing mama's breasts, cooled calendula tea or diluted calendula tincture can be used as a mouthwash or a topical rinse. It is gentle enough yet effective if it is applied consistently, 3-to-4 times daily, for at least a week.

Fennel

Cinnamon

Motherwort

Echinacea

This is another herb that is not to be taken long-term and therefore is not a tonic -- in fact, I consider it a Tier 2 Specific. But it's worthwhile to know about it because of all the misinformation and the fact that it became quite a "fad" herb commercially and was disrespected for a long time. Echinacea actually has a lot to offer if we learn how to use it properly as a short-term laser-focused remedy.

How Does Echinacea Work?

Echinacea, a flower in the daisy family (including Echinacea purpurea, E. angustifolia, and E. pallida), has been used for centuries to bolster immune health. Known for its role in fighting infections, echinacea stimulates the immune system by enhancing the body’s natural defenses, making it a popular choice for managing colds, respiratory infections, and general immune support.

The immune-boosting properties of echinacea are attributed to several chemicals that stimulate white blood cells, particularly macrophages and natural killer (NK) cells, which help to detect and destroy pathogens. Echinacea also enhances the production of another kind of cell in the body: cytokines, which are chemical messengers that regulate immune responses and increase our ability to fight off infections.

When Do You Take Echinacea?

It appears that echinacea is most effective when used at the onset of a cold or respiratory infection. Studies show that echinacea can reduce the duration and severity of cold symptoms when it's taken early, and it often shortens illness by one to three days. Echinacea also reduces the chances of respiratory infections happening over and over in people with weakened immune systems or those prone to frequent colds.

Additionally, echinacea has demonstrated anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, which help mitigate symptoms related to upper respiratory infections, such as sore throats and congestion. Though evidence is mixed, some studies also suggest echinacea may provide mild benefits for urinary tract infections (UTIs) and skin health by promoting wound healing.

Overall, echinacea is considered safe for short-term use, especially as a preventive measure during cold seasons. For individuals looking to support their immune system naturally, echinacea can be a valuable addition, particularly when used at the first sign of infection or as seasonal immune support.

Sage

I love sage as a culinary herb, especially when I sautee it with a bit of butter and include it in ravioli with butternut squash. I also love it as a medicinal herb and I prize it for its astringent and drying effects. It's great in first aid remedies, for drying up poison ivy and blisters, and even internally for diarrhea and other conditions.

Even though it's edible, it's not a tonic herb. Sage is a powerful drying herb--so powerful it can dry up a nursing mother's breastmilk. Action-wise, it falls somewhere between an astringent and a styptic, which is an herb so astringent it quickly stops bleeding.

I include sage here because it is very applicable in short-term situations: topically as an anti-microbial and to thwart infection to be used for a few days or weeks; internally to dry up milk when your baby is ready to wean (can take a week); and as part of a protocol for supporting the immune system especially against colds and flu (also up to 2-to-3 weeks).

Though I'm not a fan of the flavor of sage tea (I find it too grassy and parchy) it makes a great apple cider vinegar tincture, a strong topical compress, and a strong topical poultice with the fresh leaves. Also consider other creative ways to make herbal remedies.

Herbal Allies

All of the herbs on this list are generally safe to use, even for children with a decreased dosage. But they reach a plateau of safety because they contain other elements that makes them fantastic as herbal medicines but take them out of the category of the safest, gentlest herbal tonics.

Be sure to use these herbs as they are very effective at what they do (i.e., cinnamon can help with blood sugar balance, motherwort serves as an anti-anxiety and panic attack herb, and sage is useful topically and internally as an astringent). Just be sure to use these herbs with common sense and in moderation.