some of the warrior cats medicinal herb tidbits were actually grounded in reality btw!!! like for example poppy being used as a painkiller!
in human medicine, morphine is one of the most effective painkillers out there. guess what morphine is made of? OPIUM POPPIES!!!!
that’s right!!! opium is in the poppy family!!! most of the plants in the poppy family have painkilling properties (opium is just the best) including the famous bleeding heart flower (lamprocapnos spectabilis)
obv feverfew, yarrow, raspberry leaves etc are actually used for their irl purposes (yarrow has a hell of a lot more than just what it’s used for in warriors tho. this shit works as a BUG SPRAY. REDUCES MENSTRUAL CRAMPS. stops bleeding helps with coughs AND digestive issues AND its anti inflammatory AAAND it’s a sedative. oh also it’s antifungal and antibacterial. this thing is a POWERHOUSE of an herb.)
i really wanna see people do more with medicinal herbs in their warriors stories. i think cats could totally make teas and use honeycomb to make ointments and stuff. hell cats could make PILLS by grinding herbs into powder, combining powders, and using something like water or animal fat to bind the powders into little pills.
herbology is just so fascinating and there’s soooo much more that you can do with it! get wacky get creative! make teas and pills and ointments and extracts! do a little research on herbology and what plants are around where your cats are! it’s so fun i promise :)