 It may not be the Alaskan state flower, but I bet you more Alaskans are gonna be able to identify fireweed than the Alpine forget-me-not, the real Alaskan state flower. In Alaska, you're gonna find fireweed used in a whole bunch of different products. Like these. This pretty pink flower is found actually all across the Northern Hemisphere now. In Russia you're gonna find the tea is called Ivan Chai, and over here in the UK it's usually called Rose Bay Willow Herb. Now it can reach all this distance because fireweed has some seriously aerodynamic seeds. The seeds were studied back in 1992 and found to travel as much as 186 miles. Yeah! We're in general, there's slope planes and helicopters and boats galore here, everywhere. Fireweed tea can help with the more prominent digestive problems like diarrhea, intestinal and stomach inflammation, and being a mild laxative, fireweed can also help with constipation. Fireweed tea also helps more specific problems like acid reflux, gastritis, colitis, and gastric ulcers. And this is actually fireweed's biggest selling point. It's actually exceptionally good at balancing gut health. Hello! How you doing, Daisy? You having a good day? Also being a soothing agent, you'll find fireweed tea helpful for sore throats, laryngitis, and lung congestion. And its anti-spasmodic properties help with asthma and coughs. It not only balances your gut health, it can also help balance your moods and nervous system as well. This helps it to prevent anxiety, depression, and fatigue, and even helps with those headache and migraine pains. You might even see some benefits for things like memory, concentration, cognitive impairment, and dementia. Older men will be happy to hear how fireweed tea has been listed in the European pharmacopia as a great treatment for prostate problems, it's even known to help with BPH. Fireweed has also received some notoriety for treating a variety of fungus and yeast problems, especially Candida. Now, there isn't a ton of research on this yet, but this super balancing herb has been shown to help with thyroid, metabolism, and overall synthesis of your hormones, which sounds really weird, doesn't it? Luckily there have been studies on fireweed tea showing how it can prevent tumors. Apparently it's better at dealing with solid tumors than the liquidy ones. Many people will create decoctions from fireweed tea to be used for various skin problems. It's even used for irritated wounds, protecting wounds, and healing wounds that are really stubborn and won't go away for a long time. While there isn't a ton of research on fireweed directly, there is some on its component parts. There is tons of evidence of its usage over the years, which is backed by medical and herbal professionals, so it could very well help you with these problems that are listed as well. Boom! Let's do a tea. Let's pop this tea out. Whoa! That was really stupid. I pulled the tea strainer out, and I didn't bother to let it finish straining first. Don't do that. It's bad. Now my floor is wet. So this here is a fireweed tea. It's done just with fireweed leaves, and it's done in a style that's similar to the Ivan Chai, the Russian tea. So it's done by Harbor Tea and Spice. They said to brew this one for three to five minutes, and usually use like a teaspoon or two teaspoons of it and how strong you want it to a cup of water. Want to get all the medicinal benefits, and you like it a little stronger, you can go up to 10 to 20 minutes on the brewing time for this. Well, this is my first time trying it, so let's see what we get. It's nothing special by itself. Really kind of bland. There's not that much taste to it. Maybe if I let it steep a bit longer and don't let the water spill everywhere, then maybe it would be a little bit better. But as it is, there it is. Thanks anyway to Harbor Tea and Spice for getting me this fireweed tea. Otherwise, I wouldn't have any. I'm going to clean it by floor. Luckily, there aren't that many side effects at all unless you have too much fireweed tea, which means you can have nausea or other digestive issues in soup. In particular, they say don't have it during pregnancy because of the nausea and digestive issues. So long as you're having the typical three cups or less per day, you're good to go. Want something else awesome? That's right there. That thing. Because of the nausea and digestive issues. And that's all I'm going to say for now.