EYEBRIGHT - THE JOY-BRINGING HERB: HISTORY, USES AND HEALTH BENEFITS OF EYEBRIGHT

EYEBRIGHT, EUPHRASIA OFFICINALIS 

Eyebright is a plant which is native to western Europe including Britain and to East Asia. It is a member of the Scrophulariaceae or figwort family, so it is related to mullein, toadflax, foxglove, snap dragon and brahmi or water hyssop to name just a few of its relatives. It is the only one of the Euphrasia genus to be native to Britain.

  To me it looks a little like a viola but different colours. However I haven’t seen one in the wild for quite some time.

   As its name suggests Eyebright has been a remedy for eye complaints for centuries, although seems not to have been used by the Romans, as there is no mention of it in Pliny's or Dioscorides' works.

  It was, in Elizabethan times, used as a tisane and in an Eyebright ale and wine, used to clear the sight and for any eye problems that occurred. There has not been much research into the properties of this plant but some scientists have warned people not to use the herb for ophthalmic problems, although the European Medical Agency have basically said that there is insufficient evidence to say if it works or not, but it seems to, without any reported ill-effects.

  Nicholas Culpeper, the 17^th century English herbalist had this to say of Eyebright:-

“Government and virtues. It is under the sign of the Lion, and Sol claims dominion over it. The juice or distilled water of eye-bright, taken inwardly in white wine or broth, or dropped into the eyes, for divers days together, helps all infirmities of the eyes that cause dimness of sight. Some make conserve of the flowers to the same effect. Being used any of the ways, it also helps a weak brain, or memory. This tunned up with strong beer, that it may work together, and drank; or the powder of the herb mixed with sugar, a little mace, and fennel-seed, and drank, or eaten in broth; or the said powder made into an electuary with sugar, and taken, has the same powerful effect to help and restore the sight decayed through age; and Arnoldus de Ville Nova says, it has restored sight to them that have been blind a long time before.”

  Arnaldus de Villa Nova lived between circa 1235 and 1311, and was an alchemist, astrologer and physician. He was the reputed author of many works including the first book on wine to have a mass (at the time) circulation. In quoting him, Culpeper demonstrates the antiquity of the use of the plant, and it should be noted that the medicinal wisdom of that time was very different from that of today.

  The genus name, Euphrasia comes from the Greek and could refer to one of the three Graces of mythology (Euphrosyne) who was renowned for her joy and mirth. It might also refer to the song bird, the linnet, which, it was said, removed the film from her nestlings’ eyes with this herb. Linnet is Euphrosyne in Greek. If your dimmed sight was restored, it would certainly make you feel joyful, so I guess that is the logic behind the herb’s name.

  The whole plant is said to have astringent properties (due to its tannin content) as well as being a diuretic, and digestive. The infusion of the plant can be taken internally or used as an eyewash. It has been dried and used in herbal tobacco for chest ailments. The iridoids in the plant are believed to be anti-inflammatory which is why it can relieve pain in the eyes.

  Eyebright contains the flavonoids apigenin, luteolin, kaempferol, rhamnatin and quercetin among others so will have antioxidant properties.

  Culpeper has this remedy in his herbal, which he calls “A Marvellous Water for the Sight”:-

 “… leaves of red roses, mints, sage, maidenhair (fern), (or leave out sage and mint) and take eyebright and vervain, bittony (betony), such of the mountain and endive (chicory) of each six handfuls; steep them in white wine 24 hours; then distil them in an alembic; first water is like silver, the second gold, the third like balme; keep it close in glasses.”

  Another remedy was similar but used the following ingredients, fennel, eyebright, roses, white celandine, vervain and rue and a handful of each with the liver of a goat. However this one is certainly not to be recommended.

  A more modern remedy using eyebright is to take equal parts of chamomile flowers and the eyebright herb (aerial parts) and infuse in 0.25 litres of freshly boiled water and leaves to steep for 15 minutes before straining through muslin and using as an eyewash. Alternately you can take three parts eyebright, and one part each of melilot and plantain dried, and add 1 soupspoon full to a cup of boiling water; again leave to steep for 15 minutes before straining and using as an eye compress.

  Eyebright has been mentioned by some of the great poets of English literature such as John Milton who wrote these lines in Paradise Lost Book XI after Adam’s Fall from Paradise: -

   “….Of nobler sights

Michael from Adam’s eye the film removed,

Then purged with euphrasine and rue

His visual orbs, for he had much to see.” 

Edmund Spenser also makes reference to Eyebright in the second book of the Faerie Queene and writing later, the Pre-Raphaelite poet, Dante Gabriel Rosetti wrote in his poem The Love-Moon:-

“How canst thou gaze into those eyes of hers

Whom now they heart delights in, and not see

Within each orb Love’s philtred euphrasy

Make them of buried troth remembrances?”

“With Euphrasy to purge away the mists

Which, humid, dim the mirror of the mind;”

  Clearly the herb had its followers, and is probably safe to use, although you should, of course, only do so under medical supervision.

BURMESE ROSEWOOD TREE- THREATENED IN NATIVE HABITAT: HISTORY, USES AND HEALTH BENEFITS OFTHE BURMESE ROSEWOOD TREE

BURMESE ROSEWOOD, NARRA, AMBOYNA WOOD, PTEROCARPUS INDICUS 

This rosewood tree is native to south and south-east Asia and some Pacific islands. It is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List and has been extinct in Vietnam for 300 years or so. It is valued for its timber which is used in construction, boat and canoe building, furniture, tools and carvings. The heartwood is a beautiful light yellowish-brown through to red-brown while the sap wood is a creamy pale yellow. The heartwood yields a red dye.

  Narra is the Philippino name for this tree, although the same name can refer to other members of the Pterocarpus genus. It is valued not only for its timber but also for its medicinal properties. The tree has been introduced to the Caribbean islands, the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka, the Congo, Sierra Leone and Tanzania in the African continent, and Pacific islands to which it is not native. It is a member of the Fabaceae or Leguminoseae family of plants and so is a relative of the amaltas (Indian laburnum), the European laburnum, carob, peas, beans such as the green bean, borlotti bean, soya beans, chickpeas and choliya, the tree from which we get gum Tragacanth, the butterfly pea, the trees, dhak, jhand, the Indian coral tree, the Borneo or Pacific teak, the Lead tree (Ipil –Ipil), the pongam tree, the monkey pod tree, ashoka, indigo, lentils, alfalfa, field restharrow and a whole host of other plants.

  The genus name, Pterocarpus comes from the Greek, pteros meaning winged and karpos meaning fruit, which describes the seeds of this genus. It is known by other botanical names, which are not accepted, Pterocarpus camlinensis Kanch., and Pterocarpus draco as well as Pterocarpus indica.

  It is a useful tree as it fixes nitrogen in the soil and the leaves which fall help to enrich the soil. However it cannot be grown with food crops because it gives shade and is a tall tree which can reach heights of 35 metres plus. It is, however, a useful windbreaker and living fence.

  It has lost some of its natural habitat which has contributed to its decline, but the illegal logging and exploitation of this tree for its timber is the main factor in this decline. In the Philippines in recent years, the tree has become a source of popular herbal remedies for such diverse health problems as headaches, rheumatoid arthritis, leprosy, T.B., menstrual cramps, diabetes and flu. As the bark and wood are employed in herbal remedies this growth in popularity may cause further depletion of these trees.

  Traditionally in the Philippines the bark has been used in a decoction for diarrhoea, and the root extract for syphilitic sores, a decoction of the gum or resin from the trunk of the tree has been used for diarrhoea and dysentery, while an infusion of the leaves has been used for stomach problems, and sprue, which is a tropical disease affecting the throat, mouth and digestive system. The infusion is also used for arrhythmia, and heart palpitations, rheumatism and leucorrhea.

  The fresh young leaves are used for skin problems including prickly heat rash, and sores, and they are also used for the same purposes in Indonesia.

  In Malaysia the juice extracted from the roots is used for syphilitic sores and mouth ulcers. The bark is used in Papua New Guinea for T.B. headaches, sores and as a purgative, while in the Solomon Islands it is used for dysentery, heavy menstruation, and gonorrhoea. It is also used for similar purposes in Vanuatu, but it is also used as a vulnerary there (for wound healing).

  The tree has many medicinal properties it would appear, and it would be sad if it became extinct because of our beliefs that it is medicinally useful. Unscrupulous people are not above illegal logging to make a profit on the next “wonder plant.”

FLIXWEED OR FLUXWEED - POPULAR OLD REMEDY FOR DYSENTERY: HISTORY, HEALTH BENEFITS AND USES OF FLIXWEED

FLIXWEEED, FLUXWEED, DESCURAINIA SOPHIA 

This plant is native to Europe, North Africa and both temperate and tropical Asia. In the past it was used in traditional medicine for dysentery, hence the name fluxweed. It is sometimes called mustard tansy, (Not Tansy) although there is another plant with this name, Descurainia pinnata, a close relative.

  Fluxweed is in the Brassicaceae or Cruciferae family which makes it a relative of the Savoy cabbage, red cabbage, broccoli, kale, kohlrabi, brussel sprouts and collard or spring greens. It contains vitamin C and is edible as is scurvy-grass. Its tender young shoots and leaves may be cooked and used as a vegetable or a pot herb although they are somewhat bitter; they may also be added raw to salads. The plant is, after all a member of the mustard group of plants. The seeds are edible both raw and roasted and may be added to cornmeal to make bread or polenta and can also be used to thicken soups and sauces. Ground and then made into a thin paste with water the seeds form the basis of a cooling, nourishing drink.

  In German the herb is known as Sophienkraut the herb of Saint Sophia who was invoked in past times to prevent late frosts occurring by people who had arable crops such as rye, barley and oats.

  The ancient herbalists called this plant “Sophia chirurgerum” the ‘wisdom of surgeons’, showing how highly esteemed it was. It was renowned for its wound healing properties in the past.

  It was also considered to be effective for sore and ulcerated throats, when equal parts of the juice of fluxweed and honey and vinegar were mixed and taken as a gargle.

  The whole plant has been used as a poultice for toothache, and the flowers and leaves have astringent properties, which is why it is good for dysentery and wound healing. The seed is considered to be a cardio-tonic, demulcent (soothing the mucous membranes) a diuretic, expectorant used for coughs, a laxative and tonic, as well as being able to reduce fevers. The seeds are sometimes used in a poultice, ground, and put on burns scalds and sores.

  Writing in the 17^th century, the English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper has this to say of it:-

“Government and virtues. This herb is saturnine also. Both the herb and seed of Flux-weed is of excellent use to stay the flux or lask of the belly, being drank in water wherein gads of steel heated have been often quenched; and is no less effectual for the same purpose than Plantain or Comfrey, and to restrain any other flux of blood in man or woman, as also to consoladate bones broken or out of joint. The juice thereof drank in wine, or the decoction of the herb drank, doth kill the worms in the stomach or belly, or the worms that grow in putrid and filthy ulcers, and made into a salve doth quickly heal all old sores, how foul or malignant soever they be. The distilled water of the herb works the same effect, although somewhat weaker, yet it is a fair medicine, and more acceptable to be taken. It is called Flux-weed because it cures the flux, and for its uniting broken bones, &c.. It is uniting broken bones, &c. Paracelsus &c extol it to the skies. It is fitting that syrup, ointment, and plaisters of it were kept in your house.”

  In clinical trials it has been found to have analgesic (mild pain-killing) properties plus antioxidant, antipyretic, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory ones. One or two studies claim that it has some anticancer properties too and inhibits the growth of cancerous cells. It also has insect repellant properties and repels in particular, mosquitoes and sand flies.

  Fluxweed is cultivated in Afghanistan and China and used for digestive problems, so it’s a very versatile herb.

YELLOW BIRD'S NEST RARE NOW IN BRITAIN: HISTORY AND HEALTH BENEFITS OF YELLOW BIRD'S NEST

YELLOW BIRD’S NEST, HYPOPITYS MONOTROPA 

Yellow bird’s nest is a curious plant as it has no chlorophyll, but produces flowers, from one to eleven on a single stalk. It grows throughout the world although it is so small as to be difficult to spot. In the UK and Ireland it is an endangered species and there are moves to protect it. It was formerly called Monotropa Hypopitys, but it is now in a genus of its own, having two subspecies, and is a member of the large Ericaeae family.

  It is endangered in Florida and threatened in Iowa, but is thriving in Pakistan and grows in Japan other countries in Asia and throughout Europe. It looks a little like the Indian Pipe or Ghost plant, Monotropa uniflora, which is native to North America, and it is closely related. As a member of the larger Ericaceae family it is related to cranberries, blueberries, bilberries, huckleberries, azaleas, rhododendron, heather, and the strawberry tree to name but a few of its relatives.

  It grows to between 10 and 35 centimetres tall and is a parasite, living on fungi which grow beneath trees. At one time it was thought that it lived off pine sap as it is frequently found growing under pines, and this gave rise to another English name for the plant, Pinesap.

  Its genus name Hypopitys comes from the Greek hypos meaning ‘under’ and pitys pine. Monotropa means once-turned.

  The plant that grows in spring is yellow, (or at least, creamy yellow-white) hence the name yellow bird’s nest, but the one that grows in autumn is coral pink through to red. Now these have been divided into two sub-species, although formerly they were classed as the same plant.

  The Yellow Bird’s Nests or Pinesaps produce oil similar to that of the wintergreens, which can be easily converted into methyl salicylate, used in flavouring mouthwash, sweets and chewing gum. However it is lethal if taken in large doses. Apart from the wintergreens, the birch tree also produces the same substance. Most of the oil (Oleum Gaultheria) is marketed as oil of wintergreen and is a counter-irritant which gives relief to those who suffer with muscular pain.

  The oil has also been used for intermittent fevers and is used to disguise the taste of other medicines.

  If you happen to find one of these plants, remember that it is a protected species and don’t move it.

 

HORSEWEED OR FLEAWORT - NORTH AMERICAN HERB: HISTORY, USES AND HEALTH BENEFITS OF HORSEWEED

FLEAWORT, HORSEWEED, CONYZA CANADENSIS 

Horseweed is the modern name for this plant which was called fleawort by Nicholas Culpeper, the 17^th century English herbalist. As it had only been introduced into England in around 1640 he can be forgiven for his rather fanciful rationale for its name. The truth is that, like fleabane, it repels insects when burned. It is native to North America, although it has naturalized in Britain now and in most of the rest of Europe. This is what Culpeper has to say of this plant.

“Government and virtues. The herb is cold, and dry, and saturnine. I suppose it obtained the name of Flea-wort, because the seeds are so like Fleas. The seeds fried, and taken, stays the flux or lask of the belly, and the corrosions that come by reason of hot choleric, or sharp and malignant humours, or by too much purging of any violent medicine, as Scammony, or the like. The mucilage of the seed made with Rose-water, and a little sugar-candy put thereto, is very good in all hot agues and burning fevers, and other inflammations, to cool the thirst, and lenify the dryness and roughness of the tongue and throat. It helps also hoarseness of the voice, and diseases of the breast and lungs, caused by heat, or sharp salt humours, and the pleurisy also. The mucilage of the seed made with Plantain water, whereunto the yoke of an egg or two, and a little Populeon are put, is a most safe and sure remedy to ease the sharpness, pricking, and pains of the hæmorrhoids or piles, if it be laid on cloth, and bound thereto. It helps all inflammations in any part of the body, and the pains that come thereby, as the headache and megrims, and all hot imposthumes, swellings, or breaking out of the skin, as blains, wheals, pushes, purples, and the like, as also the joints of those that are out of joint, the pains of the gout and sciatica, the burstings of young children, and the swellings of the navel, applied with oil of roses and vinegar. It is also good to heal the nipples and sore breasts of women, being often applied there-unto. The juice of the herb with a little honey put into the ears helps the running of them, and the worms breeding in them. The same also mixed with hog's grease, and applied to corrupt and filthy ulcers, cleanses them and heals them.”

  It was boiled and used in sweat lodges by the Native Americans, and a decoction of the plant was traditionally used against cancer. The Native Americans also used the powdered herb as snuff to clear the head when they had colds. In Chinese medicine it has been used for wounds, swellings and the pain caused by arthritis. In Europe it has mainly been used for its astringent properties and so used to treat diarrhoea and dysentery as well as being used as a diuretic. Now it is also used for bleeding piles, externally.

  The whole herb can be used and should be gathered and dried for later use. It was formerly called Erigeron canadensis with erigeron describing it appearance of being past its prime as soon as it flowers (eri being Greek for early and geros or geron meaning old man). It contains a volatile oil which is used for flavouring soft drinks, sweets and in perfumery.

  Horseweed is a member of the Asteraceae or Compositae family, which makes it a relative of such plants as fleabane, pellitory or Roman chamomile, marigolds, purple goat’s beard (salsify), yellow goat’s beard, elecampane, the ox-eye daisy, holy thistles, costmary, tansy, feverfew, groundsel and yarrow, among others. Its leaves are edible and can be eaten in salads or cooked as a vegetable like spinach. They contain the minerals calcium, phosphorous, and potassium in fairly high proportions.

  It has been the subject of several clinical studies which have found it to have antifungal and antimicrobial activities. A methanolic extract of the plant has “exhibited important antibacterial activity” and “good antioxidant activity” while the “ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extracts demonstrated effective cytotoxic activity against Hep-2 cells.” (Medical Chemistry Research Vol.18 (6) 2009, pp 447-458 “Antibacterial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of extracts of Conyza canadensis (L) Cronquist growing in Tunisia” Edzir Hayat et al.)

  Another study by Beata Olas et al. (2006) “Antioxidant and antiaggregating effects of an extract from Conyza canadensis on blood platelets in vitro” also found that  “the natural polysaccharide extract from Conyza canadensis has antiaggregatory and antioxidative activities and therefore may be beneficial in the prevention of peroxynitrite-related diseases, such as cardio-vascular and inflammatory diseases.”

  Yet another study conducted in Hungary by Boglárka Csupor-Lôffler et al.  “Antiproliferative Constituents of the Roots of Conyza canadensis” (2011) found the extracts to have “considerable cell-growth inhibitory activity against human cervix adenocarcinoma (HeLa), skin carcinoma (A431) and breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cells.”

  Clearly this plant has a lot of potential benefits for us and research is continuing into its properties.

   

FRENCH PSYLLIUM, HISTORY AND HEALTH BENEFITS OF FRENCH PSYLLIUM

FRENCH PSYLLIUM, PLANTAGO ARENARIA 

French Psyllium is one of the plantains (Plantago ovata being another) which are native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean area as well as South West Asia. They are mainly used for their seeds which and husks which have a mucilaginous coating. This is used as a thickening agent, in ice creams and so on, as well as for their laxative qualities. They soothe the bowel and ease the passage of excrement, and remove toxins from the bowel and so the body. The plantains have been used in western herbal medicine for thousands of years.

  The plant can grow to heights of around a foot and flowers during July and August. Its leaves are edible and may be eaten either raw in salads or cooked like spinach. It is a member of the Plantaginaceae family and as such is related to brahmi or water hyssop, the foxglove, speedwell, brooklime, great mullein and toadflax to name just a few of its relations.

  Nicholas Culpeper the 17^th century English herbalist had many uses for plantains and this is what he had to say about them.

“Government and virtues. It is true, Misaldus and others, yea, almost all astrology-physicians, hold this to be an herb of Mars, because it cures the diseases of the head and privities, which are under the houses of Mars, Aries, and Scorpio. The truth is, it is under the command of Venus, and cures the head by antipathy to Mars, and the privities by sympathy to Venus; neither is there hardly a martial disease but it cures.

The juice of Plantain clarified and drank for divers days together, either of itself, or in other drink, prevails wonderfully against all torments or excoriations in the intestines or bowels, helps the distillations of rheum from the head, and stays all manner of fluxes, even women's courses, when they flow too abundantly. It is good to stay spitting of blood and other bleedings at the mouth, or the making of foul and bloody water, by reason of any ulcers in the reins or bladder, and also stays the too free bleeding of wounds. It is held an especial remedy for those that are troubled with the phthisic, or consumption of the lungs, or ulcers of the lungs, or coughs that come of heat. The decoction or powder of the roots or seeds, is much more binding for all the purposes aforesaid than the leaves. Dioscorides saith, that three roots boiled in wine and taken, helps the tertian agues, and for the quartan agues, (but letting the number pass as fabulous) I conceive the decoction of divers roots may be effectual. The herb (but especially the seed) is held to be profitable against the dropsy, the falling-sickness, the yellow jaundice, and stoppings of the liver and reins. The roots of Plantain, and Pellitory of Spain, beaten into powder, and put into the hollow teeth, takes away the pains of them. The clarified juice, or distilled water, dropped into the eyes, cools the inflammations in them, and takes away the pain and web; and dropped into the ears, eases the pains in them, and heals and removes the heat. The same also with the juice of Houseleek is profitable against any inflammations and breakings out of the skin, and against burnings and scaldings by fire and water. The juice or decoction made either of itself, or other things of the like nature, is of much use and good effect for old and hollow ulcers that are hard to be cured, and for cankers and sores in the mouth or privy parts of man or woman; and helps also the pains of the piles in the fundament. The juice mixed with oil of roses, and the temples and forehead anointed therewith, eases the pains of the head proceeding from heat, and helps lunatic and frantic persons very much; as also the biting of serpents, or a mad dog. The same also is profitably applied to all hot gouts in the feet or hands, especially in the beginning. It is also good to be applied where any bone is out of joint, to hinder inflammations, swellings, and pains that presently rise thereupon. The powder of the dried leaves taken in drink, kills worms of the belly; and boiled in wine, kills worms that breed in old and foul ulcers. One part of Plantain water, and two parts of the brine of powdered beef, boiled together and clarified, is a most sure remedy to heal all spreading scabs or itch in the head and body, all manner of tetters, ring-worms, the shingles, and all other running and fretting sores. Briefly, the Plantains are singularly good wound herbs, to heal fresh or old wounds or sores, either inward or outward. “                                           

  French psyllium has a number of botanical synonyms including Plantago psyllium, and Plantago indica,  both of these refer to this plant.

SMALL-FLOWERED CHASTE TREE: HEALTH BENEFITS AND USES OF VITEX PARVIFOLIA

SMALL-FLOWERED CHASTE TREE, MOLAVE, VITEX PARVIFOLIA

The chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus) is native to the Mediterranean region, while this is its close tropical relative. It is called Molave in the Philippines where it is a native. Native trees are also found in parts of Indonesia, but in other parts of the world it is believed to have been introduced. However it was listed in the IUCN Red list as Vulnerable in its native habitats in 1998 as it has been felled for its highly prized timber although there have been moves to replant trees which had been indiscriminately felled. The timber is prized in the tropics as it is termite and fungus resistant, making it valuable in the tropics.

  The tree is a medium height one which grows to between 30 and 38 metres high. It has smaller blue-lilac flowers than it Mediterranean relative, but is very attractive when in bloom and later the fruit appears, which is blue-black, and contains between one and four seeds.

  As a member of the Lamiaceae or Verbenaceae family it is also related to sage, lemon verbena, Prunella vulgaris (self-heal), Jupiter’s sage, horehound, Cretan dittany, Bugle, Peppermint, ground ivy, Scarlet Bee Balm, motherwort, wall or common germander, Fragrant Premna, the teak tree, marsh woundwort, white, purple and yellow dead nettles, Lantana camara or yellow sage and vervain, to name but a few of its relatives.

  The timber is used for a multitude of purposes including construction, houses, ship building, railway sleepers, and carving. The wood exudes a yellow resin-type substance when treated with lime and when the wood shavings are soaked in water a yellow weak dye is produced.

  The bark and wood are used in traditional systems of medicine in the Philippines and Indonesia, and in some parts of India where it is mixed with the bark of Terminalia cattapa or the Indian almond tree and used in baths for women who have just delivered a baby.

  It is used as a styptic, to heal damaged tissue in the form of a paste, and is mainly used as an emetic, to produce vomiting in cases of poisoning. For this purpose a decoction is made from the wood and the bark of the tree. The bark is also used in a decoction or infusion for diarrhoea, and in South East Asia it is used for stomach problems, anorexia, blindness, leprosy, intestinal worms and rheumatic swellings.

  The tree has now been planted in South America and other parts of the tropics in attempts to save it from extinction. The leaves are used as fodder and the timber for firewood. Hopefully this beautiful tree will be saved from the threat of extinction.