Papaya - a world class meat tenderizer, natural digestive aid, prevents ulcers, and also a soft contact lense cleaner.Vervain
Joy of a Healer
Family: Verbenaceae; (includes Teak, Lantana)
Genus and Species: Verbena Officinalis (European); V. Hastata (American)
Also known as: Simpler’s Joy, Blue Vervain, Verbena, Herb-of-the-cross, Enchanter’s Herb, Indian Hyssop
Parts used: Leaves, flowers, roots
During the Middle Ages, Healing herbs were often called simples, and herbalists simplers. Vervain was prescribed so frequently for so many conditions, it became known as simpler’s joy. The name has some basis in fact. Vervain appears to act like a mild aspirin, helping to relieve minor pains and inflammations.
Herb-of-the-Cross
In Egyptian mythology, vervain grew from the tears of Isis, goddess of fertility, as she grieved for her murdered brother-husband, Osiris. A thousand years later, vervain entered Christian mythology as the herb pressed into Christ’s wounds to stanch his bleeding, hence its name herb-of-the-cross.
Hippocrates recommended vervain for fever and plague.
The court physician to Roman Emperor Theodosius the Great prescribed it for tumors of the throat (probably goiters). His fanciful prescription advised cutting vervain root into two pieces, tying one around the patient’s throat and hanging the other over a fire. As the heat and smoke shriveled the hanging root, the tumor was supposed to shrink.
The Romans spread vervain throughout Europe, where it became especially popular among the Druids of pre-Christian England, who used it in magic spells, hence its name enchanter’s herb.
German abbess/herbalist Hildegard of Bingen prescribed a decoction of vervain and vermouth for “toxic blood [infections], toothache, [and] discharges from the brain to the teeth.”
Our word vervain comes from the Celtic ferfaen-from fer, to drive away, and faen, a stone-a reference to its traditional use in treating kidney stones.
Medieval Acne Treatment
During the Middle Ages, vervain became a popular acne remedy. Those with pimples stood outside at night holding a handful of the herb wrapped in a cloth. When a shooting star passed, they rubbed the cloth over their pimples and the blemishes were supposed to disappear.
From acne, vervain evolved into a treatment for other skin problems. Seventeenth-century herbalist Nicholas Culpeper wrote: “The leaves bruised, or the juice mixed with vinegar, does wonderfully cleanse the skin, and take away morphew [dandruff).” Culpeper also recommended vervain to treat jaundice, gout, cough, wheezing, bleeding gums, shortness of breath, fever, plague, gravel (kidney stones), dropsy (congestive heart failure), and “used with hog grease, it helps with swellings and pains of the secret parts [genitals].”
Remedy for War Wounds
Colonists introduced European vervain into North America, and it quickly went wild. They also found the Indians using native American vervain, also known as Indian hyssop, to treat fever and gastrointestinal complaints and to clear cloudy urine.
During the Revolutionary War, military physicians used vervain extensively to relieve pain, loosen bronchial mucus, and induce vomiting. More than a century later, the Eclectics recommended it for fever, colds, cough, intestinal worms, menstrual irregularity, bruises, and as a tonic “during convalescence from acute diseases.”
Contemporary herbalists recommend vervain as a tranquilizer, expectorant, menstruation promoter, and treatment for headache, fever, depression, seizures, wounds, dental cavities, and gum disease.