Herbs & Herbal Remedies @ Green Papaya

For Tension and Insomnia

Family; Passifloraceae; (includes Granadilla, Sweet Calabash, Jamaican Honeysuckle)

Genus and Species; Passiflora Incarnata

Also known as; Maypop, Apricot Vine, Water Lemon

Parts used: Leaves

In the mid-1560s high in the Peruvian Andes, 20 years after Francisco Pizarro had brutally suppressed the Incas’ last rebellion and forced their conversion to Christianity, Dr. Nicholas Monardes of Seville suffered a guilty conscience for the carnage his countrymen had wrought. He searched the highlands for some sign of divine approval of the Spanish conquest and found it in a vine with a large, beautiful blossom with parts that seemed to evoke the Passion of the Crucifixion.

To Dr. Monardes, the plant’s three styles represented the three nails of the Cross. Its ovary looked like a hammer. Its corona evoked the crown of thorns. And its 10 petals suggested the 10 true apostles (the original 12 minus Judas, the betrayer, and Peter. who denied Christ). Monardes christened the vine passionflower.

Some misinformed herbalists recommend passionflower tea as an aphrodisiac, mistaking the Passion of the Cross for another kind of passion This herb has no sex-stimulant effect. Quite the contrary. It’s a potential mild tranquilizer and sedative and may be good for treating anxiety, stress, insomnia, and possibly for prevention of heart attack.

Gulf Coast Cure

The Incas brewed a tonic tea from passionflower The herb’s pleasant taste and its Christian symbolism quickly turned its leaves into a popular item in Europe, where it was used as a tranquilizer and mild sedative.

When colonists settled the American Gulf Coast, they found the Indians there using passionflower tea to soothe their nerves. The Indians also used its crushed leaves in poultices on cuts and bruises. Southerners adopted passionflower as both an ornamental and medicinal vine. But it remained a folk remedy until 1839, when two Gulf Coast Eclectic physicians touted it in the New Orleans Medical Journal as a nonnarcotic sedative and digestive aid.

The 19th-century Eclectics adopted passionflower as “an important remedy” for insomnia, restlessness, menstrual discomforts, diarrhea, epilepsy, and whooping cough. They also prescribed passionflower leaf juice externally for burns, scalds, wounds, and toothache.

Contemporary herbalists recommend passionflower primarily as a tranquilizer and sedative. In Weiner’s Herhal, Michael Weiner, Ph.D., writes it “may be our best tranquilizer.” Herbalists also consider it a digestive aid and pain reliever.

Passionflower was recognized as a tranquilizer/sedative in the National Formulary from 1916 to 1936. In 1978, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned it from sleep aids for lack of proven effectiveness.

The FDA had a reasonable argument in 1978 before this herb had been more extensively researched, but the agency has apparently not kept up with recent findings.

Tranquilizer, Sedative - Passionflower contains substances that are potentially tranquilizing (rnaltol. ethyl-maltol, and flavonoids), as well as substances that are potentially stimulating (harmala chemicals). Various researchers have concluded the herb has “complex activity” on the central nervous system with an overall mild tranquilizing/sedative effect despite the presence of stimulants. In Europe, passionflower is an ingredient in many tranquilizing and sedative preparations. It’s non-narcotic, so there’s no need for a prescription, and there’s no possibility of addiction.

Digestive Aid - Passionflower may relax the smooth muscle lining of the digestive tract, making it an antispasmodic, thus lending credence to its traditional use as a digestive aid.

Women’s Health - Antispasmodics relax not only the digestive tract but other smooth muscles, such as the uterus, as well, lending credence to passionflower’s traditional use for menstrual discomforts.

Wound Treatment - One study suggests passionflower helps relieve pain. Two others show it kills many diseasecausing molds, fungi, and bacteria, supporting its Indian and Eclectic use in wound treatment.

Intriguing Possibilities - In animal studies, the harmala chemicals in passionflower open (dilate) the coronary arteries. Blocked coronary arteries result in heart attack, so the herb might help prevention. Heart disease is a serious condition requiring professional care. If you’d like to incorporate passionflower into your overall treatment plan, do so only with the approval and supervision of your physician.

Rx for Passionflower

For possible first aid in the garden, crush a few passionflower leaves and flowers onto minor cuts on the way to washing and bandaging them.

For a pleasant-tasting infusion that may help you relax, fall asleep, or help deal with heart disease, use I teaspoon of dried leaves per cup of boiling water. Steep 10 to 15 minutes.

For insomnia, drink a cup before bed. For other uses, drink up to 3 cups a day.

In a tincture, use ¼ to I teaspoon up to three times a day. Passionflower should not be given to children under age 2. For older children and people over 65, start with low-strength preparations and increase strength if necessary.

The medical literature contains no reports of harm from passionflower. However, the harmala compounds in passionflower are uterine stimulants. Whole passionflower has not been associated with miscarriage, but prudence suggests pregnant women stay away from an herb with such complex effects on the central nervous system.

Some sources warn passionflower contains cyanide, a potent poison. This is a botanical error. Ornamental blue passionflower (P. caerulea) contains the poison. The Healing herb, P. incarnata, does not. When buying passionflower, check to make sure it’s P. incarnata.

Other Cautions

For otherwise healthy non-pregnant, non-nursing adults who are not taking other tranquilizers or sedatives, passionflower is considered safe in amounts typically recommended.

Passionflower should be used in medicinal amounts only in consultation with your doctor. If passionflower causes minor discomforts, such as stomach upset or diarrhea, use less or stop using it. Let your doctor know if you experience unpleasant effects or if the symptoms for which the herb is being used do not improve significantly in two weeks.

Divine Vine

Passionflower has a perennial root with fast-growing, climbing, annual tendrils that may reach 30 feet before succumbing to frost. Passionflower’s leaves are dull green, 4 to 6 inches long, and deeply divided into three to five lobes with serrated edges. Its sweet-scented white flowers are 3 inches across and tinged with purple They bloom in May, hence the name maypops, and produce egg-sized yellow or orange edible fruits, the source of the names apricot vine and water lemon.

Passionflower grows easily from seeds, cuttings, or root runners divided in autumn. It prefers rich, slightly acidic, wellwatered, well-drained loam in locations with plenty of light but shaded from strong, direct summer sun. The perennial root is hardy but may not survive temperatures below -15°F. The vine tendrils need something to climb-a fence or trellis.

Harvest the leaves around the time the flowers bloom.

When generously watered, the fruits are edible and sweet.