 Borage |
BORAGE BORAGO OFFICINALIS The leaves, flowers and seeds are good to expel pensiveness and melancholy. A hardy annual with prickly hairs, oval leaves and blue flowers. The stems grow to about 18 inches (46 cm) high. Where to find it: It is grown in gardens to attract bees and may be found wild on rubbish dumps and near houses. Flowering time: Early to midsummer. Astrology: Jupiter and Leo, great strengtheners of nature. Medicinal virtues: The leaves and roots are used to good purpose in putrid and pestilential fevers to defend the heart and to resist and to expel the poison or venom of other creatures. The seed and leaves are good to increase the milk in women's breasts. The juice made into a syrup is put with other cooling, opening and cleansing herbs to open obstructions and help the yellow jaundice. Mixed with Fumitory it helpeth the itch, ringworms and tetters, or other spreading scabs and sores. The distilled water helpeth the redness and inflammations of the eyes. The dried herb is never used, always the green. Modern uses. It is now classified as a diuretic with demulcent and emollient properties. French herbalists use it for colds, fevers and lung complaints such as bronchitis and pneumonia. An infusion of the leaves - 1 oz (28 g) to 1 pt (568 ml) of boiling water - is taken in doses Of 2 fl OZ (56 ml). A poultice is made from the leaves to reduce inflammatory swellings. The diuretic property of the infusion makes Borage useful in rheumatism. Recently, the oil from the seeds has been found to be a rich source of gamma linolenic acid (GLA), the same substance as in evening primrose oil, which is popularly used for a number of conditions including skin diseases such as eczema, and also for pre-menstrual tension and painful breasts, and migraine. Borage is also available as a homoeopathic medicine. |