Calamint |
CALAMINT CALAMINTHA ASCENDENS (= MELISSA CALAMINTA) Let not women be too busy with it for it works very violently upon the feminine part. A small herb, it seldom rises above a foot (3o cm) high with square, hairy and woody stalks. The pale blueish flowers are like those of mints and the plant has a minty aroma. Where to find it: It grows on heaths and uplands and on dry ground. Flowering time: Midsummer. Astrology: A herb of Mercury and a strong one, too, therefore excellent in all afflictions of the brain. Medicinal virtues: The decoction of the herb bringeth down women's courses and provoketh urine. It is profitable for those that have ruptures or troubled with convulsions or cramps, with shortness of breath, or choleric torrnents and pains in their bellies or stomach. It helpeth those with yellow jaundice and, taken in wine, it stayeth vomiting. It helpeth such as have the leprosy and it hindereth conception in women. Applied to the buckle-bone, it will by continuance of time spend the humours that causeth the pain of sciatica. The juice dropped into the ears killeth worms in them. The leaves boiled in wine and drank provoke sweat and open obstructions of the liver and spleen. The decoction with some sugar is profitable for those troubled with the overflowing of the gall and that have an old cough or are scarce able to breathe. Modern uses: The herb is now regarded as an expectorant and is administered as a syrup or decoction. A syrup is made by adding honey or sugar to an infusion or decoction and heating until it thickens, or by adding a fluid extract to syrup made beforehand. A tea made from the dried leaves is helpful in flatulent colic. In this respect it is similar to taking a Mint tea, as the plant contains a camphor-like essential oil. Culpeper's warning should be heeded and, therefore, it should not be taken in pregnancy. |