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HYSSOP HYSSOPUS OFFICINALIS It amends and cherishes the native colour of the body spoiled by the yellow jaundice. This Hyssop grows to about a foot (3o cm) or more high, with many stalks, square at first, but becoming round as they come to flower. The leaves are long and narrow, and the blue flowers grow in long spikes. Where to find it: It is cultivated in gardens. Flowering time: Late summer. Astrology: The herb is Jupiter's and the sign Cancer. Medicinal virtues: Hyssop boiled with honey and Rue, and drank, helps those that are troubled with coughs, shortness of breath, wheezing and rheumatic distillations upon the lungs. Taken with Oxymel, it purges gross humours by stool. With honey it kills worms in the belly; and with fresh new figs bruised, helps to loosen the belly - more forcibly if Fleur-de-lys and Cresses be added. It is an excellent medicine for quinsy, or swelling in the throat if used as a gargle. The head anointed with the oil, kills lice. It is good for falling-sickness, expectorates tough phlegm and is effectual in all cold griefs or diseases of the chest and lungs when taken as a syrup. Modern uses: I t is mainly used as a cough and chest medicine. An infusion of the dried herb - i oz (28 g) to i pt (568 ml) of boiling water - is taken in doses Of 2 fl Oz (56 ml) three or four times a day. It can he combined in equal parts with other cough remedies such as Horehound and Colt's Foot. In addition to its pectoral properties, Hyssop is also useful in fevers, if the infusion is drunk frequently so that perspiration is induced. As a stimulant, Hyssop increases blood circulation and reduces blood pressure. Fluid extracts, tinctures and syrups are available from herbalists. |
