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SAXIFRAGE (Small Burnet) PIMPINELLA SAXIFRAGA The root dried and powdered stops purgings. This is a perennial, smaller and more slender than the previous variety, with reddish roots and stems, dented leaves and purple flowers in umbels. Where to find it: Dry, grassy places, and in gardens. It likes a well-drained soil. Flowering time: Early summer. Astrology. It is under the dominion of the Moon. Medicinal virtues: The whole plant is binding. The leaves put into wine give it a good flavour and the young shoots are eaten in salad. It is a promoter of sweat. A strong decoction of the root, or the juice of the leaves, is good to stop purgings. Modern uses: It aids digestion and tones the stomach. An infusion of the leaves is generally used in combination with other stomach remedies like Meadowsweet and Centaury. The fresh root is hot and peppery. It can be chewed to ease toothache. It is also useful to stop diarrhoea. A teaspoonful of the powdered root to a cup of boiling water, allowed to infuse and then drunk cold is good to cleanse the respiratory tract and stomach of mucus. It is diuretic and will expel stones from the bladder. The medicine can also be used as a gargle for sore throat and pharyngitis and applied to cuts and wounds to cleanse them and speed their healing. |