SUN SPURGE  |
EUPHORBIA HELIOSCOPIA It provokes lust and heals numbness and stiffness of the privities proceeding from cold, by anointing. Sun Spurge belongs to a group of poisonous plants, some of which have been used medicinally, and are known as spurges. This plant has finely toothed, oval leaves and the root has many fibres. It produces small yellowish-green flowers. Where to find it: A native of Africa, but it grows in meadows elsewhere. Flowering time: Early summer to early autumn. Astrology: It is under Mars. Medicinal virtues: A plaster made of one part Sun Spurge to 12 parts oil, plus a little wax, heals all aches of the joints, lameness, palsies, cramps and shrinking of the sinews. Mixed with Oil of Bay and bear's grease, it cures scurvy and scalds in the head and restores lost hair. Applied with oil to the temples, it heals the lethargy, and by putting it to the nape of the neck, prevents the apoplexy. Mixed with vinegar it removes all blemishes in the skin, or with other ointrnents, heals the parts that are cold, and heals the sciatica. Taken inwardly, it frets the entrails, and scorches the whole body. For that reason it must be beaten small and tempered with something that lubricates and allays its heat, and then it purges water and phlegm. Pills of Sun Spurge help dropsy, pains in the loins and guts, but should only he given in desperate cases, as it operates violently. The oil of the plant snuffed up the nose purges the head of phlegm and is good in old and cold pains of the joints, liver and spleen. Modern uses: Owing to the poisonous nature of the Spurge family, they are not used in modern practice. Most of them taken internally are purgative or emetic. |