Medicinal Shrubs and Woody Vines: Hypericum, Saint John’s Wort part 2

Maria Treben tells us:

This plant grows in meadows, hedges, woodlands and on roadsides. It reaches a height of 60 cm., is much branched and its golden-yellow flowers, grouped in umbels, are easily recognized by the red juice they yield, when pressed between the fingers. The flowering plant is gathered for infusions and baths, the just opened flowers for the preparation of St. John's Wort oil.

Old Christian beliefs connected the fragrant, red juice of the flowers with the blood and wounds of Jesus Christ. The fact is that St. John's Wort oil is the best wound oil, it soothes the pain, is anti-inflammatory and healing. Legends dedicate this herb to Saint John the Baptist.

In earlier times, maidens twisted garlands of St. John's Wort and wore them, dancing around the fires on Saint John's day. ln this mysterious night, branches of the herb were thrown into the water to show the maidens who would be their suitor in the next year.

According to an old custom, the farmers in upper Austria fed St. John's Wort, placed between 2 layers of bread, to the animals to keep them free from all diseases. In these days it is done only rarely.

St. John's Wort tea is used for injured nerves and nervous affections, for injuries caused by a blow as well as a consequence of strain.

For trigeminal neuralgia, two to three cups of St. John's Wort tea are sipped daily and he affected area is rubbed with St. John's Wort oil. A tincture of St. John's Wort, easily prepared, is described as, Arnica of the nerves" and is effectively used for nervous complaints, neuritis, neurosis, sleeplessness and nervous debility.

Speech disorders, fitful sleep, hysterics, sleeps walking are remedied with St. John's Wort, as well as bed wetting and depressions. My experiences show that for all these disorders, besides the use of the tea internally, sitz baths can be very beneficial (see "directions"). 1 sitz bath a week, followed by 6 consecutive foot baths. This course of treatment is recommended for all nervous complaints.

Girls during puberty should drink 2 cups of this tea daily for a length of time. lt strengthens the female organs and promotes regular menstruation.

A much valued natural remedy is St. John's Wort oil. No home should be without it. It is easily prepared (see "directions") and keeps its healing properties for two years. lt is not only used for open wounds, fresh wounds, contusions and glandular swellings and as an effective massage oil, it relieves sore backs, lumbago, sciatica and rheumatism. To have an effective remedy for burns and scads, the flowers are macerated in linseed oil. This oil is also used for sunburn. 

Babies, suffering from abdominal pain, are easily soothed by gently rubbing their tummy with St. John's Wort oil. I know a farmer's wife who uses this oil for all injuries, even on the animals. Her husband once hurt his hand badly in a machine. Compresses made of St. John's Wort soon eased the pain and the wound healed without problem. Another farmer treated his horse's external foot-injury with this oil.

A doctor diagnosed a swelling of the lymphatic gland in the abdomen of an 8 year old girl. Every time she was affected by the cold, internally or externally, she suffered from abdominal pain, especially in the morning. Her mother read that St. John's Wort oil is used successfully for all glandular swellings. Therefore she rubbed the child's stomach with this oil, every time she complained of pain, with success.

DIRECTIONS

INFUSION: 1 heaped teaspoon per ¼ litre of boiling water, infused for a short time.

OIL: The flowers, picked in the sun, are placed loosely in a bottle and fine olive oil is poured over them. The flowers have to be covered. Well stoppered, the bottle is left to stand in the sun or near the stove for a few weeks. After a time the oil becomes red. lt is strained through a cloth, the residue well pressed out and stored in dark bottles. For burns and scalds, linseed oil can be used instead of olive oil.

TINCTURE: 2 handfuls of flowers, picked in the sun, are macerated in 1 litre of rye whiskey or vodka for 3 weeks, in the sun or in a warm place.

SITZ BATH: A bucketful St. John's Wort (stems, leaves and flowers) is steeped in cold water overnight. Everything is brought to the boil the next morning and the liquid added to the bath water. The bath should last for 20 minutes (see General Information "Sitz Bath").

The Ashkenazi Jews used Saint John’s Wort:

As in other parts of the Soviet Union, between the world wars traditional healers in the Pale relied on Hypericum perforatum as a remedy for many of the ailments their communities suffered.  Out of almost one hundred towns and villages examined between the wars, the vast majority reported medicinal knowledge of St. John’s Wort, attesting to the herb’s important role in Eastern European folk healer’s repertoire.  The herb was commonly found in meadows, on hills and among the shrubs of Ukraine.

In Letichev, Ashkenazi traditional healers treated skin disorders with the herb.

Folk healers relied on preparations of St. John’s Wort to treat various intestinal ailments and kidney troubles in almost twenty settlements…. Those same folk healers, plus several others… most likely feldshers, treated cases of diarrhea and bloody diarrhea using preparations of St. John’s Wort…

The plant tops with flowers were used for respiratory ailments such as cough and shortness of breath, pneumonia and lung diseases…

For kidney, blood and metabolic diseases, healers in Shvartz-Timeh, Savran, and Bizrula turned to this herb.

For headaches caused by anemia or dizziness, a decoction of the herb either washed the hair of both the young and old afflicted with this ailment or was given as a drink…

If a person or a cow was bitten by a mad dog in Bazilia, a decoction of St. John’s Wort was given to help cure the infection.

… an ointment was prepared for head colds.

A plant tincture was used for washing wounds…

 Fresh or festering sores in Khelnik were treated with an ointment that combined the fresh or dried flowers  with better and was applied locally.

The most interesting applications of St. John’s Wort in the Pale are the remedies for nervous system conditions.  These treatments seem to anticipate contemporary research done in the last part of the 20th century that highlights the plant’s ability to calm anxiety and depression.

In Poland, Saint John’s Wort seems to have been as much as popular deterrent to evil spirits as a medicinal remedy:

Hung in a window, it protected a house against lightning.  Up until the 20th century, it was also believed to protect new mothers and infants against evil spirits when tucked into crevices and the chimney of the house.  For this same reason, the midwife often tucked a sprig of the plant under a new mother's pillow and hung some around the neck of the infant until the child’s first bath.  This was especially true in and around the rural countryside of Krakow.  By the 16th century, it was used as a diuretic and for healing wounds, burns and ulcers.  The fresh flowers were soaked in spirytus and applied to new wounds as well as old ones refusing to heal.

A Russian Herbal tells us:

According to an old Russian proverb, “It is as impossible to make bread without flour as it is to heal people without St. John's Wort.”  This herb was so popular in early Russia that Czar Michael I issued a special order that no less than one hundred pounds of this herb be collected each year to be delivered to the court.

The Cherokee used two varieties of Hypericum:

Hypericum hypericoides: To give babies strength, bathe them in a warm or cold root tea.  “Some babies will walk at eight or nine months with this.”  Make a tea with as much as you can hold in your hand To break a fever, drink this and go to bed.  For snakebite.

Hypericum perforatum: The top leaves are made into a tea for bloody flux.  Beat roots fine and make a cold root tea.  Drink as much as you can for bowel complaint.  

The Lumbee also used this herb:

This plant was called yupha tacit ne, or racoon tree leaves, in the traditional Lumbee language.  Mr. Vernon Cooper, a Lumbee healer, made a tonic using Saint John the Worker by combining the male and female varieties (small and larger plants) so that they could be used by either men or women.  He suggested that “early stage” of diabetes individuals use this tonic.  For “later stages” of diabetes, Mr. Cooper called “sugar in the bone” or neuritis, he would occasionally use Saint John the Worker, Wild Cherry bark, and Ground huckleberry.  He also used a tonic of the female variety of Saint John the Worker to treat “body trouble in women.”  The Cherokee make an infusion of Saint John the Worker to be sniffed up the nose to treat nosebleed.  The Alabama used a tea made from the entire plant to treat dysentery.

Resources of The Southern Fields and Forests tells us:

Hypericum  Perforatum  (Johnswort).

Astringent,  sedative  ami  diuretic.  It  is  beneficially  administered  in  suppression  of  urine,  chronic  urinary  affections,  diarrhea,  dysentery,  worms,  jaundice,  menorrhagia,  hysteria  and  hemoptysis.  Externally  applied  to  caked  breasts,  hard  tumors  and  eccbymosis,  it  proves  of  service. 

Fluid  Extract — Dose:  i  to  1  dram. 

King’s American Dispensatory of 1898 states:

St. John's wort is an herb abundantly growing in this country and Europe, and proving exceedingly annoying to farmers. The flowers appear from June to August. It has a peculiar, terebinthine odor, and a balsamic, bitterish, rather astringent taste. It imparts its properties to water, alcohol, ether, oils, or alkaline solutions. Other species of Hypericum are possessed of medicinal properties, notably the Hypericum sarothra, Michaux, pine-weed or orange-grass, growing in sands, which has aperient qualities. An allied plant, the Ascyrum crux-Andreae, Linné, or St. Andrew's cross, has been locally applied to glandular indurations and swellings. Hypericum contains a volatile oil, a resin, tannic acid and coloring matter (Blair, Amer. Jour. Pharm., Vol. II, p. 23). Pectin is also present. The red coloring principle is a resinous body known as hypericum red. The odor of this principle is similar to that of the flowers. Karl Dieterich (Pharm. Centralh., 1891, p. 683) macerated the flowers with 90 per cent alcohol, and obtained a tincture of a rich red color, containing a mixture of two coloring matters, a yellow principle soluble in petroleum ether, and a red coloring matter, insoluble in this solvent. The red principle, in solid form, was a resinous mass of a green lustre, soluble in alcohol with red color, and resembling carthamin red; insoluble in fatty, but soluble in ethereal oils. Acids dissolve it with red, alkalies, chloroform, benzol and carbon disulphide with green color. The substance does not possess any advantage over other indicators in alkalimetry. When exposed to air in thin layers, it turns greenish at once. The aqueous extractive matter of the flowers contains calcium, magnesium, potassium, and oxalic, sulphuric and carbonic acids.

Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Astringent, sedative, and diuretic. Used in suppression of the urine, chronic urinary affections, in diarrhoea, dysentery, worms, jaundice, menorrhagia, hysteria, nervous affections with depression, hemoptysis, and other hemorrhages. Hypericum has undoubted power over the nervous system, and particularly the spinal cord. Homoeopathic physicians regard it as the arnica of that structure. It is used in injuries of the spine and in lacerated and punctured wounds of the limbs to prevent tetanic complications and to relieve the excruciating pains of such injuries (Scudder). It is highly valued by Webster in spinal irritation when, upon gentle pressure upon the spinous processes of the vertebrae, burning pain is elicited. Throbbing of the whole body in nervous individuals, fever being absent, is said to be a good indication for hypericum. The usual method of administration is: Rx Tincture of hypericum, gtt. x to xxx; aqua, fl℥iv. Mix. Sig. Teaspoonful every 1 or 2 hours. Externally, hypericum may be used in fomentation, or used as an ointment for dispelling hard tumors, caked breasts, bruises, ecchymosis, swellings, ulcers, etc. The blossoms, infused in sweet oil or bear's oil, by means of exposure to the sun, make a fine, red balsamic ointment for wounds, ulcers, swellings, tumors, etc. A very excellent ointment for tumors, ecchymosed conditions, etc., may be made by adding to 1 pound of lard, ½ pound of the recent tops and flowers of St. John's wort, and ½ pound of fresh stramonium leaves; bruise all together, expose to a gentle heat for an hour, and strain. Dose of the powder, from ½ to 2 drachms; of the infusion, from 1 to 2 fluid ounces. The dose of the strong tincture is from ½ to 10 minims. Ɣ The saturated tincture of the fresh herb (℥viii to alcohol, 76 per cent, Oj) is nearly as valuable as that of arnica for bruises, etc., and may be substituted for it in many instances.

Specific Indications and Uses.—Spinal injuries, shocks, or concussions; throbbing of the whole body without fever; spinal irritation, eliciting tenderness and burning pain upon slight pressure; spinal injuries, and lacerated and punctured wounds of the extremities, with excruciating pain; hysteria; locally to wounds, contusions, etc.

Jethro Kloss wrote:

ST. JOHN’S WORT (Hypericum perforatum) 

Common Names: Johnswort, goat weed, amber, 

Klamath weed. 

HERBS USED TO TREAT DISEASE 189 

Part Used: Tops, flowers. 

Medicinal Properties: Aromatic, nervine, astringent, resolvent, sedative, diuretic, vulnerary. 

Description and Uses: Powerful as a blood purifier. Very good for tumors and boils, as well as for chronic uterine troubles, pains following childbirth, suppressed urine, diarrhea, dysentery, and jaundice. Will correct irregular menstruation. Good in hysteria and nervous afflictions. Excellent for pus in the urine. Good used externally as fomentations or as an ointment for caked breasts, all wounds, ulcers, and old sores. Will correct bed-wetting in children when proper diet 

is given. The seeds steeped in boiling water will expel congealed blood from the stomach. For this purpose, use a heaping teaspoonful of the seeds to a cup of boiling water and take a mouthful several times a day. 

Caution: May be toxic. Use with care under competent medical supervision. 

Plants for A Future states:

Medicinal use of St. John's Wort: St. John's wort has a long history of herbal use. It fell out of favour in the nineteenth century but recent research has brought it back to prominence as an extremely valuable remedy for nervous problems. In clinical trials about 67% of patients with mild to moderate depression improved when taking this plant. The flowers and leaves are analgesic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, aromatic, astringent, cholagogue, digestive, diuretic, expectorant, nervine, resolvent, sedative, stimulant, vermifuge and vulnerary. The herb is used in treating a wide range of disorders, including pulmonary complaints, bladder problems, diarrhoea and nervous depression. It is also very effectual in treating overnight incontinence of urine in children. Externally, it is used in poultices to dispel herd tumours, caked breasts, bruising etc. The flowering shoots are harvested in early summer and dried for later use. Use the plant with caution and do not prescribe it for patients with chronic depression. The plant was used to procure an abortion by some native North Americans, so it is best not used by pregnant women. See also the notes above on toxicity. A tea or tincture of the fresh flowers is a popular treatment for external ulcers, burns, wounds (especially those with severed nerve tissue), sores, bruises, cramps etc. An infusion of the flowers in olive oil is applied externally to wounds, sores, ulcers, swellings, rheumatism etc. It is also valued in the treatment of sunburn and as a cosmetic preparation to the skin. The plant contains many biologically active compounds including rutin, pectin, choline, sitosterol, hypericin and pseudohypericin. These last two compounds have been shown to have potent anti-retroviral activity without serious side effects and they are being researched in the treatment of AIDS. A homeopathic remedy is made from the fresh whole flowering plant. It is used in the treatment of injuries, bites, stings etc and is said to be the first remedy to consider when nerve-rich areas such as the spine, eyes, fingers etc are injured.

Peterson Field Guides Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants tells us:

Fresh flowers in tea, tincture, or olive oil, once a popular domestic medicine for treatment of external ulcers, wounds (especially those with severed nerve tissue), sores, cuts, bruises, etc.  Tea a folk remedy for bladder ailments, depression, dysentery, diarrhea, worms.  Experimentally, sedative, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial.  Contains the biologically active compounds choline, pectin, rutin, sitosterol, hypericin and pseudohypericin have potent anti-retroviral activity, without serious side effects.  Being researched for AIDS treatments.  Warning: Taken internally or externally, hypericin may cause photodermatitis (skin burns) on sensitive people exposed to light.

PS. New in my Woodcraft Shop:

Cooking Spoon #4

This article is an excerpt from 

Medicinal Shrubs and Woody Vines of The American Southeast An Herbalist's Guide

Read about Medicinal Shrubs and Woody Vines of The American Southeast An Herbalist's Guide: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/06/medicinal-shrubs-and-woody-vines-of.html

Available for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2T4Y5L6: by Judson Carroll

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Author: Judson Carroll. Judson Carroll is an Herbalist from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

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Disclaimer

The information on this site is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. Nothing on this site has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I am not a doctor. The US government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine and their is no governing body regulating herbalists. Therefore, I'm just a guy who studies herbs. I am not offering any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write is accurate or true! I can tell you what herbs have "traditionally been used for." I can tell you my own experience and if I believe an herb helped me. I cannot, nor would I tell you to do the same. If you use any herb I, or anyone else, mentions you are treating yourself. You take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals and no two are identical. What works for me may not work for you. You may have an allergy, sensitivity or underlying condition that no one else shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. By continuing to read my blog you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices and not to blame me for anything, ever.