Medicinal Shrubs: Sabal Palmetto, Palmetto and Salicornia, Glasswort

Sabal Palmetto, Palmetto

Four varieties of Sabal have been found useful in Herbal Medicine: Sabal etonia - Scrub Palmetto, Sabal mexicana - Mexican Palmetto Synonym: Sabal texana, Sabal minor - Bush Palmetto Synonym: Sabal adansonii, Sabal palmetto - Cabbage Palmetto

Only one shrub-form variety is native to my region, Sabal minor (Dwarf Palmetto).

Plants for A Future states:

Medicinal use of Cabbage Palmetto: The berries or seeds have been used in the treatment of grass sickness, low fever, headaches and weight loss.

The PDR for Herbal Medicine tells us:

In human studies, Saw Palmetto’s mechanism of action in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia may have multiple sites of action and involves antiandrogenic, anti testosterone and estrogenic properties. Saw Palmetto has historically been used as a treatment for prostate enlargement and chronic cystitis as well as a mild diuretic.

Salicornia, Glasswort

Seven varieties of Salicornia have documented use in Herbal MedicineL Salicornia ambigua, Salicornia bigelovii - Dwarf Glasswort, Salicornia europaea - Glasswort, Salicornia quinqueflora - Chicken Claws, Salicornia rubra - Red Glasswort, Salicornia utahensis - Utah Pickleweed, Salicornia virginica - Virginia Glasswort

Only one variety is native to my region, Salicornia virginica (Virginia Glasswort).

Gerard wrote of Glasswort:

A. A little quantity of the herb taken inwardly, doth not only mightily provoke urine, but in like sort casteth forth the dead child. It draweth forth by siege waterish humours, and purgeth away the dropsy.

B. A great quantity taken is mischievous and deadly. The smell and smoke also of this herb being burnt doth drive away serpents.

C. The ashes are likewise tempered with those medicines that serve to take away scabs and filth off the skin: it easily consumeth proud and superfluous flesh that groweth in poisonsome ulcers, as Avicenna and Serapio report.

D. We read in the copies of Serapio, that Glasswort is a tree so great, that a man may stand under the shadow thereof. but it is very like, that this error proceeded rather from the interpreter, than from the author himself.

E. The flower of crystal, or (as they commonly term it, sandiver) doth wonderfully dry. It easily taketh away scabs and manginess, if the foul parts be washed and bathed with the water wherein it is boiled.

Culpepper wrote:

This Saltwort, Glasswort, or Kali grows usually with but one upright, round, thick, and almost transparent stalk, a foot high or more; thick set and full of joints or knots, without any leaves; the joints shooting forth one out of another, with short pods at the heads of them, and such like smaller branches on each side which are divided into other smaller ohnes; it is thought to bear neither flower nor seed; the root is small, long, and thready. Some other kinds there are differeing somewhat in the form of the joints, and one kind wholly reddish, and differing from the other in nothing else. There are four kinds of Saltwort, or Glasswort, described by Parkinson, viz. 1. Kali Majus Cochleaturm, Great Glasswort. 2. Kali Minus Album, Small Glasswort. 3. Kali Ægypttiacum, Glasswort of Egypt. 4. Kali Geniculatum, five Salicornia, jointed Glasswort.

Place. The first and third are absolutely strangers in our countries, but grow in Syria, Egypt, Italy, and Spain: the second grows, not only in those countries but in colder climates, upon many places of our own coasts, especially of the west country. The last generally grows in all countries, in many places of our sea-coast where the salt water overflows.

Time. They all flourish in the summer, and those that perish give their seed in August, or later; the last abides all the winter.

Government and virtues. All sorts of saltwort, or glasswort, are under the dominion of Mars, and are of a cleansing quality, without any great or manifest heat; the powder of any of them, or the juice, which is much better, taken in drink, purges downwards phlegmatic, waterish, melancholy, and adust humours, and is therefore very effectual for the dropsy, to provoke urine, and expel the dead child. It opens stoppings of the liver and spleen, and wastes the hardness thereof; but it must be used with discretion, as a great quantity is hurtful and dangerous.

The ashes are very sharp and biting, like a cuastic, and the lye that is made thereof is so strong that it will fetch off the skin from the hands, or any part of the body; but ay be mixed with other more moderate medicines, to take aay scabs, leprosy, and to cleanse the skin. The powder of stones and the ashes hereof being melted is the composition of which glass is made, which, when it glows in the furnace, casts up a fat matter on the top, and, when cold, becomes fat and brittle, and is then called sandiver.

It works much to the same effect with the herb and ashes, and is often used in powder to blow into horses eyes, or, being dissolved, to be squirted at them, in order to take away any superflous film or skin beginning to grow thereon; both of them likewise serve to dry up running sores, scabs, tetters, ringworms, and to help the itch.

Mrs. Grieve tells us:

Many species of the genera Salsola, Suaeda and Salicornia belonging to Chenopodiaceae are rich in soda and were formerly much employed in making both soap and glass, hence the name Glasswort. Large quantities of the ashes of these plants were formerly imported from southern Europe and northern Africa under the name of Barilla, the chief sources being Salsola Kali (Linn.) and Salsola Soda (Linn.), the Spanish Salsola sativa (Loft) and S. tragus (Linn.). On the introduction of Le Blanc's process of obtaining soda from common salt, the importance of Barilla as an article of commerce ceased.

Our native plant, the Jointed Glasswort (Salicornia herbacea, Linn.), was, as its name implies, also regarded as of value in the manufacture of glass.

Description---It is a low-growing, annual herb, common in salt marshes and on muddy seashores all round the British Islands and was much used for this purpose. It has no leaves, but is formed of cylindrical, jointed branches of a light green colour, smooth, very succulent and full of a salt, bitterish juice, its minute flowers produced in threes in little pits in the axils of the branches.

The whole plant is greedily devoured by cattle for its saltish taste. Steeped in malted vinegar, the tender shoots make a good pickle and were often used as a substitute for Samphire in those parts of the coast where the latter did not abound, on which account the plant is also called Marsh Samphire. Sir Thomas More, enumerating the useful native plants that would improve 'many a poor knave's pottage' if he were skilled in their properties, says that 'Glasswort might afford him a pickle for his mouthful of salt meat.'

Parkinson relates a theory in connexion with Glasswort in his days:

'If the soap that is made of the lye of the ashes be spread upon a piece of thicke coarse brown paper cut into the forme of their shooe sole that are casually taken speechless and bound to the soles of their feete, it will bring again the speech and that within a little time after the applying thereof if there be any hope of being restored while they live: this hath been tried to be effectuall upon diverse persons.'

There are references in the Bible to the uses of Glasswort for soap and for glass.

The Prickly Glasswort (Salsola Kali, Linn.) has a thick, round, brittle stem, with few, rigid leaves of a bluish-green colour and small, yellow flowers.

Medicinal Action and Uses---The juice of the fresh plant was said to be an excellent diuretic, the twisted seed-vessels having the same virtue and being given in infusion.

The whole plant was likewise burnt for its fixed salt used in making glass.

Plants for A Future states:

Medicinal use of Virginia Glasswort: The plant has been used externally in the treatment of arthritic pain, rheumatism, aches, pains and swellings.

This article is an excerpt from 

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

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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.