all winter, is ¼ in. in diameter, containing usually eight bony seeds. The berry is edible but is nearly tasteless. It may be grown in the wild garden or as a tarrarium plant. Medicinal Part: The whole herb. Solvents: Dilute alcohol, boiling water. Bodily Influence: Astringent, Diuretic, Tonic, Parturient. Uses: One of several common herbs that the Indian squaw used weeks before confinement, in order to render parturient safe and easy. It is best to combine with other herbs, and advisable to consult a herbal physician of experience for safe, proper and effective preparation. In all urinary diseases it is highly beneficial; the berries are used for dysentery. Dose: 1 teaspoonful of the herb to 1 cupful of boiling water. Drink 1 – 2 cupfuls a day. Of the tincture, ¼ – ½ fl. dram. Externally: The berries are also highly spoken of as an ointment for sore nipples. The application is made by boiling a strong decoction of the leaves down to a thick liquid and then adding cream to it. Homoeopathic Clinical: Tincture of whole plant— Bladder( irritation of), Dysmenorrhoea, Dysuria, Kidney( pain in), Metritis.
PASSION FLOWER Passiflora incarnata, L.( N. O.: Passifloraceae)
Features: Passiflora is a genus of some 400 species, most of which are native to the New World tropics. The plants are mostly herbaceous or woody climbing, tendrilled vines. The striking flowers, often several inches across, have sepals on the rim of the cup, five petals and showy corona. The flower is almost white except for the purple centre and the blue crown banded in the middle. There are usually five stamens developed on a column above the perianth, and above these is the pistil, with three knob-like stigmas and an ovary bearing numerous ovules on three particular placentae. Spanish explorers and missionaries fancied it had a resemblance to the crown of thorns or to the halo of Christ, hence the name Passion flower. Medicinal Parts: Plant and flower. Solvent: Diluted alcohol. Bodily Influence: Anodyne, Nerve sedative, Diuretic, Antispasmodic. Uses: When in need of help for nervousness, without pain, such as unrest, agitation and exhaustion, Passiflora is helpful. It is useful in controlling convulsions, particularly in the young, as indicated by muscular twitching and also for asthenic insomnia in childhood and the elderly; irritative and neuralgic pains with debility, nervous headache, hysteria, spasms such as epilepsy, etc. When these are present Passion flower tones the sympathetic nerve centre, improving circulation and nutrition to the centres. It is given by physico-medicalists in cases usually placed under bromide medication. The result will be a more restful sleep and a feeling of freshness on awaking.