( Oleaceae) comprising approximately fifty species. The common privet( L. vulgare), with its numerous cultivated varieties, is hardy in the north, is planted as a hedge plant and is locally naturalized in eastern North America, from New England to Virginia and Ohio. Found growing in wild woods and thickets. This smooth shrub is 5 – 6 in. high, the leaves are dark green, 1 – 2 in. in length, about half as wide, entire, smooth, lanceolate, and on short petioles. The small, white and numerous flowers show themselves in June and July; the spherical black berries are ripe in August and September. The bark is said to be as effective as the leaves and contains sugar, marnnite, starch, bitter resin, bitter extractive, albumen, salts and a peculiar substance called ligustrin. Medicinal Part: The leaves. Solvents: Boiling water, dilute alcohol. Uses: A decoction of the leaves is valuable in chronic bowel complaints, ulcerations of the stomach and bowels, or as a gargle for ulcers of mouth and throat and where there is bleeding of either bowel or mouth. Useful in diarrhoea and summer complaints of children; as a decoction for offensive ulcerated ears with offensive discharges and excessive flow of urine. A solution as a vaginal douche is toning to the tissue and will expel offensive discharge. Of the decoction, 1 teaspoonful to 1 cupful of boiling water, ½ cupful three times a day. Of the powder, 15 – 20 grains.
PYROLA Pyrola rotundifolia, L.( N. O.: Pyrolaceae)
Common Names: False Wintergreen, Shin Leaf, Canker Lettuce. Pear Leaf Pyrola. Features: There are several kinds of Pyrola growing in North America: Green pyrola( Pyrola vivens), Pink pyrola( Pyrola asarifolia), Shin leaf( Pyrola elliptica) and Round leaved pyrola( Pyrola rotundifolia), which is the one most used in herbal practice. Pyrola is common in damp and shady woods in various parts of the United States.
The herb is a low perennial evergreen. The leaves are radical, ovate, nearly 2 in. in diameter, smooth, shining and thick, resembling Pipsissewa( Chimaphila umbellata) and used similarly. The petioles are much longer than the leaf. The large, white, fragrant and drooping flowers are many and in blossom from June to July. The fruit is a five-celled many-seeded capsule. Medicinal Part: Whole plant. Solvent: Boiling water. Bodily Influence: Astringent, Diuretic, Tonic, Antispasmodic. Uses: Administer internally for gravel, ulcerations of the bladder, bloody urine and other urinary diseases; useful in the relief of a scrofulous taint from the system; also for epilepsy and other nervous affections. The decoction will be found beneficial as a gargle for sore throat and mouth, and as an external wash for sore or ophthalmic eyes. It is also used in injections for whites and various diseases of the womb. Dose: 1 teaspoonful of the herb to 1 cupful of boiling water, steeped 10 min. or more and taken three times a day at meal times. Of the extract, 2 – 4 grains. Externally: The decoction is much used in all skin diseases and as a poultice for ulcers, swellings, boils, felons and inflammations. Russian Experience: In Russia Groushanka( Roundleaf) can be found growing among bushes of the Coniferous forests. They use the herb in Folk Medicine, homoepathically and clinically in the the form of teas, decoctions, Nastoika, extracts for throat conditions, stomach and back pain as a result of too much and too heavy lifting, and scurvy. Externally: As application for recent and long-standing skin lesions.