Eruca, Rocket

Jirjir, Jirjeer (Unani)
Picture Picture
Garden (left) and Wild (right) Rocket
Della Materia Medicinale, Andrea Valuassori, 1562

Picture Wild Rocket
Fuchs, New Kreuterbuch, 1543

Picture Garden Rocket
Sturm et al, Flora von Deutschland in Abbildungen
nach der Natur, Zweite auflage, vol. 6, 1902

Botanical name:


Eruca spp.
  1. Garden Rocket: E. sativa (syn. E. vesicaria subsp, sativa, Brassica eruca)
  2. Wild Rocket: E. sylvestris

Parts used:


Seed

Temperature & Taste:


Hot, dry. Pungent
“Hot in the Second degree, Dry in the First degree and Moist in the First degree”. (Avicenna)

Classifications:


2B ATTENUATERS
3H. LACTAGOGUE.    3J. INCREASE SEMEN
4h. NEPHRITIC

Uses:


1. Warms the Kidneys, Benefits Yang:
-’used chiefly to provoke Venery’ (Schroder)
-Impotence, lack of Sexual desire

2. Warms the Stomach and Spleen:
-Cold and weakness (Yang deficiency) of the Stomach and Spleen
-Stomach Pain from Cold
-Phlegm and Damp diseases associated with Cold or Yang deficiency

3. Increases Breast Milk:
-lack of Breast milk due to Cold

4. Externally:
-Root externally to draw splinters of Bones
-Draw phlegm from the head when chewed or used as a snuff.
-seed or juice with Honey for pigment spots of the skin (Avicenna)


Dose:


Seed in Powder: 500mg–3 grams
Seed in Decoction: 2–6 grams

Substitutes:


“A decoction of its [Rocket] seeds may be used as a substitute for Mustard” (Avicenna). Conversely, Mustard seed may be used for Rocket seed.

Main Combinations:


1. Impotence and to ‘provoke Lust’:
i. Rocket seed with Fennel seed (as in Pills for Coitus)
ii. Onion seed, Rocket seed, Cinnamon
iii. Leek seed with Black Pepper, Elecampane, Orchis, Cinnamon, Rocket seed and Skink tail
iv. Rocket seed with Orchis, Sea Holly root, Pine nut, Ginger, Cinnamon (as in Electuary of Orchid (Diasatyrion))
v. Wallflower with Carrot seed, Rocket seed, Cotton seed, Orchid, Ginger, Ash tree keys
2. Cold and Weak Kidneys, Rocket seed with Elecampane, Cinnamon, Skink
3. To Warm the Kidneys and nourish Sperm, Rocket seed with Walnut, Pistachio, Sesame, Linseed, Orchis, Galangal, Cinnamon, Sea Holly root, Skink, Asparagus root (Nicholas)
4. Stomach Cold, Spleen Yang deficiency, Rocket seed with Elecampane, Greater Cardamon, Indian Spikenard, Galangal, Zedoary, Aniseed, Fennel seed (as in Electuary which is Remarkably Effective)
5. Scrofula, swollen nodes,  dry chicken bones in an oven, mix with Rocket seed and powder. Taken daily as an Empirical remedy.
6. Scurvy,. Scurvy-Grass with China root, Water Cress, Rocket (Memorial Pharmaceutique, 1824)

Major Formulas


Pills for Coitus (Arnold de Villa Nova)
Powder to Stimulate Venery (Wecker)
Electuary which is Remarkably Effective
Antidote for Cold Kidneys and to Excite Libido (Nicholas)
Antidote for Cold Lumbar, for Venery, and Defect of Semen (Nicholas)
Electuary of Orchid (Diasatyrion) (Nicholas)

Cautions:


Very hot and dry; not suitable for Yin deficiency or Deficient Heat conditions.

Main Preparations used: