Hypericum, St. John’s Wort

Hiofariqun (Unani)
Guan Ye Lian Qiao 贯叶连翘 (TCM)
 Picture
Picture Hypericum
Ortus Sanitatis, Meydenbach, 1491

Picture Picture
Hypericum
Dioscorides Materia Medica, Mathias, 1563

 Hypericum
Krauterbuch, Lonitzer, 1578
Picture Hypericum perforatum
Flora von Deutschland (21), Kohler, 1885

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Botanical name:


Hypericum perforatum (syn. H. officinalis)

Parts used:


Herb in flower

Temperature & Taste:


Cool (traditionally classed as Warm), dry. Sour, Sweet

Classifications:


2A APERIENT MEDICINES.    2B ATTENUATERS.    2D ATTENUATERS OF CONGEALED BLOOD.    2P. HEMOSTATIC.    2T. GLUTINATE
2W. SARCOTIC
3C. ALEXIPHARMIC.    3E. DIURETIC.    3G. EMMENAGOGUE.    3M. ARTHRITICS
4f. SPLENETIC.    4k. ARTHRITIC

Uses:


1. Clears Heat, Settles Wind, Calms the Mind:
-nervous conditions, Insomnia, Trembling, Melancholy, Depression, Anxiety, Fear
–Hyperactive and Aggressive children
-‘its fruit purges out Black Bile’. (Avicenna)

2. Moves the Blood, Clears Stasis, Promotes Healing, Eases Pain:
-Trauma; Bruising, Fractures, Burns, Wounds including puncture Wounds; ‘No better Wound herb’ (Pemell, 1652)
-Headaches, Migraine, Spinal Pain, Fibrositis
-“useful for treating large, cold and hard swellings” (Avicenna)

3. Clears Heat, Stops Bleeding: (West, TCM)
-Hematuria, Vomiting Blood, Profuse Uterine Bleeding
-Bleeding from Trauma
-traditional midwives prescribed it for bleeding during and after childbirth

4. Opens Obstructions, Promotes Urine, Breaks Stones:
–suppressed, scanty, difficult or painful urination
-Urinary Tract Infection (West, TCM)
-Gravel and Stones (Bock)

5. Clears Heat, Resists Poison: (Herb, Seed)
-Fevers; Tertian and Quartan Fevers; decoction of the seed cures Tertian and Quartan Fever (Pemell, 1652)
-Bacterial and Viral infection including Herpes and Hepatitis
-promotes expression of Rashes in children

6. Clears Heat, Stops Cough and Wheezing:
-coughing, wheezing, shortness of Breath with thin white phlegm as seen in chronic Bronchitis, chronic Catarrh
-pulmonary Consumption
–Hippocrates used it for Lung diseases

7. Benefits the Kidneys, Clears Deficient Heat:
–Menopausal symptoms, especially with Hot Flushes, Anxiety, Palpitations, Depression, Incontinence or Neurosis
–Incontinence and Bed-wetting in Children
-Sciatica, chronic Back Pain, Arthritis

8. Kills Worms: (Seed, herb)
-Thread-worm, especially in Children

9. Externally:
-Oil or Ointment is applied to swellings and to help close the lips of Wounds, and may be used internally and externally for Ulcers including those of the leg.
-‘Sprinkling over putrefactive and soft Ulcers as a dusting powder proves very useful’. (Avicenna)
-powder sprinkled or distilled water applied on Wounds, Sores, and rotten Ulcer cures them (Pemell, 1652)
-applied to Bruises, Contusions and Ecchymosis.
-oil or ointment is applied to Burns, hot swellings, inflammations, Dermatitis, Herpes, Shingles, Sores, Tumors (including those of the Breast)
-“A plaster of its leaves is useful for healing burns, large wounds and malignant ulcers” (Avicenna)
-Venetians used it topically to stimulate hair growth, believing it renewed the roots of even the baldest of heads.
-special for Burns (Leclerc)
-as a fumigation to promote Delivery

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Dose:


Powder: 2–4 grams (traditionally 1–2 drams)
Decoction: 3–9 grams
Tincture (1:5) 1–4 mls.

Main Combinations:


Balm & St. John’s wort

1. Mental Illness, Madness, Melancholy, St. John’s Wort with  … available in PRO version
2. Nervous Exhaustion, Anxiety, St. John’s Wort  … available in PRO version
3. As a Nervine, and for Insomnia, St. John’s Wort with  … available in PRO version
4. Insomnia, St. John’s Wort with  … available in PRO version
5. Restless or aggressive children, St. John’s Wort with  … available in PRO version
6. Depression associated with Menstruation, St. John’s Wort with  … available in PRO version
7. Menstrual disorders, St. John’s Wort with  … available in PRO version
8. Menopause, St. John’s Wort with  … available in PRO version
9. Stomach neurosis and bloody diarrhea, St. John’s Wort with  … available in PRO version
10. Enuresis, St. John’s Wort with  … available in PRO version
11. Another for Enuresis, St. John’s Wort with  … available in PRO version
12. Bed-wetting, St. John’s Wort with  … available in PRO version
13. Bruising, Trauma, St. John’s Wort with  … available in PRO version
14. Bruising, Aches, Pains, Sprains, St. John’s Wort with  … available in PRO version
15. Hard Tumors of the Breast, St. John’s Wort with  … available in PRO version

Major Formulas


Antidote of Seven Things (Paulus Aegineta)
Decoction for Wounds
Decoction for Jaundice
Syrup of Mugwort (Augustana)
Powder Against Bruising
Powder Against Rabies

Cautions:


1. Generally Safe; safe for use when Breastfeeding.
2. Photosensitising effect.

Drug Interactions:


include: Anti-convulants, Cyclosporin, Digoxin, SSRI’s, Warfarin, Oral Contraceptives.

Main Preparations used:


Distilled Water, Simple and Compound Oil (much used), Salt from the Ashes, Tincture of St. John’s wort