Menyanthes, Buckbean

Bogbean, Water Trefoil, Marsh Trefoil, Marsh Clover
Shui Cai (TCM)

Tabernaemontanus

Icones Plantarum Medicinalium. 1788

Atlas der Officinellen Pflanzen, Berg & Schmidt, Leipzig, 1893

Botanical name:

Menyanthes trifoliata (syn. Trifolium palustre, T. fibrinum)

Parts used:

Leaf

Temperature & Taste:

Cold, dry. Bitter

Uses:

1. Clears Heat and Damp, Opens Obstructions:
-clears Liver Heat and Liver Damp-Heat; Liver obstruction, Jaundice, Hypochondria pain
-Fever, especially Intermittent Fevers
-purges impurities of the Humors; Cachexia
-Liver headache, Headache following meals from Liver congestion
-effective in some cases of Edema, Arthritis, Gout and Rheumatism (Boerhaave used it for his own Gout with success)
-Skin diseases, Herpes and Skin Cancer (Cullen)

2. Clears Heat and Toxin, Resolves Masses:
-Scrofula, swollen Lymph nodes
-hardness and tumors of the abdominal organs
-Cancer, especially of the abdominal organs (Colon, Liver, Stomach, Duke)
-topically and internally for skin Cancers including Melanoma.

3. Promotes Digestion:
-stimulates digestion, opens obstructions of the abdominal organs; malabsorption from Heat and Damp
-indigestion, loss of appetite
-abdominal fullness
-Diabetes and Hypoglycemia (taken as a bitter just before eating)
-Seasickness (tincture in drop doses)

4. Purges Heat:
-large doses are cathartic, sometimes emetic

5. Externally:
-glandular swellings
-Skin diseases with redness and inflammation; Eczema, Herpes

Dose:

Powder: 1–2 grams (1 scruple–half dram); 1 dram (3.8 grams) is purgative
Tincture (1:5 in 45% alcohol): 5–15 drops
Water Extract: 10–15 grains

Correctives:

1. Calamus
2. Orange peel
3. Aniseed or Fennel seed

Comment:

1. This plant was formerly used in some parts of Germany and England as a substitute for Hops in beer-making.
2. Formerly highly regarded for Scurvy
3. The herb has been smoked as tobacco
4. It has also been a famine food in Russia.

Substitutes:

Gentian or Centaury can generally be used for Menyanthes.

Main Combinations:

1. Stomach weakness and Indigestion:
i. Menyanthes with Orange peel and Peppermint
ii. Menyanthes with Centaury, Hops, Horehound and Balm (Dinand)
2. Bitter Powder: Menyanthes with Lesser Centaury, Fumitory, Germander, Hops (equal parts) (Niemann)
3. Liver Heat and obstruction, Menyanthes with Gentian, Avens root, unripe Orange, Wormwood, Fumitory, Blessed Thistle, Yarrow, Camomile, Lesser Centaury, as a tincture. (Pharmacopoeia Generalis, 1783)
4. Fever, Menyanthes with Willow bark, Ceylon Cinnamon, Cinchona, Gentian, Star Anise
5. ‘Spring Cure’: Menyanthes with Blessed Thistle, Dandelion, Fumitory, Celandine
6. Diuretic, to an infusion of Menyanthes, add Vinegar of Squill
7. Nervous Debility, Menyanthes, Mistletoe, Gentian, Scullcap (equal parts as a decoction) (Valuable Herbal Prescriptions, late ‘s)
8. Cancer tea: Menyanthes, Hops, Calendula, Clematis recta, Milk Thistle seed, Celandine (Wesenberg)

Cautions:

1. Avoid in people with Diarrhea or Colitis.