Pulegium, Pennyroyal

 Picture
Picture Herbarum Vivae Eicones, Otto Brunfels, 1530

Picture Medical Botany, Woodville, 1810

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Botanical name:


Mentha pulegium

Parts used:


Herb

Temperature & Taste:


Slightly Warm, dry. Pungent, Bitter

Classifications:


2A APERIENT.    2B ATTENUATER.    2F. PURIFYING.    2H. CARMINATIVE.    2J. RAREFYING
3C. ALEXIPHARMIC.    3G. EMMENAGOGUE.    3H. LACTAGOGUE.    3K. EXPECTORANT.    3M. ARTHRITICS
4a. CEPHALIC.    4f. SPLENETIC.    4i. UTERINE.    4k. ARTHRITIC

Uses:


1. Warms the Womb, Moves Qi, Promotes Menstruation:
-Amenorrhea, Dysmenorrhea (since Hippocrates)
-Leukorrhea from Cold and Damp

2. Clears Phlegm, Stops Cough:
-‘cleanseth the Lungs, and cleareth the Breast from all Gross and thick humours’;
-Cough, Asthma, and Whooping Cough

3. Moves Qi, Settles Wind, Eases Pain, Resists Poison:
-Bile disorders, Biliousness (Lonicerus)
-Headache, Dizziness, Vertigo, Spasms, Nervousness, Hysteria, and Lethargy

4. Moves Qi, Regulates the Stomach, Eases Pain:
-cold stomach pain, ‘gnawing of the Stomach’ and ‘Pains of the Colic’.
-nausea, digestive weakness (Lonicerus)

5. Promotes Urine, Clears Damp, Clears Stones:
-Edema, Fluid retention (Hippocrates)
-‘breaks and expels the Stone’; used for Gravel and Stones.

6. Externally:
-applied with Salt to Liver or Spleen swelling.
-the fresh herb is bruised and infused in vinegar to cleanse foul Ulcers.
-boiled in wine, with honey and salt added, it is good for Toothache as well cold diseases of the Joints.
-applied with Honey, Salt and Vinegar to Spasms and Cramps.
-fresh herb stamped to a paste was applied to various aches and pains.
-the decoction is used as a wash for Itchy skin
-the decoction is applied with Barley Meal to burns.
-the ashes were used to strengthen the Gums.


Dose:


Powder: 1–3 grams

Substitute:


Culpeper said of Dittany of Crete (Origanum dictamus) that it ‘possesses the virtues of Pennyroyal, but in a superior degree.’
Picture

Main Combinations:


1. Obstructed Menstruation:
i. Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
ii. Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
iii. Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
iv. Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
v. Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
vi. Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
vii. Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
viii. Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
2. To strengthen the Womb and promote Menstruation, Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
3. To Promote Birth, Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
4. Carminative, Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
5. ‘Dutch Blood Purifier‘: Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
6. Neuropathy, Nerve diseases, Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
7. To purge Melancholy, Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
8. Cold, Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
9. Cold Coughs, Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
10. Fainting,, Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
11. Apoplexy, Loss of Speech, Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version
12. Enema for Uterine pain, Pennyroyal with … available in PRO version

Major Formulas:


Infusion of Senna and Flower with Spices (Mesue)
Decoction to Promote Menstruation (Wirtzung)
Emmenagogue Decoction (Riverius)
Decoction for the Womb (Schroder)
Syrup of Mugwort (Augustana)
Powder to Warm the Head (Bononiense)
Powder to Facilitate Birth (Renodeus)
Powder of Calamint Compound (Nicholas)
Electuary of Calamint (Galen)
Electuary of Hyssop (Diahyssopus) (Nicholas)
Electuary of Orris Root (Diaireos Salomonis) (Nicholas)

Cautions:


Not used during Pregnancy

Main Preparations used:


Conserve of the Tops, Distilled Water of the Herb, Distilled Oil
History
‘Pennyroyal was in high repute among the ancients. Both Dioscorides and Pliny describe its numerous virtues. In Northern Europe it was also much esteemed, as may be inferred from the frequent reference to it in the Anglo-Saxon and Welsh works on medicine.

Gerarde considered the plant to be “so exceedingly well
known to all our English nation that it needed no description. In his time (circa 1590), it used to be collected on the commons round London, whence it was brought in plenty to the London markets. At the present day Pennyroyal has fallen into neglect, and is not named in the British Pharmacopoeia of 1867. (Pharmacographia, Fluckiger & Hanbury, 1879)