Digestive
Spignel aka Bald Money
- Scientific Name: Meum athamanticum
- Plant Family: Apiaceae
- Common Names: Spignel, Meu
- Parts Used: Root, leaves
- Medicinal Actions: Mild aphrodisiac, appetite stimulant, anti-flatulence, detoxification, purification, diuretic, heart strengthener, stomach fortifier, menstrual stimulater, toner, and revitalizer.
The scent of the root of Meum athamanticum, Spignel, Meu, or Bald Money has much in common with that of both Lovage and Angelica, and the root has been eaten by the Scotch Highlanders as a vegetable.
Spignel is an old herbal medicine. The whole plant is extremely aromatic. The delicate, feathery foliage has been used as a condiment and in the preparation of a wide variety of home remedies as a diuretic, to control menstruation and uterine complaints and to treat catarrh, hysteria and stomach ailments.
Habitat and Appearance
The plant is found in pastures and meadows at a certain altitude. Bald Money can be found as easily in the Scottish Highlands as it can in the Black Forest.
It is a perennial, smooth and very aromatic herb. The elongated root is crowned with fibers. The leaves, mostly springing from the root, are divided into leaflets which are further cut into numerous thread-like segments which gives them a feathery appearance.
The stem is about 6 or 8 inches high, and bears umbels of white or purplish flowers.
The aromatic flavor of the leaves is somewhat like Melilot and is communicated to milk and butter when cows feed on the herbage in the spring.
In German it is known as Bärwurz [bear wort], feminine gender (die) for the plant and masculine gender (der) for a variety of Bavarian schnapps which is flavored with its extract.
Other Names
- Alpine Lovage
- Spicknel
- Spikenel
- Mew
- Meu
- Baldmoney
- Bearwort
- Fenouil des Alpes (French)
- Meo (Spanish)
- Bjørnerod (Danish)
- Bärwurz (German)
- Snauskjoldblom (Norwegian)
- Sköldpaddsört (Swedish).
Spignel (Bald Money) is an old medicinal plant largely forgotten today. There hardly exists any clear reference to Spignel in most herbal books of this century. Despite scant recognition today, the history of Spignel root includes active appreciation by ancient physicians. Records of meum athamanticum include recommendations for treating urinary disorders, stomach complaints, joint complaints, and mild rheumatism.
“The Spignel root is warm and has a dry strength. The powder is a remedy for high temperature fever and gout. The green root is crushed into vinegar and is used against jaundice.” – Hildegard of Bingen
No less than acclaimed German pharmacologist Hieronymus Bock praised the plant in 1539 in his “Kreutterbuch” (‘Herbal Book’) as an all-purpose weapon against ailments of all kinds. Alpine Lovage was also used extensively during births…both for humans and for cows!
The English botanist and herbalist, Nicholas Culpeper (1616 – 1654) mentioned the use of Spignel in his writing, where he wrote that it was an excellent herb to improve both appetite and digestion and that it should work well as a remedy for excessive flatulence, belching, colic, and stomach aches.
According to Culpeper, the powdered root should be administered along with sugar, or as an extract of the root in water, white wine or beer and taken every morning and evening for few days, in order to regulate menstruation, ease childbirth and to promote the expulsion of the afterbirth.
Both the root and leaves of Spignel have a reputation as a good treatment for snake bites and coughs, and in the past, it was believed that an alcohol extract of the herb had aphrodisiac properties.
Spignel appears in all of the important herbal books of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. At the advent of the 19th century, Spignel fell into obscurity as a medicinal plant. The remedy remains popular in veterinary medicine. And, over the last several decades, Germans have rediscovered the healing properties of this herb.
In Germany today, health trends currently favor the rediscovery of traditional German medicine and klosterheilkunde. And, as with many of Hildegard’s remedies, the primary curative properties of Spignel apply to the stomach, addressing digestive issues, and promoting internal cleanse.
In Bavaria, Spignel appears commonly as a basic ingredient in the production of a stomach-strengthening, digestive liqueur referred to as Baerwurz. The healing effects include mild aphrodisiac, appetite stimulant, anti-flatulence / bloating, detoxification, purification, diuretic, heart strengthener, stomach fortifier, menstrual stimulater, toner, and revitalizer.
Monastic medicine and folk healing often reference the Spignel root to address mild forms of asthma, bladder conditions, kidney cleansing, mild rheumatoid arthritis, urinary tract infections, abdominal pain, flatulence, menstrual cramps, heart irregularity, stress, migraine, weakness of age, and to cleanse blood.
Folk medicine appreciates use of the Spignel root only, and typically by excavating, cleaning, and drying in autumn. Before use, preparation includes boiling in water or wine, or grinding into powder.
Topical application of Spignel includes treating mild ulcers and wounds.
- Spignel tea
Pour 250 ml of hot water over 1 teaspoon of dried leaves and allow 10 minutes to infuse, then strain. This remedy helps address mild digestive issues.
Pour 250 ml hot water over 1 teaspoon of seeds and allow 20 minutes to infuse before straining. This combination helps with migraine, lack of appetite, and mild bladder problems.
- Spignel honey
For stomach and abdominal pains, the powdered Spignel root and honey are boiled into a mixture of 1:3. One teaspoonful of this mixture is used for internal discomfort, including ulcers. Ayurvedic tradition recommends against the practice of boiling honey. As an alternative to honey, replace honey with raw cane sugar and some water.
- Spignel tincture
To make a Spignel tincture at home, pour double grain or ethyl alcohol over the roots of the Spignel in a screw cap glass until all parts of the plant are covered. Allow the mixture 2 to 6 weeks to steep. Then strain and pour into a dark bottle.
Take 10-50 drops of this tincture one to three times a day. If overly concentrated, dilute the mixture with water.
Appearance
Baldmoney or Spignel is a very ornamental is somewhat rare British native perennial with fine, almost fern-like leaves. It is a luxuriant natural perennial native also in the mountainous areas of Europe, where it grows in alpine meadows. In Britain it grows best in the sheep-grazed Scottish Highlands.
The leaves are beautiful, dark green and as fine as the maidenhair fern. The inflorescences are typical of the umbellifers, appearing about midway through summer they are creamy white in flat heads about 5-7cms across and growing up to 60cm in height. Meum athamanticum is long-lived, and given the space improves with each year.
In The Kitchen
Some have compared the taste to lovage, anise, dill, caraway and curry. Since every part of the plant contains all of these aromatic qualities, it is also used in recipes for all kinds of foods.
Mark Williams’ company “Galloway Wild Foods” gathers wild Scottish plants and uses Bärwurz in its carrot bitter. Mark additionally notes that in earlier times the plant was also a popular additive in snuff.
This versatile medicinal plant also works as a spice or herbal salt in the kitchen. In contrast to dill, Spignel retains its aroma even when dried. Spignel stimulates immediate appetite (but moderates long-term appetite) and promotes digestion. The fine dill-like foliage and the subterranean plant parts have a strong, intense taste.
The leaves of Spignel have a flavor reminiscent of curry and the herb is locally often referred to as “the curry plant”. The finely chopped leaves can be used to spice up soups, potato dishes, omelets, fish, meat and vegetable dishes, or in any curry dishes as a replacement.
In addition, the chopped leaves can be used to add a sprinkle of green and a light curry flavor to egg sandwiches, cheeses, fish balls, and white or light sauces. The whole leaves can be added to meat and fish dishes.
The root has a powerful, spicy taste and can be suitable as a spice for casseroles and soups. Both leaves and roots have also been used in soups and stews.
The Spignel plant bears close relationship to fennel and dill. It grows in the mountains, between 600 and 2000 meters above sea level. The ideal soils for Spignel include acidic, nutrient-poor soils, and lean pastures. Traditional use of Spignel root stocks includes processing into gentian-like schnapps and liqueurs or culinary food seasoning.
Bärwurz seeds also proved to be an export hit for the Black Forest region in centuries past. “Bärwurzsalz”, or baldmoney salt, was created by taking the leaves harvested in the springtime, drying them and mixing them with sea salt.
Growing Spignel at Home
Usually the meum athamanticum is propagated by root splitting after flowering, small root pieces are enough to grow a plant. Difficulty often arises in growing Spignel directly from seeds. If possible, sow in pots in Autumn or very early in Spring outdoors, the seeds will not germinate for long.
The Spignel likes sandy, loamy or clay rich, lean and moist soil, the location should be sunny or semi-shady. Spignel thrives in larger pots. Do not fertilize with calcium (chalk).
Since the plant loves consistent conditions, such as stable soil moisture, it can be somewhat difficult to cultivate in some areas. However, in the right setting, this plant needs little attention. The strong main carrot like root ensures the plant can survive even in difficult conditions. In better soil, development into a dense clump is faster.
Odds and Ends
The particular name of this plant, “Bald Money” is said to be a corruption of Baldar, the Apollo of the northern nations to whom the plant was dedicated.
In German it is known as Bärwurz [bear wort], feminine gender (die) for the plant and masculine gender (der) for a variety of Bavarian schnapps which is flavored with its extract.
The Bärwurz plant bears the botanical designation Meum athamanticum, and the feminine form in the German language. That has to do with the fact that “Wurz” is essentially short for “Wurzel” (root), which is feminine in German. But once it’s distilled, German-speakers have to remember that the spirit takes on the masculine form in the language.
And while those familiar with the German language might be tempted to think that the distilled spirit’s masculine character is somehow related to Bär, which means “bear” in German, it isn’t. Not at all, in fact.
The root is used for the distillate called “Bärwurz”, but most distilleries use the more highly cultivated masterwort. The stoneware bottles it comes in are as integral a part of a Bavarian forest dinner as bread and bacon.
Christoph Keller also distills a pure Bärwurz spirit at his Brennerei Stählemühle distillery, but he only uses the seeds. His fascination with the plant began when his architect friend Hardy Happle brought Christoph a 24-pound sack of seeds from his own Bärwurz pasture in Bavaria, which Christoph then distilled into an extremely limited edition spirit.
Contraindications and Cautions
When used moderately, there are no known side effects related to Spignel. According to older writings, larger amounts of Spignel root may lead to headaches.
Sources:
- A Modern Herbal
- Mixology
- Herbal Supplement Resource
- Plants To Plant
- Healthy Hildegard
- Wikipedia
Alexanders
- Scientific name: Smyrnium olusatrum
- Plant Family: Umbelliferae
- Common Names: Horse Parsley
- Parts Used: Leaves, stalks, fruit and root.
- Actions: Digestive, Rich in Vitamin C, Emmenagogue, Diuretic
Also called Black Lovage, this tall, Mediterranean umbellifer was introduced to Britain and northern Europe by the Romans and taken to North America in the 16th century.
Known to Theophrastus and Pliny the Elder, its roots are diuretics, its leaves make a healing juice for cuts and its crushed seeds were a popular condiment. Pliny recommended chewing “Alexander’s herb” with aniseed and a little honey in the morning to sweeten the breath.
Alexanders is native to the Mediterranean but is able to thrive farther north. It was a highly popular herb during the time of Alexander the Great. The Romans called it the ‘pot herb of Alexandria.’
Alexanders was a traditional plant for cleansing the blood and a digestive herb for strengthening the stomach. Alexanders was carried on ships as a remedy against scurvy, and herbalists used it to relieve stomach and urinary problems. It was also a remedy for headaches, toothaches, swellings of the body, cuts and bruises, asthma and consumption, or tuberculosis. Juice from the plant can be used to clean cuts and wounds, and the eaten plant also aids digestion.
The plant is used as traditional medicine in China.
John Evelyn, in his 1699 Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets [Salads] describes Alexanders as a “moderately hot, and of a cleansing faculty,” comparing it favorably to parsley.
“Ellicksander Pottage” was described by Robert May in The Accomplish’t Cook (1660):
“Chop ellicksanders and oatmeal together, being picked and washed, then set on a pipkin with fair water, and when it boils, put in your herbs, oatmeal, and salt, and boil it on a soft fire, and make it not too thick, being almost boil’d put in some butter.”
According to Culpeper it was an herb of Jupiter, and he recommended the aforementioned Alexander pottage. Culpeper also noted:
“It warms a cold Stomach, and opens stoppages of the Liver and Spleen, it is good to move Women’s Courses to expel the After-birth, to break Wind, to provoke Urine, and help the Strangury [painful urination caused by bladder diseases or kidney-stones]. It is also effectual against the biting of Serpents.”
Folk or Common Names
- Alexander parsley
- Alick
- Alisanders
- Ashinder
- Bastard Lovage
- Black Potherb
- Hell Root
- Horse Parsley
- Macedonia Parsley
- Maceron
- Megweed
- Meliroot
- Pot Herb of Alexandria
- Roman celery
- Skeet
- Skit
- Smyrnium
- Stanmarch
- Thanet Celery
- Wild Celery
Health Benefits
From Health Benefits Times, we have this information on the health benefits of Alexanders:
- Helps to cure scurvy
Scurvy is the disease caused mainly due to insufficiency of Vitamin C. It results in swelling and bleeding of gums and also weakening. Alexanders were used for curing such problems in the teeth when any other herb rich in Vitamin C were not accessible to support.
- Cure for Dropsy
Alexanders plant was anciently used to cure dropsy. Dropsy is actually a swelling of the tissue layers in the body resulting due to accumulation of water. Person suffering from dropsy in the before years, would use this plant’s oil and extracts in order to get cured of the swelling.
- Helps in Menstruation
Alexanders herb acts as an Emmenagogue. Emmenagogue is an herb that is consumed for increasing blood flow in pelvic and uterus parts of the body. Any disorder in the menstruation cycle of a woman which is caused not due to pregnancy then they can intake emenagogue to cure it. Seeds of alexanders, when consumed along with wine, act as Emmenagogue and helps in menstruation.
- Heal for Cuts
Alexanders also acts as very good wound healers. Leaves of the plant are rich in the field of soothing the cuts and minor abrasions. Leaves of the alexanders are crushed well and the juice is being applied over the wounds and cuts which have the power to heal the injury, the recovery speed being quite fast.
- Diuretic Effect
Alexanders has been used for centuries as a diuretic that will help control various diseases such as kidney, stones, urinary tract infections and gallbladder stones. Roots of the plant has diuretic effects.
- Boost Immunity
Alexanders consists of good amount of vitamin C that makes the benefit to boost the immune system of the body. When our immune system is strong, it can protect us from several diseases.
- Treatment of Asthma
Asthma is considered one of the chronic diseases. Seeds produce a high aromatic scent which is comparable to the strong myrrh-like scent that is used for the treatment of asthma. Asthma is a disease that affects our lung.
- Cures Stomach Problems
Alexanders is considered one of the beneficial herbs for digestion. Fiber contained in this plant helps to cure some diseases that may affect your stomach such as reflux, peptic ulcers and constipation. Powdered seeds also have been known to warm the cold stomach. Continue reading
Celery
- Scientific Name: Apium graveolens var. dulce
- Plant Family: Umbelliferae
- Parts Used: Leaves, Stalks, Seeds, Roots
- Actions: Digestive, Stimulant, Diuretic, Anti-rheumatic, Carminative, Sedative, Aromatic
This is the cultivated celery, introduced into Britain in the late 17th century from Italy, replacing as a potherb the acrid little wild celery, known as “smallage,” that grows in salt marshes and river estuaries in Britain and Europe.
Some people use celery on the skin to repel mosquitoes. Some people also take celery by mouth for conditions such as menstrual cramps, prediabetes. Unblanched celery is rich in vitamins and mineral salts. It is a digestive and stimulant with a reputation for lowering blood pressure.
Celery seeds find their main use in the treatment of rheumatism, arthritis, and gout. They are especially useful in rheumatoid arthritis where there is an associated mental depression. Their diuretic action is obviously involved in rheumatic conditions, but they are also used as a urinary antiseptic, largely because of the volatile oil apiol.
Appearance
The leaves are smooth, shining, yellow-green and feathery, and the fleshy ridged stem is a bright green unless blanched pale. It is a biennial, umbels of white flowers appearing in late summer during the second year, followed by dark, ridged seeds.
Habitat and Cultivation
Celery thrives in cool, mild climates and requires high levels of moisture. Growing to a height of 15-24 inches, celery has long, fibrous petioles formed by conically arranged stalks joined at the base that surround the heart of the celery plant. The stalks each produce three to five bright green, pinnate leaves at the tip of the stalk.
Celery’s small white or yellow flowers appear in umbels from January to August during the plant’s second year of growth. The celery fruits, or schizocarps, consist of two united carpels (mericarps), each containing a brown, ridged, ovoid-shaped, very small seed, approximately 1.3 mm in length. These fruits, known in commerce as “celery seed,” have a floral odor and slightly pungent taste, and typically ripen in August and September.
Celery is cultivated worldwide. Celery’s Latin binomial, Apium graveolens, translates to “strongly smelling” and alludes to celery’s aromatic compounds.
Cultivated celery has been bred for its elongated, thick, fleshy, ribbed, milder-tasting stalks, while wild celery is grown for its bitter leaves. By the early 19th century, four varieties of celery were cultivated in the United States, where the plant gained popularity as a salad vegetable.
Three varieties of celery are the most commonly cultivated:
- Chinese celery (var. secalinum), which is used sparingly as a condiment due to its strong, bitter taste.
- Stalk celery (var. dulce), which is eaten raw in salads or cooked.
- Celeriac or “turnip-rooted celery” (var. rapaceum), which is grown for its enlarged root. Celeriac is popular in European cuisine and its seeds also are used for making commercial celery salt.
Medicinal Uses
Cooling thermal nature; sweet and bitter flavor, Celery benefits the stomach and spleen-pancreas and calms an aggravated liver. It improves digestion, dries damp excesses, purifies the blood, reduces wind conditions such as vertigo and nervousness, and promotes sweating.
Also used for heat excesses such as eye inflammations, burning urine, blood in the urine, acne, and canker sores. It will cool internal heat in the liver and stomach, which often contributes to headaches and excessive appetite, among other maladies.
For appetite control, raw celery can be eaten between and during meals. To slow down and encourage more thorough chewing of food, eat celery with a meal.
Celery is one of the few vegetables that combines well with fruit, as it has an ability to dry damp conditions, including those associated with eating fruit and concentrated sweeteners.
Celery juice combined with a little lemon juice is a remedy for the common cold when fever is more prominent than chills. The combination is helpful in headaches caused by high blood pressure or by heat conditions (red face, head feels hot, red tongue, and/or irritability).
Celery juice alone or in combination with lemon is useful for diabetes and helps clear the acidosis commonly caused by diabetes. For this purpose, drink 2 to 4 cups of the juice daily.
Very high in silicon, celery helps renew joints, bones, arteries, and all connective tissues. Because of these effects and the capacity of celery to clear digestive fermentation (dampness) and acidic blood that frequently accompany tissue inflammations, it is useful in the treatment of rheumatism, arthritis, gout, and nerve inflammations.
Both the stalks and roots are used in the East and West to treat high blood pressure and are a safe remedy for high blood pressure during pregnancy.
It is thought that the chemicals in celery can have many effects on the human body, including lowering blood pressure and blood sugar and causing sleepiness, but there is limited research to support these proposed effects. Chemicals in celery seem to reduce the ability of bacteria to cause urinary tract infections (UTIs).
Celery seeds, leaves, stem, and root are used in a variety of traditional medicine systems, including the Unani tradition of ancient Persia and Arabia, Indian Ayurveda, and Chinese herbal medicine. As an herbal preparation, celery seeds were consumed fresh or as a water decoction, or the seed powder or extracts were used. Continue reading
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