HOREHOUND. Marrubium vulgare. N.O. Labiatae.
Synonym : Hoarhound.
Habitat : Horehound flourishes in dry, and particularly chalky waste ground.
Features : It grows to a height of one and a half to two feet. The bluntly four-cornered stem sends out spreading branches covered with white, woolly hair. The leaves, also spread with the soft hair, arc egg-shaped and deeply toothed, the lower ones stalked, those above sessile. The small, white flowers appear during July in thick rings just above the upper leaves.
Part used : The whole plant.
Action : Aromatic and bitter, having expectorant and slight diuretic action.
Horehound is probably the best known of all herbal pectoral remedies, and is undoubtedly effective in coughs, colds and pulmonary complaints. The whole herb is infused in 1 ounce quantities to 1 pint of water, and taken frequently in wineglass doses.
The refreshing and healthy Horehound Beer or Ale is brewed from this herb, and a Horehound candy is made which, when properly prepared, is one of the best of "cough sweets." Coffin speaks highly of the tonic and expectorant qualities of Horehound, and its latter virtue has certainly een known for nearly three hundred years, as Culpeper tells us that "it helpeth to expectorate tough phlegm in the chest." HOREHOUND, BLACK. Ballota nigra. N.O. Labiatae.
Synonym : Crantz, Marrubium nigrunt. Habitat : Hedgerows, waste ground.
Features : Stem stiff, erect, freely branched, up to four feet high. Leaves greyish-green, upper ovate, lower cordate, in pairs, each pair pointing in opposite direction to next pair, crenate, hairy, stalked. Flowers (July and August) purplish, labiate, in rings just above leaves. Disagreeable odour.
Part used : Herb.
Action : Stimulant, expectorant, diaphoretic, antispasmodic.
Coughs, colds and bronchial complaints generally.
Hool prefers this herb to the white Horehound (Marrubium vulgare), and makes wide claims on its behalf. He recommends it in the treatment of consumption, various menstrual troubles, and parturition—in the last-named instance combined with Motherwort. "In chronic coughs, accompanied by spitting of blood," he tells us, "it will be found most excellent, either of itself or combined with other reliable remedies such as Lobelia, Marshmallow, Hyssop, etc." HORSERADISH. Cochlearia armoracia. N.O. Cruciferae.
Habitat : Indigenous to England and Eastern Europe.
Features : Root whitish, cylindrical, about one foot long by three-quarters of an inch through. Taste and odour pungent, irritant, mustard-like.
Part used : Root.
Action : Stimulant, diaphoretic, diuretic, emetic.
Used as a digestive. Its stimulant and diuretic properties are said to be of value in the treatment of dropsy, but it is rarely prescribed by modern herbalists.
Coffin recommends : "Fresh Horseradish root, sliced . 1 oz.
Mustard seeds, bruised . . half and oz.
Boiling water . . . 1 pint "Let it stand in a covered vessel for four hours, then strain. Dose, three tablespoonfuls three times a day. Diuretic and stimulant. Useful in dropsies, especially those occurring after scarlet fevers and intermittents." HYSSOP. Hyssopus officinalis. N.O. Labiatae.
Habitat : Cultivated in gardens.
Features : Stem woody, to a height of about two feet. Leaves opposite, small, nearly sessile, lanceolate, hairy at margins. Flowers bluish-purple, in small axillary clusters on one side. Camphor-like odour.
Part used : I Ierb.
Action : Stimulant, pectoral, carminative, diaphoretic, febrifuge.
In cough and cold prescriptions, particularly for whooping cough, and in other troubles of infancy. The 1 ounce to 1 pint infusion is given in wineglass doses, or according to age.
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