* Please Note: This information is based partly on Traditional Medicine which uses natural materials to support health. This information has not been evaluated or approved by the FDA. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These products are intended to support general well being and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure any condition or disease. If conditions persist, please seek advice from your medical doctor.
Description
Bugleweed Lycopos europaeus L.
Family: Lamiaceae.
Other Names: Gypsywort; water horehound; pied-de-loup (French); Gemeiner Wolfstrapp (German); marrubio d'acqua (Italian); manta de lobo (Spanish).
Description: Bugleweed is an erect perennial herb of about 0.5 m in height. It has square stems and opposite pairs of lance-shaped leaves with markedly toothed margins. The small, white or pink, two-lipped flowers are borne in multi-flowered, rounded clusters. L. virginicus is closely similar and is used in the same way.
Origin: Europe and Asia (L. europaeus); naturalised in North America. L. virginicus is indigenous to North America. Both species are often found in or near water.
Parts Used: Dried aboveground parts (Lycopi herba) of flowering plants.
Uses and Properties: The herb is used to treat an overactive thyroid gland (e.g. Morbus Basedow) and associated symptoms, especially nervousness and heart palpitations. It is also used to treat mastodyrila (tension and pain in the breast).
Active Ingredients: Various phenolic acids (derivatives of hydroxycinnamic acid; caffeic, lithospermic acid and rosmarinic acid) are present. The herb also contains flavonoids (luteolin-7-glucoside and others), tannins, various di- and triterpenes and small amounts of essential oil (bornylacetate, camphene, p-cymol).
Pharmacological Effects: Depsides of hydro-xycinnamic acids appear to be responsible for the observed activities. Experiments have shown antigonadotropic and antithyrotropic activities. It lowers the level of prolactin in blood serum. If treatment is abruptly discontinued, prolactin secretion may increase.
Status: Traditional medicine; Comm. E+; clinical studies+.
Preparation and Dosage: A daily dose of 1 - 2 g of the dried herb is taken three times a day as an infusion. Alternatively, tinctures may be taken in doses of 5 - 10 drops three times daily. Extracts are included in commercial preparations. Each person has a unique optimum level of thyroid hormones, so that the dose should be adapted to individual needs.
Medicinal Usage
Opinion varies as to the value of bugleweed. Compare the old saw that promises, "He that has bugle and sanicle thumbs his nose at the surgeon," with the view of a modern French herbalist that this is the "most resolutely [medicinally] inactive of plants."
It is generally agreed, however, that bugleweed is more than just a pretty flower. As another of its names, carpenter's herb, suggests, it does have some ability to stop bleeding and to heal cuts, as do all plants that contain tannin. Bugleweed has also been given to stop lung and other internal hemorrhaging, and herbalists have recommended it for coughs, ulcers, rheumatism, and liver disorders, and to prevent hallucination after excessive alcohol consumption. Some herbalists believe that bugleweed is mildly narcotic and sedative and may slow the heart rate in the way that digitalis does. Bugleweed's properties other than wound healing have never been thoroughly researched, however. Bugleweed's species name, reptans, refers to the reptilelike creeping of the plant's runners.
Bugleweed's use in folk medicine for healing external wounds is probably valid, because the plant contains tannin, an astringent substance that helps to stop bleeding.
General Herb Information
Habitat: Roadsides, fields, lawns.
Range: Introduced from Europe, bugleweed has escaped cultivation and now grows wild from Newfoundland south to Pennsylvania and Ohio, and occasionally west of the Cascade Range.
Identification: A perennial herb growing up to 12 inches tall. Its creeping runners produce rosettes of leaves; the whole structure forms a carpetlike mat. The lower leaves are spatula-shaped and often have wavy edges, while the upper leaves are toothed and elliptical or oval. Small blue to purple flowers (May-July), 1/2 inch across, are borne in dense terminal spikes.
Uses: Many gardeners cultivate bugleweed as a ground cover and in rock gardens. The plant is also used as a black dye for wool.
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Directions
Take 1 capsule, 3 times daily, with meals.
Cautions
Not recommended if you are pregnant or lactating.
High doses and continued use of the herb over long periods may lead to an enlargement of the thyroid. The herb should not be administered to people who are already under treatment with other thyroid preparations or people with thyroid insufficiency. Diagnostic procedures that make use of radioactive isotopes are disrupted by bugleweed therapy.
Additional Information
The TerraVita Premium Collection uses only the finest, purest and most potent plant extracts from around the world.
The TerraVita Premium Collection is hallmarked by the highest possible standards of purity, potency, stability and freshness. Our highest possible standards are certified by independent laboratories and backed by our personal guarantee.
The TerraVita Premium Collection is packed in child-proof, tamper-proof pharmaceutical-grade recyclable containers.
ZooScape is proud to be the exclusive distributor of TerraVita teas, herbs and supplements in the United States, Canada and around the world. Please direct all wholesale and bulk inquiries to Simona Heather at 905-494-1785.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Products are intended to support general well being and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure any condition or disease. If conditions persist, please seek advice from your medical doctor. The essence of the current American rule on Traditional Uses is, as stated by FTC, "Claims based on historical or traditional use should be substantiated by confirming scientific evidence, or should be presented in such a way that consumers understand that the sole basis for the claim is a history of use of the product for a particular purpose."
