Betony The Healing Herb by Judi Singleton

Stachys officinalis common names: Betony, Synonyms and Common names:

Betonica officinalis, Stachys officinalis, Bishopswort, lousewort,

purple betony

Evergreen Perennial

Ht: 2' - 3'

Wood Betony is a hardy perennial that likes full sun to partial shade,

and is usually self-sowing once established.Native to Europe, wood

betony is now planted in many parts of the world with temperate

climates. The primary portions of the plant that are used as medicine

are the leaves and flowers, though historically the root has also been

used. There are many similar species originating from Eurasia,

including Stachys sieboldii (Chinese artichoke, kan lu) and S.

atherocalyx (hedge nettle).

Betony is used as a substitute for black tea. The infusion resembles

the taste of black tea and is caffeine-free. It helps relieve headache.

This is a wonderful flowering perennial it blooms in the spring with

lavender-pink spikes.

There are five species of Stachys growing wild in this country - the

once much-valued Betony (S. Betonica); the Marsh Stachys, or Clown's

Woundwort (S. palustris); the true Woundwort (S. Germanica), a doubtful

native, occurring occasionally on limestone soils in England, but very

common on the Continent, where the dense covering of its leaves was at

one time in rustic surgery employed in the place of lint for dressing

wounds, the low-creeping Field Stachys (S. arvensis); and the Hedge

Stachys, or Hedge Woundwort (S. sylvatica), perhaps the commonest of

them all.

Augustus, wrote a long treatise, showing it was a certain cure for no

less than fortyseven diseases.

Throughout the centuries, faith in its virtues as a panacea for all

ills was thoroughly ingrained in the popular estimation. It was largely

cultivated in the physic gardens, both of the apothecaries and the

monasteries, and may still be found growing about the sites of these

ancient buildings. Robert Turner, a physician writing in the latter

half of the seventeenth century, recounts nearly thirty complaints for

which Betony was considered efficacious, and adds, 'I shall conclude

with the words I have found in an old manuscript under the virtues of

it: "More than all this have been proved of Betony." '

In addition to its medicinal virtues, Betony was endowed with power

against evil spirits. On this account, it was carefully planted in

churchyards and hung about the neck as an amulet or charm, sanctifying,

as Erasmus tells us, 'those that carried it about them,' and being also

'good against fearful visions' and an efficacious means of 'driving

away devils and despair.' An old writer, Apelius, says:

'It is good whether for the man's soul or for his body; it shields him

against visions and dreams, and the wort is very wholesome, and thus

thou shalt gather it, in the month of August without the use of iron;

and when thou hast gathered it, shake the mold till nought of it cleave

thereon, and then dry it in the shade very thoroughly, and with its

root altogether reduce it to dust: then use it and take of it when thou

needst.'

Many extravagant superstitions grew up round Betony, one, of very

ancient date, was that serpents would fight and kill each other if

placed within a ring composed of it; and others declared that even wild

beasts recognized its efficacy and used it if wounded, and that stags,

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BIO:

About the author: Judi Singleton is the publisher of Jassmine's Journal
and you can subscribe to any of her lists at
http://www.motherearthpublishing.com

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