Amara Dulcis

Solanum dulcamara

HRB-0001Entry “AMARA DULCIS” in the 1850 textNot in the 1652 first edition: added by Culpeper in 1653 or by a later editor up to 1850

Open in the Concordance

Old claims, quoted verbatim: not medical advice. A warning sits above the claims and never hides them; no warning does not mean safe, only that no source here has flagged the plant.

Substance of concernUnripe berries carry solanine; ripe ones did no harm in mice. The EMA accepts the stems for mild recurring eczema (traditional use).EFSA: alpha-chaconine, alpha-soladulcine, alpha-solamarine and 6 moreEFSA’s list of substances, not a danger rating. Checked 26 October 2026.

Historical correspondence. Ruled by Mercury, by Culpeper. A traditional astrological assignment, kept apart from the modern evidence; it is not a finding.

Culpeper’s claims about it: 6, under 6 headings

  1. BruisesCLM-000348
    and let it infuse hot over a gentle fire twelve hours, then strain it out, so have you a most excellent drink to open obstructions of the liver and spleen, to help difficulty of breath, bruises and falls, and congealed blood in any part of the body, it helps the yellow jaundice, the dropsy, and black jaundice, and to cleanse women newly brought to bed.
    QUO-000303Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  2. DropsyCLM-000659
    and let it infuse hot over a gentle fire twelve hours, then strain it out, so have you a most excellent drink to open obstructions of the liver and spleen, to help difficulty of breath, bruises and falls, and congealed blood in any part of the body, it helps the yellow jaundice, the dropsy, and black jaundice, and to cleanse women newly brought to bed.
    QUO-000303Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  3. Felons of the FingerCLM-0023061850 index, p. 1
    Country people commonly take the berries of it, and having bruised them, apply them to felons, and thereby soon rid their fingers of such troublesome guests.
    QUO-001420Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  4. JaundiceCLM-000986
    and let it infuse hot over a gentle fire twelve hours, then strain it out, so have you a most excellent drink to open obstructions of the liver and spleen, to help difficulty of breath, bruises and falls, and congealed blood in any part of the body, it helps the yellow jaundice, the dropsy, and black jaundice, and to cleanse women newly brought to bed.
    QUO-000303Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  5. and let it infuse hot over a gentle fire twelve hours, then strain it out, so have you a most excellent drink to open obstructions of the liver and spleen, to help difficulty of breath, bruises and falls, and congealed blood in any part of the body, it helps the yellow jaundice, the dropsy, and black jaundice, and to cleanse women newly brought to bed.
    QUO-000303Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  6. LiverCLM-001148
    and let it infuse hot over a gentle fire twelve hours, then strain it out, so have you a most excellent drink to open obstructions of the liver and spleen, to help difficulty of breath, bruises and falls, and congealed blood in any part of the body, it helps the yellow jaundice, the dropsy, and black jaundice, and to cleanse women newly brought to bed.
    QUO-000303Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance

Source

Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, a new edition (London: Thomas Kelly, 1850). Project Gutenberg eBook #49513. SRC-CUL-1850

Quotations are verbatim from the 1850 text, line breaks joined. Modern research and the European regulator’s verdict on each claim are on the Concordance page, kept apart from this historical record.