Bistorta officinalis
HRB-0039Entry “BISTORT, OR SNAKEWEED” in the 1850 textIn Culpeper’s 1652 first edition
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.
Historical correspondence. Ruled by Saturn, by Culpeper. A traditional astrological assignment, kept apart from the modern evidence; it is not a finding.
What it does, in Culpeper: Stops vomitingCounter-poison
The decoction of the root in wine being drank, hinders abortion or miscarriage in child-bearing.
The root in powder, the decoction thereof in wine being drank, stays all manner of inward bleeding, or spitting of blood, and any fluxes in the body of either man or woman, or vomiting.
It is also very available against ruptures, or burstings, or all bruises from falls, dissolving the congealed blood, and easing the pains that happen thereupon;
The distilled water is very effectual to wash sores or cankers in the nose, or any other part;
The root in powder, the decoction thereof in wine being drank, stays all manner of inward bleeding, or spitting of blood, and any fluxes in the body of either man or woman, or vomiting.
It is good also to fasten the gums, and to take away the heat and inflammations that happen in the jaws, almonds of the throat, or mouth, if the decoction of the leaves, roots, or seeds bruised, or the juice of them, be applied;
it also helps the jaundice.
The decoction of the root in wine being drank, hinders abortion or miscarriage in child-bearing.
both the leaves and roots have a powerful faculty to resist all poison.
It is also very available against ruptures, or burstings, or all bruises from falls, dissolving the congealed blood, and easing the pains that happen thereupon;
The root, in powder, taken in drink expels the venom of the plague, the small-pox, measels, purples, or any other infectious disease, driving it out by sweating.
The root thereof, with pelitory of Spain and burnt alum, of each a little quantity, beaten small and into paste with some honey, and a little piece thereof put into a hollow tooth, or held between the teeth, if there be no hollowness in them, stays the defluction of rheum upon them which causes pains, and helps to cleanse the head, and void much offensive water.
as also for any of the purposes before spoken of, and is very good to wash any running sores or ulcers.
The root in powder, the decoction thereof in wine being drank, stays all manner of inward bleeding, or spitting of blood, and any fluxes in the body of either man or woman, or vomiting.
The leaves also kill the worms in children, and is a great help to them that cannot keep their water;
The leaves, seed, or roots, are all very good in decoction, drinks, or lotions, for inward or outward wounds, or other sores.
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.