Hedge Hyssop

Gratiola officinalis

HRB-0151Entry “HEDGE HYSSOP” 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.

⚠ Poisonous · All partsCucurbitacins (gratioside): vomiting, bloody diarrhoea and kidney irritation; very high doses bring convulsions and collapse. Deaths are rare.EFSA: cucurbitacin I-glycoside, cucurbitacine E, gratioside

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

Culpeper’s claims about it: 3, under 3 headings

  1. DropsyCLM-000680
    so used they may be very helpful both for the dropsy, gout, and sciatica;
    QUO-000544Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  2. UlcersCLM-001958
    outwardly used in ointments they kill worms, the belly anointed with it, and are excellently good to cleanse old and filthy ulcers.
    QUO-001236Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  3. WormsCLM-002110
    outwardly used in ointments they kill worms, the belly anointed with it, and are excellently good to cleanse old and filthy ulcers.
    QUO-001236Papers 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.