Marrubium vulgare
Otherwise known as White Horehound. I've only just aquired the herb and, until today's research, I didn't know much about it (other than it's name, which by the way makes teenaged boys and my husband laugh and the jokes are never ending). I'm super excited about this one, but the new kid in the garden always gets an unfair amount of my attention!
A Little History
I'm sure this isn't the most exciting part of the read, but I find the history of plants fascinating. That might explain my attraction to heirlooms!
White Horehound, of course, has many names: houndsbane, marrubium, bull's blood and marvel. The Egyptians knew it as Eye of the Star, and Seed of Horus. It is native to Europe, northern Africa and parts of Asia.
It's believed to be one of the Biblical bitter herbs and is often consumed at Passover and other feasts.
It was used by the Egyptians as a measure against poisonous vegetables, what ever that means. And records show that it was used as a treatment for respritory trouble in ancient Rome.
White Horehound has been used as a treatment for respiraory conditions all over the world for centuries. It's still used today in some of the most popular OTC cough syrups and cough drops.
The Good Stuff
Whaaaaaat?
I usually save the best for last, but this is pretty excellent, and I just gotta get it down. A study published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine in 2011 confirmed the "strong" antifungal and antibacterial properties of White Horehound. That's cool, but get this!
" The present studies confirm the use of this essential oil as anticancer agent."
Yeah, you just read that. That's straight outta the study's conclusion report and you can read it yourself right here! What I think is so cool about it is that I've never, in all the medicinal herb study and research I've done, found a report published in the U.S. that use such strong language confirmming an herbs ability to fight cancer.
Nausea, Heartburn, Upset Stomach, Indigestion, Diarrhea!
Yep. Horehound is nature's Pepto. A study done by 1] Life Force Research, Sweden, 2]the Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Westminster, London, and 3] the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Westminster shows the effectiveness of bitter herbs on the digestive system, relieving digestion related problems.
Black Horehound is known to alliviate motion sickness.
Respiratory Complaints
White Horehound has a couple of things going for it on the respiratory front. First, it's got a chemical compound called marrubiin. The University of Michigan released a papery that states:
The major active constituent in horehound is marrubiin, which is thought to be responsible for the expectorant (promotion of coughing up of mucus) action of the herb.
Horehound is known to be a vasodilator. Vasodilators relax the smooth muscle tissue in blood vessels, widening the vessel and allowing blood to flow more easily, carrying more oxygen around the body, which is helpful when battling bronchitis or other respiratory problems.
Science Direct published this study reporting on the antispasmatic and pain-releaving properties of White Horehound, making it a great natural caugh reliever.
More Uses
Web-MD has a list if complaints that can be treated with White Horehound that includes:
- loss of appetite
- indigestion
- bloating
- gas
- diarrhea
- constipation
- liver and gallbladder complaints
- cough
- whooping caugh
- asthma
- tuberculosis
- bronchitis
- swollen breathing passages
- painful menstrual periods
- jaundice
- parasitic worms
- induced sweating
- increase urine production
- decrease swelling
- topical use for skin damage, ulcers and wounds
Use and Doseage
For most complaits, it seems, a simple tea made by using 1 ounce of dry leaves to a pint of water will do the trick. A little raw honey and a squeeze of lemon makes it tastier and is especially helpful if it's being used for a cough. 1/2 cup three or four times daily is recommended.
Making a syrup from White Horehound is recommended for children and fussier patients, like my husband. I found a recipe on Little City Farm's blog. It's pretty simple, you can go check that out.
I also found a candy recipe from Genius Kitchen that looks totally doable. The candies can be used as cough drops.
An ointment can be made by bruising the leaves, then boiling them in lard. It's great for wounds. I wonder how it would be with beeswax?
Warnings!
As with all medicinal herbs, they have to be treated like medicine. They are medicine!
According to Web-MD, research shows that White Horehound can lower blood sugar. Diabetics should be aware of this and monitor blood sugar closely when using Horehound.
Horehound can cause an irregular heartbeat in patients with heart problems. In that case, I would talk to a dr. before I used it.
White Horehound has been known to lower blood pressure. If you're on blood pressure meds or if your BP runs low, monitor it closely while using Horehound.
DO NOT use White Horehound while pregnant. It an start menstruation and cause miscarriage.
Web-MD suggests "sticking to food amounts" of White Horehound while breast-feeding.
Using White Horehound directly on the skin can cause irritation and should never be used on the skin in any way while pregnant!
All I could find on dosage information is that it all depends on age, weight and health.
One More Thing of Interest!
I read that putting some Horehound in 'new milk' and setting it where flies are thick will "kill them all quickly." Anyone with a chicken yard would surely agree that that's worth a try!
Calling All Herbies!
I know there are a lot of Steemians who are knowledgeable about medicinal herbs. If any of you have anything to add that would help me or anyone reading, please chime in!
Be sure to check out this post on medicinal Passion flower and enter for the medicinal seed giveaway!
One More Thing!
HURRY! This giveaway ends soon!
More Medicinal Herbs
If you found this article helpful and would like to know about other medicinal herbs, check out my other medicinal herb articles.
What an awesome find! Did you find this sweet plant at your property? It's cool your family is curious enough to try it! I woke with indigestion! LOL, i'd like to try it right about now! 😂
No, I found it at Baker Creek's Planting Festival. There are always several booths with medicinal herbs, I try to purchase at least one new one every year. I like to buy perennials plants. Annuals are much less expensive to just start myself. But I start so many things from seed, I don't have room to start everything I want to grow! So buying a perennial here and there speeds up my collection. 👍
So fun!! To plant all the things and to see what flourishes! LOOK what i saw at the grocery store yesterday! So sycronistic!
It's a small world! 😄
I can't believe how much they charge for them. But maybe they don't grow everywhere the way they do here. My Gram Moore's them down because they grow so thick on her property, they take over everything.
Seriously! Smh!!
I grow horehound but the seed is sold as "horehound". Is white horehound a different thing? Are there different horehounds?
We used horehound cough drops as kids.
I grow it because it is symbiotic with tomatoes and I interplant it.
During the research I did, Ballota nigra seemed to always be referring to black horehound, but both horehound and white horehound were always Marrubium vulgare. Black horehound looks different. It's leaves don't have that silver look to them, and I don't think they're fuzzy like white horehound.
I'm just this year getting into companion planting. I've been interested and reading about it for a few years. But I'm just coming to a place where I'm comfortable trying it out. I dont think I've come across the tomato/horehound relationship. Thanks for the tip!
That being the case, mine is white horehound then. Thanks for posting about the differences!
Was posting to Powellx5 and saw this exchange between you re companion planting, which I have been using for years with happy results. If you like here are a couple of resources: https://www.motherearthnews.com/print?printid=%7BF1D95C3B-BCDB-4E25-8ADF-36B742F24DAC%7D and https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3215/
Thank you! Mother Earth News is just a treasure trove of information!
I agree, and have followed its wonderful work since the 70s when it was founded, though now at this "stage of the game" I follow it religiously. They have an online newsletter, you know. I look forward to it in my email, and there is Mother Earth Living, as well, which includes info for your home and more. Below is a link to each, in case you are interested in signing up for it. And while I am at it -Thank you for your generous donations, sweetie, including today's. Here's a sample: http://tracking.ogden.whatcounts.com/dm?id=FDB74A582A932437C07FD5E67125091EDDEA608FE30910B5 and http://tracking.ogden.whatcounts.com/dm?id=FDB74A582A9324373EDA8F943BA2ED5EDDEA608FE30910B5
My Gram renews my subscription to Mother Earth News every Christmas. She's also been collecting Grit since my dad was little and sold it door to door. So I've got stacks of them. A friend of ours picked up a couple creates of The Backwoodsman and The New Pioneer and gave those to me. They're full of great stuff too.
Thank you! Mother Earth
News is just a treasure trove
Of information!
- powellx5
I'm a bot. I detect haiku.
Just lol.
The Davesgarden link does mention horehound. :)) Not sure where I found the info all those years ago...