LUNGWORT
Pulmonaria officinalis
COMMON NAMES: Spotted lungwort, maple lungwort, Jerusalem cowslip, spotted comfrey.
FEATURES: Lungwort may be any of several plants used as folk remedies for lung disease. One is a
widely distributed lichen (Lobaria pulmonaria), that grows usually on tree trunks. Others are hairy
perennials that belong to the genus Pulmonaria of the borage family (Boraginaceae) and have pink, blue,
purple, or white flowers; sometimes grown as ornamentals in northern latitudes. This particular perennial
species (P. officinalis) is a smooth plant with a stem about 1 foot high. The flowers are blue, funnel-
shaped, with a five-angled corolla with stigma, flowering in May. They are without any particular odor.
MEDICINAL PART: Leaves.
SOLVENT: Water.
BODILY INFLUENCE: Demulcent, mucilaginous, pectoral.
USES: Its virtues seem to be entirely expended upon the lungs, and it is certainly an efficaciously reliable
agent for all morbid conditions of these organs, especially when there is bleeding from the lung structure
and functions. Also valuable as a treatment for coughs, asthma, colds, bronchial and catarrhal affections.
Seems to seal the weakened tissue and take away inflammation.
DOSE: The infusion of 2 ounces in 1 pint of boiling water is taken in frequent doses of a wineglassful.
RUSSIAN EXPERIENCE: Two species of lungwort grow in Russia, lungwort obscura and Pulmonaria
angustifolia (narrow-leaf lungwort). Both species are used for the same purpose. In this case, as with
many other of our folk medicines around the world, the people have independently discovered the useful
properties of the plant and named the plant according to its most influential action on certain parts of the
body. Such is the attractive lungwort: in Latin, pulmonaria (pulm-lung); in Russian, legochnitza, (legkie-
lung); in English, lungwort (from the lung). Folk medicine: The medical properties of lungwort have long
been accepted as emollient, mild astringent, tonic, and a natural source of minerals for stomach and
intestinal sickness and lung and pulmonary conditions. There have been recent (1963) reports in medical