EXTERNALLY: Hot fomentations made from strong tea will relieve cramps and pain in menstruation, etc.
HOMEOPATHIC CLINICAL: Tincture or infusion of fresh plant for dysentery, hemorrhage.
RUSSIAN EXPERIENCE: Pustirnik serdechny, ‘heart herb’, is one of the names for motherwort, of which
there are many species. It seems to be the forgotten herb of Europe. In the fifteenth century it was
prominent in herbal books, but in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it seems to have been neglected.
Its popularity still holds good in folk medicine of Romania as an aid to heart conditions, goiter, and
epilepsy and also in Britain for hysteria, neuralgia, weakness of heart, shortness of breath. Folk
medicine: Considers the fresh leaves and flowers better than dried. The fresh juice is extracted and
prepared for winter use—2 parts of juice to 3 parts of alcohol (Vishaya Schkola, 1963). For female
complaints of amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, sleeplessness, nervousness, tuberculosis of the lungs (Bello-
Russ. Academy of Science, 1965). For heart neurosis, high blood pressure, goiter, epilepsy, used as a tea
(Moscow University, 1963). In place of valerian (Valeriana officinalis), the fresh juice of leaves and
flowers, 30–40 drops, for calming (Saratov University, 1963). Clinically: Extract and tablets are
combined with many other herbs for neurosis of the heart, high blood pressure (cardiosclerosis, sensitive
nerves), slight form of goiter. Experimentally, toxicity is not shown, but it is used for improving the
central nervous system and heart tone, and to regulate blood pressure (Atlas, Moscow, 1963).
Commercial: Commercial cultivation: 7–8 pounds of seed needed for row system; 3–4 pounds for square
net procedure. Plantation harvest runs four years, with about 1,000 pounds of dry leaves and flowers to an
acre from the first year’s crop. For the following three years, 2,000–3,000 pounds per acre are attained, if
maintained with loving care.