Which came first the Pilgrim or the Pumpkin? The pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) had already become the most widespread cultivated plant in North America by the time the Pilgrim’s European ancestors had barely crawled out of caves. Archeological remains of pumpkin seeds dated to more than 9,000 years old have been found in the Oaxaca in Mexico along with 7,000 year-old pumpkin seeds from sites in Illinois. At the point of European discovery, pumpkins and their relatives were cultivated from southern Canada to Argentina. It appears that what we know today as the pumpkin may have evolved from domestication of Cucurbitatexana, now found in northeast Texas, but suspected of being of much wider distribution in ancient times. Molecular evidence gives rise to this hypothesis.
Pilgrims did not encounter pumpkins until they came to the Americas. However, Native American groups were happy to discover in the years shortly after the first invasions, gourd family members brought from the Old World to the Americas including muskmelon, watermelons and cucumbers, so of which probably arrived in the Americas via the slave trade.
The genus Cucurbita in the gourd family is comprised of about 13 species native to the Americas, five of which are cultivated and their remains found in archeological sites of peoples of ancient America. Their consumption since ancient times forms part of the staple diet of pre-Columbian America consisting of cucurbits, beans and maize. Pumpkins had edible seeds, a thick starchy, sweet rind, and excellent storage potential, lasting for months without decay, and easily dried in the sun or over a fire for long-term storage.
The big round pumpkin is typical of Cucurbita pepo, but the same species, in its evolution to diversity also gives use familiar cultivated varieties such as scallop squash; acorn squash; summer squash and crookneck; the unpalatable, inedible ornamental gourds, and the ever ubiquitous, no thank you, please, I don’t need more zucchini. The word squash comes from an Algonquin phrase askoot-asquash—“sometimes eaten when immature or raw.”
Descriptions of pumpkins began to appear in European herbals about 50 years after Columbus sailed home. Paintings of vegetable markets in the Netherlands and Flanders in the 1500s and 1600s show realistic images of eight different forms of pumpkins. In the 1636 edition of Gerarde’s Herball, the pumpkin was called “the Great Round Pompion.” By the early 1700s, pumpkin pies were a common food of England’s rural peasantry, undoubtedly an idea brought back by Pilgrims who had returned home to celebrate Halloween with family.
Native to Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, Passiflora caerulea, is one of three semi-hardy species of passionflowers, and is widely cultivated as a window box plant or gardens in southern Europe, surviving temperatures of -15°C. It was cultivated in France as early as 1625, and first document in London in 1629. Today it is one of the most widely-grown passionflowers in horticulture, and source of many hybrids. These photos were taken in a garden in Podgorica, Montenegro.
Intent on reaching the swimming hole on a seething July afternoon, my attention was diverted by a loud pop under foot. Relieved by the realization that the object was vegetable rather than animal, the victim plant caught my attention again, this time by the indescribable, intricate beauty of its bloom. I had stepped on a fruit of the passionflower or maypop. Such is the memory of a New England transplant upon first encountering a maypop in the Ozarks. This fast-growing perennial vine is more widely known as passionflower (Passiflora incarnata). In the Southeast it’s also called apricot vine.
Passionflower’s Name
What design of nature or serendipitous evolutionary event could create a flower of such unusual beauty? Such radiance is beyond scientific rationale. Best to describe it in religious terms. The first Europeans to observe the plant did just that. The name is derived from flos passionis, a translation of fior della passione, a popular Italian name which was applied to the plant to signify religious symbolism. The floral structure was seen to symbolize the implements of the crucifixion—the Passion of Christ— his period of suffering following the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. The three spreading styles atop the stigma were thought to represent the three nails by which Christ was attached to the cross. The five hammer-like anthers atop of the stamens exemplify the hammers used to drive the nails, or to others, Christ’s five wounds. Beneath these floral structures is a fringe of colored filaments, known as the corona. It was believed to depict a halo or perhaps the crown of thorns. Beneath it sits the corolla—with ten petals, each representing the ten apostles at the Crucifixion— save Peter and Judas. Some early missionaries envisioned that the bell-shaped, unopened or recently closed flower held these sacred symbols from the view of heathens who had not yet been converted to Christianity. If that’s not enough, the lobed leaves and long green vines further represent the hands and whips of Christ’s prosecutors. And so, both the common and Latin names—passionflower (Passiflora)—speak of these mysteries. Thomas Johnson editor of the 1633 edition of Gerarde’s Herball described these notions for what they were: “The Spanish Friers for some imaginarie resemblances in the floure, first called it Flos Passionis, The Passion floure, and in a counterfeit figure, by adding what was wanting, they made it as it were an Epitome of our Saviors passion. Thus superstitious persons semper sibi somnia fingunt” [always see contrived images]. The species name of passionflower “incarnata” means “made of flesh or flesh-colored.” Maypop, of course, refers to the fruits, the shape and size of a hen’s egg, which open with a resounding pop when squeezed.
Passiflora incarnata, Passionflower, or Maypop. Passionflower is variously wildflower, weed, ornamental perennial, delectable edible, or medicinal herb. The fruits, “maypops”, are edible. The whole above ground plant is considered a mild nerve sedative and a sleep aid. When tension, restlessness and irritability result in difficulty in falling asleep, passionflower is an herbal remedy of choice.
Passionflower Diversity
Depending upon your perspective passionflower is wildflower, weed, ornamental perennial, delectable edible, or medicinal herb. The flowers of one hybrid P. x alatocaerulea (a cultivated hybrid between P. alata and P. caerulea) are used in perfumery. That covers all the bases of the definition of an herb— any plant or plant part used for culinary, fragrant or medicinal purposes. Therefore, it deserves a place in herb gardens. Here we will primarily focus on the common maypop, wild passionflower, or apricot vine (P. incarnata) the only native species that is hardy and can be widely cultivated in much of the U.S.
Yellow Passionflower, Passiflora lutea one of the most diminutive of all passionflowers, with blooms barely reaching 2cm in diameter. It occurs from Pennsylvania to Florida, west to Texas, northward to Illinois.
The passionflower (P. incarnata) is an herbaceous perennial, trailing or climbing, with tendrils. The white to blue purple flowers are up to three inches across. It occurs in waste ground, along fence rows, roadsides, and fields from Pennsylvania to southern Florida, west to east Texas and north to southern Missouri, and Ohio. In the United States we have about 25 native or naturalized species of Passiflora, but only the passionflower and its diminutive relative wild yellow passionflower (P. lutea), with tiny yellow flowers about an inch across, are hardy natives. Wild yellow passionflower is rarely grown in gardens.
The genus Passiflora, with only a handful of temperate species, explodes in diversity in the American tropics with about 500 species. An additional 20 species occur in Indomalaysia and the south Pacific islands. Some have edible fruits. Others do not. About 30 species of passionflower have edible fruits. At least 40 species and numerous cultivated varieties are found in American gardens, primarily in warmer areas.
Passiflora edulis, passion fruit, passionfruit is used as a commercial source of passionfruit beverages in the tropics. Since the fruits have poor keeping qualities they are seldom seen outside of local tropical markets. A folk remedy for insomnia, neuralgia, muscle spasms and epilepsy. Juice considered a digestive aid.
The undisputed edible king of passionflowers is passionfruit or purple granadilla (Passiflora edulis) which is cultivated for its edible fruits and juice. It is native to southern Brazil, Paraguay and northern Argentina. A large passionfruit industry in Brazil grows purple-fruited forms for the fruits, while yellow-fruited cultivated forms are used for juice extraction. Passionfruit is grown commercially in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and other tropical regions. It was introduced into Hawaii in the 1880s, where it became a popular home garden flower and fruit on the islands. By the 1930s it had become wild on every island in the archipelago. Commercial cultivation operations are also found in Kenya, South Africa, India, Pacific islands, and other tropical regions where it thrives. According to Arthur O. Tucker passionfruit has proven hardy in protected situations as far north as Ontario. If you do buy seeds or plants of this species and don’t live in a subtropical area, you will probably want to bring it indoors for the winter. The vast majority of scientific references to Passiflora species refer to the passionfruit and its many cultivars and hybrids. Much of the research has focused on attempting to unlock the unusually complex, sweet, delicate-perfume flavor of the fruits.
Other passionflowers are grown as subtropical food plants as well. The tropical American species running pop (P. foetida), now a weed in the old world tropics, is grown for its fruit, as is the banana passionfruit (P. mollissima). Yellow granadilla, or water lemon (P. laurifolia), also known as Jamaica honeysuckle, is a commercial fruit crop. Its name does not derive from any resemblance to honeysuckle (Lonicera species) but from the fact that the fruits are eaten by sucking out the pulp from the rose-scented fruit. Sweet calabash (P. maliformis) is grown to produce grape-flavored juice. Giant granadilla (P. quadrangularis) sports a large fruit about eight inches long which is eaten as a vegetable. Individual fruits of cultivated varieties of giant granadilla may weigh as much as several pounds. When still green the rind is boiled and eaten as a vegetable. If ripe, it is eaten iced (with sugar) or the fruit-wall may be candied. Members of the genus Passiflora hybridize readily and have produced numerous cultivated hybrids, primarily grown in the tropics for fruit production.
Passiflora vitifolia, Grapeleaved Passionflower, Crimson Passionflower is a showy native to Central America. The berry-like fruit is sour, then slowly ripens over a month a flavor likened to sour strawberries.
Other passionflowers such as red-flowered species P. vitifolia which sports crimson red flowers, or blue passionflower (P. caerulea) are grown as ornamentals. They do not produce edible fruits. Some cultivars of the blue passionflower such as ‘Constance Elliot’ which sports white flowers, are reported to be hardy in protected situations as far north as central Delaware. The tender ornamental passionflowers can be grown as annuals, taking cuttings in late summer rooting them before the first frost, or growing them in a large container to winter it over.
Native to Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, Passiflora caerulea, is one of three semi-hardy species of passionflowers, and is widely cultivated as a window box plant or gardens in southern Europe, surviving temperatures of -15°C. It was cultivated in France as early as 1625, and first documented in London in 1629. Today it is one of the most widely-grown passionflowers in horticulture, and source of many hybrids. These photos were taken in a garden in Podgorica, Montenegro.
Growing Passionflower
Subtropical edible or ornamental passionflowers are primarily relegated to the realm of the specialized collector, or those who have access to a greenhouse. But the passionflower (P. incarnata) can be grown by most herb gardeners. While passionflower is commonly regarded as a southern plant, it will grow as far north as the Boston area, and I suspect, if placed in a well-protected situation and mulched through the winter, it would even survive as a perennial in central Maine. Here in the Arkansas and Missouri Ozarks, the native passionflower withstands temperatures of -25° F. without any protection. When purchasing seeds or plants it’s probably a good idea to at least inquire where the plant material originated, if the seller knows. Passionflower seeds or plants from south Florida are probably likely to survive in New England, than plants originating from more northerly areas. While dying back to the ground each year, it makes a marvelous fast-growing climbing cover for a fence, or can be trained on a trellis as a focal point for the herb garden. In the South it will grow 20—30 ft. in a single season. In more northerly areas, expect a growth of about 15 feet in a season. Passionflower grows in waste places, thriving in relatively poor, sandy, acidic soils. Good drainage is essential. Full sun is necessary.
Propagation is by seeds, cuttings, or layering. Cuttings about six inches in length can be taken from mature plants, then rooted in sand. Maypop grows readily from seed—if one has patience. After harvesting the fruits, clean out the seeds from the mucilaginous fleshy aril surrounding them, then plant immediately. They may germinate late in the summer, or may sit dormant until the following spring. The experience of many who try passionflower from seed for the first time is disappointment, born of expectations that the seeds will germinate in a couple of weeks. Wait a year if you have to. The result of your patience and suspense will be worth it a few years later.
Propagation by layering can be achieved simply by removing the leaves from a small section of a stem in late summer, placing a portion beneath the soil, with a leafy end sticking out of the ground. Water well, and in a few weeks, the buried stem should produce roots. But wait. Keep the layer in the ground through the dormant months, allowing it to develop a full root system before transplanting. The layered cutting can be severed from the mother plant and placed in a new location. With a little luck and persistence, you will soon have your own passionflower planting. Of course, the easiest technique is simply to buy plants from a nursery. Young plants are often slow-growing, taking two or three years to establish. After that, watch out—it can entangle everything else in your perennial beds.
Passionflower as Food
In his “Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf” John Muir speaks of the apricot vine (maypop) has having a superb flower “and the most delicious fruit I have ever eaten.” If you grow passionflower, you must taste the fruits. The fruits of the passionflower ripen from yellowish to light brown in color. The slimy aril covering the seeds is very sweet and fruity when ripe. The hard seeds can be separated from the pulp through a sieve or apple sauce strainer. Or if you are in the garden, you can pop open the ripe fruit and suck the delicious pulp from the fruit. Make sure that the fruit is not over-ripe. Perfectly ripe fruits are delicious . Over-ripe fruits ferment into a foul paste.
Passionflower, Passiflora incarnata
At the annual funding-raising auction of the Arkansas Native Plant Society a few years ago, I was the fortunate high bidder on two jars of maypop jelly. I know of no other native fruit whose flavor is best described as “indescribable.” The best maypop jam recipe can be found in Billy Joe Tatum’s Wildfoods Field Guide and Cookbook (Workman Publishing Co., Inc., New York 1976). Billy Joe’s book, which transformed wild edible from the realm of survival food to haute cuisine, also contains a delicious recipe for maypop punch, and maypop ice, a cool refreshing beverage with juiced maypops and pineapple sherbet. To make 10 half-pint jars of maypop jam, she combines 5 cups of gently rinsed maypops, with a 1/2 cup of lemon juice, one box of powdered pectin and 7 1/2 cups of sugar. Enough water is added to barely cover the fruit. Standard procedures for making jam are followed.
Passionflower was a minor food item of American Indian groups in the Southeastern U.S. Archaeological evidence shows that maypop seeds could be found at Indian camp sites over 5000 years old. Seventeenth century visitors to Virginia such as the Englishman William Starchey observed the harvesting of fruits from corn fields. Calling it maracock, Starchey described it as “of the bigness of a green apple, and hath manie azurine or blew kernells, like as a pomegranat, a good sommer cooling fruit.” It is unclear whether native groups intentionally planted the passionflower as a crop or whether it simply occurred naturally on the disturbed ground at the edge of the plot. It is clear, however, that native groups of the Southeast enjoyed this late summer fruit for many centuries.
Passionflower as Medicine
Passionflower, Passiflora incarnata
Passionflower never became an important medicinal plant in the U.S. Like many American medicinal plants, however, it is more highly revered in modern Europe than in its native land. In the second volume of his 1830 Medical Flora or Manual of Medical Botany of the United States the naturalist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque makes one of the earliest reference to medicinal use. He recommends a syrup of the fruits as a cooling agent for fevers. The leaves, he says are used externally, and the juice given to dogs to cure the “staggers or epilepsy.” This use was first recorded in 1787 by a German surgeon, Johann David Schoepf, who served with Hessian mercenaries siding with the British during the Revolutionary War.
In Europe, passionflower products are used as mild nerve sedatives and a sleep aid. The introduction of this medicinal use is credited to Dr. L. Phares of Mississippi who in an 1840 issue of the New Orleans Medical Journal, recorded its use. Remaining an obscure reference in the literature, Dr. I.J.M. Goss of Atlanta reintroduced passionflower into Eclectic medical practice in the late nineteenth century.
Dr. E. D. Stapleton writing in a 1904 issue of the Detroit Medical Journal summed up his experience in using passionflower tincture to treat insomnia “I would say that its action is best obtained in cases of nervousness due to causes other than pain-that it is slow in acting because it is not a narcotic, but a nervine and sedative. It relieves irritation of the nerve-centers and improves sympathetic innervation, thus improving circulation and nutrition, and is as a rule sure in its results-no bad after-effects, no habits formed”.
In the eighteenth edition of King’s American Dispensatory (1898), authors H.W. Felter and J.U. Lloyd characterize its action. “Its force is exerted chiefly upon the nervous system, the remedy finding a wide application in spasmodic disorders and as a rest-producing agent. . . It is specially useful to allay restlessness and overcome wakefulness, when these are the result of exhaustion, or the nervous excitement of debility. It proves specially useful in the insomnia of infants and old people. It gives sleep to those who are laboring under the effects of mental worry of from mental overwork.” Sounds like I need some myself.
Yellow Passionflower, Passiflora lutea, with fruits the size of a pea. It occurs from Pennsylvania to Florida, west to Texas, northward to Illinois. Although yellow wild passionflower is very rarely mentioned in the medicinal plant literature, in 1840 Dr. L. Phares of Mississippi is said to have used this small North American vine interchangeably with the common passionflower.
It is interesting to note that while yellow wild passionflower (P. lutea) is very rarely mentioned in the medicinal plant literature, Dr. Phares of Mississippi is said to have used this small North American vine interchangeably with the common passionflower. I have made a tincture (alcohol extract) of both plants. They have a very similar flavor and fragrance. The fruits are decidedly different, though. Those of P. lutea are globular black berries, about 1/4 inch across. They have a much more acidic flavor than maypop.
Herbal Medicine Past and Present by John K Crellin and Jane Philpott (Duke University Press 1990) is based on extensive interviews over a seven year period with an Alabama herbalist, Tommie Bass. Bass, quoted in the text says, “Its the most wonderful sleep and pacifying plant, valuable for a nerve medicine . . . Any good sleeping medicine has passion-flower in it.”
Today the American passionflower is used in a number of proprietary phytomedicines (plant medicines) in Europe, used for “conditions of nervous anxiety.” A dosage of 4-8 g. of the herb per day in infusion (tea) or other methods of preparation such as equivalent extracts for internal use. Products are made from the fresh or dried whole plant (excluding the root). It is usually collected at flowering time. It is also widely used as a sleep aid. The fresh or dried whole plant as well as their preparations are also used in daily dosages equivalent to 0.5 to 2 g. of the herb, or 2.5 g in tea (about a teaspoon of the dried, ground herb). Preparations include tea, tinctures, fluid extracts, solid extracts, and even sedative chewing gums. Passionflower is also combined with valerian and hawthorn in products used in Europe to treat digestive spasms, gastritis, and colitis.
Like many medicinal herbs, the exact chemical components responsible for the plant’s sedative activity have not been definitively identified. Researchers have found small amounts of components known as harmala-type alkaloids in the plant, as well as compounds called flavonoids. In Germany, passionflower preparations were regulated to contain no more than 0.01 percent of harman alkaloids. Some believe the flavonoids to be active compounds. Still other researchers believe that substances known as maltol and ethyl-maltol may be responsible for the sleep-inducing and muscle relaxant activity attributed to passionflower. Generally it is believed that the sedative effect is probably a result of an interaction between the alkaloids and flavonoids found in the extract.
While the active constituents and mechanism of action of passionflower requires more studies, various studies confirm a sedative effect on the central nervous systems. The degrees of effect is dependent upon dose. Extracts of the herb inhibit fungi and bacteria. Studies indicate that the herb (or its extracts) relieves spasms, has a sedative effect, allays anxiety, and lowers blood pressure. The experience of numerous medical practitioners and herbalists in Western herbal traditions generally confirm the plant’s safety and efficacy.
Most of the supply of dried passionflower leaves either cultivated or wild-harvested in the U.S. goes to the European market. Farmers treat it as a weed in the South. USDA scientists focus on developing it as a new fruit crop for the U.S. Gardening enthusiasts appreciate the passionflower and subtropical passionflowers for their fantastic, colorful floral assemblage. Wild food enthusiasts, delight in its delicate, delectable flavor. And if you are a herb gardener, you’ll undoubtedly enjoy adding passionflowers to your herbary.
Yellow Passionflower, Passiflora lutea, a member of the Passifloraceae or passionflower family, a predominantly Neotropical American plant group of about 500 species, with three temperate North American representatives including, Passiflora lutea.
References:
ESCOP. 1997. Passiflora herba. In ESCOP Monographs on the Medicinal Use of Plant Drugs. vol. 4. Exeter, UK: ESCOP Secretariat.
Felter, H. W. and J. U. Lloyd. 1898 Kings American Dispensatory, 18th ed. 2 vols. Portland, OR: Eclectic Medical Publications, reprinted 1983.
Foster, S.1991. “The Passionflowers.” The Herb Companion (August/September): 18-23.
Foster S. 1993. Herbal Renaissance: Growing, Using and Understanding Herbs in the Modern World. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith.
Foster, S. and J. A. Duke. 2014. Peterson Field Guide To Medicinal Plants: Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co.
Gremillion, K. J. 1989. The Development of a Mutualistic Relationship Between Humans and Maypops (Passiflora incarnata L.) in the Southeastern United States. Journal of Ethnobiology. 9(2):135-158.
Hoch, J. H. 1934. The Legend and History of Passiflora. American Journal of Pharmacy. (May): 166-170.
Krellin, J.K. and J. P{hilpott. 1990. Herbal Medicine Passt and Present. 2 vols. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Mabberley DJ. 2008. Mabberley’s Plant-Book. Third Edition ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
McGuire, C.M. 1999. Passiflora incarnata (Passifloraceae): A New Fruit Crop. Economic Botany 53(2):161-176.
Olin, B. R., ed. 1989. “Passion Flower.” The Lawrence Review of Natural Products. (May):1-2.
Speroni, E., and A. Minghetti.1998 Neuropharmacological Activity of Extracts from Passiflora incarnata. Planta Medica 54: 488-491.
Ulmer T, MacDougal JM. 2004. Passiflora: Passionflowers of the World. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press.
Vanderplank J. 1991. Passion Flowers (and Passion Fruit). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Weiss, R.F. 1988. Herbal Medicine (translated from German by A.R. Meuss). Beaconsfield, England: Beaconsfield Publishers Ltd.
The all new third edition of a Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs: Eastern and Central North America.
Roger Tory Peterson (1919-1996) wrote and illustrated A Field Guide to Birds: Eastern and Central North America, now in its 6th edition, first published in 1934. He invented the modern 20th century concept of field guides, introducing generations of Americans to the flora, fauna and natural features of North America. Peterson Field Guides have now been for published 80 years.
The third edition of the Foster and Duke Field Guide to Medicinal Plants is expanded to include 60 new species not found in previous editions. The book includes 531 species accounts with information on 588 medicinal plant species. With 705 color photographs by Steven Foster, over 88% of the images are new. Over 66% of the plants in the book are native species, while 33% represent non-native, mostly European and Asian aliens.
Medicinal plants and herbs are all around us
Whether hiking along a remote Appalachian mountain trail or simply observing plants in one’s own yard, medicinal plants can be found everywhere humans live and travel.
Can we control invasive alien weeds by finding a use for them? Many homeowners attempt to eliminate weeds from their yards—dandelions, English plantain, and chickweed. Some call them weeds. We call them medicinal plants.
Some garden plants, such as English Ivy, are registered as ethical drugs in Europe, in this case for the treatment of coughs and upper respiratory tract infections.
Inspiring Conservation awareness:
A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs provides a glimpse of the human experience with plants. Native medicinal plants from the eastern deciduous forest, including black cohosh, goldenseal, and American ginseng are among more than 150 native species that are still harvested from the wild and enter international commerce. Sustainable use of these valuable resources is paramount for future generations.
Conservation of these important genetic resources is informed by awareness of their medicinal value.
“Without knowledge there is no appreciation. Without appreciation there is no conservation.”
New Research, New Details—Reconciling tradition with science:
Uses have been thoroughly updated and revised, with more nuanced detail on historical use in pre-21st century America and elsewhere, including ethnobotanical details by specific native American groups, traditional use by American physicians and herbalists, and information on historic or modern use in Europe, China, and elsewhere.
Details on the latest scientific developments that in many cases reveal a rational scientific basis for traditional use.
Rather than use the internet or secondary references, the authors went to great lengths to scour the original references from which the information is derived, whether a 17th century renaissance herbal or the latest original scientific studies.
Since the publication of the second edition in 2000, worldwide research on medicinal plants has increased by a factor of at least 5-fold. Prior to the year 2000 a PubMED search for Echinacea in the title of a scientific paper returns 80 unique studies. A search for Echinacea in the title between 2000-2013 yields 443 studies.
Names, Distribution, Descriptions, and Flowering Times Updated:
The last decade produced a dramatic increase in the study of plant genetics leading to changes in plant taxonomy and family associations. New taxonomic designations are provided along with the synonyms of familiar scientific names from earlier works.
Plant biology and plant geography is dynamic, not static. We have revised and updated geographical distribution and occurrence details. Many non-native species have greatly increased in distribution, a disturbing but important data set.
A surprising aspect of revising data was the need to readjust the range of blooming periods. With the effects of climate change, some plants are blooming earlier (or in some cases later), which may reduce or extend flowering or fruiting, depending upon species and distribution range.
Updated Information on safety, toxicity and drug interactions:
The book contains appropriate warnings on those plants that can lead to poisoning or toxic reactions, sometimes even by handling the plant. Some plants, such as St. John’s wort are known to interact with enzyme systems that interfere with the absorption of prescription drugs, sometimes increasing or decreasing the drug’s effective dose. Important examples such as St. John’s wort are update to reflect that new research.
Cover of the 1st edition published in 1990.
First published in 1990 Steven Foster and Jim Duke’s A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants: Eastern and Central North America (Softcover: ISBN 0-395-46722-5) featured information on the identification and use of about 500 medicinal plants of eastern and central North America. It was the first modern comprehensive field guide to medicinal plants. The book included pen and inks by Roger Tory Peterson, Lee Peterson and Jim Blackfeather Rose. A 48-page color insert had nearly 200 photographs. With 366 pages it was the 40th title in The Peterson Field Guide® Series. If you have the first edition, you don’t have the third edition. Simple as that.
Cover of the 2nd edition published in 2000.
In 2000 we produced a new edition of the title, this time calling it A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs: Eastern and Central North America, with no line drawings, illustrated with photographs. Herbs had come of age by the year 2000. In 1990, annual herb product sales were about $250 million, and by 1990 they had surpassed $3 billion largely the result of the dietary health and supplement act on 1994, which created the regulatory category of “dietary supplements” and moved herb products from health and natural food stores into the mass market. A few years earlier, the infant internet also began to play a role in marketing and distribution. If you have the second edition, we think you will enjoy the all new third edition.
Naked ladies or Surprise lilies trumpet their pink splendor in mid to late summer. These beautiful ladies are part of our foreign diversity in Eureka Springs and eastern North America generally, but alas they are just plants. Known as surprise lily, resurrection lily, magic lily or naked ladies, this pretender is laid bare not as a lily at all but a member of the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae). These late blooming beauties produce unnoticed leaves in the spring, which soon die back. Out of the hot bosom of steamy August air a whorl of large showy flowers atop a leafless (naked) stalk pops from the ground.
From a 9 April 1990 article by Sereno Watson in Garden and Forest_A Journal of Horticulture, Landscape Art and Forestry.
Although not generally considered a medicinal plant, it does have bioactive components. Fayetteville, Arkansas’s KUAF Producer, Jacqueline Froelich aired a story on Surprise Lilies on 14 August 2014. You can listen to the story here. One of the alkaloids found in Lycoris squamigera is galanthamine, one of several toxic compounds in the plant. It is also famously known from the related amaryllis family member Galanthus nivalis or snow-drops a common alpine species in mountains of Europe, which is grown as an ornamental in North America, and occasionally naturalized. First isolated in the 1950s, galanthamine, formerly extracted from Galanthus nivalis, is now produced synthetically on an industrial scale. It was used in some parts of the world in the 1950s to treat nerve pain associated with polio. Today, the compound is regarded as a long-acting, selective, reversible and competitive acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor used in the systematic treatment of mild to moderate cognitive impairment in early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Amaryllis and it relatives cause plant name consternation. The genus Lycoris (to which our naked ladies belong) is native to eastern Asia, while Amaryllis is native to the Western Cape of South Africa. In 1753 Linnaeus named Amaryllis belladonna. Another closely related genus in the Amaryllis family is Hippeastrum from tropical America. The “amaryllis” that bloom around Christmas, available wherever bulbs are sold, are mostly hybrids of South American Hippeastrum species.
Lycoris squamigera #7547 from Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, 1897.
Our common naked lady is the Asian species Lycoris squamigera, an inelegant scientific name for an elegant plant. It superficially resembles the South African Amaryllis belladonna but differs in significant botanical characteristics as well as continent of origin. The first European illustration comes from a periodical famous for its unabashed Victorian paintings of reproductive organs (of plants)—Curtis’s Botanical Magazine volume 123, August 1, 1897. No doubt many gardeners, horticulturists and botanists have been confused by these relatives in the amaryllis family. It is no surprise that the surprise lily itself has lived under three scientific names over the decades including Hippeastrum squamigerum and Amaryllis hallii as well as the name used for more than a century—Lycoris squamigera.
Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus-castus) has been used for gynecological conditions since the days of Hippocrates (2500 years ago). With a rich traditional of use, modern research supports historical wisdom, and has made chaste tree fruit preparations a phytomedicine of choice by European gynecologists for treatment of various menstrual disorders, PMS, and other conditions.
Origins and Botany
The genus Vitex until recently has been associated for centuries with the verbena family (Verbenaceae), and includes about 250 species, primarily tropical shrubs and trees. Only a few Vitex species occur in temperate regions. Vitex agnus-castus L., commonly known as chaste tree, is the sole species to occur in Europe. Native to West Asia and southwestern Europe, the shrub was introduced throughout Europe at an early date. It was known in English gardens as early a 1570, and now occurs throughout the European continent.
Chaste tree is a shrub growing from nine to seventeen feet tall, though specimens twenty-five feet high, with trunks eight inches in diameter, have been recorded. It has palmate leaves, usually with five to nine (rarely three) leaflets, white hairy beneath, with densely hairy, resinous leaf stalks. The flowers are in a pyramidal-shaped showy cluster, with seven inch spikes, sporting tiny blue to lilac blooms. Chaste tree has a long blooming period, as early as April in the deep South, lasting into October in more northerly areas in the United States. Typically it blooms from June through August. The small round fruits (seeds) have a pungent scent and flavor. Introduced to American gardens by European immigrants in the early nineteenth, the shrub has become naturalized in much of the Southeastern United States, occurring in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, southeast Oklahoma, north to Maryland.
The genus name Vitex derives from an ancient designation, vei, meaning to “wind, bend or twine,” referring to the once common use of the tough, flexible branches in constructing woven (wattle) fences. Pliny was the first to apply the name Vitex to the plant, perhaps derived from the Latin “vitilium” (wicker-work). The species name “agnus-castus” derives from a historical mis-interpretation of the original Greek name, “ágnos,” first applied by Dioscorides, and translated as “holy, pure or chaste,” Castus derives from the Latin castitas, meaning chastity. Agnus the Latin for lamb, at some point in history, replaced the original Greek “agnos” in reference to this plant (Böhnert and Hahn 1990).
History
Chaste tree has been used for the treatment of menstrual difficulties for at least 2,500 years. The Greek physician Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) wrote, “If blood flows from the womb, let the woman drink dark wine in which the leaves of the chaste tree have been steeped. A draft of chaste leaves in wine also serves to expel a chorion held fast in the womb” (as quoted by Bleier 1959). Use for gynecological conditions are also noted in the works of Pliny and Dioscorides (1st century A. D.), as well as Theophrastus (3rd century A.D.). “The trees furnish medicines that promote urine and menstruation,” wrote Pliny, “They encourage abundant rich milk. . .” (Jones 1966).
Dioscorides, quoted from Goodyer’s 1655 English translation, recognizes effects on females, “It doth brings downe the milke, and expells ye menstrua, being drank to ye quantity of a dragme in wine” (Gunther 1934). These recommendations survive to the time of Gerarde, “The decoction of the herbe and seed is good against pain and inflammations about the matrix, if women be caused to sit and bathe their privy parts therein; the seed being drunke with Pennyroiall bringeth downe the menses, as it doth also both in a fume and in a pessary. . .” (Gerarde 1633).
Chasteberry
The tree was associated with ancient Greek festivals. In the Thesmophoria, a festival held in honor of Demeter, the Greek goddess of agriculture, fertility and marriage, women (who remained “chaste” during the festival), used the blossoms for adornment, while bows of twigs and leaves, were strewn around Demeter’s temple during the festival (Böhnert and Hahn 1990). Pliny wrote, “the Athenian matrons preserving their chastity at the Thesmophoria, strew their beds with its leaves.” (Jones 1966). In Rome, vestal virgins carried twigs of chaste tree as a symbol of chastity. According to Greek mythology, Hera, sister and wife of Zeus, regarded as protectress of marriage, was born under a chaste tree. Ancient traditions associating the shrub with chastity were adopted in Christian ritual. Novitiates entering a monastery walked on a path strewn with the blossoms of the tree, a ritual that continues to the present day in some regions of Italy (Böhnert and Hahn 1990).
The shrub’s ancient association with chastity led to later use of the fruits as an anaphrodisiac, quieting the desires of the flesh, especially of celibate clergy. “These seeds have been celebrated as antiaphrodisiacs, and were formerly much used by monks for allaying the venereal appetite; but experience does not warrant their having any such virtues,” wrote Andrew Duncan in the 1789 edition of the Edinburgh Dispensatory.
Robert John Thorton (1814), put it more eloquently, “As there are provocatives to procreations, as shell-fish, eggs, and roots of orchises made into salep for the male, and spare dict and use of steel for the female, so it is possible the chaste tree may have a contrary effect; and hence the seeds have been called Piper monachorum (Monk’s pepper), who flew to them when they found the spirit to be willing, but the flesh weak.”
Many of the common names of the shrub refer to this use of the plant, including, Abraham’s Balm, Chaste Lamb-Tree, Safe Tree, Monk’s Pepper-Tree. It has also been called Indian-Spice, and Wild-Pepper, referring to the use of the fruits as a pepper substitute. The small round fruits (seeds) have a pungent scent and flavor reminiscent of black pepper. The fragrant leaves have also been used as a substitute for hops in brewing beer.
Through the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the fruits were little used by European medical practitioners. In the late nineteenth century, Felter and Lloyd (1898) suggested use of a tincture of the fresh berries to Eclectic medical practitioners to increase milk secretions and useful as an agent in menstrual disorders. In small doses, it was said to be useful in the treatment of impotence, and perhaps useful for nervousness or mild dementia.
Early Modern Research (1938-1960)
Madaus (1938) was the first to initiate use of chaste tree in the twentieth century. Recognizing the long-recognized value of the plant in gynecological disorders, he designed a series of animal experiment to determine which part of the plant had the greatest biological activity. Madaus found that extracts of the leaves, fruits, and bark retarded estrus (heat) in female rats, without evidence of adverse effects on reproductive performance. The fruits had the greatest activity.
Chasteberry
During the Second World War, medical practitioners in Germany recognized a stress-induced lactation repression in women, prompting a search for effective galactogogues (milk stimulating substances). Clinical confirmation of the efficacy of chaste tree fruit preparations in stimulating lactation were published in three separate papers by Janke, Hofmeir and Noack and Noack in 1941, 1942 and 1943 respectively (as reviewed by Böhnert and Hahn 1990). Later animal studies in the late 1950s further confirmed an experimental lactation-stimulating action. In 1954, Mohr reported on a study of 1000 maternity patients, comparing vitamin B1 and a chaste tree fruit preparation in stimulating lactation to a placebo. The author concluded that the chaste tree fruit preparation resulted in more successful lactation than vitamin B1 or the control group. Increased lactation has been attributed to an increase in prolactin secretion, increased progesterone synthesis, reducing estrogen secretions (which tend to inhibit milk production).
Active constituents and Actions
Results of these early studies led investigators to postulate that either the plant contained a component that replaced hormones produced by the body, or plant extracts, acting through the pituitary, might regulate hormone production (Haller 1961). Various studies, reviewed by Böhnert and Hahn (1990), indicate that a tincture of the seeds produces an effect on the hypothalamus-pituitary system, showing a gonadotropic function and causing an increased release of lutenizing homone with consecutive increase of progesterone level. Prolactin secretion is inhibited because of a dopaminergic action. In other words it acts on the pituitary gland to regulate the production of and induce normalization of the ovarian hormones, changing the ratio of estrogens and gestagens in favor of gestagens. The timing of the release of pituitary hormones, regulate menstruation, fertility, and other processes. Hence, an agent that will produce a balance of hormones can help to regulate these processes.
The biological activity of chaste tree cannot be attributed to a single chemical component. The fruits contain flavonoids including the major flavonoid casticin, as well as orientin and isovitexin (Belic et al., 1958, 1961, 1962). Other flavonoids include 3,6,7,4’-tetramethyl ether of 6-hydroxykaempferol, and quercetagetin (Wollenweber and Mann 1982). The dried fruits also contain an essential oil (up to 1.22%), as well as iridoid glycosides including aucubin, eurostoside and agnuside among others (Görler et al., 1985, Gomma et al. 1978). A recent study detected the probable presence of delta-3-ketosteroids in flower extracts include progesterone, 17-a-hydroxyprogesterone, testosterone, and epitestosterone; leaf extracts yield andostenedione. However, the reported results of this study were ambiguous (Saden-Krehula, et al. 1990). The vast majority of chemical, pharmacological and clinical studies have involved a proprietary extract, Agnolyt®, (capsules and liquid) manufactured by Madaus AG, Cologne, Germany.
Chasteberry, like the rest of the 250 species of Vitex, long-placed in the verbena family (Verbenaceae) now in a genetic surprise twist are placed in the mint family (Lamiaceae).
Modern Clinical Use
An imbalance of estrogen and progesterone has also been associated with premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Symptoms appear seven to ten days before the beginning of menstruation, and cease once the cycle begins. Physical symptoms include painful breasts, abdominal discomfort and fullness, flatulence, edema (especially of the lower extremities, as well as the hands and the face), and headache. Mental symptoms may include mood swings, nervous irritability, depression, restlessness, and aggressiveness. It is estimated that between 5 and 30% of women may be affected by PMS. Therapeutic choices by health care professionals are based on severity of symptoms. In severe cases, the treatment of choice is likely to be steroidal hormones. In Europe, however, gynecologists have another choice, preparations made from the fruits of the chaste tree (Feldmann).
A clinical survey of German gynecologists published in 1992 evaluated the effect of a chaste-tree preparation (Agnolyt®) on 1542 women diagnosed with PMS. Treatment of 40 drops daily lasted an average of 166 days. Both physicians and patient assessed efficacy, with 90 percent reporting relief of symptoms, after an average treatment duration of 25.3 days. Two percent reported side effects, mostly gastrointestinal in nature (Dittmar et al 1992, Brown 1994).
In one clinical drug monitoring study of the efficacy and safety of long-term treatment with a chaste tree fruit tincture, 1571 women with menstrual disorders including corpus-luteum insufficiency and PMS were followed for a period of 7 days to six years (average 147.6 days). The preparations was 1:5 tincture, with a 58% alcohol content. The dose was 40 drops once a day taken on an empty stomach in the morning with water. In 90 percent of patients, the treatment eliminated or alleviated symptoms of PMS. Results for 465 patients were rated very good, 714 good, 220 satisfactory, 110 unsatisfactory, and in 62 cases no data was available. Adverse reactions were reported for 30 patients (1.9 percent), including 12 cases of nausea, malaise, gastric symptoms and diarrhea, and a single allergic reaction (Feldmann, et al., 1990).
Coeugniet, et al (1986), in a three month trial with 36 patients with PMS reported positive results in physical and psychological symptoms. A dose of 40 drops a day, taken over a three month period, produced a reduction in headaches, breast tenderness and pressure, bloating, and fatigue. Improvement in anxiety, mood swings, and other psychological symptoms were also reported. Given the positive results of experimental studies in the 1940s and 50s coupled with clinical experience, has lead to the use of chaste tree extracts in European phytotherapy in several major areas including: management of menstrual disorders, PMS, treatment of infertility produced by mild corpus luteum insufficiency, and hot flashes at the initial stages of menopause, among other conditions.
In Europe, the use of phytomedicines in the treatment of menstrual disturbances is often preferred over conventional treatment, if no contraceptives are indicated. Steroidal hormones are often considered unnecessary, and individual treatment initiated once differentiation has been made between cyclic and acyclic bleeding difficulties (Loch 1989). A benefit of chaste tree treatment is the relative lack of side effects compared with treatment with steroidal hormones. Another benefit is that the price of chaste tree preparation therapy is far below that of conventional treatment methods. The 1992 German Commission E monograph (now irrelevant as a regulatory document) on chaste tree fruits allowed use of preparations for menstrual disorders due to rhythmic disorders of menstruation, mastodynia (pressure and swelling in the breasts), and premenstrual syndrome. Preparations include alcoholic extracts of the pulverized fruits (tincture) formulated to an average daily dose equivalent to 30-40 mg of the seeds. No contraindications were listed. While no interactions with other drugs are reported, animal experiments indicate the possibility of interference with dopamine-receptor antagonists. Side effects noted include too early menstruation following delivery (resulting from activation of the pituitary), as well as rare instances of itching and rashes. Chaste tree preparations are contraindicated during pregnancy (Monograph Agni casti fructus).
In a review on the relationship between phytotherapy and orthodox medicine, Schilcher (1994) reports that an important reason for the acceptance of phytotherapy by many German physicians is the existence of the scientifically supported Commission E monographs (as cited above). He also notes that acceptance of phytotherapy rests with the fact that in Germany, their use is consider a component of orthodox medicine and not an alternative approach. In Germany chaste tree fruit preparations are considered a safe, effective, and low-priced tool available to, accepted by, and widely used by gynecologists.
Summary
Chaste tree, recognized for nearly 2,500 years in the treatment of gynecological conditions, has been widely used in European phytotherapy for over fifty years. The majority of clinical reports in that period have been non-controlled studies by gynecologists in clinical practice, who report positive results. Chaste tree preparations are frequently used in the safe and effective treatment of PMS, heavy periods, too frequent periods, acyclic bleeding, infertility, suppressed menses, and other conditions, many of which are linked to corpus luteum insufficiency. Vitex is an excellent example of a phytomedicine which serves as a low-priced tool in orthodox European gynecological practice, rather than an “alternative” treatment.
References:
Attelmann, H., K. Bendis, H. Hellenkemper, J. Reichert, and H.-J. Warkalla. 1972. Agnolyt® in the Treatment of Gynecological Complaints. Zeitschrift für Präklinische Geriatrie. 2:239.
Belic, I, J. Bergant-Dolar, ad R. A. Morton. 1961. Constituents of Vitex Agnus-castus Seeds. Part 1. Casticin. J. Chem. Soc . London: 2523-2525.
Belic, I., J. Bergant-Dolar, D. Stucin, and M. Stucin. 1958. A Biologically Active Substance from the Seeds Vitex Agnus-castus Seeds. Vestnik Slovenskega Kemijskega Drustva. 63-67.
Belic, I. and B. Cerin. 1962. The Occurrence of Casticin in Seeds of Vitex Species. Vestnik Slovenskega Kemijskega Drustva. 33-34.
Bleier, W. 1959. Phytotherapy in Irregular Menstrual Cycles or Bleeding Periods and Other Gynecological Disorders of Endocrine Origin. Zentralblatt für Gynaekologie. 81(18):701-709.
Böhnert, K.-J. and G. Hahn. 1990. Phytotherapy in Gynecology and Obstetrics – Vitex agnus-castus (Chaste Tree). Acta Medica Emperica. 9:494-502.
Brown, D. 1994. Vitex agnus-castus Clinical Monograph. Quarterly Review of Natural Medicine (Summer):111-121.
Coeugniet, E., E. Elek and R. Kühnast. 1986. Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) and its Treatment. Ärztezeitschr. für Naturheilverf.27(9):619-622.
Dittmar, F. W., K.-J. Böhnert, M. Peeters, M Albrecht, M. Lamertz, and U. Schmidtet al. 1992. Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS): Treatment with a Phytopharmaceutical. TW. Gynäkol. 5(1):60-68.
Duncan, A. 1789. The Edinburgh New Dispensatory. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: C. Elliot and T. Kay.
Feldmann, H. U., M. Albrecht, M. Lamertz, and K.-J. Böhnert. 1990. The Treatment of Corpus Luteum Insufficiency and Premenstrual Syndrome: Experience in a Multicentre Study under Practice Conditions. Hgyne11(12):421.
Felter, H. W. and J. U. Lloyd. 1906. King’s American Dispensatory. 2 vols., 18th ed. Reprint. Portland, Oregon: Eclectic Medical Publications, 1983.
Foster, S. 1989. The Chaste Tree. Business of Herbs.7(4):16–20.
Gerarde, J. 1633. The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. (revised and enlarged by Thomas Johnson) Reprint. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1975.
Gomma, C. S., M. A. El-Moghazy, F. A. Halim, and A. E. El-Sayyad. 1978. Flavonoids and Iridoids from Vitex agnus-castus. Planta Medica33:277.
Görler, K., D. Oehlke, and H. Soicke. 1985. Iridoids from Vitex agnus-castus. Planta Medica40: 530-531.
Gunther, R. T. 1934. The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides. Reprint. New York: Hafner Publishing Co., 1968.
Haller, J. 1961. The Effect of Extracts on Hormonal Interrelations Between Hypophysis and Ovary — An Endocrinological Study with Animal Experiments. Zeitschrift für Geburtshilfe und Gynäkologie. 158(6):274-302.
Jones, W. H. S. 1966. Pliny Natural History with an English Translation in Ten Volumes. Vol. VII. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Madaus, G. 1938. Lehrbuch der Biologischen Heilmittel. 3 vols. reprint ed. 1979. Leipzig: Georg Thieme Verlag.
Milewicz, A. E. Gejdel, H. Sworen, K. Sienkiewicz, J. Jedrzejak, T. Teucher, and H. Schmitz. 1993. Vitex agnus-castus Extract in the Treatment of Luteal Phase Defects Due to Hyperprolactinemia: Results of a Randomized, Placebo-controlled Double-Blind Study. Arzneim.-Forsh. Drug Res.43(7): 752-756.
Propping, D., Th. Katzorke, and L. Belkien. 1988. Diagnosis and Therapy of Corpus Luteum Deficiency in General Practice. Therapiewoche. 38:2992–3001.
Propping, D. and Th. Katzorke. 1987. Treatment of Corpus Luteum Insufficiency. Zeitschrift für Allgemeinmedizin. 63:932-933.
Saden-Krehula, M., D. Kustrak, and N. Blazevic, 1990. ∆4-3-Ketosteroids in Flowers and Leaves of Vitex agnus-castus. Short Reports of Short Lectures and Poster Presentations, Bonn BACANS Symposium, P177, p.59 (17-22 July 1990).
Schilcher, H. 1994. Phytotherapy and Classical Medicine. Journal of Herbs, Spices, and Medicinal Plants2(3):71-80.
Thorton, R. J. 1814. A Family Herbal. London: B.&B. Crosby and Co.
Wollenweber, E. and K. Mann. 1983. Flavons from the Fruit of Vitex agnus-castus. Planta Medica. 48(2):126-127.
Dispatch from County Cork, Ireland! Just returned from an Herbal Excursion to the Emerald Isle, sponsored by Cynthia Graham at Nurse Natural Path. Among the many things that I learned is that what you read into your own expectations may not be true. For example, I did not expect any place on earth at 53 degrees North latitude to be harboring palm trees and herbaceous plants from the Amazon. The warm clothes I brought with me proved mostly superfluous, a pleasant surprise, indeed, while basking in the comfort of temperatures in the low to mid 60°F range.
We visited Blarney Castle on 30 August 2015, famous for the Blarney Stone, which one kisses to gain the gift of eloquence and exposure to unknown microorganisms from tourist the world over. The first castle at the site was a wooden hunting lodge built in 1210, which seems old until you consider that some of the stone structures in Ireland were built a thousand years before the great pyramids in Egypt. The present Blarney Castle was built in 1446, so in Irish historical terms, it is a relatively new structure. Please forgive my lack of eloquence as I was too busy looking at the plants around Blarney Castle to stand in line to kiss the Blarney Stone, and as I wrote the intital draft of this article I was well into an evening draft or two of Guinness.
Instead, at Blarney Castle, I spent most my two hours at the site in the Poison Plant Garden, which is the only one of its kind in Ireland. I was somewhat amused by the selection of plants in the garden, which included our Ozark native mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), black cohosh (Actaea racemosa) and skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora). While mayapple has legitimate claims to toxicity, black cohosh and skullcap themselves have no real safety issues except for products bearing their names that have been adulterated with toxic imposters. Nevertheless, by association in the absence of a complete understanding of the literature, the casual observer might think that they have some toxicity. There was a display of our native eastern North American poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) imprisoned in a cage with thick iron bars that a grizzly bear looking for a honey-rich beehive could not break-through.
One of my fellow travelers beckoned, “Steven, look at this.” And there at the other end of the garden, beneath what appeared to be a repurposed geodesic dome playground monkey bar were caged marijuana plants. The warning sign was boldly emblazoned with skull and cross bones, a warning of the potential danger of the plant. Hmmm, I thought. A playground structure as a make-shift cage for marijuana plants? This can only be Irish humor.
When the first published Western description of ginseng appeared in a French journal in 1713, there was no mention of ginseng’s reputation as an aphrodisiac or to enhance virility, likely because the earliest European writers on ginseng were Jesuit priests. In 1725 Pope Benóit XIII received a gift of ginseng from the Chinese Emperor. No comment from the Vatican.
Virginian, Colonel William Byrd II (1674-1744), pictured in a 1725 portrait, with confident swagger was an obvious ginseng nibbler. Writing on 31 May 1737 to Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753, British Museum founder ) he muses, “Insomuch that were I to judge the veracity of the Jesuits by this Instance, I shou’d pronounce them very honest Fellows. As for the merry Effects ascribd to it towards obliging the Bashfull Sex, the good [Jesuit] Father[s] say nothing of it, nor dos my Experience reach so far.” In a letter of 20 August 1737 to Sloane, Byrd continues, “I believe ever since the Tree of Life has been so strongly guarded the Earth has never produced any vegetable so friendly to man as Ginseng. Nor do I say this at Random, or by the Strength of my Faith, but by my own Experience. I have found it very cordial and reviving after great Fatigue, it warms the Blood frisks the Spirits strengthens the Stomach and comforts the Bowels exceedingly. All this it performs without any of those naughty Effects that might make men too troublesome and impertinent to their poor Wives.” Oh, but the mistresses. . .
Some 18th century Dr. Oz probably hawked ginseng root on a London street corner with a wink and a smile to the passerby. But where there’s health claims for herbs, there’s always an all-knowing expert to debunk it, like Scottish physician, William Cullen (1710-1790), in his 1789 Materia Medica (vol 2, p.161) —“I have known a gentleman a little advanced in life, who chewed a quantity of this root every day for several years, but who acknowledged that he never found his venereal faculties in the least improved by it.”
The protocol of the famed Dr. Cullen was followed for treatment of George Washington’s sore throat on what became his last day in December 1799: blood letting (124 ounces removed), blistering his throat with an irritating beetle, copious evacuation of the bowels—and when all else—fails, a dose of mercury. Two of the three attending physicians achieved their medical degrees under the instruction of Dr. Cullen at the University of Edinburgh.
Cause of death? “Learned quackery,” to quote sectarian rival contemporaries.
The genus Vitex until recently has been associated for centuries with the verbena family (Verbenaceae), and includes about 250 species, primarily tropical shrubs and trees. Only a few Vitex species occur in temperate regions. Vitex agnus-castus L., commonly known as chaste tree, is the sole species to occur in Europe. Native to West Asia and southwestern Europe, the shrub was introduced throughout Europe at an early date. It was known in English gardens as early a 1570, and now occurs throughout the European continent.
The genus name Vitex derives from an ancient designation, vei, meaning to “wind, bend or twine,” referring to the once common use of the tough, flexible branches in constructing woven (wattle) fences. Pliny was the first to apply the name Vitex to the plant, perhaps derived from the Latin “vitilium” (wicker-work). The species name “agnus-castus” derives from a historical mis-interpretation of the original Greek name, “ágnos,” first applied by Dioscorides, and translated as “holy, pure or chaste,” Castus derives from the Latin castitas, meaning chastity. Agnus the Latin for lamb, at some point in history, replaced the original Greek “agnos” in reference to this plant (Böhnert and Hahn 1990).
Dioscorides, quoted from Goodyer’s 1655 English translation, recognizes effects on females, “It doth brings downe the milke, and expells ye menstrua, being drank to ye quantity of a dragme in wine” (Gunther 1934). These recommendations survive to the time of Gerarde, “The decoction of the herbe and seed is good against pain and inflammations about the matrix, if women be caused to sit and bathe their privy parts therein; the seed being drunke with Pennyroiall bringeth downe the menses, as it doth also both in a fume and in a pessary. . .” (Gerarde 1633).
The shrub’s ancient association with chastity led to later use of the fruits as an anaphrodisiac, quieting the desires of the flesh, especially of celibate clergy. “These seeds have been celebrated as antiaphrodisiacs, and were formerly much used by monks for allaying the venereal appetite; but experience does not warrant their having any such virtues,” wrote Andrew Duncan in the 1789 edition of the Edinburgh Dispensatory.
Robert John Thorton (1814), put it more eloquently, “As there are provocatives to procreations, as shell-fish, eggs, and roots of orchises made into salep for the male, and spare dict and use of steel for the female, so it is possible the chaste tree may have a contrary effect; and hence the seeds have been called Piper monachorum (Monk’s pepper), who flew to them when they found the spirit to be willing, but the flesh weak.”
Many of the common names of the shrub refer to this use of the plant, including, Abraham’s Balm, Chaste Lamb-Tree, Safe Tree, Monk’s Pepper-Tree. It has also been called Indian-Spice, and Wild-Pepper, referring to the use of the fruits as a pepper substitute. The small round fruits (seeds) have a pungent scent and flavor reminiscent of black pepper. The fragrant leaves have also been used as a substitute for hops in brewing beer.
In Europe, the use of phytomedicines in the treatment of menstrual disturbances is often preferred over conventional treatment, if no contraceptives are indicated. Steroidal hormones are often considered unnecessary, and individual treatment initiated once differentiation has been made between cyclic and acyclic bleeding difficulties (Loch 1989). A benefit of chaste tree treatment is the relative lack of side effects compared with treatment with steroidal hormones. Another benefit is that the price of chaste tree preparation therapy is far below that of conventional treatment methods. The 1992 German Commission E monograph (now irrelevant as a regulatory document) on chaste tree fruits allowed use of preparations for menstrual disorders due to rhythmic disorders of menstruation, mastodynia (pressure and swelling in the breasts), and premenstrual syndrome. Preparations include alcoholic extracts of the pulverized fruits (tincture) formulated to an average daily dose equivalent to 30-40 mg of the seeds. No contraindications were listed. While no interactions with other drugs are reported, animal experiments indicate the possibility of interference with dopamine-receptor antagonists. Side effects noted include too early menstruation following delivery (resulting from activation of the pituitary), as well as rare instances of itching and rashes. Chaste tree preparations are contraindicated during pregnancy (Monograph Agni casti fructus).
Chaste tree, recognized for nearly 2,500 years in the treatment of gynecological conditions, has been widely used in European phytotherapy for over fifty years. The majority of clinical reports in that period have been non-controlled studies by gynecologists in clinical practice, who report positive results. Chaste tree preparations are frequently used in the safe and effective treatment of PMS, heavy periods, too frequent periods, acyclic bleeding, infertility, suppressed menses, and other conditions, many of which are linked to corpus luteum insufficiency. Vitex is an excellent example of a phytomedicine which serves as a low-priced tool in orthodox European gynecological practice, rather than an “alternative” treatment.
