This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

RE: St john's Wort Info & help pls?

I found a few other bits for you Michael,

Etemology
Hypericum perforatum 

Hypericum:  supposedly a combination of the greek hyper "above" and
eikon "image" (probably the precusor to icon) the plant was hung above
religious images to ward off evil spirits
In revenge the devil then peirced the leaves with a needle giving the
perforations seen in some species.  Hence peforatum as the species name.

St John's Wort:  

The use of the flowers as a source of a red pigment known as St John's
blood

in Europe the plant flowers on about the 24 June, St John's day, the
anniversary of the birth of St John the baptist

an association with the knights of St John and the crusades

it was hung around the house on St John's eve to ward off evil spirits

Interestingly you could get some idea of when the species was in common
use in Britian from the age of some of the events which led to its name,
ie the crusades were much earlier then the 16th century (1500's).

The commonly accepted origin is Europe, western Asia and North Africa.
A typical medit climate plant description.

First recorded in USA in 1793 but may have been introduced as early as
1672.
First record in Australia is in an 1857 catalogue of plants for the
Melbourne Botanic Garden
and it was growing in the Royal Society's gardens in Hobart Town in
1865.

A curious footnote here is that while we have had to endure a lot of
weeds coming over from South Africa the South Africans can point the
finger at us for introducing St John's Wort to SA in a consignment of
vetch seed in 1942.

The species  present range is:

Algeria [north]; Tunisia; Morocco; widely introd. & natzd.; Spain
[incl.Baleares, Canary Islands]; Portugal [incl. Azores, Madeira];
Greece
[incl. Crete]; Italy [incl. Sardinia, Sicily]; France [incl. Corsica];
Switzerland; Austria; Hungary; Yugoslavia; Netherlands; Belgium;
Germany; Czechoslovakia; Albania; Bulgaria; Romania; Poland; Denmark;
Norway; Sweden; Finland; United Kingdom; Ireland; Turkey; Lebanon;
Syria; Iraq; Cyprus; Iran; Pakistan; India [northwest]; Afghanistan;
Belarus; Ukraine [incl. Krym]; Georgia; Azerbaijan; Armenia;
Ciscaucasia, Russian Federation; Dagestan, Russian Federation; European
part, Russian Federation; Western Siberia, Russian Federation;
Kazakhstan; Turkmenistan; Kyrgyzstan; Tajikistan; Mongolia; Hebei,
China; Shanxi, China; Shaanxi, China; Gansu, China; Xinjiang, China;
Shandong, China; Jiangsu, China; Jiangxi, China; Henan, China; Hubei,
China; Hunan, China; Sichuan, China; Guizhou, China; Canary Islands,
Spain; Madeira Islands, Portugal; Azores, Portugal

there were numerous uses listed but after stating a range of medicinal
uses if taken internally there is a warning that the plant is harmful if
eaten, I'd suggest consulting with a homeopath before embarking on a
self treat program  :-)

Externally it is used to treat burns, bruises, sores, sciatica,
neuralgia, cramps, sprains and TENNIS ELBOW??





Rod Randall
Weed Risk Assessment
Weed Science Group, Agriculture Western Australia
Home Page  http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/progserv/plants/weeds/Weedsci.htm

             "I weed..."

> ----------
> From: 	Michael Bailes
> Reply To: 	frgntgar@ozemail.com.au
> Sent: 	Monday, 30 March 1998 3:39 PM
> To: 	medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
> Cc: 	medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
> Subject: 	St john's Wort Info & help pls?
> 
> I am writing an article on this plant for the next newsletter.
> i am abit puzzled by its origins
> this is waht i have written so far
> Any comments queries criticisms?
> Thaks
> Michael
> St. John's Wort
> St. John's Wort had been around since pre Christian times Dioscorides
> in
> one of the first written accounts of Hypericum says that it is good
> for the
> sciaticas, choleric excrements and ambusta; diseases that are today
> hard to
> marry with their 20th century equivalents  Its Greek name was
> "Askuron" or
> "Ascyroides".  Hypericum is derived from the Greek and Maude Grieve
> says it
> means "'over an apparition' a reference to the belief that the herb
> was so
> obnoxious to evil spirits that a whiff of it would cause them to fly."
> Maude however doesn't tell us who first gave it this name.
> Interestingly
> St. John's Wort does not have a lot of old British common names.
> Usually
> plants of this age have hundreds.  "Wort" is the old English or Old
> Saxon
> word for any medicinal or sometimes edible plant.  Perhaps St. John's
> Wort
> did not grow to well in British climates.  Interestingly Mrs Leyel
> (1920)
> says that it was not introduced to England until late in the sixteenth
> centry.  While this can't be true as Gerard (1633) mentions it growing
> it
> may not have been common in England.  Perhaps it needed the dry hills
> of
> Greece. I find it facinating that such an effective, usefull and
> unusual
> wound herb doesen't appear in earlier Egyptian, Ayurvedic or Chinese
> traditions.  In fact no one seems to know where hypericums are native
> to or
> when or where it first appeared.  (It is quite often not mentioned in
> even
> the most modern herbals and pharmacy texts) It certainly seems to
> thrive in
> country N.S.W. where it is a proclaimed noxious weed.  My self sown
> plant
> died many years ago, the humid coastal clime may not agree with it.  A
> few
> of the old British names include Rosin Rose (its seed pods have a
> resin
> like fragrance), Balm of the Warriors Wound' and 'Touch and Heal' (the
> oil
> expressed from the leaves is antiseptic.) In France St. John's Wort is
> called 'Chass-Diable' the devil chaser.
> Is the similarity of St. John's Wort's botanical name Hypericum to the
> Hyperion of Greek Mythology just a coincidence?  Hyperion, a Titan,
> was the
> father by Thea of Helios, the sun-god; of Selene, the moon-goddess;
> and of
> Eos goddess of the dawn.
> 
> Michael Bailes.
> The Fragrant Garden, Portsmouth Road, Erina. N.S.W. 2250 Australia.
> (OZ)
>  Int fax 61 243 651979  Phone 61 243 677322
>  EMAIL: frgntgar@ozemail.com.au
>   Web page at: http://www.ozemail.com.au/~frgntgar/
> 
> 
>
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index