Medicine Traditions
  • Home
  • About
  • Resources
    • Brief Overview of Traditional Medicine
    • Timeline
    • Authors and Sources
    • Glossaries
    • Articles on Traditional Medicine
    • Photos
    • Medicine Pictures
    • Substitute Medicines
  • Theory
  • Materia Medica
    • Ayurvedic Materia Medica
    • Chinese Materia Medica
    • Tibetan Materia Medica
    • Unani Materia Medica
    • Materia Medica of Herbal Medicine FREE
    • Materia Medica of Herbal Medicine PRO
    • Animal Materia Medica
    • Mineral Materia Medica
    • Chinese Classification
    • Western Classification
    • Humoral Medicine
    • Herbal Combinations
  • Formulas
  • Treatment
    • Types of Treatment in Traditional Medicine
    • Treatment of Specific Conditions
    • Diseases and Formulas
  • Patient Resources
  • Links & Texts
  • Contact Us
  • Store
  • Blog

Anchusa, Alkanet

Dyers Bugloss, Spanish Bugloss, Alkanna
Picture
Picture
Salmon, Botanologia, 1710

Picture
Andrews, The botanist’s repository, 1809-1810

Picture
Hand-Atlas Medicinisch-Pharmaceutischer, 1884


Botanical name:
Alkanna tinctoria (syn. Anchusa tinctoria, Lithospermum tinctoria)
Salmon listed 6 varieties, only the first 3 being used medicinally:
  1. Great Yellow Alkanet, Anchusa
  2. Lesser Alkanet with purple flowers, Anchusa altera
  3. Small Alkanet with yellow flowers, Anchusa tertia
  4. Woody Alkanet, Anchusa Lignosior
  5. Low Alkanet of Candy, Anchusa Humilis Cretica
  6. Great or Tall Alkanet, Anchusa arborea

Parts used:
Roots and rhizome

Temperature & Taste:
Neutral, dry

Classifications:
Repercussive, Abstersive, Styptic, Astringent, Vulnerary
Stomatic, Cardiac, Hysteric, Nephritic

Uses:
1. Clears Heat, Resists Poison:
-promotes expression of rashes in Measles, Small Pox
-Fevers (decocted in Wine)
-Abscesses, Sores
-Inflammations, Erysipeals
-used for 'Poison of all kinds'

2. Clears Heat and Damp, opens Obstructions:
-diseases of the Kidney and Spleen; also Jaundice

3. Moves Blood, Resolves Stasis:
-Trauma, Bruising, Internal Wounds
-has been used for Tumors and Cancers


4. Clears Heat, Stops Leakage:
-'Fluxes of all kinds'
-Diarrhea, Leukorrhea
-strengthens a weak back (Salmon)

5. Externally:
-topically for Wounds, indolent Ulcers, Abscesses and Sores (since ancient Greece)
-in douches for Candida and Leukorrhea
-as a pessary to expel a Dead Child (Salmon)
-externally for Bruising


Main Combinations:

Cautions:
1. Toxic in overdose or long-term usage
2. Not used in Pregnancy or Breastfeeding
3. Modern authorities recommend for external use only. (Duke)

Main Preparations used:

Home
ABOUT
Brief Overview
RESOURCES
Timeline

materia medica – FREE
Materia Medica – PRO
Chinese Classification
Western Classification

Humoral Medicine

Diseases & Formulas
Resources
Theory
Links & Texts
Patient Resources

Shop
Texts for Sale
Contact us

TERMS OF USE
PRIVACY POLICY


© MedicineTradition 2015–2022
  • Home
  • About
  • Resources
    • Brief Overview of Traditional Medicine
    • Timeline
    • Authors and Sources
    • Glossaries
    • Articles on Traditional Medicine
    • Photos
    • Medicine Pictures
    • Substitute Medicines
  • Theory
  • Materia Medica
    • Ayurvedic Materia Medica
    • Chinese Materia Medica
    • Tibetan Materia Medica
    • Unani Materia Medica
    • Materia Medica of Herbal Medicine FREE
    • Materia Medica of Herbal Medicine PRO
    • Animal Materia Medica
    • Mineral Materia Medica
    • Chinese Classification
    • Western Classification
    • Humoral Medicine
    • Herbal Combinations
  • Formulas
  • Treatment
    • Types of Treatment in Traditional Medicine
    • Treatment of Specific Conditions
    • Diseases and Formulas
  • Patient Resources
  • Links & Texts
  • Contact Us
  • Store
  • Blog