Bedstraw, ladies Health Dictionary

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Bedstraw, Ladies: From 1 Different Sources

 Cheese rennet. Galium verum L.

Action. Alterative, diuretic.

Uses: Kidney stone, gravel, gout.

Preparation. Tea: 1-2 teaspoons to each cup boiling water; infuse 15 minutes. Dose, 1 cup freely. 

Health Source: Bartrams Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine
Author: Health Encyclopedia

Bedstraw, Fragrant

Love... bedstraw, fragrant

Ladies' Mantle

Alchemilla vulgaris. N.O. Rosaceae.

Synonym: Lion's Foot.

Habitat: Hedgerows and waysides.

Features ? Whole plant covered with silky hairs. Leaves rounded, about two inches across, nine blunt, serrate lobes, on long stalks. Greenish flowers, without petals, bloom in small clusters from forked stem. Astringent, saliva-drying taste.

Part used ? Herb.

Action: Astringent, nervine, antispasmodic.

In excessive menstruation and flooding, as well as spasmodic nervous complaints. Decoction of 1 ounce to 1 1/2 pints water simmered to 1 pint is used as an injection in the menstrual disorders. The 1 ounce to 1 pint infusion may be taken internally in teacupful doses as required.... ladies' mantle

Ladies' Slipper

Cypripedium pubescens. N.O. Orchidaceae.

Synonym: American Valerian, Mocassin flower, Nerveroot, Noah's Ark.

Habitat: United States of America.

Features ? Flower supposed to resemble a lady's shoe in form. Rhizome about quarter- inch diameter, many cupshaped scars on top surface; wavy, thickly-matted roots underneath. Fracture short and white.

Part used ? Rhizome.

Action: Antispasmodic, tonic, nervine.

Combined with other tonics in the relief of neuralgia, and to allay pain

generally. Of use in hysteria and other nervous disorders. Dose, 1 drachm of the powdered rhizome. Like other medicines of a similar nature, it is of little use unless the cause of the nervous excitement is traced and removed.

The remarks of Rafinesque, then Professor of Medical Botany in the University of Transylvania, are interesting in view of the "orthodox" attitude towards remedies of the herbalists ? "I am enabled to introduce, for the first time, this beautiful genus into our materia medica ; all the species are equally remedial. They have long been known to the Indians, who called them moccasin flower, and were used by the empyrics of New England, particularly Samuel Thomson. Their properties, however, have been tested and confirmed by Dr. Hales, of Troy; Dr. Tully, of Albany, etc.

. . . They produce beneficial effects in all nervous diseases and hysterical affections by allaying pain, quieting the nerves and promoting sleep. They are preferable to opium in many cases, having no baneful or narcotic effect."

Professor Rafinesque, however, goes even further than would Thomson and his successors when he announces that "all the species are equally remedial."... ladies' slipper

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