Linn.Family: Labiatae; Lamiaceae.
Habitat: Native to Europe and temperate Asia. Occurs in West Himalyas from Kashmir to Kumaon.
English: Hyssop.Ayurvedic: Dayaa-kunji. (Nepeta longibractea is also equated with Zuufaa, Dayaa-kunji.)Unani: Zuufaa, Zuufaa Yaabis.Folk: Diyaanku (Laddakh).Action: Stimulant, carminative, sedative, antispasmodic, diuretic, pectoral. Used for bronchitis, coughs and colds. Induces heavy sweating in fevers, increases blood pressure. Emmenagogue. Used externally for bruises, discoloured contusions and cuts.
Key application: As expectorant. (The British Herbal Pharmacopoeia.)Hyssop contains terpenoids, including marrubiin; a volatile oil consisting mainly of camphor, pinocamphone and beta-pinene; flavonoids, gluco- sides, tannins and resin. Marrubiin is a strong expectorant. The plant also contains ursolic acid, an anti- inflammatory principle. The alcoholic extract of the aerial parts at flowering yields an active antioxidant compound, rosmanol-9-ethyl ether. Its activity is much greater than butylat- ed hydroxytoluene. The extract of the plant showed weak hepatoprotective activity against CCl4-induced toxicity in albino mice.Pinocamphone and isopinocam- phone are toxic constituents of the essential oil. Wild plants from Ku- maon (Uttaranchal) shows presence of very small amounts of pinocam- phone (0.61%) in essential oil, as compared to Himalayan hyssop (38.44%) and cultivated North American hyssop (42.66%). The essential oil can induce epileptic seizures.
Health Encyclopedia