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CHAPARRAL
Photo credited to Stan Shebs made available on
Wikimedia Commons May, 2005 (Link available in
picture index)
Larrea tridentata (in the past L. tridentata was
considered synonymous with the Argentinian
species L. divaricata, but most botanists now
think of them as separate species)
Family: Zygophyllaceae
Names:
Creosote
Bush,
Gobernadora,
Greasewood; hediondilla; dwarf evergreen oak;
hediondilla, gobernadora (Mexican)
Description: The Creosote Bush is the most
characteristic feature of North America's hot
deserts. It is one of the best examples of a plant
that tolerates arid conditions simply by its
toughness. It competes aggressively with other
plants for water, and usually wins, accounting
for its prevalence in many arid locations of the
southwest. This medium-to-large evergreen
shrub has numerous flexible stems projecting at
an angle from its base. It is usually less than 4
feet high, but can grow to 12-foot heights with
abundant water. Its small (¼ to ½ inches),
pointed, yellow-green leaves have adapted to
conserve water and dissipate heat. The bush
may lose some of these waxy, resinous leaves
during extreme drought, but never loses them
all. The secretion of the leaves gives them a
varnished look and is responsible for the
creosote smell. This aroma accounts for the
Mexican name hediondilla meaning “little
stinker.” These leaves are especially pungent
after a rain. Its foliage provides refuge for
crickets, grasshoppers and praying mantids.
The flowers are inch-wide twisted, yellow
petals bloom from February-August. Some
individuals maintain flowers year round. The
fruit is globose, hairy, reddish-white. It prefers
well-drained slopes and plains, especially those
with a layer of caliche, up to 4,000 feet.
Cultivation: Perennial to zone 9. Needs full
sun. Can survive without water. Looks better
with some.
To harvest: strip the leaves,
flowers, seeds and small twigs off the branches
and discard the woody stems. For external,
antimicrobial use, older plants work better;
internally, leafy, bright green ones are
preferred. The dried plant is usually stable for
up to two years.
History: Chaparral is an Indian name referring
broadly to any dense thicket of shrubs growing
in alkali soils.
Widely used by Native
Americas, chaparral was taken as a decoction
to treat stomach troubles and diarrhea. Young
twigs were used for toothache. The leaves
were applied as a poultice for respiratory
problems and as a wash for skin problems.
One folk use is as a hair tonic where it is said to
grow hair on balding scalps. A recent remedy
attributed to chaparral is taking the residue of
LSD out of the system to prevent recurrences
of hallucinations. The plant was listed in the
Pharmacopoeia of the United States from 1842
to 1942. The genus name honors the 18th
century Spaniard Juan Antonio Herbández de
Larrea, a patron of science.
Constituents: aromatic compounds: volatile
oils; terpenes (pinenes, limonene, camphor,
calamenene); vinyl ketones (1-hexen-3-one, 1hepten-3-one); other ketones: 2-heptanone, 2undecanone); fixed oil and resin; astringent
compounds: Resin; falvonoids (ternatin,
goyyspetin,
herbacetin);
lignanes:
nordihydroguariaretic acid {NDGA} and
others;
Mucilaginous
compounds:
Polysaccharides (Gum)
Energetics: slightly salty, acrid, bitter, cool
Meridians/organs affected: kidneys, lung,
liver
Medicinal Uses: Uses: Chapparal is used for
treating such ailments as: tuberculosis, bowel
complaints, stomach ulcers and bowel
disorders, cancers, and colds and flu. It is found
to be beneficial to the walls of capillaries
throughout the body, and so is good to take
regularly in cases of capillary fragility.
Chapparal contains N.D.G.A.. It is responsible
for inhibiting several enzyme reactions,
including lipo oxyginase, which is responsible
for some unhealthy inflammatory and immunesystem responses. It has been shown to reduce
inflammatory histamine responses in the lung,
which is good news for asthma sufferers.
N.D.G.A. is one of the most highly anti-oxident
substances known to man. Several types of
tumors, such as those in uterine fibroids and
fibrosystic breast disease, can be helped
immensely by a concentrated extract of the
plant. Chapparal can improve liver function,
causing the liver metablolism to speed up,
clearing toxins, and improving the livers'
ability to synthesize fatty acids into high
density lipids (HDLs....the good quality
cholesterol). The low density lipids levels
(LDLs....the poor quality cholesterol) decrease.
For people who have a history of heavy
drinking, hepatitis, or exposure to toxic
chemicals (all of which damage liver tissue), a
combination of Chapparal with milk thistle
seed standardized extract and Tribulus terrestris
(common puncture vine) can help recover the
normal function of the liver . The strong antioxident effects of Larrea t. appear to repair free
radical damage caused by drugs such as
cocaine
and
amphetamines.
External uses of the herb include poultices
placed on aching joints, and the tea or a
fomentation (applied several times per day and
left on the area) for such things as ringworm,
skin
fungi,
and
athletes'
foot.
For this type of problem, Chapparal can be
combined with Thuja or Tea tree essential oils.
Has also been used for reducing fibroids A
study in the Journal of Dental Research
showed chaparral mouthwash reduced cavities
by 75%.
Lipoxygenase
and
5hydroxyeicosatatraenois acid are usually high
in the synovial fluid of arthritis sufferers which
means Chapparal’s ability to inhibit these can
help here as well. As a poultice for arthritis,
two methods of preparation are used. In the
first, dried leaves are slowly heated in lard,
cooled and applied as an ointment. In the
second, Osha and mullein are ground and
mixed with lard and beeswax, or lard and pine
resin, and applied to the affected joints. A pint
of the dried herb, boiled in a gallon of water for
an hour, is added to the bath for an hour-long
soak. More than one such bath a month may be
too tiring.
Larrea contains active flavonoids and
ligans that, in addition to being anti-oxidants,
act as antifungals, antibiotics, and antivirals. It
is in this last capacity, as an antiviral that
prompted investigations into its ability to
inhibit the spl promoter HIV and as an inhibitor
of Herpes simplex-1 in cell cultures; as well as
Kaposi's sarcoma virus. Clinical evaluations
consisted of testimonies from close to 36
persons. Larrea was prepared as an extract in an
aloe-based lotion and was effective in reversing
symptoms in nearly all cases of HSV-1 and
shingles within 12-24 hours and in greatly
reducing the severity of sores from Kaposi's
sarcoma in people in full-blown AIDS. The
lotion proved to work faster and to be more
effective than acyclovir, the main drug for
herpes.
Typical daily usage: fresh herb 2-4
tablespoons; dried herb: 3-6 gm; extract: 4.5
gm dried herb, 22 ml alcohol, 23 ml water.
Some traditional formulas are chaparral
combined with alfalfa and yucca; pau d’arco
and yellow dock; ephedra and senega; and with
cedar berry.
To prepare it, fill a blender halfway
with the herb and put the whole container in the
freezer, remove after an hour, grind for a few
moments, strain the powder out, put the coarse
pieces back into the container, return it to the
freezer and do the whole thing again. If using a
hand grinder, freeze the herb and the grinder
first.
When applied to the skin as a tea,
tincture, or salve, Chaparral slows down the
rate of bacterial grown and kills it with its
antimicrobial activity. Chaparral will also help
dry skin, brittle hair and nails and cracks in the
hands or feet. Try 30 drops of the tincture or 2
capsules before retiring.
Formulas:
Black Walnut Salve (for fighting fungal
infections such as eczema, ringworm and
athletes foot.
2 parts Black Walnut; 2 parts Chaparral; 1 part
myrrh; 1 part burdock; 1 part echinacea; olive
oil; beeswax; tincture of Benzoin or Vitamin E;
optional add tea tree oil 10 drops per ounce.
Douche for non-specific vaginitis: 2 parts
chaparral, 2 parts oak bark, 1 part marshmallow
root, 4 parts periwinkle, 1 part yarrow. Strain
the tea through cotton muslin cloth and douche.
Chaparral ointment for skin cancer or rashes:
1 oz chaparral, 1 oz leaf lard, beeswax. Place
in the oven for one hour at 180 degrees F,
strain, cool, and then use.
Mouthwash: use 1 Tbsp of dried leaves and
stems per quart of boiling water. Steep 1 hour.
Gargle. Because of its unpleasant taste, honey
and lemon should be added to the infusion.
Flower Essence: Chaparral is an important
psychic and physical cleanser which is
indicated when the soul has been overexposed
to actual violence or disturbing images in the
media. It is also a very beneficial remedy for
drug detoxification, including heavy use of
medical or psychiatric drugs. Chaparral is a
remedy for modern civilization when the soul is
subject in so many ways to chaotic, violent and
degrading images and experiences. It works
especially through the dream life to cleanse the
psyche.
Toxicity: Larrea has been under attack by the
FDA primarily because it is being used as a
treatment for certain cancerous conditions. The
FDA claims that six cases of acute nonviral
hepatitis in North America are linked to
chaparral. In one of the cases cited a woman
experienced liver failure. She was taking two
capsules of chaparral with garlic in a tea of
chickweed and nettle. Chaparral was
immediately blamed, but it was never noted
that this patient was also consuming atenolol,
aspirin, was on a nitro patch, occasional tylenol
as well as diltiazem hydrochloride (which has
been known to cause liver toxicity). Extensive
studies were carried out in the seventies and
eighties by Dr. Norman Farnsworth, who found
the plant to have no hepatoxic properties. Dr.
Clark Watt and a group of scientists and
doctors concluded after their studies that
hepatoxicity was most likely due to an allergic
reaction rather than "inherent liver toxicity."
That being said, as with many plants, overuse
can cause problems of nausea, loss of appetite,
gastric pain and vomiting. It is best to leave the
administering of this plant to the professionals
who can diagnose and prepare according to
proper guidelines and dosages. At one point in
time chaparral was taken off the market
because some batches were found to contain
contaminants. Again with chemical spraying so
popular today we all have to be careful of the
quality of our herbs.
Other Uses: This desert plant has been found
naturally growing in heavy-metal contaminated
soils. Previous experiments showed that the
inactivated biomass of creosote bush was able
to adsorb Cu(II) ions from aqueous solutions.
The copper binding capacity of the creosote
biomass
that
grows
in
heavy-metal
uncontaminated soils was higher than the
biomass
that
grows
in
heavy-metal
contaminated soils.
Experiments were
performed to determine the ability of creosote
biomass
(grown
in
heavy
metal-
uncontaminated soils) to adsorb Pb(II), Cd(II),
and Ni(II) ions from aqueous solutions. Batch
pH profile experiments for the indicated metal
ions showed that the metal ion binding was
different for every metal tested but increased as
the pH was raised as high as 6.0. The metal
binding as a function of pH also varied for the
creosote's
roots,
stems,
and
leaves.
Experiments designed to determine how fast
the metal ion adsorption process occurs,
showed that the metal uptake is quite rapid.
This suggests a metal surface binding
mechanism. Binding capacity experiments
showed the following amounts of metal ions
bound per gram of creosote biomass: roots,
53.5 Pb(II), 20.1 Cd(II), 11.0 Ni(II); stems,
52.2 Pb(II),18.0 Cd(II), 9.1 Ni(II); and leaves,
58.2 Pb(II), 20.8 Cd(II), 11.4 Ni(II). A more
significant binding capacity for lead ions was
observed. A great portion of the adsorbed lead,
cadmium, and nickel by the creosote's roots,
stems, and leaves was desorbed by treatment
with 0.1 M HCl (up to 99% in some cases).
Results of Cr(III), Zn(II), and Cr(VI) binding to
creosote biomass will also be presented.
Biomass of creosote bush may prove to be
useful to remove and recover metal ions from
contaminated waters by using a creosote phytofiltration system.
Interesting Fact: Up until the late 1970's, the
oldest living thing was thought to be a
bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva), living for
nearly 5,000 years high in the White Mountains
of California and the Snake Range of eastern
Nevada. Then, Dr. Frank Vasek of the
University of California at Riverside
investigated the strange, circular growth
patterns of a flowering shrub called creosote
bush (Larrea tridentata) in the Mojave
Desert. Dr. Vasek proved that each giant ring
of shrubs came from its own ancestral shrub
that once grew from the center of the ring. The
interesting circular growth pattern can be
explained by examining sections of creosote
bush stumps (stem crowns) at the base of the
shrubs. The original stem crown splits and
fragments into sections. As the segments
continue to grow outwardly (away from the
center) they produce new branches along their
outer edge. Over thousands of years the center
wood dies and rots away, leaving a barren area
surrounded by a circular ring of shrubs. One of
the oldest shrub rings is 50 feet in diameter. It
has been estimated that it started from a seed
nearly 12,000 years ago. During its lifetime the
last major period of glaciation in North
America (Wisconsin Glaciation) came to an
end, the great Egyptian and Mayan pyramids
were built, the first human walked on the
moon, routine satellites and manned spaceships
orbited the earth...and the shrub is still living!
References:
Flower Essence Repertory, Patricia Kaminiski
and Richard Katz, Flower Essence Society,
1996; ISBN: 0-9631306-1-7
The Healing Herbs, Michael Castleman, Rodale
Press, 1991; ISBN: 0-87857-934-6
Los Remedios, Michael Moore, Red Crane Books, 1990;
ISBN: 1-878610-06-6
The Male Herbal, James Green, Crossing Press,
1991; ISBN: 0-89594-458-8
Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon
West, Michael Moore, Museum of New
Mexico Press, 1989; ISBN: 0-89013-182-1
Medicine Grove, Loren Cruden, Destiny
Books, 1997; ISBN: 0-89281-647-3
Nutritional Herbology, Mark Pedersen,
Wendell W. Whitman Co., 1995; ISBN: 1885653-03-4
Textbook of Modern Herbolody, Terry L.
Willard, C.W. Progressive Publishing, 1988;
ISBN: 1-55027-000-1
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