* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download HerbClip - American Botanical Council
Plant stress measurement wikipedia , lookup
Plant secondary metabolism wikipedia , lookup
Plant nutrition wikipedia , lookup
Evolutionary history of plants wikipedia , lookup
Plant defense against herbivory wikipedia , lookup
Plant breeding wikipedia , lookup
Plant use of endophytic fungi in defense wikipedia , lookup
Flowering plant wikipedia , lookup
Plant morphology wikipedia , lookup
Plant physiology wikipedia , lookup
Plant evolutionary developmental biology wikipedia , lookup
Ornamental bulbous plant wikipedia , lookup
History of botany wikipedia , lookup
Historia Plantarum (Theophrastus) wikipedia , lookup
Plant ecology wikipedia , lookup
Plant reproduction wikipedia , lookup
Flora of the Indian epic period wikipedia , lookup
Sustainable landscaping wikipedia , lookup
Perovskia atriplicifolia wikipedia , lookup
Medicinal plants wikipedia , lookup
P.O. Box 144345 Austin, TX 78714-4345 512.926.4900 Fax: 512.926.2345 www.herbalgram.org HerbClip™ Mariann Garner-Wizard Heather S Oliff, PhD Shari Henson Brenda Milot, ELS Densie Webb, PhD Executive Editor – Mark Blumenthal Consulting Editors - Steven Foster, Roberta Lee, MD, Allison Turner, MS Managing Editor – Lori Glenn Funding/Administration – Wayne Silverman, PhD Production – George Solis/Kathleen Coyne FILE: Doctrine of Signatures Traditional Israeli Medicine Israeli Folk Medicine Ethnobotany HC 070131-251 Date: February 27, 2004 RE: Doctrine of Signatures as Used in Israeli Folk Medicine Dafni A, Lev E. The doctrine of signatures in present-day Israel. Economic Botany 2002;56(4):328-334. The authors of this article conducted a ten year survey of folk medicinal use of the flora of Israel, where amidst a scientifically orthodox medical establishment (see HC 110328.230), Arab, Druze, and Bedouin villages maintain traditional healing methods and practitioners. Among the plants used by these practitioners, a significant number are linked to the Doctrine of Signatures which holds that plants (and/or animals and minerals) have colors, shapes, or habitats that can disclose their medicinal use. Among the 15 plants identified in this article, eight have only one medicinal use. According to the Doctrine of Signatures, plants with yellow flowers, fruits, or sap can be used to treat jaundice; those with parts shaped like testes have been used for impotence; etc. Thus, many plants which grow in rock are used to treat kidney stones; in Europe, Saxifraga spp., which are used for this purpose, are called "breakstone" in several languages. This theory also underlies that of sympathetic magic where a particular herb (e.g. turmeric) is used in a ritual to cure a disease (e.g. jaundice). The authors cite several additional references and provide a table that lists species, common name, plant part used, medicinal use, perceived appearance of part used, method of preparation and administration, and region of use. Seven of these plants which seem to have other medicinal uses are not identified, nor are their other uses stated. The authors group the plants in terms of their relationship to the Doctrine of Signatures. Those with parts resembling human parts include camel's thorn (Alhagi maurorum), milk vetch (Astragalus macrocarpus), and blue hound's tongue (Cynoglossum creticum), all of which have kidney-shaped seeds and are used throughout Israel to treat kidney stones. Roots of autumn mandrake (Mandragora autumnalis), whose shape resembles either the human body or male organ, and tuber roots of orchids (Orchis spp.), shaped like testicles, are both used to treat impotence. The heart-shaped leaves of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) are used for weak hearts. The leaves of southern maidenhair fern (Adiantum capillus-veneris) "are similar to female hair and are used to treat hair weakness." Plants perceived as similar to animals include European turnsole (Heliotropium europaeum), whose fruits resemble scorpions' abdomens and are used to treat scorpion bites, and starwort (Asteriscus spinosus), whose flowers resemble spiders and are used for spider bites. Large quaking grass (Briza maxima) has a more complex association. When the plant's heart-shaped spikelets shake in the wind, they resemble the mating acts of the male tortoise. The plant is used to increase love and affection. In this instance, the overlap of the doctrine of similarities with sympathetic magic is clearly shown, as this is not a medicinal use, but a purely magical one. The plant apparently also had a magical use in England reported in 1889, where "mainly because of its shaking ability," it was placed in houses "as a powerful deterrent." However, the authors do no say what it was used to deter. Three plants with yellow color characteristics are used to treat hepatitis: Italian buckthorn (Rhamnus alaternus; a.k.a. evergreen buckthorn), colocynth or bitter gourd (Citrullus colocynthis, not to be confused with India's Momordica charantia, a.k.a. bitter melon), and squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium). Pellitory-of-the-wall (Parietaria judaica), which grows on rocks and walls, is used for kidney stones. Interestingly, squirting cucumber, used in ancient Greece for tumors, yields a modern chemotherapy agent (see HC 111191.167). Finally, although discussed with pellitory-of-the-wall under the heading "Similarity to plant habitat or characteristic," African or fringed rue (Ruta chalepensis) has leaves which resemble the hand, and is used to ward off the evil eye. The authors characterize this as a "mental disease;" others consider evil eye an ethnomedical condition (see HCs 100626.223 and 081219.228), seated in cultural beliefs rather than mental dysfunction. Considered within its somewhat limited framework of relationship to the Doctrine of Signatures, this article is interesting and valuable. However, it might have been more useful if the authors had included information on other uses of the plants mentioned which are not based on that doctrine and if they had not limited their research to marginalized Israeli minority communities. They acknowledge that "Israel is an area in which, throughout its long history, many cultures have intermingled...The co-existence of different ethnic groups of various origins enables the absorption and the maintenance of the old traditions." It would be interesting to know if older European and Asian Israeli Jews maintain herbal traditions which might be part of this unique mix − some of which might even be related to the Doctrine of Signatures. ⎯ Mariann Garner-Wizard Enclosure: Referenced article reprinted with permission from the New York Botanical Gardens Press. The American Botanical Council provides this review as an educational service. By providing this service, ABC does not warrant that the data is accurate and correct, nor does distribution of the article constitute any endorsement of the information contained or of the views of the authors. ABC does not authorize the copying or use of the original articles. Reproduction of the reviews is allowed on a limited basis for students, colleagues, employees and/or members. Other uses and distribution require prior approval from ABC.