Fraxinella
Parts Usually Used
Rootstock, herb, seed
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Fraxinella is a perennial plant; the knobby, cylindrical, whitish rootstock sends up several round, downy, green-and-purple stems with alternate, odd-pinnate leaves. Leaflets are ovate-lanceolate, serrate, and covered with glandular dots. A long raceme of large, rose-colored (sometimes white or red-purple) flowers with darker veins appear in June and July. The fruit is a 5-parted capsule.
The entire plant has a lemon-like smell. Some of the plant’s names refer to its production of a flammable substance in the summer which ignites with a flash over the whole plant but without harming it. (There are several plants referred to as dittany: American dittany (Cunila origanoides) of the mint family; American dittany has another old name (Cunila mariana).
Where Found
Introduced from Europe and sometimes cultivated as a garden ornamental in the northern United States.
Medicinal Properties
Anthelmintic, diuretic, emmenogogue, expectorant, febrifuge, tonic
Legends, Myths and Stories
According to a pioneer doctor: Native Americans of the southeast smoked the fragrant leaves of this herb in place of tobacco. The volatile oil from the flowers is emitted as a vapor on sultry summer evenings and if a match is lit, will flash.
Uses
Historically, herbalists prepared a decoction of the rootstock for fever, stomach cramps, and stones of the kidney and bladder. An infusion of the flowers was traditionally employed to encourage the onset of menstruation. Additionally, a tincture made from the leaves and flowers was historically incorporated into liniments intended for rheumatic pain.
Warning
Contact with the plant may cause dermatitis where the skin is subsequently exposed to sunlight. Avoid use during pregnancy.
Bibliography
Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs , by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814) Chinese Medicinal Herbs , compiled by Shih-Chen Li, Georgetown Press, San Francisco, California, 1973. Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000 The Herbalist Almanac , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.
copyright 1974. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974