Houseleek

Parts Usually Used

Leaves

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Houseleek is a perennial European plant; the fibrous rootstock produces a thick rosette of fleshy, spinypointed leaves and an erect, round stem covered with small, scalelike leaves. The stem is topped by a cluster of starlike, rose-colored flowers during July and August.

Where Found

Cultivated and also grows wild in dry, stony soils, on walls, and even on the roofs of houses.

Medicinal Properties

Astringent, refrigerant, vulnerary

Legends, Myths and Stories

The Greeks regarded houseleek, known as Strotgethron, as a powerful love philtre. The flowers were once thought to be unlucky and were usually cut off before they could bloom. Once was common everywhere on garden walls and on the roofs of buildings, houseleek is now sold as a pot or rockery plant by horticulturists. Houseleeks traditionally come under the patronage of Jupiter (though in magic they belong to Venus) and were formerly known as Jove’s Beard (Jovis Barba).

So strong was the belief in their ability to deflect lightning that Charlemagne ordered that every dwelling in his empire should have them on its roof.

Uses

Historically, herbalists applied the fresh bruised leaves to the forehead during feverish illnesses, as well as to burns, insect bites, headaches, and various skin complaints. Traditional practitioners also used the pressed leaf juice as eardrops, or applied sliced leaves externally for warts, corns, freckles, boils, bruises, and other blemishes. Folk traditions additionally utilized internal infusions or external decoctions of the leaves for hemorrhoids and uterine neuralgia, while the plant was also rubbed onto nettle or bee stings.

Bibliography

American Folk Medicine , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973 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) 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. The Magic of Herbs , by David Conway, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, England. (Out of print) The Nature Doctor: A Manual of Traditional and Complementary Medicine , by Dr. A. , 27 Pine Street (Box 876) New Canaan, CT. 06840-0876. Copyright Verlag A. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023