Ivy
was a very common and popular ornamental a few generations ago.
While some folks still plant it, it is so prone to get out of control
and kill trees that doing so is discouraged. That said, Ivy has long
use in Herbal Medicine, although it is not much used these days.
Naturalized
in my region are Hedera colchica (Persian Ivy), Hedera helix (English
Ivy and Hedera hibernica (Atlantic Ivy, Irish Ivy).
Dioscorides
wrote of Hedera as Chamaecissus:
Chamaecissus
has many leaves like those of cissus only longer and thinner, with
five or six small branches of twenty centimetres, full of leaves from
the ground. The flowers are similar to leucoion, smaller, and
strongly bitter to the taste. The root is thin, white and useless. It
grows in tilled places. A decoction of the leaves (as much as thirty
grains taken as a drink in three cupfuls of water for forty or fifty
days) is good for sciatica. A decoction (taken as a drink for six or
seven days) cleans away jaundice. It is also called chamaeleuce,
unfruitful ivy, the crown of the earth, or selinitis, while the
Romans call it hedera pluviatica.
Saint
Hildegard von Bingen wrote of Ivy:
Ivy
is more cold than hot and, like a weed, useless as human food. But,
a person who has jaundice should heat it in a small dish with deer
tallow or old fat. He should place it, warm, over his stomach, so
that the jaundice passes into the herb, and the yellow appears on the
exterior skin of that person. When these herbs have been placed over
his stomach, as explained, one should immediately crush watercress in
cold water, stain it, and give the drink to him to drink cold. The
jaundice will be expelled, and he will be cured. A woman who suffers
inordinately great menses at the wrong time should cook ivey in water
and place it, warm, around her thighs and navel. Its coldness is
contrary to the flow. If the interior membrane, which encloses the
intestines is cut by some accident, ivy and twice as much comfrey
should be cooked in good wine. Then a bit of pulverized zedoary,
sugar equal to the amount of ivey, and some cooked honey should be
added to the wine and brought to a moderate boil. This should be
poured through a little sack, making a clear drink. The ill person
should take this frequently, after food, at night. He should also
place the herbs which were cooked in the wine and place it over the
place where the interior membrane was ruptured. This draws together
the torn places. He should also cut comfrey root into tiny bits and
place them in wine, so that it takes their flavor. He should drink
this wine often until he is healed.
Gerard
wrote of Ivy:
A.
The leaves of Ivy fresh and green boiled in wine, do heal old ulcers,
and perfectly cure those that have a venomous and malicious quality
joined with them; and are a remedy likewise against burnings and
scaldings.
B.
Moreover, the leaves boiled with vinegar are good for such as have
bad spleens; but the flowers or fruit are of more force, being very
finely beaten and tempered with vinegar, especially so used they are
commended against burnings.
C.
The juice drawn or sniffed up into the nose doth especially purge the
head, stayeth the running of the ears that hath been of long
continuance, and healeth old ulcers both in the ears and also in the
nostrils; but if it be too sharp, it is to be mixed with oil of
Roses, or salad oil.
D.
The gum that is found upon the trunk or body of the old stock of Ivy,
killeth nits and lice, and taketh away hair: it is of so hot a
quality, as that it doth obscurely burn: it is as it were a certain
waterish liquor congealed of those gummy drops. Thus far Galen.
E.
The very same almost hath Dioscorides, but yet also somewhat more:
for over and besides he saith, that five of the berries beaten small,
and made hot in a Pomegranate rind, with oil of Roses, and dropped
into the contrary ear, doth ease the tooth-ache; and that the berries
make the hair black.
F.
Ivy in our time is very seldom used, save that the leaves are laid
upon little ulcers made in the thighs, legs, or other parts of the
body, which are called issues; for they draw humours and waterish
substance to those parts, and keep them from hot swellings or
inflammations, that is to say, the leaves newly gathered, and not as
yet withered or dried.
G.
Some likewise affirm that the berries are effectual to procure urine;
and are given unto those that be troubled with the stone and diseases
of the kidneys.
H.
The leaves laid in steep in water for a day and a night's space, help
sore and smarting waterish eyes, if they be bathed and washed with
the water wherein they have been infused.
Cupepper
wrote:
It
is so well known to every child almost, to grow in woods upon the
trees, and upon the stone walls of churches, houses, &c. and
sometimes to grow alone of itself, though but seldom.
Time.
It flowers not until July, and the berries are not ripe till
Christmas, when they have felt Winter frosts.
Government
and virtues. It is under the dominion of Saturn. A pugil of the
flowers, which may be about a dram, (saith Dioscorides) drank twice a
day in red wine, helps the lask, and bloody flux. It is an enemy to
the nerves and sinews, being much taken inwardly, out very helpful to
them, being outwardly applied. Pliny saith, the yellow berries are
good against the jaundice; and taken before one be set to drink hard,
preserves from drunkenness, and helps those that spit blood; and that
the white berries being taken inwardly, or applied outwardly, kills
the worms in the belly. The berries are a singular remedy to prevent
the plague, as also to free them from it that have got it, by
drinking the berries thereof made into a powder, for two or three
days together. They being taken in wine, do certainly help to break
the stone, provoke urine, and women's courses. The fresh leaves of
Ivy, boiled in vinegar, and applied warm to the sides of those that
are troubled with the spleen, ache, or stitch in the sides, do give
much ease. The same applied with some Rosewater, and oil of Roses, to
the temples and forehead, eases the head-ache, though it be of long
continuance. The fresh leaves boiled in wine, and old filthy ulcers
hard to be cured washed therewith, do wonderfully help to cleanse
them. It also quickly heals green wounds, and is effectual to heal
all burnings and scaldings, and all kinds of exulcerations coming
thereby, or by salt phlegm or humours in other parts of the body. The
juice of the berries or leaves snuffed up into the nose, purges the
head and brain of thin rheum that makes defluxions into the eyes and
nose, and curing the ulcers and stench therein; the same dropped into
the ears helps the old and running sores of them; those that are
troubled with the spleen shall find much ease by continual drinking
out of a cup made of Ivy, so as the drink may stand some small time
therein before it be drank. Cato saith, That wine put into such a
cup, will soak through it, by reason of the antipathy that is between
them.
There
seems to be a very great antipathy between wine and Ivy; for if one
hath got a surfeit by drinking of wine, his speediest cure is to
drink a draught of the same wine wherein a handful of Ivy leaves,
being first bruised, have been boiled.
Mrs.
Grieve tells us:
This
well-known evergreen climber, with its dark-green, glossy, angular
leaves is too familiar to need detailed description. It climbs by
means of curious fibres resembling roots, which shoot out from every
part of the stem, and are furnished with small disks at the end,
which adapt themselves to the roughness of the bark or wall against
which the plant grows and to which it clings firmly. These fibres on
meeting with soil or deep crevices become true roots, obtaining
nourishment for the plant, but when dilated at the extremity, they
merely serve to attach the stems and do not absorb nourishment from
the substance to which they adhere. The Ivy is therefore liable to
injure the trees around which it twines by abstracting the juices of
the stem.
When
it attains the summit of a tree or wall, it grows out in a bushy
form, and the leaves instead of being five-lobed and angular, as they
are below, become ovate, with entire margins. Ivy only produces
flowers when the branches get above their support, the flowering
branches being bushy and projecting a foot or two from the climbing
stems, with flowers at the end of every shoot.
Professor
Henslow has an interesting note on the Ivy and its shoots, in his
Floral Rambles in Highways and Byways:
'The
shoots turn to the darker side, as may be seen when Ivy reaches the
top of a wall, from both sides; wherever the sun may be the shoots
lie flat upon the top. The roots themselves only come out from the
darker side of the shoots, so that both of these acquired habits have
their purposes. When the Ivy is going to flower, the shoots now turn
to the light and stand out freely into the air; moreover the form of
the leaf changes from a finepointed one to a much smaller oval type.
As the shoot now has to support itself, if a section be made and
compared with one of the same diameter which is supported by the
adhesive roots, it will be found that it has put on more wood with
less pith, than in that of the supported stem. It at once, so to
speak, feels the strain and makes wood sufficient to meet it.'
The
form of Ivy which creeps over the ground on banks and in woods, etc.,
never blossoms. The branches root into the soil, but they are of the
ordinary kind deriving nourishment from it. On endeavouring to train
this kind on a wall, it was found to have practically lost the power
of climbing; for it kept continually falling away from the wall
instead of adhering to it; just as cucumbers refuse to climb by their
tendrils, if the stem and branches are supported artificially.
The
flowers of Common Ivy are small, in clusters of nearly globular
umbels and of a yellowish-green, with five broad and short petals and
five stamens. They seldom open before the latter end of October, and
often continue to expand till late in December. Though they have
little or no scent, they yield abundance of nectar and afford food to
bees late in the autumn, when they can get no other.
The
berries, which do not become ripe till the following spring, provide
many birds, especially wood pigeons, thrushes and blackbirds with
food during severe winters. When ripe, they are about the size of a
pea, black or deep purple, smooth and succulent, and contain two to
five seeds. They have a bitter and nauseous taste, and when rubbed,
an aromatic and slightly resinous odour.
History---Ivy
was in high esteem among the ancients. Its leaves formed the poet's
crown, as well as the wreath of Bacchus, to whom the plant was
dedicated, probably because of the practice of binding the brow with
Ivy leaves to prevent intoxication, a quality formerly attributed to
the plant. We are told by old writers that the effects of
intoxication by wine are removed if a handful of Ivy leaves are
bruised and gently boiled in wine and drunk.
It
is the Common Ivy that is alluded to in the Idylls of Theocritus, but
the Golden Ivy of Virgil is supposed to be the yellowberried variety
(Hedera Chrysocarpa), now so rare.
The
Greek priests presented a wreath of Ivy to newly-married persons, and
the Ivy has throughout the ages been regarded as the emblem of
fidelity. The custom of decorating houses and churches with Ivy at
Christmas was forbidden by one of the early Councils of the Church,
on account of its pagan associations, but the custom still remains.
An
Ivy leaf is the badge of the Gordons.
The
Roman agricultural writers much recommended Ivy leaves as cattle
food, but they are not relished by cows, though sheep and deer will
sometimes eat them in the winter. The broad leaves being evergreen
afford shelter to birds in the winter, and many prefer Ivy to other
shrubs, in which to build their nests.
The
wood when it attains a sufficient size is employed by turners in
Southern Europe, but being very soft is seldom used in England except
for whetting the knives of leatherdressers. It is very porous, and
the ancients thought it had the property of separating wine from
water by filtration, an error arising from the fact that wood absorbs
the colour of the liquid in its passage through the pores. On the
Continent it has sometimes been used in thin slices as a filter.
In
former days, English taverns bore over their doors the sign of an Ivy
bush, to indicate the excellence of the liquor supplied within: hence
the saying 'Good wine needs no bush.'
The
medicinal virtues of Ivy are little regarded nowadays. Its great
value is as an ornamental covering for unsightly buildings and it is
said to be the only plant which does not make walls damp. It acts as
a curtain, the leaves from the way they fall, forming a sort of
armour and holding and absorbing the rain and moisture.
Ivy
is very hardy; not only are the leaves seldom injured by frost, but
they suffer little from smoke, or from the vitiated air of
manufacturing towns. The plant lives to a great age, its stems become
woody and often attain a considerable size - Ivy trunks of a foot in
diameter are often to be seen where the plant has for many years
climbed undisturbed over rocks and ruins.
The
spring months are the best times for planting.
Medicinal
Action and Uses---Robinson tells us that a drachm of the flowers
decocted in wine restrains dysentery, and that the yellow berries are
good for those who spit blood and against the jaundice.
Culpepper
says of the Ivy: 'It is an enemy to the nerves and sinews taken
inwardly, but most excellent outwardly.'
To
remove sunburn it is recommended to smear the face with tender Ivy
twigs boiled in butter; according to the old English Leechbook of
Bald.
Brother
Aloysius wrote:
The
leaves only have external medicinal use. The nauseating sap can be
dangerous. When boiled the leaves can be successfully used for
ulcers, burns and cuts, skin complaints and eczema. If the juice
extracted from the leaves is smeared inside the nose, it destroys
polyps and drives any foul smell from the nose…. This mixture is
also useful in treating running ears; 5 drops should be dripped in
the affected ear every other day. Scurf on the scalp can be cured by
washing the scalp twice a day with a handful of ivy boiled in 2 and ¼
cups of white wine; head lice are also killed by this. Calluses
disappear if they are covered with ivy and boiled in vinegar. The
berries act as a purgative.
Resources
of The Southern Fields and Forests tells us:
The
"Ivy," (Hedera helix,) an exotic, which by its
tendrils clings to and covers the walls of brick houses, has
been extensively and successfully used at the South during
the late war to restore the color of silk dresses — a
strong decoction of the leaves, as I" am informed, is
employed. It owes this property of imparting lustre and
freshness to silk no doubt to the resinous ivy gum which it
contains, a principal constituent of which is bassorin.
King’s
American Dispensatory of 1898 states:
This
plant is common all over Europe, and is cultivated in many parts of
the United States; it flowers in September. The gum-resin
(Gummiresina Hederae, or Ivy gum), exudes from the incised bark, and
comes to us in yellowish or red-brown, irregular pieces. The edges
are translucent and of a garnet hue. It is acrid, faintly bitter, and
when heated emits a pleasant, aromatic odor. The leaves and berries
are the parts used. The former possess a peculiar, rather fragrant
odor, and a nauseously bitter and astringent taste. The taste of the
latter is somewhat acid, piquant, and terebinthine. A. Jandous (Amer.
Jour. Pharm., 1883, p. 371), reports the ivy berries to contain in
their fleshy part 70 per cent of water, a dark-red coloring matter
soluble in alcohol and water, resinous matter first tasting sweet,
then sharp and bitter, and grape sugar, gum, albumin, and salts. The
seeds contain a fatty oil of irritating taste and producing a green
color with ferric chloride. The poisonous properties of the fruit are
neither due to the resinous matter in the pulp, nor to the oil in the
seeds.
A
bitter substance believed to be an alkaloid and named hederin, was
obtained from the seeds by Vendamme and Chevalier (see Amer. Jour.
Pharm., 1842, p. 172). Posselt, in 1849, isolated from the seeds two
proximate principles, viz., crystallizable hederic acid (C16H26O4,
according to Davies, 1878), which Kingzett believed to be a glucosid,
and amorphous hederatannic acid. (For details regarding these
substances see Husemann and Hilger, Pflanzenstoffe, p, 968.) The
bitter hederin is probably identical with hederatannic acid. The
leaves of ivy have a peculiar fragrant odor and an astringent, bitter
taste. Mr. F. A. Hartsell, in 1875, by extraction with 85 per cent
alcohol, obtained therefrom in impure form, a glucosid resembling
saponin, but differing from the latter by not being soluble in water.
L. Vernet (Jour. Pharm. Chim., 1881, p. 347), isolated this glucosid
(C32H54O11), which was later named helixin (Joulin, Jour. Pharm.
Chim., 1891, p. 215), by boiling out the bruised leaves with water
repeatedly, then extracting them with alcohol, evaporating the
latter, washing with cold benzin, and crystallizing from solution in
boiling acetone. It forms silky needles melting at 233° C. (451.4°
F.), insoluble in water, chloroform, and benzin, soluble in warm
acetone, benzol, and ether; also in warm alkalies and hot alcohol. It
reduces Fehling's solution only after being heated with diluted
sulphuric acid, sugar, and a neutral, crystallizable substance
(C26H44O6), melting at 278° to 280° C. (532.4° to 536° F.), being
formed. The latter is not fermentable with yeast; helixigenin is the
name recorded for the helixin derivative in C. E. Sohn's Dict. Active
Principles of Plants, 1894.
Action,
Medical Uses, and Dosage.—The leaves are stimulating, and have been
employed as an application to issues; and have likewise been
efficient in diseases the skin, indolent ulcers, eczemas, itch, etc.,
in the form of decoction, and applied locally; this will also destroy
vermin in the hair, which, it is stated, is stained black by the
application. They are reputed beneficial as a cataplasm in glandular
enlargements. Marasmus of children, rachitis, and pulmonary
affections have been benefited by the dried leaves in powder, in
doses of 20 grains or more. The berries act as an emetic and
cathartic, and were formerly esteemed in febrile affections, having
been supposed to possess sudorific virtues. Associated with vinegar,
they were considerably used during the London plague. The gum-resin
has been used for toothache, ulcerations, local pains, and to control
excessive discharges.
Plants
for A Future states:
Medicinal
use of Ivy: Ivy is a bitter aromatic herb with a nauseating taste. It
is often used in folk herbal remedies, especially in the treatment of
rheumatism and as an external application to skin eruptions, swollen
tissue, painful joints, burns and suppurating cuts. Recent research
has shown that the leaves contain the compound "emetine",
which is an amoebicidal alkaloid, and also triterpene saponins, which
are effective against liver flukes, molluscs, internal parasites and
fungal infections. The leaves are antibacterial, antirheumatic,
antiseptic, antispasmodic, astringent, cathartic, diaphoretic,
emetic, emmenagogue, stimulant, sudorific, vasoconstrictor,
vasodilator and vermifuge. The plant is used internally in the
treatment of gout, rheumatic pain, whooping cough, bronchitis and as
a parasiticide. Some caution is advised if it is being used
internally since the plant is mildly toxic. Excessive doses destroy
red blood cells and cause irritability, diarrhoea and vomiting. This
plant should only be used under the supervision of a qualified
practitioner. An infusion of the twigs in oil is recommended for the
treatment of sunburn. The leaves are harvested in spring and early
summer, they are used fresh and can also be dried.
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Disclaimer
The information on this site is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. Nothing on this site has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I am not a doctor. The US government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine and their is no governing body regulating herbalists. Therefore, I'm just a guy who studies herbs. I am not offering any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write is accurate or true! I can tell you what herbs have "traditionally been used for." I can tell you my own experience and if I believe an herb helped me. I cannot, nor would I tell you to do the same. If you use any herb I, or anyone else, mentions you are treating yourself. You take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals and no two are identical. What works for me may not work for you. You may have an allergy, sensitivity or underlying condition that no one else shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. By continuing to read my blog you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices and not to blame me for anything, ever.
