I looked up Hawthorn - might be worth adding to the mix.
Good for the heart, diuretic, help you sleep and help keep the Blood Pressure down, to ease digestion of meat .
Works for me.
Hawthorn
English Hawthorn
Haw
Maybush
Whitethorn
Parts used
Uses
Habitat and cultivation
Research
Constituents
How much to take
Side effects
How it works in the body
Applications
Heart-friendly tincture
Hawthorn is veritably the best remedy for the heart and circulation. The flowers, leaves and berries all have a vasodilatory effect, opening the arteries and thus improving blood supply to all tissues of the body. This helps to balance blood pressure and makes an excellent remedy for high blood pressure particularly that associated with hardening of the arteries. Hawthorn can be used to improve poor circulation associated with "aging" arteries, poor circulation to the legs and poor memory and confusion related to poor blood supply to the brain. Hawthorn opens the coronary arteries in the heart, thereby improving blood flow and softening deposits, and makes an excellent remedy for angina. Hawthorn has further benefit to the heart in its action on the vagus nerve which influences the heart, so that an over-fast heart rate is slowed and heart irregularities settle down. Hawthorn is the ideal remedy for all heart conditions.
The berries have an astringent effect and can be used for diarrhea and dysentery. In addition the leaves, flowers and berries have a relaxant effect in the digestive tract and act to increase the appetite, relieve distension and stagnation of food in the intestines. They have an equally relaxant effect on the nervous system, relieving stress and anxiety, calming agitation, restlessness and nervous palpitations and inducing sleep in those suffering from insomnia. They also have a diuretic effect, relieving fluid retention and dissolving stones and gravel, and can be used during the menopause for debility or night sweats. A decoction of the berries can be used as an astringent gargle for throats and a douche for vaginal discharges.
Hawthorns in North America consist of 100 to 200 species of small trees and shrubs, mostly in the eastern half of the United States. Their taxonomy is difficult and confusing; some 1,100 specific names have been published, but most are no longer accepted. Hybrids no doubt exist, and many varieties are recognized. Hawthorns furnish food and cover for wildlife; species with fruits that persist over winter are especially valuable. Many species are useful for environmental plantings. Because they tolerate a wide variety of sites, hawthorns have also been planted to stabilize banks, for shelter belts, and for erosion control.
The hawthorns have thorny twigs and branches, although a few species are spineless. The leaves are single and what is known as simple, growing alternately in varying shapes and different degrees of lobing and serration. The conspicuous flowers have five creamy and sometimes pinkish blossoms and loom up importantly in this nation's history, as they gave the Pilgrims' ship, the Mayflower, its name. Growing in ordinarily fragrant clusters in midsummer, they usually thrive in flattish, terminal groups. The small applelike fruit, characteristically tipped with the remnants of the outer floral leaves, are really pomes, a fleshy reproductive entity with five seeds enclosed in a capsule and an outer more or less thick, fleshy layer that differs markedly in taste on each shrub or tree, especially when it is raw. They are generally less than one-half inch in diameter and are mostly reddish, sometimes yellow and rarely bluish, purplish or black, often with a high-sugar and low-protein-and-fat-content pulp.
Hawthorn berry has been a very popular treatment for many heart-related problems throughout the British Isles. The Sunday Times magazine (a London-based paper) for May 24, 1981 cited the amazing work of a Scottish doctor some 42 years before and the incredible results he obtained with it for hypertension. In 1939 Dr. James Graham of Glasgow University showed that a fluid extract of hawthorn berries was very effective in the treatment of 10 patients confined to bed with high blood pressure. He made his extract by combining 4 tablespoons of dried and crushed berries with 1 pint of dark mead (any dark English ale or dark German beer will do). He shook daily the flask that the mixture was kept in and did so for 15 days. He then strained the liquid into another flask and gave his hypertensive patients 25 drops of it beneath their tongues twice daily. Within a week full recovery was evident for all 10 of them.
The same British newspaper also reported that in 1969, medical doctors in Bulgaria were treating scores of patients suffering from coronary problems with a fluid extract of hawthorn. After 6 weeks of treatment, consisting of 15 drops beneath the tongue twice daily, three-quarters of a group of 62 patients fully recovered. The fluid extract was made pretty much the same way that Dr. Graham made his preparation, with the sole exception of vodka used as the medium of extraction for the berries. The Sunday Times also explained how hawthorn berries were active in the treatment of heart palpitations, angina, and stroke. This action was attributed, in part, to the bioflavonoids such as rutin and hesperidin and vitamin C present in the berries.
Hawthorn acts on the body in two ways. First, it dilates the blood vessels, especially the coronary vessels, reducing peripheral resistance and thus lowering the blood pressure. It is thought to reduce the tendency to experience angina attacks. Second, it apparently has a direct, favorable effect on the heart itself, which is especially noticeable in cases of heart damage. Hawthorn's action is not immediate, but rather develops very slowly. Its toxicity is low as well, becoming evident only in large doses. It therefore seems to be a relatively harmless heart tonic that apparently yields good results in many conditions which this kind of therapy is required.
The active principles of hawthorn are probably a mixture of pigments known as flavonoids, large numbers of which are contained in the various plant parts. So-called oligomeric procyanidins (dehydrocatechins) seem to be particularly active. They also produce marked sedative effects that indicate an action on the central nervous system. In recent years, the German Commission E has more narrowly defined hawthorn preparations deemed to possess therapeutic value. A revised monograph, published in 1994, recognizes a fixed combination of the flowers, leaves, and fruits, plus a preparation of the leaves and flowers. Both are water-and-alcohol extracts with an herb-to-extract ratio of 5-7:1. These preparations are calculated to deliver 4 to 20 mg of flavonoids (calculated as hyperoside) and 30 to 160 mg of oligomeric procyanidins (calculated as epicatechin) in a daily dose of 160 to 900 mg of hawthorn extract. Dosing is determined by the patient's physician. These oral dosage forms are continued for at least six weeks. Other preparations, including alcoholic extract of the leaves or flowers alone, may be useful, but clinical studies are lacking. Preparations containing hawthorn leaf, berry, or flowers alone in mono preparations are not allowed to carry therapeutic claims since effectiveness has not been documented.
Further scientific studies may eventually substantiate these findings; in fact, studies are urgently needed for a drug as potentially valuable as this one. Until additional research has been carried out, prospective users of hawthorn for heart and circulation problems should consider all the consequences. Users of self-selected medicines almost always do so as a result of self-diagnosis. This is a very dangerous practice when such vital systems of the human body as the heart and blood vessels are involved. For this reason, self-treatment with hawthorn is neither advocated nor condoned.
PARTS USED
Flowering tops, berries.
USES
Historical uses - Hawthorn was traditionally used in Europe for kidney and bladder stones, and as a diuretic. The 16th- and 18th-century herbals of Gerard, Culpeper, and K'Eogh all list these uses. Its current use for circulatory and cardiac problems stems from an Irish physician who started using it successfully on his patients for such conditions toward the end of the 19th century.
Heart remedy - Hawthorn is used today to treat angina and coronary artery disease. It is also useful for mild congestive heart failure and irregular heartbeat. It works well but may take some months to produce notable results. Like many herbs, hawthorn works in tune with the body's own' physiological processes, and it takes time for change to occur.
Blood pressure - Not only is hawthorn valuable remedy for high blood pressure but it also raises low blood pressure. Herbalists using hawthorn have found that it restores blood pressure to normal.
Poor memory - Combined with ginkgo, hawthorn is used to enhance poor memory. It works by improving the circulation of blood within the head, thereby increasing the amount of oxygen to the brain.
HABITAT AND CULTIVATION
Hawthorn trees grow in pastures and along hedges throughout most of the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The seeds take 18 months to germinate, but the trees are usually cultivated from cuttings. The flowering tops are harvested in late spring and the berries are gathered in late summer to early autumn.
RESEARCH
Bioflavonoids - Hawthorn has been fairly well researched. Its main medicinal benefit is due to its bioflavonoid content. These constituents relax and dilate the arteries, especially the coronary arteries. This increases the flow of blood to the heart muscles and reduces symptoms of angina. The bioflavonoids are also strongly antioxidant, helping to prevent or reduce degeneration of the blood vessels.
Cardiac herb - A number of trials have confirmed hawthorn's value in treating chronic heart failure, notably a 1994 trial in Germany that showed hawthorn improved heartbeat rate and lowered blood pressure.
CONSTITUENTS
Hawthorn contains flavonoid glycosides, procyanidins, saponins, tannins, minerals.
HOW MUCH TO TAKE
Extracts of the leaves and flowers are most commonly used by nutritionally oriented doctors. Hawthorn extracts standardized for total bioflavonoid content (usually 2.2 %) or oligomeric procyanidins (usually 18.75%) are often used. Many people take 80-300 mg of the herbal extract in capsules or tablets two to three times per day or a tincture of 4-5 ml three times daily. If traditional berry preparations are used, the recommendation is at least 4-5 grams per day. Hawthorn may take one to two months for maximum effect and should be considered a long-term therapy.
SIDE EFFECTS
Hawthorn is extremely safe for long-term use. There are no known interactions with prescription cardiac medications or other drugs. There are no known contra indications to its use during pregnancy or lactation.
HOW IT WORKS IN THE BODY
Hawthorn acts on the cardiovascular system, regulating the heartbeat, relaxing the arteries, and normalizing blood pressure-both lowering high blood pressure and raising low blood pressure. It can be used in angina and coronary artery disease to improve the blood flow to the heart muscles. These medicinal benefits are thought to be due to a combination of the amines and the flavonoids. Its effects are not instant, but taken over a period of months hawthorn will reduce symptoms and act as a tonic to the heart. Chinese usage in the digestive system suggests the use of hawthorn to ease digestion of meat and greasy foods, and where there is pain, distension, and diarrhea. Chinese properties are sour, sweet, and slightly warm.
