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Scientific Name: Inula helenium

Family: Asteraceae

Origin: Europe, Asia, North Africa

Color: Yellow

Aroma: Herbal

Properties: Mucolytic, diuretic, digestive

Quantity: 30 ml

Properties of St. John's wort

The root of St. John's wort (or helenium) contains 1-3% essential oil (composed of sesquiterpene lactones, allantolactones, and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons), sterols (beta-sitosterol, stigmasterol), mucilage, pectins, ascorbic acid, and is one of the most notable sources of inulin (44%), which is highly important in medicine.

For internal use, the presence of essential oil gives St. John's wort an eupeptic action indicated for difficult digestion and loss of appetite; but above all, the plant is renowned for the antiseptic, fluidifying, and expectorant properties of phlegm, useful for the treatment of respiratory tract disorders, in the presence of cough and acute and chronic colds and bronchitis, asthma, and emphysema.

The mixture of allantolactones is called helenin or helenium camphor, and in addition to having anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties, it performs antifungal, anthelmintic, and diuretic activities, helping the elimination of urea and chlorides; for this reason, the use of St. John's wort is also indicated for gout and some rheumatic conditions.

For external use, decoctions and ointments based on St. John's wort are remedies for the treatment of itching resulting from eczema, skin diseases, dermatitis, various forms of herpes labialis, and skin eruptions in general.

Description of the plant

Perennial herbaceous plant with a large, fleshy, branched rhizome and a very robust stem, 100-200 cm tall, villous, branched, and corymbose. The leaves are large; oblong, toothed, scabrous on the upper side, and tomentose on the lower surface, the lower ones petiolate and the upper ones sessile. The flowers have golden-yellow flower heads. The fruits are glabrous achenes, lacking pappus.

The habitat of St. John's wort

Native to Central Asia, in Europe it is widespread especially in the southern regions where it was cultivated in the past for medicinal purposes and then spread spontaneously throughout the Mediterranean basin. In Italy, it is present in the north, the center, and partly in southern Italy. It prefers ruderal places and damp woodlands, coppice environments, and ditches; but also hygrophilous meadows and pastures.

Historical notes

The name of the species helenium seems to derive from the Greek name Helen, who according to legend squeezed the plant in her hand when she set sail for Troy. The currently accepted scientific binomial (Inula helenium) was proposed by Carl von Linné in the publication Species Plantarum in 1753. According to Pliny: "It is said that helenium was born from the tears of Helen, and helenium is attributed cosmetic virtues: it keeps the female skin perfect, nourishing it, both on the face and the body. Furthermore, they say that its use gives women beauty and a sensual charm..." Since the plant was somehow connected to the events of Helen of Troy, the great Roman historian and naturalist thought to attribute cosmetic virtues to the plant, even though in reality, it has nothing to do with female beauty. However, St. John's wort is cited as an effective remedy by all the authors of Antiquity (from Dioscorides to Albertus Magnus) and in every Pharmacopoeia for its calming, expectorant, and diuretic properties of cough. Used since antiquity for the production of liqueurs, the wine of St. John's wort is famous, used as an aperitif, which is obtained by adding a percentage of dried root to the wine. In Alsace, reps is still produced today, a beverage prepared by macerating the root in must. In fact, once the root of this plant was used by doctors as a stomachic (facilitates digestive function), vermifuge (eliminates intestinal worms), tonic (strengthens the body in general), diuretic (facilitates the release of urine), and generally resolutive. It was also used both to dye cotton or linen clothes blue, and as a mordant in dyes with the addition of blackberry brambles. Today, for the large-flowered variety, it is also used in gardens to create large patches of color. At the beginning of the 1900s, inulin, a polysaccharide, was isolated from the phytocomplex of the St. John's wort root, with its notable rebalancing properties of the bacterial flora, because it is able to increase the density of bifidobacteria and decrease that of harmful bacteria.

Use

Suitable for being burned on a heat-resistant saucer with charcoal or on an incense burner with a sieve. The combustion process on an incense burner with a sieve is slower compared to charcoal. The incense can easily be mixed with other varieties of incense.

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