Newpharmablog. Health News

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) is a familiar tree in Europe, Asia and North Africa. It can grow to a height of about 9 metres with spreading thorny branches. The hawthorn flowers spring to mid-summer with white flowers, each producing a separate fruit which, when ripe, is a bright red colour.

The wood of the hawthorn is very hard and was used to make such articles as combs and small boxes. It was also used in Germany to divide the land into smaller parcels or plots. The word haw is an old name for hedge and also the word for the berry.

One can find Hawthorn growing along parts of the New England Highway in NSW and I have regularly harvested the ripened fruit, or haw, for use in my own clinics.

Fruit, either fresh or dried, is used as a cardiac tonic, diuretic, sedative and coronary vasolidator. Although widely used in eastern medicine as a sedative, diuretic, cardiac tonic and astringent, it has not been used in orthodox western medicine to any great degree. The native Americans used it to treat rheumatism.

The main constituents of hawthorn are Vitamin C, flavone glycosides, catechins, saponins and other unidentified properties. It is the combined effect of the above constituents that gives hawthorn its medicinal uses. Scientific investigation has found that hawthorn can be useful in the treatment of many cardio vascular complaints.

Tests were carried out in Germany in the 1950′s with reference to its use in conjunction with digitalis in the treatment of mitral stenosis. The results of these tests were generally beneficial. The patients with mitral stenosis were given hawthorn as a liquid extract. This form of medication proved to be successful and notable improvement was shown. It was also noted that those patients who were receiving digitalis drug therapy were able to discontinue the digitalis or considerably reduce the dose. Because of its ability to dilate the coronary heart vessels, hawthorn is an invaluable herb in the treatment of angina pectoris, high blood pressure, myocarditis, paroxysmal tachycardia and cardiac arrhythmias.

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Tags: General health . This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 at 12:50 am and is filed under General health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.