Cyclamen were put to many medicinal uses during the first few centuries A.D. according to Pedacio (or Padanius) Dioscorides, a Greek military surgeon and naturalist of the first century. He is sometimes referred to as the 'father of the materia medica' and, for more than 1500 years, was accepted as THE authority in botany and medicine. During the 16th century, a traveller in Greece came across some manuscripts of Dioscorides and took them home to Italy to his friend, one Pietro Andrea Mattioli, a prominent physician and writer who devoted many years to publishing various editions in numerous languages of his translations of the Discourses of Dioscorides. In his 1559 edition in Italian, Chapter CLI II is devoted to cyclamen.
MATERlA MEDICINAL DISCOURSES FROM DIOSCORIDES
BY
PIETRO ANDREA MATTIOLI - 1559
DEL ClCLAMINO - Cap. CLIII
Cyclamen has ivy like leaves, purplish, varied, with some spots on the top and white underneath. The stem is about four inches long and bare. On top are the flowers, red, rose like. The root is black, squashed, similar to a turnip.
Among the prescribed uses of cyclamen were the following:
It is said
that pregnant women will abort if they walk over it.
If one wears it on
herself, it speeds up delivery.
It can be drank to counteract any kind of
poison, but especially the sea air.
As an ointment, it is good against
serpent's bite.
Taken with wine, it makes one drunk.
It should be taken
with wine or honey wine diluted with water for bile overflow in the proportion
of three drams. It is necessary, however, to put the patient in a warm place
with no drafts and well covered so that he will be able to sweat and the sweat
will come out yellow like bile.
The juice of the root can be absorbed
through the nose to purge the head.
Applied with honey to the eyes, it is
good for cataracts and eye weakness.
The juice of the squeezed roots is
cooked until it thickens like honey. The root purges and cleanses the skin; it
cures and prevents blemishes and boils.
Taken alone or with honey, it heals
wounds.
As a plaster, it dissolves the spleen; it does good to a sunburned
face; and it makes hair grow again.
The decoction is good for dislocated
limbs, gout, head ulcers, and chilblains. The old oil in which the root was
fried makes ulcers heal. One can make a hole in the root and fill with oil and
cook it on hot ashes. Sometimes they add Tirrenian wax so that it becomes
similar to an oint-ment, especially effective with chilblains.
Somebody
says that mashed into a paste it can be used as a love potion.
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Many centuries later Gerard in his Herbal says - 'it is reported to me by men of good credit, that cyclamen or sow-bread groweth upon the mountains of Wales; on the hills of Lincolnshire and in Somerset-Shire. Being beaten and made up into trochisches, or little flat cakes, it is reputed to be a good amorous medicine to make one love, if it be inwardly taken'. |
| Gerard's illustration is almost certainly Cyclamen hederifolium | . |
In modern herbals, Cyclamen are described as a 'Self-esteem builder essence', which allows the person to get in touch with their self-esteem and confidence.
In addition to this rather vague reference, there are a number of more
specific applications:
A homeopathic tincture is made from fresh tubers and
is applied as a liniment externally over the bowels, causing purging.
There
is a story that in the past the tubers were baked and made into little flat
cakes which were considered a good amorous medicine which caused the person
eating them to fall violently in love.
The fresh tubers, bruised, and made
into a cataplasm, make a stimulating application to indolent ulcers.
An
ointment called 'Ointment of Arthainta' was made from the fresh tubers for
expelling worms, and was rubbed on the umbilicus of children and on the abdomen
of adultsto cause emesis, and in the region over the bladder to increase
urinary discharge.
There are a number of references to dermatological problems with Cyclamen, but these are rare and no growers known to the author have been effected in any way.
The popular name 'Sowbread' comes from the fact that the tubers were a
source of food for wild boar.
There is a report that Cyclamen are poisonous
to cats and fish.
In white magic circles, Cyclamen are listed as a plant which brings happiness