Hedge Hyssop

(Gratiola officinaiis L., Scrophulariaceae).

Description: Perennial plant with thin, white, creeping rhizome.
Aerial stem 15-35cm (6-14in) high, simple or occasionally branched; the upper part often square.
Leaves opposite, sessile, green, glabrous, small and lanceolate; margin shallowly dentate in the upper part.
Flowers about 1.5cm (0.6in) long, on short peduncles in the leaf axils; corolla handsome, tubular towards the base.
Flowering: July-August.

Part Used: Dried flowering plant.

Habitat and Collection: In marshy fields in warm regions of southern Europe.
The wild plants are collected when in flower and rapidly dried at 60 C (140 F). It is not cultivated and it is not a native of Britain.

Constituents and Action: All parts of the plant and especially the leaves contain very active constituents that in normal medicinal doses are drastic irritant purgatives.
Also, like foxglove, they strengthen cardiac action and are strong diuretics for generalised oedema (dropsy, etc.).

CAUTION: Large doses are poisonous and may result in death.

Usage: As a violent purgative and as a diuretic in dropsy; rarely also for gout and as a cardiotonic.
Its marked toxicity demands extreme care in use.
As far as possible it should be used only under medical supervision.