Marshmallow

(Althaea officinalis L., Malvaceae)

Also Called: Althaea, Mallards, Schloss tea, Sweat weed, Althaea, Mortification root, Bull's eyes, Meshmellish, Soldier's buttons, Wild geranium.

Description: Perennial plant 70cm (28in) to 2m (6ft) high, densely covered with velvety hairs.
Roots creamy-yellow are many and long, shooting from one head the size of a thumb or finger.
Stem erect, many soft, hairy, and white, 3 to 4 feet high, spreading with many branches;
Leaves soft and hairy, shortly petiolate, 3-5-lobed, pointed and deeply serrated at the margins, the upper leaves being less deeply incised than the lower ones.
Flowers with 5 white or pink, obovate or cordate petals and numerous stamens with reddish-purple to dark violet anthers and grow in bunches.
This common herb grows in damp places and near ditches, especially near the sea.

Parts Used: Roots, leaves, flowers.

Habitat and Cultivation: A native of the salt marshes of eastern Europe; widespread throughout Europe, including England, and from Denmark and central Russia south to the Mediterranean in moist uncultivated places.
Native to Britain on coasts and on margins of salt and brackish marshes.
It is cultivated as a medicinal plant in gardens, being propagated by portions of root, rarely from seeds.
Collected in late autumn, the roots are stored in a cool place; they are subsequently peeled and dried at 50-60 C. Yield: 10-18kg (22-401b) per are (120 sq yd).

Constituents and Action: Mucilage and about 10% of sugar.
Decoctions of the root are emollient for mucosa; also used to mask the unpleasant taste of some medicaments.
Its use to relieve coughing is weak.

Medicinal uses: Sore throats and dry coughs, upset stomach, lung congestion; soothes and softens irritated mucous membranes.
Traditionally, the root has been used in poultices for bruises, inflammation, insect bites, minor injuries and burns.
This herb is excellent for all inflammations of the skin, and for sores and skin troubles generally.
It cleanses and at the same time heals.
A poultice may be applied to the infected part made from the leaves or bathed with the infusion of either root or leaves.
Also used as an emollient of intestinal mucosa in diarrhoea.
Syrup of marshmallow has similar action.
The supposed action on inflammation of the bladder is very doubtful.

Usage: Directions for use: An infusion or tea is made by adding a teacupful of boiling water to a teaspoonful of the leaves and infused for fifteen minutes then strained. A wineglassful may be taken 3 times daily.
A decoction of 1 oz. of root should be simmered in 1½pints of water until 1 pint remains. A wineglassful should be taken 3 times daily.
The aqueous infusion (0.5 litre (1 pt) of cold water on 2 teaspoonfuls of root in coarse powder, allow to stand 3-10 hours, then sweeten) is used in the treatment of coughs in children and old people.


Forms available: Teas, capsules, tablets, tinctures, ointment.
The root is sweet and very mucilaginous when chewed, containing more than half its weight of saccharine viscous mucilage.
This makes it very soothing, and able to subdue heat and irritation.
If applied locally it helps the soreness of inflamed parts.

Marshmallow ointment is excellent, particularly for mollifying heat.
In olden days men and women were given hot irons to hold to test their integrity.
To do this they made an adhesive paste by mixing marshmallow juice with fleabane seed and the white of an hen's egg and when their hands were coated with it they could hold the glowing irons for a few minutes without any trouble.

Pliny said: 'Whosoever shall take a spoonful of the Mallows shall that day be free from all diseases that may come to him'.

Culpeper said: 'The juice of mallows boiled in old oil takes away roughness of the skin, scurf or dry scabs in the head or other parts if they be anointed with the decoction, and preserves the hair from falling. It is effective against scalds and burns, St. Anthony's fire and other hot and painful swellings in any part of the body. The leaves bruised or rubbed upon any place stung with bees, wasps or the like takes away pain, inflammation and swelling'.



Caution: The herb's main active ingredient, mucilagin, may delay the absorption of other drugs in the digestive tract.