ii: Herb of the Month
Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) Marianne Hughes, with illustration by Hazel Brady My choice of Hawthorn this month is in honour of witnessing the appearance of its swathes of white, scented blossom. Just as taking Hawthorn stimulates the blood circulation after Winter, its late Spring flowers uplift the spirit and please the heart. Hawthorn is just the herb for the heart. Studies have demonstrated that Hawthorn increases the force of contraction in the heart while slowing the rate (Tassel et al. 2010), and Bartram (1998) notes that it is a ‘positive heart restorative... which lacks the toxic effects of digitalis’. It is a coronary vasodilator, meaning that it increases the blood flow to the heart and strengthens the muscle without raising blood pressure. In the 19th Century, a Dr Green in County Clare, Ireland, had great success with treating heart disease; when he died in 1894, his daughter disclosed that he had been using a tincture of ripe Hawthorn berries, or Haws (Brunton-Seal and Seal 2014). A similar treatment is used to this day. In one of our Herbology classes at the Royal Botanic Gardens, a tutor related that his father had had heart problems— and no faith in herbal medicine at all. In order to produce a remedy that his father would deem acceptable, the tutor soaked Hawthorn berries in sherry for a month to create Haw Sherry. This went down a treat! Hawthorn helps to dissolve cholesterol and calcium deposits, so it is good for treating arteriosclerosis (plaquing) and intermittent claudication— where the blood vessels of the legs do not receive enough oxygen for the muscles, causing pain when walking. After drinking his Haw Sherry, the tutor’s father felt well enough to take up walking on the local golf course again. Another side effect of heart problems can be oedema or water retention, formerly
known as dropsy. It is likely that Hawthorn’s astringent qualities, due to its high tannin content, assist in the treatment of this condition. Writing in 1640, John Parkinson quoted the physician Hieronymous Tragus (1498–1544) recommending Hawthorn to treat dropsy, as ‘the leaves, flowers and fruit are drying and binding’ (in Brunton-Seal and Seal 2014). Some of its other traditional uses in treatments for high blood pressure, heart arrhythmia, angina and Raynaud’s disease have since been proven effective. Tassell et al. (2010) provide a comprehensive overview of a range of studies into the efficacy of Hawthorn in the context of cardiovascular disease (CVD), listed by WHO as the number one cause of death globally. These studies confirm the safe and effective use of Hawthorn for mild to moderate heart failure, and in higher doses for more seriously ill people. But a word of warning for anyone taking betablockers or other cardiovascular pharmaceutical drugs— Hawthorn should only be taken under supervision. As well as strengthening the heart and improving circulation, Hawthorn has other applications. In Parkinson’s time, its berries were dried, powdered and steeped in wine as a common treatment for kidney stones (Brunton-Seal and Seal 2014). In the same era, distilled water of Hawthorn flowers was also used for drawing splinters, and its thorns would be used to lance a boil (ibid.). There is even a long tradition of eating young Hawthorn leaves. Hatfield (2005) mentions the practice of eating the new shoots of Whitethorn, as Crataegus monogyna was known in Essex, and notes that they were called ‘cheese and bread’. Similarly, in his Scottish Plant Lore, Kenicer (2018) notes that the young leaves can be
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