HELICHRYSUM

Description

Vivacious or perennial herbaceous plant of pleasant scent and bitter taste, branched with stems between 10 and 50 cm high. Leaves are entire, lanceolate, spatulate, very narrow with curved margins and covered with white soft hair. Corymbiform, bright yellow flower heads (capitula) that form small groups of tubular flowers with a golden center and an involucre with scarious, papyraceous straw-like bright lemon-yellow, imbricated and slightly protruding bracts. The fruit is a brown tubercled achenium. It belongs to the Compositeae family.

It is native of central and south Europe, grows in small hills, slopes in the Mediterranean Valley, in the Iberian Peninsula, especially in sandy loam soil. It is cultivated in the Canary Islands (Spain). Blooming starts in May.

Part used

Flowering tops.

Indications

Internal use

• Respiratory disorders: Bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, rhinitis, common cold, sinusitis, tonsillitis, etc.
• Allergies in general: digestive (food allergies, etc.) skin (hives, etc.), respiratory (Allergic rhinitis, asthma, etc.).
• Liver disorders: hepatitis, chronic cholecystitis (gallbladder inflammation), cholecystopathies.
• Skin disorders: dermatosis, eczema, psoriasis, etc.
• Other: Rheumatism, gout, migraine, headaches.

External use

Topical use: contusions, muscle pains, sprains, scars, acne, burns, phlebitis (inflammation of a vein wall), eczemas, dermatosis, psoriasis, blepharoconjunctivitis (eyelids and conjunctiva become inflamed), parondopathies (tooth surrounding tissues disorders).

Bibliography

Benigni, R; Capra, C; Cattorini, P. Piante Medicinali. Chimica, Farmacologia e Terapia. Milano: Inverni & Della Beffa, 1962, pp. 533-47.

Bézanger-Beauquesne, L; Pinkas, M; Torck, M; Trotin, F. Plantes Médicinales des Regions Tempérées. Paris: Maloine, 1980, pp. 403-4.

Mulet, L. Estudio Etnobotánico de la Provincia de Castellón. Castellón: Diputación Provincial, 1991, pp. 208.

Peris, JB; Stübing, G; Vanaclocha, B. Fitoterapia Aplicada. Valencia: M.I. Colegio Oficial de Farmacéuticos, 1995, pp. 470-1.

Peris, JB; Stübing, G; Figuerola, R. Guía de las Plantas Medicinales de la Comunidad Valenciana. Valencia: Las Provincias, 1996, p. 109.

Máñez S, Alcara MJ, Payá M, Ríos JL, Hancke JL. Selected extracts from medicinal plants as anti-inflammatory agents. Planta Med, 1990; 56: A68.