Possessed of a beautiful scent, Jasmine Flowers are a potpourri favorite. Grieve's classic 'A Modern Herbal': The Common White Jasmine (Jasminum officinale), one of the best known and most highly esteemed of British hardy ligneous climbers, is a native of Northern India and Persia, introduced about the middle of the sixteenth century. In the centre and south of Europe it is thoroughly acclimatized. The fragrant flowers bloom from June to October; and as they are found chiefly on the young shoots, the plant should only be pruned in the autumn. The roots of several species of Jasminum have had various ill-defined uses in medicine - that of J. officinale is mentioned by Millspaugh (American Medicinal Plants) as 'a proven plant' in the homoeopathic sense, though he adds: 'the authority for the use of which I am unable to determine.' A palatable syrup can be prepared from the flowers. A preparation of the flowers has been employed medicinally. Green, in his Universal Herbal (1832), recommends: 'as an excellent medicine in coughs, hoarsenesses and other disorders of the breast, an infusion of five or six ounces of them picked clean from the leaves, in a quart of boiling water, being strained off and boiled in a syrup, with the addition of a sufficient quantity of honey.' The leaf juice is applied to corns and ear discharges. The leaves contain salicylic acid (found also in the bark of Salix species and used as an analgesic, febrifuge etc). The root is used in the treatment of ringworm. The flowers are aphrodisiac, antiseptic, antispasmodic, galactogogue and tonic. They are mainly used in aromatherapy (see below). The essential oil is used in aromatherapy. Its keyword is 'Aphrodisiac'. It is used in the treatment of depression, nervous tension, impotence, frigidity, menstrual disorders and weak digestion. |
