''Sanicula europaea'', the sanicle or wood sanicle, is a perennial plant of the family

Apiaceae Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plants ...

. It has traditionally been a favoured ingredient of many herbal remedies, and of it was said "he who has sanicle and

self-heal ''Prunella'' is a genus of herbaceous plants in the family Lamiaceae, also known as self-heals, heal-all, or allheal for their use in herbal medicine. Habitat Most are native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa, but ''Prunella vulgaris'' (common ...

needs neither physician nor surgeon".

Description

''Sanicula europea'' L. grows to 60 cm high and is

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

with coarsely toothed leaves. The pinkish flowers are borne in tight spherical

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

s and are followed by bristly fruits which easily attach to clothing or animal fur and are thus easily distributed. The leaves are lobed and glossy, dark green.

Habitat

It is widespread in shady places in woodland across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Etymology

''Sanicula'' comes from ''sanus'', Latin for "healthy", reflecting its use in traditional remedies.

Uses

''Sanicula europaea'' was used in Europe for healing wounds and cleaning. Filtered leaf extracts of ''sanicula europaea'' have shown some antiviral properties, inhibiting the replication of type 2

Human parainfluenza viruses Human parainfluenza viruses (HPIVs) are the viruses that cause human parainfluenza. HPIVs are a paraphyletic group of four distinct single-stranded RNA viruses belonging to the ''Paramyxoviridae'' family. These viruses are closely associated with ...

(HPIV-2). Infusions of sanicle, made with water or wine, were commonly used in France to cure dysentery, ulcers and kidney injuries. To this list Culpeper added that sanicle heals tumours in any part of the body, and alleviates

gonorrhoea Gonorrhea, colloquially known as the clap, is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacterium ''Neisseria gonorrhoeae''. Infection may involve the genitals, mouth, or rectum. Infected men may experience pain or burning with ur ...

, bowel pain and more. The roots have been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally (as tea) or externally (as ointment) for treatment of disorders of the skin, respiratory tract, locomotor system, gastrointestinal tract, and infections.

References

External links

* 1510 boo
Compendium medicine tam morborum universalium quam particularium nondum
Medicinal plants crassicaulis Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Apiaceae-stub