Ethnobiology and St. John's Wort Essay

ETHNOBOTANY (Biology Class).

John's Wort

John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) is increasingly used as a natural way of treating mild to moderate depression. "Hypericum has a thymoleptic action which results in an improved sense of well-being. It has long been used as a nerve healer in melancholic conditions, depression, exhaustion and convalescence. It is also used to treat conditions where there is a degree of overtension, such as insomnia, cramps and colic of the viscera and uterus, epilepsy, diarrhoea, and enuresis in children" (Haughton 2014). Although it has been used in many different ways in the past as an all-natural remedy, today it is primarily used as a mood enhancer. The effect is mild and the supplement must be taken consistently over time for the individual to feel its benefits.

St. John's Wort must be taken with some caution: although overdoses are rare, it can negatively interact with a number of prescription medications, including birth control pills. It also has photosensitizing properties -- i.e., those that use it become more sensitive to sunlight. For humans using the drug in moderate doses this is not usually a problem, although there are reports of livestock who have consumed the flower in mass quantities to be negatively affected because of this side effect.

St. John's Wort is a perennial and the "erect, upright stems bear two raised lines along their length and branch out in the upper parts. The opposite, sessile leaves are ovate to linear and covered with numerous translucent dots, the oil glands. The margins are entire and skirted with black dots (Morgenstern 2002). Its most notable feature is its yellow flowers. The five-petaled yellow flowers which stain red when squeezed against the skin (Morgenstern 2002). Only the flowers are used to make the oil from which the plant derives its potency

Plant species

St. John's Wort is a flowering plant that grows widely in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. In the U.S., it is most commonly found in the seven states spanning between Minnesota and Central Texas (Sheehan 2012). St. John's Wort is often characterized as invasive as a weed: it is an 'introduced' species to the Americas and has few natural predators. "Although the plant invades disturbed areas it does not easily invade natural areas. It tends to form dense colonies that crowd-out native plants" (Sheehan 2012). St. John's Wort can reproduce sexually and asexually which further increases its ability to spread quickly and easily throughout the region.

History of introduction

In indigenous culture St. John's Wort was known by the Menomini tribe as "meti'komin apu'kwa" which means "taste of the woodenberry (or acorn)" (Smith n.d.). It was often given to sufferers to treat diseases of the lungs and was thought that if taken by people with tuberculosis ('consumption') at the first signs of the disease, it could provide a cure. In combination with blackcap raspberry root, it was used as a diuretic for kidney disease. It was also used as a laxative and an expectorant (to induce vomiting) (Smith n.d.)

The Cherokee used St. John's Wort, along with other herbs as an abortifacient as well as to settle the stomach and topically to rub on sores. They even "sniffed the crushed plant for nosebleed; and the root was used in poultice" (Sheehan 2012). The Iroquois, in contrast, used St. John's Wort as a fever remedy and to prevent sterility (Sheehan 2012).

St. John's Wort has been well-known in Western, European culture for some time. "The name Hypericum was given by the Greeks to a plant which was placed above religious figures to ward off evil spirits. The common name, St. John's Wort, is believed to come from the fact that its yellow petals 'bleed' when crushed and that it flowers around the 24th of June, the date on which St. John the Baptist was beheaded" (Haughton 2014). During the crusades, it…