Lycopodium (Licopodium clavatum) properties, benefits and active ingredients of lycopodium.Do you know the lycopod or Witch Grass? It is a plant known for its use, as a sprinkling powder, in case of dermatitis or diaper rash and to purify the liver . Probably best known is the homeopathic remedy , used for a wide range of physical and psychological symptoms.
Lycopodium clavatum: (Licopodio) therapeutic properties: Soothing in dermatitis, depurative and homeopathic remedy.
Lycopodium is easily found in the Alps and in the Apennines of Central Italy, it prefers cool places like woods and sunny meadows. The herbaceous plant is curious: it crawls on the ground and emits here and there some roots, the branches rise from the ground not more than 20 cm and is devoid of flowers, resembles an evergreen moss. It has a sort of long compact spikes that produce a yellowish powder that, made up of spores, is necessary for reproduction. Its name, of Greek derivation, means “wolf’s foot”, a name given to it by its similarity.
The parts of the plant used are the spores that are obtained by harvesting the ears in late summer. They are left to dry for a few days and then fight to make the powder fall, yellow-brown, odorless and tasteless, which is preserved.
Lycopodium has been used in the medical field since the Middle Ages. They were called the fire spores because they are flammable, used to prepare fireworks and to cause flashes in photography. In the seventeenth century it was administered against gout and urinary retention. In phytotherapy it is used on wounds and eczema.
What are the active ingredients of Lycopodium (Lycopodium clavatum)?
Also known as vegetable sulfur, due to its characteristic of burning quickly when lit, the lycopodium powder is composed of 50% fat that make it suitable to soothe itching and relieve irritated skin. It contains sulfur, in fact, and silicon, manganese, calcium, essential oil, sugars, alkaloids, lycopidine, clavatoxina, gum and flavonic pigments.
How is Licopodio used?
The powder extracted from dried spores is used, which in many preparations is also added to talc and powders, in cosmetics as a refreshing facial skin. In the tradition the lycopodium was used, the whole plant, for herbal teas with laxative, diuretic and detoxifying effect. The presence of alkaloids, which make it slightly toxic, have decreased its use over time. The lycopodium is only scalded with boiling water and left to rest for a short time, to prepare the herbal tea that is used to purify the liver. Dried and introduced into a cushion, it is used against calf cramps (it is applied to the painful part during the night). There is also mother tincture and it is found, as well as dust, in herbalist’s shops.
When can Licopodium be useful?
The fats contained in the Lycopodium bring relief to reddened skin, soaked by sweat, urine, faeces or irritated by the rubbing of clothes by the wind. In case of skin irritation, dermatitis or diaper rash, dust can be sprinkled on the affected area. Internally it is used to purify the liver, in case of hypertension and rheumatism.
Lycopodium – Lycopodium clavatum homeopathic remedy .
The homeopathic remedy of lycopodium has been experimented by Hahnemann, father of homeopathy, in 1828. It is prescribed, after a careful visit by the homeopathic doctor, when anticipation anxiety predominates among the psychological symptoms. Anxiety before an exam or a speech in public often causes digestive disorders, indigestion, abdomen rumbling, intestinal air, flatulence. Often the “lycopodium type” has a low self-esteem masked with arrogance, is afraid of being inferior to the others, of failing, even if on the surface it may seem self-confident, a bit like those timid ones who mask their shyness with aggression. This anxious and insecure picture may be secondary to poor memory capacity or dyslexia. New situations cause anxiety, this leads him to oppose change, to avoid new situations, even sentimental commitments. He’s a loner who doesn’t want to be alone.
Kent from his “Lessons of Homoeopathic Materia Medica”: “aversion to taking on something new … fear that something will happen … a feeling of being unable to do his job … he is afraid of hesitating to speak, to make mistakes, to forget something …”.
“He needs to hear that there is someone at home, but he doesn’t want company.”
“Lycopodium is a very nervous patient, very sensitive and very emotional … sensitive to tears when one thanks him”
The natural remedies of lycopodium and the effects
The most common physical symptoms of the remedy are digestive disorders often associated with flatulence, urogenital and thoracic diseases, recurrent or chronic cutaneous manifestations. Disorders often arise on the right (dominant laterality) or migrate from right to left and from top to bottom. There is in the remedy another typical trait which is the worsening in the afternoon between 16 and 20, poor resistance and a marked desire for sweets that aggravate it.
Digestive disorders can be caused by anxiety, the abdomen appears distended and grumbling because of acids or flates. An insatiable appetite may be present but also feeling full after a few bites. Other symptoms related to the gastrointestinal tract are: nausea, vomiting and constipation. Kent: “The Lycopodium patient is flatulent, tense as a drum … everything he eats turns into air … a mouthful fills him to the throat …”.
Urogenital disorders include prostatic hypertrophy, genital herpes, urine with sandy sediment and kidney stones. Kent: “He has the same pee in the children’s bed … nocturnal polyuria … he is forced to get up often during the night and emit large amounts of urine … Lycopodium is one of the leading remedies in impotence … varices of the genital organs …”
chest infections. Dry cough, burning pain in the chest, wheezing and wings of the nose that beat. The throat is reddened especially on the right side. Kent: “Dry and annoying cough … thoracic rales, flapping of the wings of the nose and inability to expectorate … dyspnea and asthmatic respiration in the bronchial catarrh … colds almost always fall in the chest … dry cough in the emaciated boys … fever in the afternoon from 16 to 20 … ”
The skin presents painful, chronic ulcers, gouty disorders, rash with violent itching, dry scaly eruptions behind the ears, fissured and / or bloody eruptions (chronic eczema on the hands), old pimples that form nodules and persist for a long time, hives characterized by long striae.
Lycopodium symptoms improve with hot foods and drinks, moderate outdoor exercise, warmth and wearing loose clothing.
They get worse between 16 and 20, with excessive heat or cold, with tight-fitting clothes, with over-abundant meals and with cold drinks.Licopodio (Licopodym) properties and benefits: author: Naturopath Angela Ballarati.
