Bishop’s weed is a plant native to the Canary Islands, Egypt and Morocco. In Chile, North America and Argentina, bishop’s weed is cultivated and grown, only the mature fruits and the standardized plant extracts made from them are used.
Occurrence and cultivation of bishop’s weed
The 1 to 2 year old herb is also called toothpick amei and forms shoots up to 1 meter high. Typical of the appearance of bishop’s weed are the filamentous tips and pinnate leaves. The 1 to 2 year old herb is also called toothpick ammei and forms shoots up to 1 meter in height. Typical of the appearance of bishop’s weed are the filamentous tips and pinnate leaves. Tiny white flowers grow in large compound umbels. The sturdy umbel rays can be used as natural toothpicks. The early decaying partial fruits are small and grayish brown in color, resembling an egg in shape. These fruits, up to 3 millimeters long and 0.9 millimeters wide, usually bear 5 lighter ribs and a pistillate pad at the end, the whole fruit being hairless. The fruits are absolutely odorless, the taste of the fruits is described as mildly aromatic and very slightly bitter. Bishop’s weed belongs to the botanical family of umbelliferae.
Effect and application
Bishop’s weed is a medicinal plant and has many secondary plant compounds, sterols, glycosides, tannins and saponins. It has not yet been possible to extract and analyze all of the constituents. However, it has been possible to extract certain active ingredients that are responsible for the medicinal effect of the medicinal plant. Among other things, bishop’s weed contains an above-average proportion of so-called Y-pyrones. This pharmacological family of active ingredients has a strong vasodilatory effect, especially on the coronary vessels. Visnagin, which is contained in bishop’s weed, has a pronounced antispasmodic effect. Khellin, which is also contained in the phytoplasma of the plant, has a mild phototoxic effect. Therefore, in order to safely avoid poisonous effects, larger quantities of fruits of bishop’s weed should never be consumed. In sensitive individuals, however, even smaller doses can cause severe liver damage due to irreversible tissue death. Although it is a highly effective medicinal plant in pharmacological dosage, bishop’s weed plays at best a minor role today. This is mainly due to the incalculable side effects in case of accidental overdose, as well as insomnia and pseudoallergic reactions. The furanochromones contained in bishop’s weed cause photosensitization in fair-skinned people, so the skin becomes very sensitive to UV light. Therefore, those who take medicinal preparations of bishop’s weed should avoid intensive sunbathing. The indications for the use of bishop’s weed result mainly from the strongly blood circulation-promoting ingredients. Especially circulatory disorders of the heart, angina pectoris and the associated chest pain respond positively to medicinal preparations from bishop’s weed fruits. Due to the spasmolytic and vascular tonic effects, painful colic of the gallbladder, kidneys or intestines can also be quickly relieved. The fast-onset antispasmodic effect is due to pyranocoumarins, flavonoids, kaempferol and essential oils in varying proportions by weight. If the fresh or dried fruits are used directly, this is done within the framework of so-called phytotherapy. In addition, medicinal preparations of bishop’s weed are often found in homeopathic medicines, the indications being the same. Homeopathic use has far fewer risks and side effects, since all active ingredients and constituents are present in a highly diluted form. From the homeopathic potency D23 already no active ingredient molecules of the mother tincture of bishop’s weed fruits can be detected.
Significance for health, treatment and prevention.
It is empirically undoubtedly proven that in the past medicinal preparations from bishop’s weed were used even prophylactically against chest pain of different genesis, bronchitis or asthma. The efficacy was not proven at that time, erroneous overdoses, even with fatal consequences, were not uncommon.At that time, far after the end of the Middle Ages, bishop’s weed had quite high importance for health, prevention and treatment of circulatory disorders and spasmodic diseases. Nowadays, this therapeutic approach is no longer justifiable because of the toxicity of individual ingredients and the risk of pseudoallergic reactions. An initially positive monograph by Commission E of the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices was withdrawn because of the high potential for risks and side effects. However, bishop’s weed still plays a certain role in traditional naturopathy, the main indications being chest tightness and coronary circulatory disorders. Success has also been achieved in the treatment of retinal irritation of the eyes in glaucoma. In addition, the fruits are traditionally used for cleaning teeth by chewing and biting. After the procedure, the fruits must not be swallowed under any circumstances, but carefully spat out. Another field of application is the use of bishop’s weed as a natural urological for flushing therapy in urinary tract infections. For this purpose, the diluted tea infusion from the dried fruits is used. The commercially available tea drug should have an active ingredient content standardized to khellin or visnadin, so that accidental overdoses can be prevented. The maximum daily dose should not exceed 25 mg of Y-pyrone, which corresponds to about 1 gram of the dried medicinal drug. If the dried fruits are stored in a cool, dry place and protected from sunlight, then they can be kept almost indefinitely. The loss of active ingredient is very low even after years of storage. The photosensitizing effect of bishop’s weed can be used in alternative dermatology for phototherapy of pigmentary abnormalities and psoriasis. However, if used too frequently, there is a risk of increased risk of lung and skin cancer. Therefore, the phototherapeutic use of bishop’s weed is also not common today.
