Synonyms
The ivy has the Latin name Hedera helix. It is also called Rankenefeu, wintergreen, wall fire, carpet, death tendril and tree shrike. Synonyms in a broader senseHealing plant, medicinal herb, herbal medicine, phytotherapy
Definition Ivy
The ivy comes from the Araliceae family and has the Latin name hedera helix. It climbs up walls and tree trunks with its adhesive roots, branches out and becomes a woody liana. The medicinal plant ivy can reach a length of three to 20 m. The ivy gets water and food from the roots in the soil.
The branched trunk of the ivy has wintergreen, leathery shiny leaves at the end, which are three to five angularly lobed. In older plants, however, the shape of the leaves sometimes changes. The green-yellow inflorescences have spherical half umbels and form dense clusters.
The poisonous fruits of the medicinal plant ivy are red-violet to black and eight to 10 mm spherical in thickness. The flowering time is from September to December. From spring to autumn is the collecting time of the ivy leaves.
Hedera helix in homeopathy
History
The medicinal plant ivy is an old cultivated plant and the only Central European liana. The name Hedera comes from the Greek and is attributed to the clasping. The Germanic meaning “iwe” as eternal, indicate the wintergreen leaves.
With the Egyptians, ivy was considered a sacred plant. In ancient Greece the ivy was consecrated to the wine god Dionysos. In the herbal books of the 16th and 17th century, many diseases such as gout, fever, constipation, skin diseases and cartarrh were treated with the medicinal plant ivy. Already Hippocrates and Dioscurides recommended ivy as a remedy. Nowadays the ivy leaves are mainly used to treat bronchial diseases.
Summary
The medicinal plant ivy is an evergreen climbing plant up to 20 m long, which grows on house walls or wraps around old trees. It was considered a symbol of love beyond death. Already in ancient times ivy was used as a medicinal plant.
It grows all over Europe. The medicinal plant ivy is imported from Eastern European countries. We use ivy products in orthodox medicine as well as in folk medicine. The dried leaves and their preparations are used medicinally in aqueous-alcoholic dry extracts.