The Medicinal Herb Info site was created to help educate visitors about the often forgotten wisdom of the old ways of treating illnesses. Many of today's drugs and medicines were originally derived from natural ingredients, combinations of plants and other items found in nature.

We are not suggesting that you ignore the help of trained medical professionals, simply that you have additional options available for treating illnesses. Often the most effective treatment involves a responsible blend of both modern and traditional treatments.

We wish you peace and health!

Radish

Scientific Names

Radishes

  • Raphanus sativus L.
  • Cruciferae
  • Crucifer family

Common Names

  • Black radish
  • Common radish
  • Garden radish
  • Spanish radish

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Parts Usually Used

Root, seed
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Radish is an annual or biennial plant; the fleshy root, coming in various colors and shapes, produces an erect, hollow stem from 8 inches to 3 feet high. The alternate leaves are lyrately divided, with a large terminal segment. They may be glabrous or covered with sharp hairs. The white or lilac-colored flowers have violet veins and grow in branched racemes. Flowering time depends on the manner of cultivation.
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Where Found

Widely cultivated as a salad vegetable.
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Medicinal Properties

Root: antispasmodic, astringent, cholagogue, diuretic

Seed: digestant, carminative, expectorant
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Biochemical Information

Seed: Erucic acid, oleic, linolenic, and linoleic acids; glycerol sinapate, raphinin
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Uses

The juice pressed from grated, fresh radish root is an old European home remedy for coughs, rheumatism, and gall bladder problems. Radish has been used for chronic bronchitis, flatulence, diarrhea, headache, and insomnia. Radish is not recommended for use when the stomach or intestines are inflamed. The seeds treat abdominal fullness, sour eructations, diarrhea caused by food congestion, phlegm with productive cough and wheezing. Finely grated radish, sprinkled with raw cane sugar in order to make a syrup, provides good remedy for whooping cough. This will also help all liver ailments.
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Formulas or Dosages

Radishes which have not developed flower stems are preferred.

Juice: mix equal parts radish juice and honey. Take 1 tbsp. 3 times a day.

Juice Cure: start by taking 3 to 4 oz. juice (by weight) before breakfast each day. Gradually increase the amount to 14 oz. a day. Depending on results, after 1 to 3 weeks, reduce the quantity to 3 or 4 oz. again until a complete cure is affected.
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Nutrient Content

Iron, sulfur, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, vitamin C

Radish nutrition

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How Sold

In the supermarket produce section
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Warning

Radish is not recommended for use when the stomach or intestines are inflamed.
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Bibliography

Buy It! Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs, by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814)

Buy It! Chinese Medicinal Herbs, compiled by Shih-Chen Li, Georgetown Press, San Francisco, California, 1973.

Buy It! The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.

Buy It! The Nature Doctor: A Manual of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, by Dr. H.C.A. Vogel; Keats Publishing, Inc., 27 Pine Street (Box 876) New Canaan, CT. 06840-0876. Copyright Verlag A. Vogel, Teufen (AR) Switzerland 1952, 1991

Buy It! Planetary Herbology, by Michael Tierra, C.A., N.D., O.M.D., Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. WI 53181., Copyright 1988, published 1992

Buy It! Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, New World Dictionaries: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023

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