Lovage

Scientific Names

Lovage

  • Ligusticum levisticum L.
  • Umbelliferae
  • Umbel family

Common Names

  • European lovage
  • Lavose
  • Sea parsley

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Parts Usually Used

Rootstock, seed
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture

The short, thick rootstock produces a round, hollow stem 3 to 6 feet high and branched near the top.  The leaves vary from long-petioled and decompound, with incised, ovate leaflets, to sessite and simple near the top.  The small, pale yellow flowers grow in compound umbels from June to August.  The whole plant has a strong, aromatic odor.
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Where Found

Found wild in southern Europe and Asia Minor but widely cultivated all over the continent.
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Medicinal Properties

Carminative, emmenagogue (starts flow of menstruation), diuretic, expectorant, stimulant, stomachic, tonic
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Biochemical Information

Essential oil with phthalidene, terpineol, carvacrol, isoveleric acid, coumarin, angelic acid, malic and benzoic acid, resin, starch, and sugar.
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Legends, Myths and Stories

The roots of lovage add an aged-like essence to cordials, gin and bitters when properly used.

The old timers say that lovage is rubbed over the bait, any kind of fish bait, that as long as there are fish within yards of the hook, you will be pulling them in.
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Uses

Lovage is used to treat fluid retention, bloating, gastric catarrh, stimulates appetite, and flatulence; also may be used to promote perspiration and counteract colds and flu.

Lovage is most used for its diuretic properties in cases of water retention and urinary difficulties.  Skin problems will sometimes respond to a decoction added to bath water.  Dropped into the eyes, it will take away the redness or dimness of them; also takes away freckles or age spots, and boils.
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Formulas or Dosages

Rootstock can be used fresh or dried.

Infusion: 1 tsp. fresh or dried root to 1 cup water.  Take 1 or 1 1/2 cups per day.

Decoction: boil 1 1/2 to 2 oz. rootstock in 4 to 6 qt. water for use as bath additive.
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Warning

In excessive doses, lovage can cause kidney damage; this herb should not be used by those with kidney problems. Lovage promotes the onset of menstruation and should not be used by pregnant women.
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Bibliography

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

Buy It! Old Ways Rediscovered, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, published from 1954, print 1988

Buy It! The Complete Medicinal Herbal, by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993

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! 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! The Herbalist Almanac, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994

Herbal Gardening, compiled by The Robison York State Herb Garden, Cornell Plantations, Matthaei Botanical Gardens of the University of Michigan, University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley., Pantheon Books, Knopf Publishing Group, New York, 1994, first edition

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! American Folk Medicine, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973

Buy It! Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 15th Edition, F. A. Davis Company, 1915 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

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

Buy It! The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book), edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. Emmaus, PA, 18049., 1974

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