Contents:
Common Names | Parts Usually Used | Plant(s) & Culture | Where Found | Medicinal Properties
Uses | Bibliography
Scientific Names
- Chrysanthemum leucanthemum L.
- Composite family
Common Names
- Golden daisy
- Herb Margaret
- Maudlinwort
- Ox-eye daisy
- White daisy
Parts Usually Used
Leaves, flowers
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture
White weed is a perennial plant; the furrowed, simple or sparingly branched stem grows from 1-3 feet high and bears alternate, toothed, sessile and clasping leaves. Both stem and radical leaves are spatulate or obovate with rounded ends; the radical leaves are more strongly toothed. The stem, and the branch, if any, is topped by a solitary flower head with yellow disk and white rays.
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Where Found
Grows in fields and waste places over most of North America, Europe, and Asia as a common weed.
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Medicinal Properties
Diaphoretic, diuretic, irritant
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Uses
White weed is very seldom used today. Can promote sweating and used to treat urinary and dropsical problems. Used to treat pulmonary diseases, palsy, sciatica, runny eyes, and gout. Externally; applied to promote the flow of blood to the surface and to treat warts, pustules, ulcers, wounds, bruises. The dried plant and even the flowers of the common daisy, boiled up with some honey, have been recommended as an alleviant to attacks of asthma.
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Bibliography
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)
The Herbalist Almanac, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994
The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.
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
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