Polygonum
Made from the smartweed — the peppery water-plant of the American marshes, genuinely styptic in the old dispensary, and the classical remedy of the bleeding and the colic.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of a plant that stings and stanches: the smartweed's peppery burn on the tongue, the bleeding the old dispensary stanched with it, the colic and the urinary complaints of the proving, and the water-plant of the American marshes. The smartweed remedy: that is Polygonum.
The substance, in plain words
The smartweed is the peppery water-plant of the American marshes, its leaves burning the tongue with genuine pungency — and a genuine styptic and carminative of the old American dispensary, used to stanch bleeding and move the colic. The proving gave the plant the bleeding-colic portrait.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Anxiety with the bleeding. Fear at the bleeding, the colic, the urinary complaints — worse at night.
- Irritability. Cross from the pain and the weakness after.
- Despondency. Gloomy in the chronic, recurrent states.
The body
- Bleeding the old dispensary stanched. The keynote: the passive bleeding — of the bladder, the bowel, the wounds — the smartweed was given for.
- Colic and griping. The books' second use — the griping, colicky pains the plant's pungency moves.
- Urinary complaints. The proving's urinary chapter — the burning and the urging.
- Worse cold damp and night. Wet weather and night deepen the bleeding and the colic.
- Better for rest and the bleeding's cessation. Rest, and the stanched flow, ease the smartweed state.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| cold damp weather; night; motion; exertion. | rest; the bleeding's cessation; warmth. |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
Blood and bleeding, bowels (colic), urinary tract, general vitality.
Where the classical picture comes from
The peppery water-plant's proving gave the bleeding-and-colic portrait; Polygonum became the classical remedy of the passive bleeding — the smartweed of the old dispensary serving the wounds it was chewed for.
The substance in real medicine Pharmacology
What this section is: the pharmacology and toxicology of the source substance. It is not clinical evidence that a homeopathic preparation of it treats any condition. What controlled trials do and do not show is set out on the Evidence page.
The smartweed's pungency is genuine — the peppery burn that named it — and its old use as a styptic and carminative is documented American folk-pharmacology, its persicarin chemistry studied. The bleedings it stanched are now modern haemostasis: pressure, tranexamic acid and the surgeon's instruments; the plant's chemistry is real, its territory modern.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| Millifolium | Bleeding after injury | Millifolium bleeds bright after knocks; Polygonum the passive bleeding the dispensary stanched. |
| Erigeron canadense | Bright bleeding | Erigeron's is bright with the burning; Polygonum's the smartweed's stanched flow. |
| Colocynthis | Colic | Colocynthis doubles over with the anger; Polygonum grips with the bleeding. |
| Cocculus | Colic | Dioscorea stretches better; Polygonum grips with the passive bleeding. |