Bétoine ou épiaire officinale (Stachys officinalis) : plante oubliée

Hello, today I'm going to talk to you about a medicinal plant that is not very well known to the general public and based on what I could see, not very used on the French side. I often heard about it when I lived on the North American continent. It is a very popular plant in the English-speaking world, but in our country it is not one of our favorites. So I myself left it a little bit, a little bit forgotten. It is the officinal stone, which is also called the officinal beech. The official name in the world of the historical tree is rather beech, more than stone, at least according to what I could see. In English it is called wood betony, the beech of the woods, and the binomial name is stachys officinalis. I propose to address the medicinal properties of this plant. I will not be able to pay homage to it in everything it can do, and then it makes lists of extensions of properties. I will not hide from you that it is something that annoys me a little bit today. I did it in the past, I know, in order to be as complete as possible with the entire list. But today I prefer to spend more time with you on what seems to me the most important, based on my interpretation of things. Knowing that there is always a subjective part in all this of course, since it is I who will make this choice. I will also rely more on tradition than on science for this plant, because it turns out that science is not very interested in it. So it is more in the writings of the 1700s to 1900s that I found the most interesting information. And before starting, I remind you of two important things. First of all, I am not a doctor, I am not a pharmacist, I am not a health professional. I am here to share information with you, in all humility. But this does not replace a medical follow-up, it is not intended to be a diagnosis or prescription or other medical act. And the last point, to register for my free letter of information, receive the small gift booklet, the link is under this episode. We start with a bit of botany, the Betuine Officinale, it is a vivacious plant from the Lamiaceae family, a large family that contains many medicinal plants. I will let you consult the detailed description in a botanical book, but I will just give you some fairly characteristic criteria of the plant that helped me to recognize it. So for this Lamiaceae, you will find most of the leaves organized in rosettes at the base of the stem. And for many other Lamiaceae, you will see many pairs of leaves on the stem, which is called the opposite of the cut, in the shape of a cross, if we look from above. On a typical family square section stem. But there, on this square section stem, of course, you will see maybe one or two or three pairs of leaves, because the rest is at the level of the rosette. If you watch the video version of this episode, we will put you small videos of the plant and we will also have photos in the article associated with this episode on the Altea Provence website. So for the videos, the red rose-colored Betuines were taken in the Puy de Dôme. And those where you will see really very light pink flowers, even white, were taken in the Vaucluse, in shaded places. They absolutely don't like the sun in my house. The leaves are of a rather characteristic shape too. It is said that the base is corded, that is to say with two heart-shaped curves. And then they are laced, and I don't know many Lamiaceae that have this shape, these little lace all around the leaves. So all this remains very subjective, I know, but by simply seeing the rosette and the leaf, I can quickly see that it is Betuine. The leaf also releases a small discreet fragrance that reminds me of vanilla, but hey, it's subjective too. The flowers are typical of Lamiaceae with a bilabial corolla. Here they are organized in one or two groups on the stem, you will clearly see this on the video. Each grouping can be composed of several vertices. It usually blooms a good part of the summer, except at my place where it is rather rare in nature and it fears the heat. So we're going to have a quick flowering at the end of June, early July and then it's over. This was a very summary description of the plant. As always, be careful, arm yourself with a good flower and then train, go out with people who know the wild plants well rather than picking them up a little by chance. From a cultural point of view, I have planted them in the garden for several years. Very beautiful plant of easy culture that appreciates regular watering when it is hot and this is a plant that I have kept in a fully shaded position at home. We are now going to talk about medicinal properties and then we will talk about the parts used and the preparations. The first big property that will attract our attention, at least in the Anglophone world, is its effect on the central nervous system. The first time I met Between in the books, it was for my own research on my migraines. I have already explained to you that I have been migraine since I was very young and I have been looking for solutions for a long time to stabilize the condition. Today I rarely have crises so I managed to almost make them disappear but it took me many years to get to know my triggers and work on them. At the time, I was just starting my research on plants and then I had bought an old edition of a great English classic called A Modern Herbal by Maude Greve. Published in 1931 in two volumes, I have two old editions, one red and one blue. I love this book, I would like to compare it to our Paul Victor Fournier, the famous dictionary of medicinal plants that I have told you about very often. Same generosity, same approach, very encompassing of all the tradition of medicinal plants of course until the 1930s where it was written. At the time, I see in this book that Between was sovereign for all head diseases. Greve quotes a book from 1666 called Medicina Britannica written by an English doctor who says The most stubborn headaches are healed with a 4 to 6-week cure of Between decoction in milk. Obviously, as a migraineur, this little sentence has challenged me a lot. We will come back to my results with this plant a little later. Maude Greve explains that Between acts as a tonic and a calmant of the nervous system. And you will tell me, it calms or it tonifies? No, because here you have to choose. And I will answer you, no need to choose, it's both. And this is a concept that you will find for certain specific plants of the nervous system. Like scutellaria, which is so much appreciated in American herbal history, I will tell you about it in a future episode. Like oats, with a very special preparation that we do in some countries. With the fruit of the wild-cultivated oats, when it is still soft and milky in the spring. We see a small drop of white liquid coming out and at that moment we will put it in alcoholic maceration. But let's go back to Between. So what's going on here? Well, the nervous system is exhausted today, I'm not teaching you anything. We draw on our resources, we work out of our comfort zone for a little too long. Work stress, family stress, etc. A little bit of the history of humans in the 21st century, imprisoned in a modern, hyper-connected, concrete society. Which no longer meets our primary needs. So a lot of reflection on this point, of course. Plants are only a small part of this reflection. But they are still very useful to support a nervous system that is sometimes brought to the breaking point. A nervous tonic will simply know how to calm down during hyper-excitation. And relaunch the nervous functions during a period of fatigue. We sometimes talk about plants that feed the nervous system. These plants are generally rich in minerals. So just with this mineral contribution, in a way, they feed these essential nervous functions. That's why Modgreeve is talked about for all the affections of the nervous system. And that its field of applicability will be rather large. That we feel at the bottom of the hole, with zero tension. Or at the top of the stress peak, with 22 tension. It's an image, of course, if you do a shot of 22 tension, you have to go see a doctor. It goes without saying. But you're going to tell me, wait, isn't your Bethlehem adaptogenic? And I remind you that I made a series in two parts on adaptogens, relatively recently. So if I lose you with this important comment, put it in pause. Go see the two episodes in question, we'll put the link for you. And to answer this question, no, it is not adaptogenic to my knowledge. It does not have such a general and systemic action. And in addition, it seems to become purgative if you take a lot of it. So it was more for the root, we'll come back to that. But hey, we could have a high-dose toxicity zone, we don't really know. And that would break the definition of adaptogens. However, we will say that it is to be reintegrated into our toolbox for the accompaniment of nervous conditions, various and varied, from hyper-excitement to anxiety, through depression, burnout. And there, Maude Grieve will give us information that was important to me. And so I will underline it to you. She tells us that the plant is frequently combined with other plants in the nervous system. And indeed, that's how I see it too, more as a complement. And there I will rely a little bit on my senses and my evaluation of the plant's energy, which has a taste that is not very aromatic, contrary to some Lamiaceae. There is a little bitterness, there is a green taste that reminds me of some mineralizing plants. And so I would associate it more with scutellar plants, chamomile, or agrippum if we wanted a calming effect. For a stimulating effect, I would rather combine it with bitter tonics, more than with aromatics such as rosemary or soja. But here we are more in an intuitive and energetic approach, and then especially affinities that are personal to me. It's not something that you will find universally in the books. I would now like to move on to an important point about this plant. And something tells me that we have a key to use here, a key that I probably misunderstood in the past. It is an action on the pains located mainly at the level of the head. And it is true that in tradition, we see that it is a plant that relieves headaches, as I told you, ear aches, facial nephrology. And I think that a little bit like scutellar, at least in my experience of scutellar, it is a plant that helps us better manage the pain signal. So it is true that it is anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, like many other plants. But here I think we have something specific about our way of apprehending pain. There may be an action on the pain receptors, or a nervous communication of the pain itself. Maybe both. Matthew Wood, who talked a lot about Betoine in his books, also mentions that it seems to bring the circulation up, so better brain circulation. And suddenly, I have the impression that if we combine all this, better nervous communication, better circulation, somewhere we may have a signature for the action of the plant on the head part. And it is in this context that I would have wanted to test it when I was struggling with my migraine crises several days a week. Not as a plant alone, as I did. So alone, in a long and well-dosed cure, in a background cure, an attack, all that I tested, it didn't do anything to me at all. But as an accompanying plant, with other plants that will act on brain inflammation, maybe others on the liver. In any case, the liver axis turned out to be very critical for me, for my migraines. It would have been interesting. So more in combination. And in this team, Betoine may be specialized in calming the nervous axis and the perception of pain. At least that's how I position it. So here I am, I'm taking you to a little subtle areas of the use of plants. I hope you follow me. It is important to position things and to achieve results. Now let's move on to its vascular and circulatory aspect. The plant is rich in tannin, it is rich in flavonoids, so we will have a tonic and protective action of the small vein and lymphatic structures. This is why it is indicated in the varicose ulcers, in Fournier for example. I will certainly extend this to the problem of heavy legs and any other problem of vein return. When we say in popular language that we have bad circulation, although it is not the first plant to which we will think clearly for these situations. We always think of Indian marronnier, red vine, etc. But maybe at that moment, it will be available around you when you need it. We do not know. In the vascular and lymphatic areas, I will add the view of Matthew Wood, who sees a brain circulatory action, as I explained to you earlier, knowing that here we are more in the arterial aspect, in the contribution of brain blood. In Wood, the concrete is indicated for cognitive disorders. He speaks in particular for age-related disorders, in combination with plants such as rosemary or ginkgo. Again, we have this rising energy towards the head. By the way, we will also note a possible use for acouphen due to age-related circulatory disorders. Specific here. To sum up, from a circulatory point of view, it may have this triple regulatory action, vein, lymphatic and arterial, which is not often found in the world of plants. Then we probably have a thyroidal calming action, similar to other lamiaceae, such as agripome or licope. We have already talked about it in other episodes. Or, at a lower level, the mellis. And so we would probably have judicious associations for situations of hyperthyroidism, such as licope, mellis and betoine, or licope, agripome and betoine, or other combinations. And conversely, for hypothyroidism, it is probably a plant to avoid as a precautionary principle. Knowing that, again, for these conditions, consult a doctor first. Some have linked this property on the thyroid to its content in lithospermic acid. This is a constituent that can be found especially in the gremil, a very well-known plant and acting on hormonal orchestration at the hypophyse-hypothalamus level. To my knowledge, this point has not been confirmed by the analysis of the constituents of the plant. And I absolutely did not find anything when I did my bibliographic analysis. So I will leave this side, this story of lithospermic acid, aside. I could not find anything to confirm. Another point, in some books, we see that betoine is a calmant of the heart. Which is most likely explainable by its action on the nervous system. So here we will think of the rhythm disorders caused by a situation of stress or anxiety. Tachycardia extracystole. And there you know what I'm going to tell you after having consulted a cardiologist, of course. And here I come back to my previous combination of betoine with agripom. Two plants that will combine well here for this application at the heart level. And I add an obvious plant, lubepine. So if I had to formulate a little tisane here, I would probably put half lubepine, a quarter betoine, a quarter agripom. See if I need to balance the taste because of the agripom, which is not very good to drink. And start from that point. It has also been used in the past for hypertension problems. And again, I don't think we are an action at kidney level. I don't think it's a very diuretic action. I think we're really acting on tension from a neurovascular point of view. Through an action on the nervous system. So, relaxation of the arteries directly. And so, if tension variations caused by stress can be kept, betoine in mind. All this brings us to the digestive sphere. And I will finish on this last point because I have already given you a lot of information. We see in the works that it is digestive tonic, aperitif, intestinal anti-inflammatory. We see that some books position it in a very favorable way for digestion that is deficient. So a little slow to start, a little slow to finish. And I think the best explanation on this effect here is probably given by Matthew Wood who thinks that betoine acts at the level of the solar plexus. So we're still in the nervous system. But here with an orchestration, an action on the local orchestration. An enteric local nervous system. Which makes me say that it has an unexplored potential for all that is functional colopathy which is also called irritable bowel syndrome. Why not in combination with other plants such as matricarium, melis, etc. And Wood goes even further with this solar plexus story by explaining to us that it is a plant that helps us reconnect with the physical, with the instinct, with the guts if I can say. A point that may be interesting at a time when we become more and more vaporous and cerebral beings. On my site I will put you some more possible uses but for the oral version I will stop there. That said, we will now talk about the forms that can be used and quantities. So first of all, which part of the plant do we use? In the past we used the roots which were stronger and more acrid than the aerial part, more irritating and they were sometimes used as emetic that is to make them vomit and purgative. So today we use the leaves with or without the flowers. The stem is not very interesting in general we compost it after having pulled, recovered the flowers. We will harvest ideally at the beginning of flowering. And what do we prepare with these leaves? First of all, the infusion. If the concrete is used alone Valné recommends between 5 and 15 g of dry plant for 1.5 liters of water for 1 to 2 cups per day. So here we would turn in the 10 to 30 g per liter. Tint of fresh or dry plant and to tell you everything I have a small weakness for the tint of fresh plant which is also called Alcolature I find that it captures much better the essence of the plant. Valné recommends 10 drops 3 times a day. Based on my observations, it is a little too low dose so personally I rather do 30 drops 3 times a day if we use it alone. The powder, we dry it, we go to the coffee grinder, we sift and then we put in a gel or we dilute in a little water or in a compote or a soup. And there Valné recommends It may be a little shame to reduce it to powder because this little aromatic aspect we will lose it of course in the process. I remind you that I explain how to do all these preparations at home in my program product manufacturing regarding precautions and contraindications we do not find much in the reference books for the simple reason that we are very little interested in the books, it is not listed. That said, here are some of the precautions to know. The plant was sometimes positioned as an emmenagogue which stimulates the uterine function which would mean that it is contraindicated during pregnancy. Then as we have seen at least that's really the profile I give it an action on the central nervous system and therefore it could interact in theory with tranquil antidepressants I know it's a very generic announcement and even too generic to be useful but logically we would have a positive interaction here Betuine could increase the effects of antihypertensive drugs since it acts on tension and to finish we see in the old writings that when the plant was consumed in large quantities it could have a purgative effect it was explained mainly with the use of the root and not with the leaf as far as I know. Well, here ends this portrait of the Betuine completely forgotten plant of our pharmacopoeia and yet present in all our ecosystems in a very discreet way but it is there, it exists this was an invitation to get in touch again thank you, see you soon for a next episode