Nasturtium
officinalis (Nast-o) = Brunnenkresse/= Kapuziner.kresse/=
Cresson/= Watercress
Vergleich: Enthält: Kali-n + As +
Cl + S + I + Omega-3-Fettsäure; Cardamine pratense (Nast-ähnliche
Wirkung/Brassicales). Trop (hat ähnliche
Inhaltsstoffe).
Siehe: Brassicales + Moorgruppe
‡ Nasturtium
Mercurio cultum D2, D3 (Flüssige Verdünnung)
Nasturtium
Mercurio cultum Rh D3 [Flüssige Verdünnung (wässrig)] ‡
Nasturtium
Mercurio cultum ..Begleitbehandlung von chronisch-entzündlichen Erkrankungen
des Darmes. ‡
Gebrauch: Magen-/Nieren-/Halsentzündung;
Negativ: Niesen.
verstopft/verengte Urinwegen. Nerven;
Repertorium:
Bauch: Atrophie des Lebers
Allgemeines: Wassersucht
Mund: Stomatitis ulcerosa, Stomakaze
Bauch: Beschwerden der Gallenblase/-wege
Zirrhose der
Leber, Leberzirrhose
Unverträglich:
Schwangerschaft
Antidotiert:
alle Narkotika. Tab-/Alkoholvergiftung
Wirkung:
aphrodisisch
Allerlei: Kosmopolit/wächst
im klares Wasser/klärt Wasser. kleinster Teil über Wasser
Phytologie: Sammeln: frisch vor Blüte (sofort
verwenden als Nahrung)
Magen/harntreibend/schleimlösend/Drüsen/Galle/Leber/Ödem
Wala Acne Series may be used as a basic treatment for
acne. The main active principle is Nasturtium.
[Ruth Mandera, Ph.D. and Ulrich Meyer, R.Ph.]
Portrait of a Medicinal Plant
Morphology
Generally known only as an ornamental plant, nasturtium
was brought from its native South America to Europe in the 17th Century. The
Tropaeolum genus derives from Chile and Peru where
80-90 species are found, their distribution extending
from the tropical rain forests to the snow line. The slopes of the Peruvian
Andes are said to be the natural habitat of nasturtium.
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) pointed out that
the flora growing at different levels in the Andes actually reflect the plant
cover of the whole earth. Lower down, where the climate is
warm and damp, the vegetation is tropical, and in the
cold atmosphere at high altitudes we find plants that also grow in the polar
region. Coming from the warmth (metabolic) pole of the earth,
close to the equator, the plant thus shows a tendency
towards the cool (neurosensory) pole.
The plant has made itself at home in Central Europe,
showing surprisingly lush growth and continuing to grow and flower throughout
summer. It likes a rich soil and is often found on compost heaps, for example.
Oddly enough, the stems do not come upright but stay close to the ground.
Nasturtium has no lignifying, permanent support
tissues and has to depend on the support of hedges and fences if it is to reach
any height. As a rule, the fleshy shoots lie on the ground, producing
adventitious roots if covered with soil.
New leaves are continually developing at the shoot
apex, with the first signs of flower buds immediately apparent in the axils.
The young leaves are initially indented.
Even at this stage it is evident that the leaf is not
attached to the stalk at the margin, which is the usual way, but the lamina is
more or less centrally balanced on it (peltate leaf). As growth continues, the
fleshy stalks elongate, turning away from the earth towards the light, and
supporting the leaves, which now assume a horizontal position, from below.
These are now approximately circular
Form and orientation are remarkably like the floating
leaves of water plants. Many other Tropaeolum species have crenate or divided
leaves, which tend to be smaller, and it appears that large, juicy, rounded
leaves are a special characteristic of Tropaeolum majus.
An adequate water supply is vital in the hot summer
months; even temporary dryness will cause the soft leaves to hang flaccidly.
The firm shape can only be maintained if there is sufficient water. Hydathodes,
cells active in the excretion of water, are actually found in the leaf margins.
After a cool night in early summer, a droplet of water glitters at the end of
every vein. This marked relationship to water also explains why the vitality of
these plants is destroyed by even the slightest degree of frost in the fall. In
no time at all they turn yellowish and translucent, collapsing completely as
the freezing water expands and destroys their tissues.
In many European plants, vegetative growth terminates
in an apical inflorescence. The early stages of flower bud development
frequently go hand in hand with profound morphological and physiological
changes in the green parts of the plant.
If we compare this with the development of an
individual nasturtium leaf, the similarity is at first sight remarkable.
Bittercress quickly overcomes this "juvenile stage," however, and
goes into full expansion, division and contraction of leaf forms before it
begins to flower. Nasturtium, on the other hand, "blows" the juvenile
form up to considerable size and repeats the same form all its life. Flowering
does not induce metamorphosis of foliage leaves.
The phenomena show that nasturtium has a strong
connection to the earth's surface and to water in its vegetative leaf sphere.
The large sulfur-yellow or orange-red flowers
immediately reveal another aspect of the plant. They grow singly from the leaf
axils and stand erect on long, fleshy stalks. The flowers show none
of the innocence of a buttercup that is open to the
heavens. They are bilaterally symmetrical and face sideways, open to the animal
that approaches them.
The colors of the five petals are brilliant, with the
two upper ones occasionally showing dark striations running to the center.
The five sepals, which in other plants generally are
as green as the foliage leaves, have a yellow tinge in nasturtium. The most
striking feature is a long spur, which is also yellowy. This has not developed
from a sepal, which is the usual way, but is an outgrowth of the flower stalk.
Axis organs such as roots, stems and stalks are
characteristically receptive to earthly forces; they provide water and minerals
for photosynthesis. Here, the green stalk assumes color, creating an internal
space with nectar glands, and the characteristic spur of the nasturtium flower.
The distinction between leaf and flowering sphere is
maintained, with vegetative organs such as leaves and stem only subject to the
flowering impulse when very close to the flower (colored sepals, spur).
In their native habitat the flowers are pollinated by
humming birds, their beaks entering deep down into the spur to reach the sweet
and also somewhat hot (!) nectar. The impression is that the flower seeks to
relate closely to the bird in form and color.
The flower persists for about a week. The petals drop
off soon after pollination and the flower stalk bends over twice in a
remarkable growth gesture, going down so far that the fruits ripen beneath the
leaves, close to the ground. Nasturtium thus withdraws the fruit from the
influence of light and warmth.
The fruit finally separates into three single-seeded
parts, and the pulp, originally spongy with a high water content, dries up to
become cork-like and shriveled.
Tropaeolum seeds contain an unusual fatty oil with an
extraordinarily high content of unsaturated fatty acids. Oils and fats from
plants in tropical regions characteristically contain saturated fatty acids
(e.g. coconut and palm kernel oil). Unsaturated fatty acids are mainly produced
in the cooler regions of the globe, examples being linseed and rape oil.
The fatty acid spectrum of nasturtium oil reflects
the "northern" character of a mountain habitat and the cool, damp
atmosphere in which the seeds ripen.
Specific constituents
Morphologically, nasturtium deviates from the norm
for flowering plants in many respects. It also has a special constituent that
is not to be found in just any plant. [For mustard oil production in the
cress family (Cruciferae), see Rolf Dorka's "Zur
Beziehung von Landschaft und Heilpflanze - Teucrium und Nasturtium als
Tuberkulose-Heilmittel" (relationship between landscape and medicinal
plant - Teucrium and Nasturtium as tuberculosis medicines)],
Tycho de
Brahe-Jahrbuchfuer Goetheanismus, Niefem-Oeschelbronn, 1994.) Nasturtium produces benzyl isothiocyanate, a volatile
mustard oil with an acrid, penetrant odor. This is hot to taste, and in highly
concentrated, pure form irritates the mucosa. Benzyl isothiocyanate may be
regarded as a thoroughly fiery, sulfurous compound.
The mustard oil is present throughout the plant but
is not immediately perceptible. It only develops its characteristic odor and
taste when the tissue is destroyed, e.g. by chewing a leaf or a flower. The
plant "hides" the sulfurous qualities of the oil by binding it to
sulfate (a salt-like or saline form of sulfur) and sugar. The intact plant thus
contains a "benzyl isothiocyanate sulfate glycoside." This, in fact,
makes the lipophilic benzyl isothiocyanate water- soluble, so that it can be
deposited in the vacuole. Metabolic end products are characteristically
"excreted" to the inside in vacuoles. Volatile oil plants often let
their material flow freely out into the atmosphere; nasturtium keeps its
mustard oil hidden deep inside the cell. When the plant tissue is damaged, the
enzyme myrosinase comes in contact with and is able to act on the glycosides
and "detonate the mustard oil bomb," as Zurich plant physiologist,
Matile, once put it. Nasturtium is able to control a highly sulfurous compound
such as benzyl isothiocyanate in saline form and store high concentrations of
it in all its organs.
The morphology shows tension between lush vegetative
growth and powerful flowering processes for the whole period of development. In
the plant's constituents the opposite qualities of Sal and Sulfur encounter
each other.
Medicinal actions
Since the early 1950's, nasturtium has proved widely
effective in the treatment of respiratory and urinary infections. Benzyl
isothiocyanate inhibits or kills Gram positive and negative bacteria and fungi.
To date, resistance has hardly ever developed! It is interesting to note that
the nasturtium action is exclusively on the lungs, kidneys and bladder, organs
that deal intensively with the interplay of air and water.
Urinary tract infections frequently follow a chill,
and this can be countered with this "northern" yet thoroughly
sulfurous plant.
Compared to phytotherapy, where it is given only by
the oral route, nasturtium plays a key role in the Wala acne preparations for
topical use. Acne vulgaris presents a paradox in skin metabolism. On one hand
hyperkeratosis produces blackheads. The masses of hardened keratin do not
dissolve easily. On the other hand sebaceous gland hyperactivity leads to
seborrhea. The excess sebum provides a nutrient base for bacteria which break
it down into fatty acids that cause skin irritation. Fatty acids are normally
broken down with the help of endogenous lipases in the human food metabolism.
With acne, we have a pathological degradation of fats
by foreign organ- isms on the skin, i.e. in the neurosensory system.
Inflammatory efflorescences go hand in hand with this.
Nasturtium may be said to be able to overcome the two
fundamental pathological processes in acne. It avoids all hardening processes and
also has a superb ability to control its mustard oil metabolism, keeping it in
its proper place (the vacuole).
Nasturtium in paintings
Nasturtium is a popular ornamental garden plant, but
we know only of three paintings that include it - Henri Matisse's La Ronde and
Hannah Hoech's Glaeser. Henri Matisse (1869-1954) has painted at least two
versions of La Ronde, both in 1912. We shall limit ourselves to the one which
in our opinion is more characteristic. Hannah Hoech (1889-1978) was above all
esteemed as a Dadaist. Glaeser was painted in 1927.
It is perhaps not by chance that nasturtium appears
so rarely in works of art. It is not a cut flower to be portrayed at leisure -
its "water form" will survive only for a short time, even if put in
water.
Both paintings show the round, peltate leaf. Matisse
has the shoots forming an approximate circle. The large, big-bellied vase is in
deliberate contrast placed on a small, square turntable. Behind the table
dancers join in a circle for their round dance.
Hannah Hoech also used the contrast between square
and circle, with the table top not only square but put at an angle. On the
table are a number of roundish vessels, marvelously showing the play of light
and dark, with circular reflections. A nasturtium leaf lies among the circles
and vessels. Both artists thus caught the characteristic gesture of the peltate
leaf intuitively and with seeming ease.
https://web.de/magazine/ratgeber/essen-trinken/brunnenkresse-gesund-38143328
Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum