Medicines
Dittany
Category: Medicines - plant based
Type
Voluntary
Introduction and description
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Dictamnus is a genus of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae, with a single species, Dictamnus albus, which has several geographical variants. It is also known as burning bush, dittany, gas plant, and fraxinella. It is an herbaceous perennial, native to warm, open woodland habitats in southern Europe, north Africa and much of Asia.
This plant grows about 40 cm (16 in) to 100 cm (39 in) high. Its flowers form a loose pyramidal spike and vary in colour from pale purple to white. The flowers are five-petalled with long projecting stamens. The leaves resemble those of an ash tree.
In the summer months, the whole plant is covered with a kind of flammable substance, which is gluey to the touch, and has a very fragrant, lemony aroma; but if it takes fire, it goes off with a flash all over the plant. The name "burning bush" derives from the volatile oils produced by the plant, which can catch fire readily in hot weather, leading to comparisons with the burning bush of the Bible, including the suggestion that this is the plant involved there. The daughter of Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus is said to have ignited the air once, at the end of a particularly hot, windless summer day, above Dictamnus plants, using a simple matchstick.
Related observations
Healing observations
- Carvacrol as a potent natural acaricide against Dermanyssus gallinae 023841
- Combination of carvacrol and thymol against the poultry red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae) 023839
- Dr Duke's list of Plants with Radioprotective activity 018062
- Dr Duke's Plants with Antiplatelet activity 017519