Wild Ginger

Botanical Name: Asarum caudatum

Family: Aristolochiaceae

Parts Used: Rhizome, leaves

Constituents: Volatile oil (3.5-4.5% rhizome containing Asarone, Bornyl acetate, Geraniol, Limonene, Linanol, Methyl-Eugenol); Aristolochic acid, b-sitosterol and others (1).

Principal Actions: Aromatic bitter, secretory stimulant, diaphoretic, febrifuge, anticonvulsant, emmenagogue

Pharmacy: Tincture of fresh rhizome 1:2 95% alcohol. Dry root tincture 1:5 60% alcohol. 25-50gtt TID. Infusion leaf, 5gms/250ml.

Asarum is commonly known as Wild Ginger or Canada Snakeroot. All the wild gingers are delicate low growing plants with heart shaped leaves and mauve-brown flowers that have three long tailed sepals. Although a local favourite among North Western herbalists for fevers and uterine congestion, they are little studied, and not commonly used medicinally, despite an extensive ethnobotanical literature of traditional usage, and a documented history of clinical use by the Eclectics.

BOTANY

Asarum is one of the two genera of the Aristolochiaceae. The genus contains about 70 species worldwide; those found in the North Western states include A. hartwegii, A. lemonii and further North A. canadensis. A. caudatum grows in low to middle elevation old growth coniferous woods from central California along the coastal range through Oregon to British Columbia. In Oregon it is found on both sides of ths Cascades; the plants are solitary, rarely more 20 cms high, often obscured by leaf mulch and debris. The crushed rhizome smells of ginger.

HARVESTING

The roots may be gathered at any time. They should be dried and whole and broken only when about to be used.

PHARMACOLOGY

There are no published studies on the pharmacology of the Asarums. The ethnobotanical uses suggest the herb may cause stomach irritation in larger doses, possibly due to aristolochic acid.(See toxicity below). Aristolochic acid is anti-inflammatory, immunostimulant and anti-viral. Asarone has CNS stimulating effects.(2) Both compounds have toxicity in animal studies and some human reports (see safety, toxicity).

ETHNOBOTANY

The Asarums have an extensive ethnobotanical literature, recording a number of traditional usages by several tribes, especially the Cherokee and Iriquois. Notable is the use as a pediatric remedy - from birth when it was used to seal the tied cord, later, the whole plant was placed in the cot of an infant to prevent sickness, and above all used as a powerful febrifruge and anti-pyretic, particularly for febrile convulsions. As a respiratory remedy it was used for sore throats, coughs and colds as well as more serious lung conditions including tuberculosis. The gastrointestinal uses are varied and suggest a dose dependent spectrum of activity. It has been used as an anti-helminthic, and an anti-diarrhoeal as well as a an emetic, stomachic, appetite stimulant and carminative digestive aid. Gynaecologicaly it has been used to alleviate breast swelling, and to start delayed periods. It was used as a prophylactic before visiting the sick, and to prevent bad dreams caused by the dead. Externally it was used for headache, and topically for boils as well as a general blood cleansing tonic. (3)

MEDICINAL USES

Asarum is used today as a diaphoretic and febrifuge. It is more effective than it cousin Zingiber and seems to stimulate secretion from respiratory and GI tracts, irrritant in large doses but an effective febrifuge for the onset of infection. (4) Its traditional pediatric use does not seem to have been rediscovered, but its potential as an an anti febrile convulsant is interesting. King's suggests the Eclectics favoured the remedy as a carminative for non-inflammatory GI conditions including colic, and as an emmenagogue when amenorrhea followed illness. It was also used as an addition to prescriptions to make them more stimulating and improve the flavour. (5). Intriguingly, Ellingwood suggests Asarum is useful for "metrorrhagia and menorrhagia, where the flow is steady but not free, where there are cutting pains in the abdomen and groin, extending down the thighs, with aching back, the patient nervous and irritable, Asarum will restore the flow to its normal proportions, will releive the nerve tension and subdue pain". Furthermore "Violent pain in the small of the back on the approach of the menstrual epoch which seems to interfere with the breathing, is said to be a diagnostic indication for this remedy" He further recommends it for "acute nasal catarrh, where the discharge has not appeared or has been suppressed, with the usual symptoms of headache and general oppression, muscular aching and general discomfort"(6)

SAFETY, TOXICITY

Asarum contains asarone and aristolochic acid. Aristolochic acid is carcinogenic and nephrotoxic. Genera containing aristolochic acid have been traditionally used as plant medicine for many years in many cultures. Current concerns about the toxicity of aristolochic acid have resulted in restrictions on human consumption of plants containing the compound. Asarone is potentially hepatotoxic in that it is metabolized by CYP450 into a hepatotoxic epoxide intermediate prior to Phase II detoxification. Asarum is absolutely contrainidcated during pregnancy and during lactation.
In 2001, the US FDA issued a regulatory notice prohibiting sale of Aristolochic acid containing herbs in commerce for human consumption. Asarum is thus now relegated to an historical place in the materia medica.

REFERENCES

(1) Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases; http://www.ars-grin.gov/~ngrlsb/

(2) Bruneton J, Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry, Medicinal Plants, Paris 1993

(3) American Indian Ethnobotany Database; http://www.umd.umich.edu/cgi-bin/herb/

(4) Moore M, Medicinal Plants of The Pacific West. Red Crane, New Mexico, 1993.

(5) Felter & Lloyd, King's American Dispensatory, Vol 1, 1898. Asarum canadense

(6) Ellingwood F, American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy, Cincinatti, 1924

(7) McGuffin M, et al. (eds) AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1997.

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