Boldo

Monimiaceae - Monimiaceae. Parts used: leaves. Pharmacy name: Boldo leaves - Boldo folium (formerly: Folia Boldo).

Botanical description. This evergreen tree or shrub, native to Chile, reaches a height of 6 m. Prefers dry habitats. Its leaves can be collected all year round. They are approximately 6 cm long and 5 cm wide, leathery, with a short petiole, ovoid or elliptical, entire, gray-green and curved downwards at the edges. Their underside is smooth, with strongly protruding veins, while the upper side has numerous light tubercles.

The smell of the leaves - especially when fresh - is somewhat reminiscent of peppermint or even camphor. Active ingredients: essential oil (with ascaridole, eucalyptol and cymene), various alkaloids (boldin and others), some flavonoids.

Healing action and application. It is not often that any pharmaceutical raw material contains both essential oil and alkaloids. Therefore, boldo leaves occupy a special place in pharmacology, and it is difficult to say which of these components is more valuable here. Boldin, and possibly other alkaloids, stimulates the formation of gastric juice and bile, increases the secretion of urine and uric acid, and also has a mild hypnotic effect.

Boldo essential oil has all the pleasant qualities of this group of substances, so the leaves of the plant serve as a valuable additive to various teas prescribed for diseases of the gallbladder, stomach and intestines, as well as the kidneys and urinary tract. I would not recommend boldo leaves as a sedative, although they are used for that purpose; They are used as anthelmintic only in Chile.

The German State Health Service recognizes mild spastic phenomena from the gastrointestinal tract, as well as dyspeptic disorders, as areas of use for Boldo, but prohibits the use of this medicinal plant for blockage of the biliary tract and severe liver diseases.

Use in homeopathy. Homeopathic remedy Boldo is prepared from dried leaves. It is used in the second and third degrees of dilution (D1 and D3) mainly for disorders of bile secretion, cholelithiasis and complaints about the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.

Side effects. The use of tea mixtures containing boldo leaves in too large quantities is unacceptable: visual and auditory hallucinations may occur, and sometimes dizziness with vomiting has been observed.