Name: Passion flower, or passionflower
Passionflowers – Passifloraceae.
Parts used: grass.
Pharmacy name: passion flower herb – Passiflorae heiba (formerly: Herba Passiflorae).
Botanical description.Passionflower grows in the tropics and subtropics of America, also in tropical Asia, Australia and Polynesia. It has long (up to 5 m), bare, thin, slightly twisting curly stems, on which petiolate, deeply three-lobed, wedge-shaped, alternate leaves are placed. The leaf lobes are ovate-lanceolate, finely serrate along the edge. Petioles are supplied with two extrafloral nectaries. A tuft of long, simple tendrils appears in the axils of many leaves. Flowers on pedicels, with an extended calyx and petals reach almost 8 cm in diameter and are placed in the axils of the youngest leaves. Sepals oblong-ovate, spiny-pointed at the end, fused at the base into a short tube. White, meat-red or almost purple petals follow the shape of the sepals, but at the end they are blunted. On the inner side of the petals there is a corolla of densely seated filiform petals of purple-red, sometimes almost black. Stamens 5, columns curve downwards.
Collection and preparation. The aerial parts are cut off at the time of flowering and carefully dried. For the preparation of a homeopathic tincture, plants are obtained from cultural plantings, since fresh grass is needed.
Active ingredients: flavonoids with witsxin (the most important component), coumarin, umbelliferone, maltol. Harmine and other related alkaloids, which have long been shown to have sedative effects, are only found in small amounts, if at all.
Healing action and application.In the literature on the medicinal use of passion flower in the form of tea or herbal products, it is almost unanimously stated that it is good for insomnia, nervousness, states of arousal of various kinds, epilepsy and tetanus. With its help, cardiac neurosis and circulatory instability, labile blood pressure are treated. Especially successfully it acts as a sleeping pill mixed with valerian, hops and St. John’s wort. The German National Health Service names the following areas of application for passion flower tea: nervous anxiety, lungs. sleep disorders and gastrointestinal activity on a nervous basis and recommends this method of its preparation: 1 teaspoon of passionflower herb is poured into 150 ml of boiling water and filtered after 10 minutes. Dosage: 1 cup half an hour before bedtime.
Use in homeopathy. The homeopathic product Passiflora is used primarily as a sleep aid. The agent is taken in the form of an initial tincture and in low dilutions D 1 and D 1 : from 5 to 20 drops 3 hours before bedtime and immediately before bedtime. There is no concern about taking large doses (up to 60 drops); their number is determined depending on the specific result. In addition to being a hypnotic, Passiflora is also used as a mild anticonvulsant, analgesic and antirheumatic. In this case, they also prefer the original tincture or a small dilution, give every day several times 5-15 drops.
My special advice. Many people, especially young people who suffer from insomnia, do not realize how unsafe it is to take sleeping pills or even stronger drugs, even for a healthy person.
- As an alternative, I suggest the insomnia mixture tested by me: Passiflora (homeopathic tincture) 30.0 Valerian tincture 30.0 Orange tincture 5.0 In case of difficulty falling asleep, 1 hour before bedtime, take 1 teaspoon of the mixture with water; it will have a relaxing effect, relieve tension and cause drowsiness. One patient to whom I prescribed this mixture said, “Now waiting for sleep is a pleasure.”
Side effects are unknown.