Tormentil

Tormentil

Scientific Name: Potentilla tormentilla

Part Used: Leaf and root

In a word: Blood Stopper

Uses: First Aid

When it comes to first aid for scratches, burns, and cuts, there are two issues at hand. The first is preventing infection, and the second is reducing the pain that results from the wound. Americans spent 1.3 billion dollars on first-aid accessories last year – don’t even attempt to calculate how many Band-Aids and how much first-aid cream that would be! Suffice to say a lot. Obviously, we need a first-class first-aid plant in the medicine cabinet, and fortunately, we have one.

Tormentil will readily take care of both problems: infection and pain. The scientific name hints of the plant’s healing powers, derived from the Latin word potens, or powerful. The plant in question was deemed so effective that the ancients called it potentilla, "the little powerful one." Gerard had this to say of it in 1597: "The decoction of the leaves and roots, or the juice thereof drunke, is excellent good for all wounds, both outward and inward." We won’t be using it for inward wounds here, but we will be using it for the outward variety.

Tormentil’s actions in the arena of first aid have to do with the fact that the plant contains tannins. Tannins are a series of botanically produced chemicals that have been used by human beings for centuries. They were once and still are an integral part of the tanning process which turns raw skin into leather. Tannins act in roughly the same manner on your skin as on the skin that has been removed from some animal – they toughen things up.

There are 150 species of tormentil, all of which are used for similar purposes because they are all rich in tannins. Chemically, tannins have the ability to bind proteins together. The skin is made up of proteins, but they don’t exist in a solid sheet as you might imagine. The skin is more like a cocktail glass filled with ice and alcohol. The ice cubes represent the protein in your skin, and the alcohol the lipids. When you apply tannins to the skin, it is like pouring the liquid out of the glass. As the lipids are drained away, the proteins are pulled together into a solid mass.

In addition to sealing the wound, chemicals contained in tormentil are thought to speed the healing process, specifically the knitting of tissue together.

When you apply tormentil to your skin in the case of a wound, its tannins have the ability to form an eschar or false scar, pulling the proteins together to create a seal. This closes off blood vessels, deadens nerve endings, and prevents bacteria from entering the body.

However, sealing up a wound isn’t enough. You also want to kill off any bacteria that might be hanging around the site just looking for entry into the body. Gerard said this about tormentil:

The leaves and roots boiled in wine, or the juice thereof drunken provoketh sweat, and by that means driveth out all venome from the heart, expelleth poison, and preserveth the bodie in time of pestilence from the infection thereof, and all other infectious diseases.

Though bacteria had yet to be discovered in his time, Gerard noticed that infection due to pestilence could be knocked out with tormentil. In fact, the tannins contained in the plant do kill bacteria very effectively.

When an accident first happens, the primary concern tends to be stopping the bleeding, and tormentil will do this in short order. Gerard said this: "It stoppeth the spitting of blood, pissing of blood, and all other issues of blood, as well in men as women." Like the skin, blood vessels are also made of protein, and the tannins in tormentil seal them off nicely. Culpepper, another old English herbalist, found that tormentil was a great plant to have around when you need a little body sealing. He wrote in the 1630s:

Tormentil is most excellent to stay all fauces of blood or humours, whether at the nose, mouth or belly. The juice of the herb and root, or the decoction thereof, taken with some venice treacle and the person laid to sweat expel any venom or poison, or the plague, fever, or other contagious disease, as the pox, measles, etc. for it is an ingredient in all antidotes and counterpoisons. It resisteth putrefecation. Tormentil is no less effectual and powerful a remedy against outward wounds, sores, and hurts than for inward and is therefore a special ingredient to get used to in drink, lotion, and injections. It is also effectual for piles, the juice or powder of the root, put into ointments, plasters, and such things that are applied to wounds or soures is very effectual.

In addition to sealing the wound, chemicals contained in the plant are thought to speed the healing process, specifically the knitting of tissue together, hence Culpepper’s suggestion it be included in ointments and plasters.

As to the pain element of wounds, tormentil does a nice job here as well and for the same reasons. Nerve endings are also made of protein. These too are bound by the tannins so that they cannot send their messages of pain to the brain.

The easiest way to use this plant for your own home disasters is to make or purchase a tincture of tormentil and keep it in the medicine chest. Apply a few drops of your tincture to the wound and cover it with a Band-Aid. Put a few more drops on the injury every time you change the Band-Aid. Keep this up, and in no time at all, a scab will form and you will be well on your way to perfect healing.

To use tormentil, simply place one or two drops on the wound and then apply a Band-Aid. Do this as many times as necessary.

Directions: Tincture (1:5, 25% alcohol) Apply to wound