Herb Of The Week - Oregano - King's

[Guest guest]

From King's American Dispensatory by Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D., and

John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D., 1898. It is a wonderful book.

Also available online in E-book form at Henriette Kress' Herbal Page:

http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/eclectic/kings/main.html

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

 

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Origanum

 

The plant Origanum vulgare, Linné.

Nat. Ord.—Labiatae.

COMMON NAME: Wild marjoram.

 

Botanical Source.—Origanum vulgare, or Wild marjoram, is a perennial

herb, with erect, leafy, hairy, purple, quadrangular, corymbose stems,

from 6 inches to 2 feet in height. The leaves are opposite, petiolate,

broad-ovate, obtuse, subserrate, hirsute, rounded at the base, green on

both sides, sprinkled with resinous dots, and paler beneath; the

petioles hairy, and one-fourth as long as the leaves. The flowers are

numerous, purplish-white, in smooth, erect, roundish, panicled, and

fasciculate spikes, accompanied with ovate, purplish bracts longer than

the calyx. Calyx ovate-tubular, striated, with 5 nearly equal teeth, and

hairy in the throat. Corolla funnel-shaped, about the length of the

calyx, and slightly 2-lipped; upper lip suberect, flat, and emarginate,

the lower trifid, with lobes nearly equal. Stamens 4, exserted, somewhat

didynamous, with double anthers; stigma bifid and reflexed. Achenia dry

and somewhat smooth (G.—W.—L.).

 

History and Chemical Composition.—Wild marjoram is common to Europe and

America. It is found in limestone regions, on dry banks, and in dry

fields and woods, flowering from May to October. The whole herb is

medicinal, but it is seldom collected, except for the purpose of

procuring its volatile oil (see Oleum Origani), on which its virtues

depend, and which may be separated by distillation with water. The plant

has a strong, peculiar, rather agreeable balsamic odor, and a warm,

bitterish, aromatic taste, which properties are imparted to alcohol, or

boiling water by infusion. This plant contains a bitter body and some

tannin.

 

Action and Medical Uses.—Origanum is gently stimulant, tonic, and

emmenagogue. A warm infusion produces diaphoresis, and tends to promote

menstruation, when recently suppressed from cold. It is sometimes

employed externally in fomentation.

 

Related Species.—Origanum Majorana, Linné (more) (Majorana hortensis,

Moench), or Sweet marjoram, possesses properties similar to the above

species. It is a native of Portugal, but cultivated in our gardens, and

much used in cookery as a seasoning. Its leaves are oval or obovate,

obtuse, entire, petiolate, hairy, pubescent, flowers pink-colored, in

compact, roundish, pedunculate, terminal spikes, with roundish bracts.

It flowers a month earlier than the preceding species. Its odor is

stronger and more agreeable, and its taste more camphoraceous (W.). It

yields a volatile oil (see Oleum Majoranae, under Oleum Origani). Used

in cookery and for the same purposes as origanum.

 

Origanum creticum, Linné .—South Europe. Leaves pungent and aromatic.

Flowers whitish. It yields a volatile oil, used like those above.

 

Origanum hirtum, Link.—This plant yields an essential oil, often

substituted in commerce for the oil of the preceding species (see under

Oleum Origani).

 

Origanum Dictamnus, Linné, Levant.—Deep-purple flowers. Plant pungent

and aromatic.

 

Lippia origanoides, Kunth (Nat. Ord. —Verbenaceae). Mexico. This plant

is known among the native Mexicans as origano.

 

Lippia Mexicana.—An evergreen shrub of Mexico. In 1/2 to 1 drachm doses

a saturated tincture (1 in 4) of the stalks and leaves has been used as

a demulcent expectorant.

 

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Oleum Origani.—Oil of Origanum.

 

SYNONYM: Oil of wild marjoram.

 

Preparation and Description.—This oil is produced from the Origanum

vulgare, by distillation of the plant with water. The yield referred to

dried herb is 0.15 to 0.4 percent (Schimmel & Co.). It is of a yellowish

or reddish-yellow color, of a peculiar, agreeable, balsamic odor, and a

warm, very pungent taste. Its specific gravity ranges from 0.87 to 0.91.

It is imported from Europe, and frequently contains oil of turpentine.

Very little true oil of origanum is met with in this country; that

generally sold for it is imported from France.

 

Chemical Composition.—A camphor-like stearopten has been observed in

this oil by Kane (1839). Two phenols, one being carvacrol, were found in

the oil by Jahns (1880) in small quantity, not exceeding 0.1 per cent.

The bulk of the oil is probably composed of terpenes (C10H16). Its

chemical examination is incomplete.

 

Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Oil of origanum is stimulant and

rubefacient, and is chiefly employed in the form of liniment as an

application to various parts suffering from painful affections. As with

many other essential oils, it affords relief in toothache upon being

applied to the decayed tooth by means of lint or cotton. It is very

seldom administered internally.

 

Related Oils.—OLEUM MAJORANAE. The Oil of sweet marjoram, obtained by

distillation of the Origanum majorana, Linné, is a pale yellow or

greenish-yellow oil with the strong odor and taste of sweet marjoram,

and on standing deposits a camphor. Its specific gravity is 0.890 to

0.91. Optical rotation +17° 10' (Schimmel & Co.). According to W. Biltz

(1898), this oil contains 40 per cent of terpenes, chiefly terpinene,

and in addition, dextro-terpineol, partly in the form of ester. It is

employed as a medicine and as a perfume for soaps. It is seldom used in

the United States.

 

OLEUM ORIGANI CRETICI, Cretian oil of origanum.—This herb is distilled

from several species of Origanum, as O. creticum, Linné; O. hirsutum,

Link; O. macrostachyum, Link, and O. megastachyum, Link. A golden-yellow

oil when fresh, becoming yellowish or brownish with age. It has an

aromatic, penetrating, thyme-like odor. Specific gravity, 0.960 to 0.980

(Power). The Trieste commercial variety, probably derived from O.

hirsutum, Link, contains, according to Jahns (1879), carvacrol

(isopropyl ortho-cresol, C6H3.CH3.OH.C3H7), a colorless, thick, liquid

phenol, solidifying in the cold. Good origanum oil should contain from

60 to 85 percent. Jahns furthermore found 0.2 percent of a second phenol

and a large amount of cymol. Smyrna origanum oil (from the herb of

Origanum smyrnaeum, Linné) also contains cymol, but less carvacrol (25

to 60 per cent), and contains in addition l-linalool (Gildemeister,

Archiv der Pharm., 1895, p. 182). Origanum oil forms a clear solution

with 3 parts of 70 per cent alcohol. For microscopical purposes the oil

should be pale-yellowish and kept in well-filled and closely-stopped

bottles, placed in a dark situation (Power, Essential Oils).