penny royal

[kellygirl7]

what was penny royal once used to drive away?

[homer]

Penny Royal is a perennial creeping plant found in both gardens and pasture lands. The flowers are pale blue crowded in bunches around the stem which is cloaked in small whitish hairs. It has short stalked oval leaves flowers arranged in whorls appearing from June to August. The fruit is a nutlet. The plant's antiseptic properties make it useful in cases of mouth infections and also overcomes the smell of garlic on the breath. It is rich in the essential oil, "olio menthae" which consists of menthols, alcohols, tannins, picric compounds and aldehydes. Widely used in medicine of the past with similar actions to peppermint. It is a good tonic and has remarkable stimulating action particularly to the uterine muscles and should therefore be avoided during pregnancy. It is said to act as an aphrodisiac in high doses. Some people recommend pennyroyal as a tea. Many people rub the leave on the skin to drive away moquitoes and it was widely used by native Ameircan to weat out fevers and clear the chest.

[incitatus]

As indicated previously the plant stimulates the uterine muscles, and so was used as a herbal abortion drug. As it smells sweetly when burnt it has been used as a fumigant for fleas, though it is of doubtful value.