Hedge Woundwort (Stachys Sylvatica)

 

A member of the mint family the Hedge Woundwort - Stachys Sylvatica can grow anywhere between 30cm and 1 metre high. This straight tall plant with its hairy square stem has toothed leaves (that are similar to a stinging nettle but without the sting!) which grow off the main stem in opposite pairs. The small hooded mouth-like flowers are arranged in tight whorls around the top of the plant stem and are dark purple in colour with white markings towards the centre. Hedge Woundwort is a prolific seedmaker and can also spread quickly using underground rhizomes. [1]

Hedge Woundwort is a tall, hairy perennial that grows in hedges, woods and on waste ground, where its tall spires of crimson-purple flowers stand out among the lushness of green growth of other plants. The flowers are arranged in whorls around the central stem. They are hooded, with the lower lip beautifully variegated with white against the crimson background. Bees love this plant and are frequent visitors. The whole plant has a fairly pungent even foetid smell, which is not particularly pleasant. It has dark green pointed-oval leaves that are stalked and toothed. [2]

Growing in woodlands and along hedgerows and roadside verges, Hedge woundwort is a common, perhaps unremarkable, plant with one defining feature - its unpleasant and astringent smell. This smell is particularly apparent when the plant is crushed. Magenta flowers appear between June and October and are pollinated by bees. Once the seed is dispersed, the plant also spreads vigorously using its underground rhizomes (stems). [3]

To make an ointment of Woundwort:

Pick a bunch of the herb during its flowering period. Cut it up and bruise it in a pestle and mortar, or give it a good bash with a rolling pin. Place it in a double-boiler (or in a basin over a pan of boiling water) and just cover with olive oil. Apply gentle heat for 2-3 hours. Avoid too much heat or the herbs get deep-fried. Strain the herb through a cloth and measure the oil. For every 100mls of oil you will need 10g of beeswax. Heat the oil again and stir in the bees wax until melted, then pour into clean glass pots and leave to cool and set.

This ointment can be used for all cuts and scratches, making sure the wound has been thoroughly cleaned before applying it. Keep the ointment in the fridge to prolong its shelf life. [4]

This plant has a long history of use in herbalism, and as the common name implies it was regarded as very good for dressing cuts and other wounds. Woundwort is reputed to cure aching joints when made into an ointment and to have antispasmodic and sedative properties when taken internally.

The 17th century herbalist John Gerard extolled the virtues of woundworts, while English botanist and herbalist Nicholas Culpeper, writing in the early 1600s, said that Betony (a Stachys species, and therefore a woundwort in all but name) '...preserves the liver and bodies of men from the danger of epidemical diseases...' which sounds credible until you read on '...and from witchcraft also.'

Honeybees and bumblebees also like to visit the flowers of both Hedge Woundwort and Marsh Woundwort; this, when the two species are growing in close proximity, can as a result of cross pollination and so produce woundwort hybrids. [5]