The Logogriph of Purslane: lonica or louina, koursa, kholza and perpehen, adrajne agria, portulaca, baqla hamqa,crazy vegetable, riyla, furfir, farfan, farfag, farfagin, missita, verdilacas, yerba aurato and yerba orate,Crazy herb?

Contents

• Basic Botanical Info of Purslane.
• Origin of the name.
• Botanical description,Ecology and phytogeography.
• Proprieties, uses and cultivation.
• Medicinal Action and Uses.
• Phytochemicals and constituents of Purslane.
• Benefit of Purslane.
• Dosage and application of purslane.
• Research update:Oat Straw Avena sativa.

Proprieties, uses and cultivation.:

As a medicinal plant, it is considered to have antiscorbutic, diuretic and cooling properties. Being rich in mineral salts and with a high water content (95 percent) and mucilage content, it has emollient and soothing properties for irritations of the bladder and urinary tract. It is also used to regulate the bowels. Dioscorides already recognized its medicinal powers: these were anti-inflammatory (eyes) and analgesic (headache), emollient and soothing, antifebrifuge (in juice) and anthelmintic. He also says that "it reduces the desire to fornicate". In the latter sense, other authors also mention its anaphrodisiac powers (1837 Codex of the Spanish Pharmacopoeia), including this plant among the "four cold seeds", together with chicory, endive and lettuce. The anaphrodisiac effect is perhaps due to the presence of norepinephrin, a precursor of adrenalin, which causes a reduction in the blood flow through constriction of the main arteries. It is also mentioned by Maimonides. In the Middle Ages, the pharmacists of Cairo used to sell purslane seed for various uses, recommending it in particular as a vermifuge. Laguna and Leclerc also recognized its different medicinal properties, especially the anti-inflammatory ones, in mixtures prepared with plantain, violets and gourds. Its magical powers have also been mentioned, as a charm against evil spirits and for dispelling nightmares if placed in the bed.

 However, in addition to its medicinal powers, it is also a vegetable, a weed and a food for pigs.

 Columela writes in his poem on the garden: "Already the juicy purslane covers the dry beds"; and in Los doce libros de agricultura: "Leafy purslane appeases the plot's thirst" (Book X); and in Book XI he gives a recipe for preserving it in vinegar and salt. Paladio refers to it exclusively because of its mucilaginous, medicinal and veterinary properties. Similar references are found in Kastos, taking up the Byzantine tradition. Isidoro de Sevilla mentions it without giving any information on its cultivation. In short, such a summary reference to the Hispano-Roman and Hispano-Visigoth tradition regarding purslane is surprising.


 It is the writers of oriental and Arabic treatises who concerned themselves most with this vegetable. Ibn Wahsiyya describes its cultivation in the Near East, presenting it as a summer crop. Most of the Hispano-Arab agronomists deal with this plant. Arib (tenth century) mentions it in his Calendario agricola. Al Zahrawi and Ibn Hayyay (eleventh century) also mention it. Ibn Bassal (eleventh century) deals extensively with its cultivation, already recognizing a certain intraspecific variability (he distinguishes early and late varieties), setting out its temperature and water requirements (summer cultivation and irrigation or vegetable garden), drawing up a sowing calendar which extends from March to August and demonstrating the practice of two basic cultivation periods, depending on whether the aim is to produce seed or to produce for human consumption. Sowing quantities and manuring and irrigation requirements also appear and are dealt with in great detail by the author. Ibn Wafid (Hispano-Arab agronomist of the eleventh and twelfth centuries) mentions it under the names baqla hamqa' and missita. Ibn al-Awwam, in his Kitab al-Filaha, recalls that it is mentioned by almost all the Arab authors and refers to different varieties. He uses the adjectives "mild", "vain" and "blessed".

 After the sixteenth century, cultivation of purslane was gradually lost in Spain. Alonso de Herrera (sixteenth century), for example, makes no reference to it while Boutelou and Boutelou (1801) say that "purslane, which is not at all appreciated in Spain, is one of the crops which, in England and other countries further north, need to be cultivated in frames and hotbeds in order to bring forward their vegetation artificially"; and further on: "on this land, it is not usual to cultivate purslane other than using those that have grown at random among other plants cultivated with more care". In spite of Spanish disregard for this plant, it is still valued in many Latin American countries where it was introduced.

 Purslane has been eaten as a vegetable, particularly fresh. In England in the seventeenth century, the cooks of Charles II used to add its leaves to all salads, perhaps to satisfy the king's taste or else for its digestive properties. In this recipe, the chopped young leaves were mixed with double the amount of leaves of lettuce, chervil, borage flowers and marigold petals, the mixture being dressed with oil and lemon juice. The recipe resembles that mentioned by Tirso de Molina: "I will have green coriander, garden cress, purslane, borage and mint added to it."


 Not only the leaves, but also the stems and rootless plantlets can be eaten raw and fresh. Columela mentions their being eaten pickled with salt and vinegar. Purslane has a pleasant acidic flavour and is very juicy. In Spain, it is usually eaten at a more advanced stage of growth, after cooking. It is also delicious boiled and in omelettes. Sauteed in butter or fried, it is used in soups, broths, salads and sauces. Together with sorrel, it forms part of the French soup bonne femme. Recipes are also known for purslane and pea soups.

 To complete the range of its applications, one could mention its use as an insecticide, in which case its juice is poured on to anthills, and also its ornamental use in Roman and medieval gardens.

 At present in Spain, it is basically a volunteer species (weed) among summer irrigated crops, and its consumption is gradually declining; this is also the case with individuals collected from wild populations.

Reference:

• 1.The Logogriph of Purslane: lonica or louina, koursa, kholza and perpehen, adrajne agria, portulaca, baqla hamqa,crazy vegetable, riyla, furfir, farfan, farfag, farfagin, missita, verdilacas, yerba aurato and yerba orate,Crazy herb?

This article written and edited via herbalist of MDidea Extracts Professional. They run a range of online descriptions about this herb,including general information related and summarized updating discoveries from findings of professional scientisits this field related.Describe style aimed to form a useful detecting literature space where the intertwined threshold and related questions raise out and visualize themselves.

♣ last edit date:13th,Oct.2010.