Dittany

Scientific Names

Cunila origanoides L.
Mint family

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Dittany is a wiry-stemmed, branched perennial that grows about 1 to 2 feet in height. The leaves are oval, 1 inch long, toothed, oregano-scented. Small violet to white flowers, the throats are hairy with 2 stamens, bloom in clusters in July to October.
Back to Top

Where Found

Found in dry woods and thickets. Southeastern New York to Florida; Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois.
Back to Top

Medicinal Properties

Febrifuge, emmenagogue
Back to Top

Uses

The leaf tea is a folk remedy for colds, fevers, headaches, snakebites, and thought to induce menses.

Used as an insecticide and smoked as a nicotine-free tobacco. Used as an anitdote for sheep that have been poisoned by eating common laurel (Kalmia latifolia).
Back to Top

Warning

Avoid during pregnancy until last weeks of term; uterine stimulant.
Back to Top

Bibliography

American Folk Medicine, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973

Culpeper's Complete Herbal & English Physician, by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814)

Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke., Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000

Herbal Gardening, compiled by The Robison York State Herb Garden, Cornell Plantations, Matthaei Botanical Gardens of the University of Michigan, University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley., Pantheon Books, Knopf Publishing Group, New York, 1994, first edition

Old Ways Rediscovered, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, published from 1954, print 1988

Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, New World Dictionaries: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023, 1984

The Rodale Herb Book, edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. Emmaus, PA, 18049., 1974