Gnaphalium polycephalum

Cud-weed-Old Balsa

by William Boericke — Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica & Repertory

Historical reference for practitioners and students. The statements below reflect the named author’s homeopathic teaching and do not establish treatment effectiveness. This text is not medical advice and must not replace appropriate diagnosis or care.

(GNAPHALIUM)

A remedy of unquestioned benefit in sciatica, when pain is associated with numbness of the part affected. Rheumatism and morning diarrhœa. Polyuria.

Face

Intermittent pains of superior maxillary of both sides.

Abdomen

Borborygmus. Colic; pain in various parts of the abdomen. Irritated prostate. First stage of cholera infantum; vomiting and purging.

Female

Weight and fullness in pelvis. Dysmenorrhœa , with scanty and painful menses.

Back

Chronic backache in lumbar region; better resting on back. Lumbago with numbness in lower part of back and weight in pelvis.

Extremities

Cramps in calves of legs and feet when in bed. Rheumatic pain in ankle joints and legs. Intense pain along the sciatic nerve; numbness alternates with pain . Frequent pains in calves and feet. Gouty pains in big toes. Better, drawing limbs up, flexing thigh on abdomen. Gouty concretions ( Ammon benz ). Anterior crural neuralgia ( Staph ). Pain in joints as if they lacked oil. Chronic muscular rheumatism of back and neck.

Relationship

Compare: Xanthoxyl; Chamom; Pulsat.

Dose

Third to thirtieth potency.

Gnaphalium polycephalum across the other classic books

Gnaphalium polycephalum appears in 8 of the 21 classic books on Similia. Each was written to do a different job — here is what each adds on this remedy, with the opening of its entry.

Allen TF — A compiled symptom record drawing on proving reports and other named observations.
“Gnaphalium polycephalum, Michx. Natural order , Compositæ. Common names , Everlasting; (G.) Ruhrkraut; (Fr.) le Cotonnière. Preparation , Trituration of dried leaves and flowers of G. polyceph.; tincture of whole plant of G. uliginosum, Linn. Authorities. Gnaphal. uliginosum , first day; 25 drops, fourth day; 50…”
Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“NERVES: SCIATIC. Crural. Abdominal. Walking. Lying. Cold damp. Flexing limbs. Sitting. Intense sciatic pains; alternating with or followed by numbness or formication. Offensive diarrhœa with colic, < morning. Related: Colo.”
Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“polycephalum. Sweet-scented Everlasting Flower. N. O. Compositæ. Tincture of fresh plant. Anterior crural neuralgia / Cholera / Diarrhœa / Dysmenorrhœa / Gout / Lumbago / Prostate gland, irritation of / Rheumatism / Sciatica Gnaphal. has been used mainly in affections of the sciatic nerve. But it has also an action on…”
Hale — The introduction story — early pathogenetic and clinical evidence for medicines new to Hale's generation.
“(Cud Weed.) Botanical Description. — This plant is indigenous and known by the various names of Indian Posey, Sweet Life Everlasting, White Balsam, Old-field Balsam, etc. It is herbaceous and annual, with an erect, whitish, woody and much branched stem, from one to two feet in height. Leaves alternate, sessile…”
Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Common Life Everlasting. Compositæ. A fragrant, bitterish, aromatic annual, growing in fields and woods ; flowers in summer and autumn. Tincture from the fresh plant, chopped and pounded to a pulp. Provings by Banks, Fuller and Woodbury. See Allen's Encyclopædia, vol. 4, p. 456 . CLINICAL AUTHORITIES. Sciatica , Cate…”
Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common names: ever-lasting; indian posy. Offensive diarrhœa with colic, worse in the morning (Nat-S., Podo., Sulph.) (B.). Cholera morbus: colic with vomiting and purging (Ars., Bism., Crot-T., Nux-V., Sec., Verat.) (Bl.). INTENSE PAIN ALONG THE RIGHT SCIATIC NERVE, DARTING, CUTTING, FROM THE RIGHT HIP-JOINT DOWN TO…”
Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Intense pain along the sciatic nerve, alternating with numbness.”

Gnaphalium polycephalum in Kent's Repertory

Kent's Repertory lists Gnaphalium polycephalum in 55 rubrics. These are the ones where it carries the highest grade — the symptoms Kent treated as most characteristic. Most of them sit in EXTREMITIES (16), ABDOMEN (7), GENERALITIES (6), STOOL (5), MOUTH (4).

EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Thigh - crural nerves
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Lower Limbs - sciatica - alternating sides - with numbness
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Lower Limbs - sciatica - numbness,with
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Toes - first - joints - gouty
STOMACH - VOMITING - diarrhoea - during
GENERALITIES - NUMBNESS - suffering parts,of
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Lower Limbs - sciatica
EXTREMITIES - CRAMPS - Leg - calf
GENERALITIES - NUMBNESS - externally
CHEST - PAIN - stitching - extending - side to side
ABDOMEN - PAIN - morning - 7 a.m.
EXTREMITIES - CRAMPS - Foot - bed,in
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Lower Limbs - sciatica - sitting - amel.
PROSTATE GLAND - IRRITATION in
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Lower Limbs - sciatica - stepping agg.
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Lower Limbs - sciatica - lying
BLADDER - FULLNESS,sensation of - urination,after
HEAD - FULLNESS - Temple
STOOL - WATERY - night
VERTIGO - RISING, - after

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