Contrayerva

Low, sinking fever with a weak, slow pulse and cold extremities, calling for a warming stimulant tonic rather than a cooling relaxant

Atonic dyspepsia with flatulence and sluggish appetite in a person of relaxed, cold constitution

Overview. Dorstenia contrayerva is a low-growing perennial of the fig family, native to Mexico, the West Indies, Brazil, and neighboring parts of tropical America, where it grows in shaded, humid ground. The thick, aromatic rhizome, with its attached fibrous roots, is the part used medicinally. It held a place in older Western herbal practice, including the physiomedicalist tradition, as a warming stimulant tonic for depressed vitality and low fevers, and its name reflects a long folk reputation as a counter-poison for venomous bites.

Clinical Notes. In the physiomedicalist framework, contrayerva was reached for when tissue tone was relaxed and cold, and the pulse weak and sinking rather than full and bounding, particularly in the later, debilitated stages of a fever where a purely cooling relaxant would be the wrong tool.

Properties and Uses. This root is diffusibly stimulating, with mild tonic properties; and yields a considerable quantity of mucilage when treated with hot water. It sustains the outward capillary circulation, warms the surface, and gently promotes diaphoresis.

Description. Natural Order, Urticaceae. One of the nettle family, found in Mexico, West Indies, Brazil, and contiguous countries. “This plant has a perennial, fusiform, branching, rough, compact root or rhizoma, which sends up several leaves of an irregular shape, about four inches in length, lobed and pointed, and placed upon long radical foot-stalks, which are winged toward the leaves.