Cyclamen

Obstinate, torpid bowel unresponsive to milder cathartics, historically treated with a small dose of the fresh root juice

Chronic thick nasal or sinus discharge historically relieved by insufflating powdered corm as a snuff

Overview. Cyclamen is a genus of small tuberous perennial herbs in the primrose family, native to woodland and rocky ground across the Mediterranean basin and parts of central Europe and western Asia. The corm, sometimes called sowbread because wild pigs root it up and eat it, was the part used medicinally. Eclectic and older European physicians employed the fresh corm or its expressed juice as a violent purgative and emmenagogue, and the dried powdered corm was used as an errhine snuff for sinus complaints, but the plant has fallen almost entirely out of use because of its narrow margin of safety.

Clinical Notes. Cyclamen belongs to a category of historical remedies that illustrate why so much of nineteenth century materia medica was abandoned as gentler and more reliable alternatives became available. The fresh corm and its juice were considered a heroic purgative, reserved by eclectic physicians for cases where milder cathartics had failed, and were used cautiously in very small doses because larger amounts produced violent vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and collapse.

Conservation. Some wild Cyclamen species, notably Cyclamen hederifolium and Cyclamen coum populations in parts of their native range, have historically been subject to over-collection for the horticultural trade and are protected under CITES Appendix II as a genus.