Pearly Everlasting

Sore, ulcerated mouth and throat, the fresh leaf chewed and its juice swallowed slowly

Feverish cold or early quinsy where a gentle warm diaphoretic infusion is wanted to bring on sweating

Overview. Pearly everlasting is a hardy, woolly-leaved perennial herb of open fields and dry ground across North America, long confused in old texts with the related pussytoes (Antennaria species) that share its common name. The flowering aerial parts were the part used by the nineteenth century Eclectic physicians, who valued the plant chiefly as a mild astringent for the mouth, throat, and bowel, and as a gentle diaphoretic in fevers. It never became a major materia medica plant but held a small, steady place in folk and Eclectic practice.

Clinical Notes. The traditional way of using pearly everlasting for a sore or ulcerated mouth and throat was simple: the fresh leaves and flowers were chewed and the astringent, faintly bitter juice swallowed slowly, or a strong infusion was used as a gargle or mouthwash.

Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage. Astringent. The leaves and blossoms chewed, and the juice swallowed, have proved beneficial in ulcerations of the mouth and throat. A warm infusion (℥ss to water Oj), may be used in fevers to produce diaphoresis, and is of service in quinsy, pulmonary complaints, leucorrhoea, etc.; it may be used internally and as a local application. Likewise used as an infusion in diseases of the bowels, and hemorrhages, and applied in fomentations to bruises, indolent tumors, and other local affections. Prof. Scudder suggests investigation to determine its influence upon the reproductive and urinary structures, in acute and chronic ulcerations, and in digestive disorders. The fresh juice is reputed an aphrodisiac.

History. White balsam is found in Canada and various parts of the United States, growing in old fields and on dry, barren lands, and bearing whitish-yellow flowers in July and August. The leaves have a pleasant, aromatic smell, and a slightly bitter and astringent, but rather agreeable taste. They yield their properties to water. No analysis has been made of them. The Antennaria Margaritacea, R. Brown, formerly Gnaphalium Margaritaceum, Linné, or pearl-flowered life-everlasting, a perennial plant, possesses similar properties to the above (see Antennaria).