Snow rose

Rheumatic or gouty joint pain with a bounding, rapid pulse that the old Eclectic writers described as calling for a circulatory depressant

Chronic joint stiffness in a debilitated patient where practitioners of the period looked for a slow, small-dose remedy rather than an acute one

Overview. Rhododendron chrysanthum is an old name for the Siberian golden rhododendron, a low alpine shrub of the heath family native to mountainous regions of Siberia and the Russian Far East, where its leaves have long been used in folk medicine for rheumatic and gouty complaints. The dried or fresh leaves, gathered in late summer, were the part used, most often as a tincture. It entered nineteenth century Western practice through German and Russian sources and was taken up briefly by American Eclectic physicians as a circulatory remedy, though it never became a mainstream botanical.

Overview. Rhododendron is a very large genus of evergreen and deciduous shrubs in the heath family, native across the Northern Hemisphere from the Himalaya and China to Siberia, Europe, and North America. Several species, most notably Rhododendron chrysanthum of Siberia and Rhododendron ferrugineum of the European Alps, were once official or semi-official remedies used for rheumatic and gouty complaints and as strong diuretics. All parts of the plant, and honey made from its nectar, contain grayanotoxins, and the genus is now regarded chiefly as a source of poisoning rather than as a safe medicinal agent.

Clinical Notes. Nineteenth century Eclectic writers placed rhododendron leaf tincture alongside veratrum and aconite as an agent that slows and strengthens the pulse and clears capillary congestion, and on that basis it was tried in rheumatism, gout, and some febrile states.

Clinical Notes. Older eclectic and European texts describe a dilute tincture or infusion of rhododendron leaf used for rheumatic and gouty joint pain, chronic nephritis with dropsy, hydrothorax, and hydrocele, and for irritable bladder conditions in older men.