Yellow pond lily

Chronic pale leukorrhea with a dragging pelvic ache and low energy, used both as a wash and as a small internal dose

An irritable, aching prostate with dribbling and an over-stimulated sexual sense, in the older Eclectic picture of the plant

Long-standing loose stools with mucus in a debilitated patient, where a cooling astringent that also calms is wanted

Overview. The yellow pond lily is a rooted aquatic of still and slow waters across Europe, western Asia and North Africa, with broad floating leaves and cup-shaped yellow flowers that smell faintly of brandy, hence the old name brandy bottle. Its North American relatives, spatterdock and the western pond lily, were long lumped under the same name and are used the same way. The thick starchy rhizome, dried, is the part used. Nineteenth-century Eclectic physicians valued it as a cooling astringent tonic for chronic discharges, irritable pelvic organs and sexual over-excitement.

Clinical Notes. Nuphar is a small-dose astringent with a sedative edge, and that combination defines its use. Reach for it in chronic, low-grade, weeping conditions of the pelvis and bowel: pale leukorrhea, cervicitis, an irritable bladder, chronic mucous diarrhea, or the aching prostate of the older man.

Conservation. Common across Europe, but wetland harvesting of rhizomes damages habitat and some North American pond lilies are locally scarce; prefer cultivated or responsibly gathered material and take only a small portion of any colony.