Grindelia Squarrosa.
Related entry: Grindelia robusta
Grindelia squarrosa is closely allied to the grindelia robusta, but is in general a less leafy and bushy plant, and is smaller. Some authors are not satisfied that there is sufficient difference between them to make them distinct plants. In the West they are not recognized as the same.
Therapy—Dr. Webster is authority for the statement that grindelia squarrosa is specific in its anti-malarial properties. He is very positive concerning its influence upon headaches, and especially those of malarial origin. Headache present where there are masked intermittent symptoms, headache accompanied with dizziness, and some nausea, where the subject walks with the sensation that he is going to stagger. It seems as though his equilibrium were uncertain, or where there is mild staggering and irregular gait, where the head feels light and dizzy all the time. In this form, grindelia squarrosa is a positive and specific remedy, decided and satisfactory in its action.
Another form of headache which this agent will cure is one that seems to follow, and depend upon slow autointoxication. It is persistent, day after day, and there is dullness, drowsiness, and dizziness. There is apt to be torpor of the liver and spleen in these cases. There is lassitude, and the patient tires easily. A dull headache is present when he awakes in the morning, and with some exacerbations continues all day. This form is quickly cured with this remedy. A tincture made by covering the fresh plant with ninety-eight per cent alcohol is required to relieve this headache. Give from ten to fifteen drops of this tincture every two or three hours.
As a remedy for chronic enlargement of the spleen, and for the symptoms present in that condition, Webster claims that the agent is superior to polymnia. Where there are persistent attacks of malaria, and where the system needs a permanent tonic, this agent is of great importance. It promotes the appetite, increases the functional activity of both the liver and spleen, in a normal and very satisfactory manner, and in longstanding cases, the periodicity of all the symptoms, whether of the fever or chill, is overcome by this remedy in a manner superior either to quinine or arsenic. The remedy is best obtained from low, swampy, marshy ground. That which is found in Colusa County, Cal., where Dr. Bundy collected his specimens, is found to be the best.
The American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy, 1919, was written by Finley Ellingwood, M.D.
It was scanned by Michael Moore for the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine.
