Wood Betony: All About An Amazing Familiar Friend

Wood betony is a plant with a long history intertwined with humanity. Although use of this plant has evanesced over time in favor of other plants and more modern interventions, we still remember it, and some people still have a relationship with it. Once touted as a panacea, its ingestion today is mostly limited to remedies for tension headaches and nightmares, although some people implement it in a spiritual capacity.

Even though it is not as popular today as chamomile, I’ve personally found a wood betony tisane to be a helpful sleep aid.

Description of Wood Betony

Wood betony is a member of the mint family, and it is native to Europe and Central Asia. A perrennial that forms clumps, it spreads across its habitat slowly by expanding stolons. Its clump-forming obovate leaves are dark green with serrate margins and rounded tips, growing up to four inches in length. The aerial stems from which the leaves grow are square. Flowers are double-lipped¹ and can be white, pink, or purple, growing in interrupted spikes (two clusters on one stem). The full grown height of the plant is nine to thirty-six inches, and it prefers sunshine or light shade.² Wood betony lives naturally in grasslands, hedgebanks, heath, and open woods. It doesn’t like calcium-rich soil.³

Names and Etymology

The scientific name of wood betony is Stachys officinalis. The word “stachys” refers to the appearance of the flower clusters due to their resemblance to heads of grain; “officinalis” means “sold in shops.”

The name “betony” may derive from the word for herders from Spain during the Iron Age called Vettones (or Bettones in some translations); the plant was abundant in Central Spain where the Vettones lived. Another possible derivation is from the Celtic word “bewton,” meaning “good for the head.”⁴

Other common names include “bettonica,” “bidney,” “wild hop,” “purple betony,” “bishop’s wort” and “bishopwort,” and “common hedgenettle.”⁵

History of Wood Betony

Wood betony has a long history in folk medicine, particularly for the treatment of “inflammatory diseases, ulcers, sclerosis of spleen, genital tumors, infected wounds, cough, diarrhea, fevers, sore throat, liver disorders, heart weakness, internal bleeding, headaches, migraine, [and] neuralgia.”⁶ As one can surmise from this long list, it has a history of being used as a panacea. Emperer Augustus’ (63 BC to AD 14) doctor, Antonius Musa, wrote that betony can be used to cure forty-seven diseases. Notably, it is cited in texts many times throughout history as a remedy for nightmares,⁷ evil spirits, and demons.⁸ In 1633, Gerard wrote in The Herbal or General History of Plants that it can treat hangovers, headaches, and cramps. It also allegedly “maketh a man pisse well.”⁹

Current Uses

In the modern world, the medicinal use of wood betony has waned substantially, even compared to other plants and fungi. As a result of its faded popularity, its current uses are more limited than its historical uses. People primarily use it to relieve tension in the body, especially tension of an emotional origin, and in particular, tension headaches. Some use it in their spiritual practices, and herbalists recall that it has helped those they know who have experienced otherworldly abduction, or getting lost in spaces they are unfamiliar with.¹⁰

Science with Wood Betony

Due to woody betony’s sparse usage, there is not an abundance of scientific literature on the plant’s interactions with the human body. However, I was able to find some information:

Wood betony exhibits antioxidant properties. Scientists think this may be due to the presence phenylethanoid glycosides and chorogenic acid. Glycosides present in wood betony also may be responsible for the hypotensive activity of the plant. It is thanks to these compounds that ingesting Stachys officinalis can release tension in the body and promote blood flow “by unblocking constrictive blood vessels.”¹¹

Contraindications with Wood Betony

• Because there are no verifiable studies on wood betony use during the lactation period, it should be avoided by nursing mothers.¹²
• It should also be avoided during pregnancy.
• Exercise caution with medications for diabetes and hypotension.
• Can cause stomach upset, including cramping, gas, nausea, and diarrhea, with high doses.¹³

In conclusion, wood betony is a plant that has long been in relationship with us in ways both physical and spiritual. It is helpful in soothing mind-body tensions, and, in the thread of duality, can bridge such a divide with a comfortable path between two sides.

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Sources

1. https://www.uaex.uada.edu/yard-garden/resource-library/plant-week/wood-bentony-06-19-2015.aspx ↩︎
2. https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/heb-week-betony ↩︎
3. https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Stachys+officinalis ↩︎
4. https://www.uaex.uada.edu/yard-garden/resource-library/plant-week/wood-bentony-06-19-2015.aspx ↩︎
5. https://www.wortsandcunning.com/blog/wood-betony-plant-profile ↩︎
6. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S092666901300441X ↩︎
7. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301109360_Stachys_officinalis_wood_betony ↩︎
8. https://www.wortsandcunning.com/blog/wood-betony-plant-profile ↩︎
9. https://www.uaex.uada.edu/yard-garden/resource-library/plant-week/wood-bentony-06-19-2015.aspx ↩︎
10. https://www.wortsandcunning.com/blog/wood-betony-plant-profile ↩︎
11. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S092666901300441X ↩︎
12. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30000919/ ↩︎
13. https://www.wortsandcunning.com/blog/wood-betony-plant-profile ↩︎