The Medical Uses of Bugleweed

Other Common Names: Bugle Weed, Gipsyweed, Horehound, Su Ferasyunu, Sweet Bugle, Virginia Water-horehound, Virginia Waterhorehound, Virginian Water Horehound, Water Bugle, Water Horehound, Lycopus virginicus

Range: Eastern N. America - New York and Wisconsin south to Georgia and Texas.

Habitat: Low damp shady ground in rich moist soils.

Bugleweed has sedative properties and is used in modern herbalism principally to treat an overactive thyroid gland and the racing heartbeat that often accompanies this condition.

The whole plant is used as an astringent, hypoglycaemic, mild narcotic and mild sedative. It also slows and strengthens heart contractions. The plant has been shown to be of value in the treatment of hyperthyroidism, it is also used in the treatment of coughs, bleeding from the lungs and excessive menstruation etc. It should not be prescribed for pregnant women or patients with hypothyroidism.

The plant is harvested as flowering begins and can be use fresh or dried, in an infusion or as a tincture. The root has been chewed, a portion swallowed and the rest applied externally in the treatment of snakebites.