{ MARSHMALLOW ::: Althaea officinalis }
This is such a well utilised and well known herb. It’s used all around the world for its mucilage content, which is moistening to dry tissues. It can also be used to soften tissues (known as an emollient). This makes it a primary herb for the dry or hot tissue state, and its anti-inflammatory effects add to this. It is useful for any hot, dry and hard tissues in the body, especially mucosal linings of the lungs and digestive tract. However, it is specific for the kidneys due to its salty flavour (flavour of the water element in Chinese Medicine - bladder/kidneys/nervous system). What is interesting is understanding the dry tissue state deeper, to known when moistening herbs like this Malvaceae are needed.
Dryness certainly expresses itself in the lungs, with a dry cough or asthma. Hardened mucus (remember how it softens things) could also be an indication for marshmallow, such as in the case with a congested and unproductive cough. Dryness is something that shows up in the digestive tract with constipation. What about dryness in the joints - arthritis. And in the urinary tract - scanty urine & dehydration.
But dryness doesn’t stop here. It continues into the nervous system and the personality. Whenever there has been a trauma to the nervous system that has not healed in the short term, it manifests in the long term as dryness. That means that bringing in moisture to a neglected tissue will begin healing deeply embedded emotional wounds as well. This soft and sweet herb is used for hardened personalities; to soften inflexibilities and intolerances with its emollient actions energetically. Conditions of deep depletion like post COVID or other virus’ often have dryness associated with them and require the healing moisture of herbs like Marshmallow to recover cellularly.
Mucilage is better in a cold water extract or as a powder, and not as effective in the tincture (alcohol) form. Both the leaves of marshmallow and the root are used somewhat interchangeably, however according to Hoffmann generally the leaf is more appropriate for the lungs and urinary system, and root is for the digestive system.
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