Eupatorium perfoliatum L.Family: Compositae / Asteraceae
Synonyms: Cunigunda perfoliata, Eupatorium chapmanii, Eupatorium connatum, Eupatorium salviifolium, Eupatorium truncatum, Uncasia perfoliata, Uncasia truncata
Common names: Agueweed, Boneset, Bonset, Common Boneset, Common Thoroughwort, Feverwort, Indian Sage, Thoroughwax, Thoroughwort
Deutsch: Durchwachsener Wasserdost
French: Eupatoire Perfoliée
Uses: Boneset is native to North America and has a long history of use among Native Americans, Eclectic physicians, and physiomedicalists. It is a strong bitter that acts on the liver and gallbladder, and it has a strong diaphoretic action that gives it great utility in reducing fevers due to influenza.
Used in sweat baths as an emetic to eliminate cold and bile.[Florida ethnobotany]
Indications (Boneset) — Anorexia, Arthrosis, Backache, Bacteria, Biliousness, Bleeding, Bronchosis, Bruise, Cancer, Catarrh, Chill, Cold, Constipation, Cough, Cramp, Debility, Dengue, Dermatosis, Dropsy, Dysmenorrhea, Dyspepsia, Fever, Flu, Fracture, Gastrosis, Gonorrhea, Gout, Headache, Hematemesis, Hemorrhoid, Immunodepression, Indigestion, Infection, Inflammation, Insomnia, Malaria, Myalgia, Nephrosis, Osteosis, Pain, Pharyngosis, Pleurisy, Pneumonia, Rheumatism, Snakebite, Sore Throat, Stomachache, Tumor, Typhoid, Ulcer, Urethrosis, Virus, Water Retention. [Handbook of Medicinal Herbs]
Eupatorium perfoliatum is both a rich source of quercetin and a traditional treatment for flu. Quercetin may also play a role in tumor inhibition. [Medical Herbalism The Science And Practice Of Herbal Medicine]
Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum L.) also known as ague weed, thorough stem or thoroughwort, cross wort, and Indian sage. According to Reuter, boneset was "so called because the Indians use it as splints in binding a broken arm or leg," or the name may have resulted from the plant's use against breakbone fever or dengue. [Southern Folk Medicine 1750–1820 by Kay K. Moss]
Times of India News - Plant for Dengue Dt. 13 Nov 2012
The King Institute team headed by a Chennai-based homoeopath administered the drug extracted from Eupatorium perfoliatum to 50 patients with secondary dengue and found all of them recovered. “The platelet counts came under control for almost all patients and blood tests showed marked improvement,” said King Institute director Dr P Gunasekaran. The study, lead by Dr N R Jayakumar of Madan Homoeo Clinic, was presented at an international symposium on ‘Challenges and strategies in the prevention and management of viral infections’ at Central Learther Research Institute recently.
Jayakumar said it wasn’t a new idea to administer the drug to patients with dengue. Earlier the drug was given to patients in Delhi and Sri Lanka during epidemics. In June, the drug was administered to dengue patients at the Madurai Government Rajaji Hospitals. “We wanted to scientifically prove the drug is efficient. The patients were given two doses a day. The platelet count of all the patients improved. The good thing about this drug is that it can also be given alongside allopathic medicines,” Dr Jayakumar said.
“In allopathic medicine, there is no drug for this disease. The only treatment is IV fluids to replace body fluids. Most patients we chose for the study had platelet count less than 10,000. We prevented death and blood transfusion in all the 50 patients who took this drug,” said Dr Gunasekaran.
Dengue virus is spread by aedes mosquito. The symptoms include fever, headache, body pain and rashes. Some patients develop life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever, resulting in bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage.
Published articles & Patents of Eupatorium perfoliatum
