Black Horehound
Bitter fruit of the hedgerow
Ballota nigra or Black Horehound is a common herb of the wayside Other names include, Ballota, Ballote Fétide, Ballote Noire, Ballote Puante, Ballote Vulgaire, Black Stinking Horehound, Marrube Fétide, Marrube Noir, Marrubio Negro. The name comes from the Greek ballo meaning to throw/reject, believed to be related to their strong, unpleasant smell and taste.
Traditional Uses: 1
Ballota was traditionally used as a mild sedative for insomnia, anxiety, stomach upsets and wound healing. In Ibn al-Baytar’s Compendium of Simple Medicaments, in Morocco and eastern Andalusia, black horehound herb was used for the treatment of animal bites, wounds, ulcers, hemorrhoids, menstruation issues, toothache, sores and nervousness. In Turkish traditional medicine Yalanci Isirgan was used as a sedative, diuretic, digestive, anti inflammatory, antiseptic, and also as an anti-parasitic remedy also, for the treatment of wounds, hemorrhoids, and dysmenorrhea.2
In France, Ballota is used for mild sleep disorders and cough. In Italy, in the upper Lucca Province it was to used as a poultice for wounds and sprains and in Dolomiti Lucane, a decoction of the black horehound was used in form of washes for its haemostatic properties.3
In the South Italian pharmacopoeia, ballota was used as a wash for skin rashes and as a tea to improve circulation. In Serbia, a tea from dried root and an alcohol extract of the black horehound have been used to treat nervous disorders and cancer.
Moldavians noted the sedative, antispasmodic, stimulant and vermifuge effect of the herb. A plant infusion was used to treat flatulence, vomiting, convulsive cough, esophageal spasms, abdominal colic, rheumatism, anxiety and palpitations.
Culpeper says:
It grows in bye-paths and in hedges.
Government and Virtues.—This is under Mercury. The leaves and tops only are used. The leaves beaten with salt, and added to the wound, cures the bites of mad dogs, and the juice, mixed with honey, cleanses foul ulcers. It is recommended as a remedy against hysteric and hypochondriac affections. It is an intense bitter, which bespeaks it to be a strengthener of weak stomachs ; it is endowed with the properties of a balsam, and is a powerful alterative, and capable of opening obstructions of any kind; it is a promoter of the menses ; some praise it very much as a pectoral in coughs and shortness of breath; but it is necessary to observe some caution, viz, that it ought only to be administered to gross phlegmatic people, and not to thin plethoric persons. The powder is good to kill worms.
Ballota then, is another herb of Mercury used for cough (like Liquorice) as a calming agent (like Valerian) and for digestive stasis (like Fennel).
Modern Uses
Ballota is anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anti-protozoal and antifungal. British herbalists recommend it for nausea due to its bitterness, and for digestion and liver health. It contains tannins which have an anti-inflammatory action in wound healing. The essential oils are calming to the nervous system and help digestion. It is used for relaxed states or ‘gross phlegmatic’ people as Culpeper calls them, but not cholerics/sanguines.
I was taught to use it for nausea in pregnancy, but as other sources suggest it ‘brings on periods’ I avoid in pregnancy.
Science4
The most bio-active compounds are found in the leaves, stem and flowers. These include, phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, diterpenes or derivatives of ortho-dihy-droxycinnamic acid, terpenoids, steroids and carboxylic acids.
It is mainly used as a sedative and to relieve discomfort in depression. The 5-phenylpropanoids compounds from the plant are mainly responsible for these properties.
The essential oil, from various parts of the plant, has at least 70 chemical compounds5
The phenylpropanoid glycosides such as lavanduli folioside, have a negative chronotropic effect and it lowers the blood pressure.6
Forsythioside B has neuroprotective and cardioprotective properties. Ballonigrin from the group of diterpenes, potentially inhibits the development of cervical cancer 7
In a clinical study patients with anxiety disorder and symptoms of depression and sleep issues, given a liquid extract of ballota for 90 days. After 60 days, 65% of patients showed improvement, and after 90 days 73% of patients reported a relief in disease symptoms. Patients with insomnia especially experienced a large improvement in symptoms 8. This action may be due to a binding affinity to morphinic, dopaminergic and benzodiazepine receptors9
Other effects, unfortunately using animal testing, were hypoglycaemic and hypolipidemic, suggesting ballota might be useful in metabolic syndrome and the management of Type 2 diabetes.10
Emotional
Ballota is calming and grounding for people who feel isolated and disconnected. Like rhizomal networks, it helps to build connection in a calm and non-threatening way. It brings a sense of peace and of being held, building an inner web of strength which connects to an outer web of community. Ballota is gentle in action, while being robust. Use for people who feel emptied by their life experience. It teaches we are not alone, we are all connected and safety and healing comes from this.
Magical
The offensive smell and taste of Black Horehound suggests its use as repellent and in protective and cleansing magic, however, like its emotional virtues, ballota connects us within a magical community, bringing coherence to the group, where there has been discord or when establishing a new group. Grow in your witches garden. Make an incense or hydrosol to use in group settings (the tea is hard to take). As a herb of Mercury use to call out for support when you feel under attack, to gather and protect.
Przerwa, Filip & Kukowka, Arnold & Uzar, Izabela. (2021). Ballota nigra L. – an overview of pharmacological effects and traditional uses. Herba Polonica. 66. 56-65. 10.2478/hepo-2020-0014
Sarac N, Ugur A. Antimicrobial activities and usage in folkloric medicine of some Lamiaceae species growing in Mugla, Turkey. EurAsian J Biosci 2007; 4:28-37
Pieroni A. Medicinal plants and food medicines in the folk traditions of the upper Lucca Province, Italy. J Ethnopharmacol 2000; 70(3):235-273. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0378-8741(99)00207-x
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350711527_Ballota_nigra_L_-_an_overview_of_pharmacological_effects_and_traditional_uses
Rigano D, Marrelli M, Formisano C, Menichini F, Senatore F, Bruno M, et al. Phytochemical profile of three Ballota species essential oils and evaluation of the effects on human cancer cells. Nat Prod Res 2017; 31(4):436-444. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2016.1185722
K. Miłkowska-Leyck, Filipek B, Strzelecka H.Pharmacological effects of lavandulifolioside from Leonurus cardiaca. J Ethnopharmacol 2002; 80(1):85-90. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0378-8741(02)00016-8
Nishandhini Marimuthu, Viswanathan T, Mahendran Radha JS. Computational screening of the phytocompounds from the plant Ballota nigra Linn. against the human papillomavirus (HPV)E6. Res J Pharm Tech 2017; 10(9):3095. doi: http://.doi.org/10.5958/0974-360X.2017.00549.2
Ballotae nigrae herba – black horehound.The Scientifc Foundation for Herbal Medicinal Products 2015. https://escop.com/ballotae-nigrae herba-black-horehound-online-consultation/
Daels-Rakotoarison DA, Seidel V, Gressier B, Brunet C, Tillequin F, Bailleul et. al. Neuro-sedative and antioxidant activities of phenylpropanoids from Ballota nigra. Arzneimittel forschung 2000; 50(1):16-23. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0031-1300158
Nusier MK, Bataineh HN, Bataineh ZM, Daradka HM. Effects of Ballota nigra on glucose and insulin in alloxan-diabetic albino rats. Neuro Endocrinol Lett 2007; 28(4):470-472. PMID: 17627273