“Sell your coat and buy betony.” They say. And they have said for thousands of years now.
Not just because it’s summer. Not just because the local herb dealers want to make a buck from you. And not just to stay in line with the hottest botanical trends of the time.
But because Wood Betony is truly that special of an herb.
An essential addition to any and all home medicine cabinets.
A vital herb you should value just as much as a coat in the dead of winter.
If you haven’t heard of Wood Betony (Stachys officinalis) before, or just don’t have much personal experience with it, don’t feel left behind. While this herb was formerly a highly revered plant, it has faded somewhat into obscurity in the past hundred years or so. You likely aren’t going to find it front and center (if at all) on your favorite supplement store shelves. Perhaps you’ve tried it before, buried in another herbal formula with other nervines (since it surely shines as a complementary herb too).
But if you haven’t experienced Wood Betony in its single form, as a solitary + mighty herb, I entreat you to give it a try.
If you start to dig in old herbal + medical texts, you’ll find a strong thread of uses dating back to approximately 77 CE when Roman chronicler Plinius included it in his text Natural Histories. Even though this was one of the first recorded uses of Wood Betony (at least that is findable today), Wood Betony was already a commonly known and used herb by this time. My guess is that the legacy of Wood Betony grows even further back than this.
Acclaimed herbalist Peter Holmes references Wood Betony as:
“One of those special plant remedies steeped in a thick patina of historical uses.”
While Wood Betony has faded in and out of popularity over the centuries, its nature remains the same.
An invaluable herb to have in your medicine chest, let’s uncover its many uses.