Dodder is a parasitic plant without leaves. It features petite, scented, pale pink blooms and thread-like stalks that are often yellow-red.
History & Folklore
Dodder has never been a popular choice for rural plants. Due to its propensity to overrun and strangle the plant it feeds on, it is also known as hellweed and devil's guts. This host might be a crop, such as beans, gorse, or thyme. Nonetheless, dodder has therapeutic advantages. Dioscorides (first century CE) mentions in his Materia Medica that it was used in classical times, together with honey, to cleanse "black bile" and maintain a somber sense of humor. Herbalist Nicholas Culpeper suggested it in a similar way in 1652, "to purge black or burnt choler." Culpeper goes on to say that the most effective remedy is dodder taken from thyme, bringing up the intriguing notion that the parasite's host influences some of its therapeutic properties.
Habitat & Cultivation
Dodder grows throughout southern Africa, Asia, and Europe. It gathers in the summer and loves mountainous and coastal areas.
References
- Chevallier, Andrew, FNIMH; Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine - 550 Herbs and Remedies for Common Ailments; 3. Edition 2016; ISBN: 978-0-2412-2944-6; Page 198.
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