Tinkturenpresse

Teucrium chamaedrys L. - Lamiaceae - wall germander, Edel-Gamander

Subshrub, 15-30cm high, with creeping woody roots; stem branched; leaves entire, elliptic, up to 3cm long, serrate or notched; flowers with reddish corolla, rarely white. The plant is native from southern central Europe and the Mediterranean to western Asia. Several subspecies are known. http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teucrium_chamaedrys#Variabilit.C3.A0

The dried, aboveground parts (collected while flowering, Teucrii chamaedrys herba) are used as bitter tonic and astringent. „Germander is a traditional tonic, diuretic, anti-diarrhoeal medicine and mouthwash that was mainly used in France and Italy. It has also become popular as a supportive treatment in weight loss programmes. The herb is no longer used to any extend, as several cases of liver damage have been reported.“ [Medicinal Plants of the World. Ben-Erik Van Wyk and Michael Wink, Pretoria 2004, 321]

„Teucrium chamaedrys L. contains several saponins, glycosides, flavonoids and furano neoclerodane diterpenoids. Hepatotoxicity has been ascribed to neo-clerodane diterpenoids, of which the most important are considered to be teucrin A and teuchamaedryn A. Others, whose effective human toxicity still needs definitive evaluation, have been isolated from T. chamaedrys L., and new ones are continually isolated from the same species harvested in different geographical areas, like dihydroteugin, isoteuflidin, teuflin, teucvin teucvidin, teucrin H1, 6b-hydroxyteuscordin, teucrin F, teucrin G and verbascoside…
Recently, T. chamaedrys L. has become popular as a slimming decoction without any scientific proof of efficacy notwithstanding its well-known hepatotoxicity. Hydroalcoholic extracts are currently used as flavourings in the preparation of wines, bitters and liqueurs. Teucrin A and teuchamaedryn A are the major toxic components of the diterpenoid fraction of T. chamaedrys L.“ [Two contemporary cases of hepatitis associated with Teucrium chamaedrys L. Decoction use. Case reports and review of literature. Gori, Luigi, et al. Basic & clinical pharmacology & toxicology 109.6, 2011, 521-526] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1742-7843.2011.00781.x/full

Main components of the essential oil (yield 0.04-0.28%) of plants from Iran were sesquiterpenes like α-cadinene (6.3-15.4%), (Z)-β-farnesene (9.6%), (E)-α-farnesene (7.2%-22.9%), α-calacorene (up to 20.2%), α-murrolene (8.0-14.4%), cadinene (up to 30%), β-caryophyllene (up to 23.5%), sesquiterpenoids like farnesol (up to 10.3%), alkanes like 1-eicosene (8.2-12.8%) and heptadecane (7.9%), and esters like methyl decanoate (up to 8.9%), cis-3-hexenyl benzoate (7.2-11.3%), and benzyl salicylate (5.9-10.0%).
[Jaimand, Kamkar, et al. „Study of the chemical composition of essential oil of the Teucrium chamedrys at differeent distillation in Mazandaran province.“ (2014): 193-198]

Bulliard, P., Flora Parisiensis, vol.1 t.7 (1776-1781)
http://botanicalillustrations.org/species.php?id_species=1007435

Teucrium chamaedrys
© Rolf Marschner (2007), www.botanische-spaziergaenge.at