Botanical Index No. 472

Gravel Root

eupatorium purpureum

Medicinal Actions

Antidote, Antilithic, Antirheumatic, Depurative, Diaphoretic, Diuretic, Hypoglycemic, Laxative, Stimulant

Primary Conditions Treated

Arthrosis Asthma Bright’s Disease Burn Calculus Cancer Childbirth Cold Constipation Cough Cystosis Dropsy Dysuria Fever Gout Gravel Headache Hysteria Impotence Incontinence Inflammation Jaundice Miscarriage Nephrosis Neuralgia Rheumatism Sprain Stone Typhus Urethrosis Uterosis UTI Water Retention Wound

General Dosage

2–4 g root, or in tea, 3 ×/day; 2–4 ml liquid herbal extract 3 ×/day; 1–2 ml herbal tincture 3 ×/day.

Safety & Contraindications

Class 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d. Long-term use discouraged. Effective July 1996, the AHP Board of Trustees recommends that all products with botanical ingredient containing toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids, including Borago officinalis, display the following cautionary statement on the label, “For external use only. Do not apply to broken or abraded skin. Do not use when nursing”. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids have genotoxic, carcinogenic, and hepatotoxic activity. Because of the PAs, its use in pregnancy and lactation is to be avoided. Animal studies document placental transfer and secretion into breast milk of unsaturated PAs.

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