Contemporary Plant Naming

Taking the Case by Will Taylor, M.D.

Installment 15
of a series on homeopathy
© Will Taylor, MD 2002 [bio]Index of All Installments

Defining Families of Homeopathic Remedies
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Section 2

Contemporary Plant Naming

A search for contemporary names and classifications of our plant remedies sent me to some interesting resources.

"Cyclamen europaeum" is not currently a described specie. Searching for taxonomic information on the genus Cyclamen on the Internet brought me to the beautiful website of the Cyclamen Society, an international gathering of folks as infatuated with these flowers as we seem to be with homeopathy!

Going through their species descriptions (illustrated with gorgeous photos), I came upon Cyclamen purpurascens, as the only Cyclamen specie growing far enough north in Europe for Hahnemann to gather fresh in Saxon-Anhalt.

As he specified as his source of the remedy he proved as:

"The expressed juice of the fresh root, obtained in autumn" (MM Pura)

...this had to be his plant. The text accompanying a photo of this specie confirmed that it had been called in the past "Cyclamen europaeum".

Rhododendron chrysanthum, the Siberian Snow Rose, yellow-flowered rhododendron specie - was quite hard to find in any of my references. Searching the Plants for a Future Database, I found Rhododendron aureum, which caught my interest with its reference to the color "gold" (an unusual color in wild rhododendrons).

The description of this specie mentioned the common descriptor "yellow rhododendron, the synonym "Rhododendron chrysanthum," and the range of E. Asia; high mountain areas, both alpine and sub-alpine - all consistent with the description of our specie.

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Rhus Research
Poison Ivy, Oak and Sumac

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