Lycopodium clavatum:One the dominant plants of the forests in the Carboniferous Period.
- VERMEULEN Frans
Lyc.
The noisiest drum has nothing in it but air.
[English proverb]
Do not make yourself so big, you are not so small.
[Jewish proverb]
Signs
Lycopodium clavatum. Staghorn Club moss. Running Pine. N.O. Lycopodiaceae.
CLASSIFICATION One the dominant plants of the forests in the Carboniferous Period, the club mosses, also called lycopods, are reduced today to five genera and some 900 species. The family consists of terrestrial or epiphytic, fern-like herbs or climbers with small, simple leaves typically arranged in whorls or spirals. The most common members are Lycopodium and Selaginella, which enjoy widespread distribution. About 200 species are placed in the genus Lycopodium; all have simple, crowded, scale-like leaves. The evolutionary significance of the family lies mainly in the advances made in branching, and in the development of a more complex rooting system. Their remains are one of the chief ingredients of coal.
FEATURES Club moss species extend from arctic regions into the tropics, but they rarely form conspicuous elements in any plant community. Because they are evergreen, they are most noticeable in winter. They are usually creeping or epiphytic and often inhabit moist places, esp. in tropical and subtropical forests. The creeping species have trailing stems from which grow erect shoots that look like tiny trees. Despite growing very slowly, the rhizomes may reach lengths of several metres. Some of the temperate woodland species form large mats on the forest floor; most of the tropical species grow on trees. They reproduce by means of spores, either clustered into small cones or borne in the axils of the small scalelike leaves. Some species of Lycopodium are called ground pine or creeping cedar, esp. those that resemble miniature hemlocks with flattened fan-shaped branches, and are often used for Christmas decorations.
COOL CLIMATES Lycopodium species such as L. clavatum, L. obscurum, L. alpinum, L. complanatum, and L. annotinum are native to the cool, boreal forests of North America, Russia, and Scandinavia. They are considered an indicator of cool temperature climates, fresh and very moist nitrogen-poor soils, and compacted forests floors. They will tolerate low nutrients and can withstand a wide range of light conditions. If temperatures become warmer and the forest becomes drier, these species will decrease. Lycopodium clavatum can be found in boreal forest, bracken grassland, northern lowland forest and northern upland forest.
CONTRASTS "The capsule which contains the gametes and the oil has a tetraedic, almost crystalline form, and is of such hardness that in the preparation of the remedy, trituration of several days duration is needed, using a special mill, in order to release the soft inner contents. During its entire phase of development, Lycopodium thus exhibits a contrariness in all its characteristic manifestations. From the enormous tree to the crouching tiny plant, from powerful vitality to the greatest vegetative weakness, and combined with such weakness enormous tenacity of survival. Such contrariness is symbolized, as it were, by the spore, where the extraordinary hardness contrasts with the softness of the contents. Once a mighty tree with an enormous trunk, the plant now winds snake-like [therefore the byname snakeroot], reaching a length of ten metres along the ground. Its basic form is still tree-like and it is thus called ground pine. From its miniature stem ascend tiny branches whose growth always favours one side. The side with the weaker growth remains retarded, the branches appearing curved to the side of stronger growth. They are covered with scale-like leaves which develop very slowly. The tiny plant requires coolness and for this reason favours the shade of woods, thickets, barren and solitary places, often near the relics of old walls. It does not develop directly from the spores, but goes through an asexual phase of a prothallus producing the sexual organs from which the spores originate. These remain sterile in most instances and only a few germinate. If they develop they need six to seven years until leaves appear, and for its whole development the plant needs ten to twenty years, the time a tree needs for its full growth. The few germinating spores need even here the presence of a saprophytic fungus to bring about any spermatogenesis at all. The sperms move actively with the help of tiny tails and need the element of water around them in order to be able to move. The outstanding characteristic is the enormous slowness of development of the plant, beginning with inability to achieve spermatogenesis independently, together with frequent sterility, sexual development slowed down even further, and the inability to form chlorophyll independently. In connection with extremely slow growth, this points to a generally slowed-down metabolism and thus to reduced vitality. This again is contrasted by great persistence through the plant's evolution and a wide distribution which makes Lycopodium endure through millions of years, with 11 main and 40 subspecies and in all zones of the earth. Thus the phylogenesis and ontogenesis of Lycopodium, its development, growth and metabolism manifest an unusual slowness, and at the same time great persistence of the life process. Again a certain contrariness emerges."1
USES Several Lycopodium species are grown as ornamentals, some are a source of fibre, and Lycopodium spores or powder are utilized in sound experiments in physics. The spores of Lycopodium clavatum are very flammable and were formerly used in fireworks, in theatre productions [special effects] and as an absorptive powder for pharmaceutical purposes. Its [former] use for surgical gloves has caused granulomatous reactions in wounds. The powder used in powders, soaps and shampoos has been reported to cause dermatitis. In 19th-century Sweden, the trailing stems were used to plait doormats, as well as to mop floors and to scrub pots and pans. "Used as a base for face-powder preparations, and a dry shampoo for the hair. The spores were used in tracer bullets and flares in World War II. It has been found that L. clavatum spores used to coat non-lubricated condoms, so that they will not stick when rolled up, can cause allergic reactions ranging from dermatitis to severe asthma attacks and worse. In Colombia a decoction has been made of 60 g of the green plant in one litre of water. This is put in baths that are taken twice by retarded children. Apparently the baths have been of great benefit. An infusion of the plant was taken by the Aleuts of the Aleutian Islands for post partum pain. The spores were used as a styptic and coagulant by the Potawatomi American Indians. In British Columbia the moss was inserted into the nose to cause bleeding and to cure headache."2
NAME The name is derived from Gr lykos, wolf, and podus, foot, in allusion to the rhizomes which resemble a wolf's paw. The specific name clavatus means club-shaped and refers to the shape of the stems. Although the members of this family resemble the mosses, they are considered to be evolutionarily more advanced because of their specialized fluid-conducting tissues [vascular plants]. True mosses are more primitive and nonvascular.
CONSTITUENTS Alkaloids [lycopodine, clavatine, clavotoxine]; cinnamic acid; flavonoids; polyohenols; triterpenes; sulphur compounds [whence its popular name of 'vegetable sulphur']; aluminium [the ash of the spores consist of 15-54% aluminium]; fatty acids [the spores consist of 40-50% of a greenish-yellow oil]; traces of copper, arsenic, iron, magnesium, manganese, and zinc [none of them in significant amounts].
MEDICINE "The parts of the plant now employed are the minute spores which, as a yellow powder, are shaken out of the kidney-shaped capsules or sporangia growing on the inner side of the bracts covering the fruit spike. Under the names of Muscus terrestris or M. clavatum the whole plant was used, dried, by ancient physicians as a stomachic and diuretic, mainly in calculous and other kidney complaints; the spores do not appear to have been used alone until the 17th century, when they were employed as a diuretic in dropsy, a drastic in diarrhoea, dysentery and suppression of urine, a nervine in spasms and hydrophobia, an aperient in gout and scurvy and a corroborant in rheumatism, and also as an application to wounds. ... The spores are still medicinally employed by herbalists in this country [England], both internally and externally, as a dusting powder in various skin diseases such as eczema and erysipelas and for excoriated surfaces, to prevent chafing in infants. Their chief pharmaceutical use is as a pill powder, for enveloping pills to prevent their adhesion to one another when placed in a box, and to disguise their taste. Dose, 10 to 60 grains. They have such a strong repulsive power that, if the hand is powdered with them, it can be dipped in water without becoming wet."3
PROVINGS •• [1] Hahnemann - 8 provers; method: unknown.
•• [2] Segin - 3 self-experimentations, 1835 and 1842; method: repeated doses of 18th and 30th dils.; 10-50 drops of 30th dil.; 10 drops of tincture and 1st dil., 1 drop of oily residue, and 50 drops of 3rd dil.
•• [3] Schelling - self-experimentation; method: ten trials with 8th, 19th, 20th, 23rd, 24th, and 200th dils., single dose or repeated doses.
•• [4] Genzke - self-experimentation, and experiment on 6 persons, 1846; method: "Dr. Genzke also experimented on five of his own children, boys and girls varying from 6 to 15 years of age, to whom he administered daily increasing doses of the 15th attenuation. No symptoms attributable to the drug resulted, and the same was the case after a 10 days course of the 3rd trit. The negative results of these experiments on Herr Rusch and on his children, led him to question whether the symptoms noted in his own case were really attributable to Lycopodium." [Hughes]
•• [5] Huber - 10 provers [6 females, 4 males], 1850; method: 5 grains of 5th trit., twice daily for 5-8 days [5 provers]; daily increasing doses from 15-20 to 60-90 grains, decreasing potencies from 6x to 1x, for periods ranging from 9 to 40 days [5 provers].
•• [6] Martin - 11 [male] provers, 1859; method: 1-4 doses of 1-2 grains of crude drug or 1st trit., observation periods ranging from 3 to 14 days.
•• [7] Baumgartner - self-experimentation, 1862; method: single dose of 100 drops of 30th dil., after 17 days same dose of 24th dil., after 28 days two doses of 100 drops of 18th dil., followed by 100 drops of 15th dil. on 1st and 2nd days, of 12th on 4th day, of 9th dil. on 6th and 7th days, of 6th dil. on 9th and 10th days, of 3rd dil. on 13th day, of 2nd dil. on 14th day, of 1st dil. on 15th day, then 10 drops of tincture on 16th day, 30 drops of tincture on 17th day, 100 drops of tincture on 18th and 20th days, and 1 1/2 ounces of tincture on 24th day; six weeks after last dose, continued with twice daily 5 grains of 1st trit. for 29 days.
•• [8] Robinson - 3 provers [2 females, 1 male]; method: one doses of 1000th dil. every third day; 18th dil., three times a day; 12th dil., three times a day.
[]1 Gutman, Homoeopathy. [2] Riley, Maori Healing and Herbal. [3] Grieve, A Modern Herbal.
Affinity
NUTRITION [DIGESTIVE TRACT; portal system; skin]. URINARY ORGANS. RIGHT SIDE [THROAT; chest; ovary; abdomen]. Brain. Lungs. * RIGHT SIDE. Left side. RIGHT then LEFT side.
Modalities
Worse: PRESSURE OF CLOTHES. WARMTH; warm room; wrapping up head. Waking. Wind. Eating; to satiety. Oysters. Indigestion. 4-8 P.M. Lying on right side [liver troubles]. Bread.
Better: WARM DRINKS; warm food. Cold applications. Motion. Eructations. After urinating [pain in back]. Loosening the clothes. Open air. Uncovering the head. Warmth of bed.
Main symptoms
M EXTREME LACK OF SELF-CONFIDENCE.
Aversion to undertaking NEW THINGS [expects failure].
• "Lack of confidence in his strength." [Hahnemann]
Self-protective.
Doesn't take risks when older, no personal decisions.
Often verbally criticised when younger - no confidence. 1
M Feeling of HELPLESSNESS.
• "He can properly speak about higher and even abstract things, but gets confused in everyday matters." [Hahnemann]
Cautious, irresolute [about trifles].
M Carefulness.
• "A peculiar strain of conservatism and slowness runs through all shades of Lyc. personalities. It is the caution of a person who has learned to rely not on physical strength and impulsiveness but upon the slower pace of deliberation and careful scrutiny. [Conscientious even about trifles.] Underneath this deceptively slow surface frequently smoulders a choleric temper given sudden vehement outburst, more pronounced of course in the irritable neurasthenic who is devoid of self-control." [Whitmont]
M Fears, shuns RESPONSIBILITIES.
M Compensatory HAUGHTINESS and DICTATORIAL, presumptuous behaviour. 'Nice outside, tyrant at home' [abusive, intolerant of contradiction, etc.].
• "Bravado is seen more often in Lycopodium than in any other type. It is an attempt to cover up anxiety by acting confidently. ... Not all Lycopodiums succumb to bravado. For simplicity's sake we can divide Lycopodium into three subtypes, which we could label 'the Wimp', 'the Strutter' and the average Lycopodium. In my experience the latter accounts for about half of the type, whilst the first two account for about a quarter each. The 'Wimp' does not resort to bravado. His nervousness is undisguised and often quite crippling. ... He has not learned to hide his fear behind the subtle defences of the average Lycopodium, or the cruder defences of the 'Strutter'. ... In direct contrast to the 'Wimp', the 'Strutter' counteracts his sense of impotency by exaggerating his masculine power. ... There are the physical strutters who go in for body-building and martial arts, so that they can kick sand in the eyes of wimps [or at least look as if they would]. ... Since he overvalues the masculine, he undervalues the feminine, and this means that the strutter is a very chauvinistic man. ... Strutters like to dominate others. Physical strutters do this with physical intimidation. ... Since they are cowards, physical strutters tend to bully women and timid men, and seek to impress those with more power." [Bailey]
M Pompous, stiff and pretentious.
INFLATED EGO.
M Irritability MORNING on WAKING.
[anger, cross, discontented, impatience, loathing at life]
• The Female Lycopodium.
• "As a general rule women who need Lycopodium become aware of being unwell in - or following - a situation for which their usual strategies for dealing with conflict are no longer adequate. They may feel too small to cope with something which seems overwhelming: 'not up to it'. ... In the patient's personal history, the decisive turning-point may well be the death of the father or, later on, the death of the husband or life-partner [or of some other person who has taken on a 'male' role in their life. This loss means that suddenly they find themselves needing to take on additional responsibilities, tasks and duties which over-stretch their own potential. Similarly, growing up without a father can lead to a Lycopodium situation: they have to take on too much responsibility too early. [Differentiate with Carc.] In Lycopodium, however, it is particularly the area of 'male duties'. ... A central feeling is that of smallness. The patient may experience herself as a dwarf; everything else seems much too large. The rubric 'Dreams of giants' is maybe the most expressive in the Repertory regarding Lycopodium. Things which formerly were experienced as being of normal size suddenly seem bigger and more threatening. ... Family or social obligations however demand a strength which is basically not available. So as to do justice to these demands, a pseudo-strength is set up. ... It is rather a question of self-overestimation. In other words, they compensate for their feeling of smallness with a feeling of enlargement. ... Too great closeness is also an issue for Lycopodium. Lycopodium's timidity makes this intimidating, Lycopodium's distension makes it restricting, Lycopodium's pseudo-strength implies the danger of being unmasked by it. ... Since it is the nature of praise to make the recipient feel greater than they actually are, Lycopodium has problems in dealing with it. Praise hits the Lycopodium button fairly and squarely. ... In order for the synergy of pseudo-strength and inner uncertainty to work, the one must suppress the other. In this case what is involved is the suppression of the softer and more emotional side by the harder and more rational side. ... The suppression of the intuitive side [left] by the rational side [right] has sometimes been marked by a rather masculine or boyish disposition, even in the physiognomy. ... Instances of self-control are particularly to be found in the area of eating ['I exercise moderation'; 'I restrain myself and try to set a good example.'] Other areas: Health; Aggression ['I am able to control myself.']; Weeping ['Not in front of other people.']."2
G Keen intellect, weak muscular power.
• "People of a robust muscular or fat digestive type are usually mentally less active than people of the cerebral type who tend to suffer from digestive and muscular weakness and are of frail vitality. The Lycopodium patient presents a special instance of the 'cerebral' type with its vitality depressing activity proceeding from the head [brain] downwards towards the vital and reproductive centres. Thus we find that Lycopodium fits weak children with well developed heads but puny sickly bodies; that its symptoms generally are: aggravated from above downwards; and that it produces and cures a state of emaciation of the upper part of the body with a semidropsical condition in the lower parts." [Whitmont]
G Chilly, yet strong craving for OPEN AIR.
Sensitive to DRAFTS.
G < WARM room, yet > warm BED.
• "A peculiar thing about Lycopodium is the paradoxical symptoms in regard to heat and cold. In one case it expressed itself in this way. During the daytime he can't stand heat and throws off all his clothes. At night he wants to pile one blanket on top of the other, particularly on the feet, and he freezes and closes all the windows. During the day he just couldn't live in the warm room." [Whitmont]
G Becoming COLD [< or >].
< Becoming warm in open air. G EASY SATIETY, or increased appetite after eating a little. G HUNGRY at night; wakes from hunger. Has to eat before going to sleep. MUST eat at regular times [to avoid headache]. G Craving for SWEETS. G < FLATULENT FOOD. G HOT food [desire + >].
G < 3-4 A.M. and 4-8 P.M. c In terms of biorhythms and the 'organic clock', at 3 a.m. "the lung's vital capacity is at its lowest point, with congestion in the pulmonary circulation and venous return at a minimum. 4 a.m. is the critical period when the change-over from assimilation to dissimilation occurs. Switch-over from trophotropic to ergotropic rhythms in autonomic sphere, and to secretory functions in glandular system. All patients whose regulatory functions are out of phase and who are unable to switch easily from night-time to day-time rhythms wake up at 4 a.m. At 4 p.m. the change-over from day to night phase in liver rhythms takes place."3 G > FORENOON.
> AFTER midnight.
G FULL of GAS. INFLATED.
Gastrointestinal disturbances.
G Bubbling / clucking sensation.
[ears; chest; heart; liver; renal region]
G RIGHT-SIDED complaints; or from RIGHT to LEFT.
G < At beginning of motion. > Motion.
G DRYNESS [palms, vagina, skin, nose, etc.].
• "Most conspicuous among the trace minerals in the enveloping structures of the spores is aluminium, the percentage of it in the ash varying between 15 and 54%. This might account for the great dryness of mucous membranes, sometimes characteristic of Lycopodium, and also the great hunger which is found in the picture of Alumina." [Gutman]
P Headache from overheating.
> Cold [uncovering head >].
[Stomach, abdomen and throat > warmth and warm drinks.]
P One foot cold, the other hot. Puts ONE foot out of bed.
[1] Wallace, Remedy Notes. [2] Karl-Josef Müller, The Female Lycopodium: New Aspects of the Remedy with Clinical Confirmation. [3] Köhler, The Handbook of Homoeopathy.
Rubrics
Mind
Want of amativeness, in men [3], in women [1]. Answering, dictatorial [2]. Anxiety, when the train is in a tunnel [1]. Aversion, to her own children [2], to women [3]. Cheerful when it thunders and lightens [3]. Dictatorial [3]. Delusions, has childish fantasies [1/1], of being in two places at the same time [2], everything will vanish [1/1]. Dulness, > open air [3]. Fear, during coition [1], of being unable to reach his destination [1/1], body is smaller [1*], with sensation of stoppage of circulation, at night [2/1], of undertaking anything [3]. Flattering [3]. Irritability, from noise, even from crackling of newspapers [1]. Laughing, when looked at [1]. Sadness, < company [2]. Starting, startled, on going to sleep, as if starting from feet [1/1]. Weary of life, in company [2/1]. Weeping, when thanked [3/1]. Vertigo When looking at revolving objects [1]. Head Empty sensation while talking [1]. Motions of head, shaking head involuntarily, which makes him dizzy [3/1]. Pain, > sneezing [1], > uncovering head [3].
Eye
Sensation as if eyes were falling out [1]. Pain, stitching, when looking at anything white or red, or at the sun [3/1]. Pupils, dilated before menses [1/1].
Vision
Hemiopia, with hemicrania [3/1]. Lost, evening at twilight [3]. Vibration, as of heated air [2/1].
Hearing
Acute, to noises, noises long retained [1]. Lost, during menses [1].
Mouth
Speech, indistinct, morning [2/1]; stammering, last words of sentence [1/1].
Throat
Constant disposition to swallowing from choking [2].
Stomach
Appetite, increased, with pain in stomach [2]. Aversion to food, until he tastes it, then he is ravenous [3]. Indigestion after onions [3]. Nausea, after cold drinks, not after warm drinks [1], while fasting [3]. Sinking sensation at night [2]. Vomiting without nausea [1].
Abdomen
Pain, alternating with backache [2]; right hypochondrium, after eating to satiety [3/1]. Rumbling, on walking [2/1].
Rectum
Constipation when away from home [2]. Diarrhoea, after fat food [1*].
Urine
Copious, at night [3]. Scanty, during daytime [2].
Female
Pain, bearing down, uterus, when stooping [2/1].
Cough
Lying on back > [2]. From putting out the tongue [1/1].
Chest
Palpitation during digestion [3], after eating [3].
Back
Electric-like shocks along the spine, extending to vertex [1/1].
Limbs
Coldness of feet after wine [1/1].
Sleep
Waking, with anger [1], from hunger [3], with inability to move [1], from sexual excitement [1]. Yawning, with bulimia [2/1].
Dreams
Anxious, when lying on left side [1]. Giants [1]. Trees [2].
Chill
Icy coldness of body, as if lying on ice [1/1].
Generals
After midnight > [3].
* Repertory additions [Müller].
Food
Aversion: [2]: Beans and peas; bread; bread, brown; coffee; cooked food; meat; rye bread; smoking; sweets; tobacco; warm food. [1]: Cabbage; farinaceous; fat; onions; pastry; salt; solid food; sour.
Desire: [3]: Sweets; hot food; olives. [2]: Alcohol; cold drinks; cold food; oysters; warm drinks; warm food. [1]: Bread; farinaceous; smoking; sour.
Worse: [3]: Beans and peas; cabbage; chocolate; cold food; flatulent food; onions; wine. [2]: Bread, black; carrots; cold drinks; dry food; fruit; milk; oysters; pastry; sardines; sauerkraut; shellfish; sight of food; turnips. [1]: Beer; coffee; eggs; farinaceous; heavy food; herring; raw food; salad; salt; vegetables.
Better: [3]: Hot food. [2]: Sweets; warm drinks. [1]: Warm food.
Lyc.
 |
| Lycopodium clavatum |
[English proverb]
Do not make yourself so big, you are not so small.
[Jewish proverb]
Signs
Lycopodium clavatum. Staghorn Club moss. Running Pine. N.O. Lycopodiaceae.
CLASSIFICATION One the dominant plants of the forests in the Carboniferous Period, the club mosses, also called lycopods, are reduced today to five genera and some 900 species. The family consists of terrestrial or epiphytic, fern-like herbs or climbers with small, simple leaves typically arranged in whorls or spirals. The most common members are Lycopodium and Selaginella, which enjoy widespread distribution. About 200 species are placed in the genus Lycopodium; all have simple, crowded, scale-like leaves. The evolutionary significance of the family lies mainly in the advances made in branching, and in the development of a more complex rooting system. Their remains are one of the chief ingredients of coal.
FEATURES Club moss species extend from arctic regions into the tropics, but they rarely form conspicuous elements in any plant community. Because they are evergreen, they are most noticeable in winter. They are usually creeping or epiphytic and often inhabit moist places, esp. in tropical and subtropical forests. The creeping species have trailing stems from which grow erect shoots that look like tiny trees. Despite growing very slowly, the rhizomes may reach lengths of several metres. Some of the temperate woodland species form large mats on the forest floor; most of the tropical species grow on trees. They reproduce by means of spores, either clustered into small cones or borne in the axils of the small scalelike leaves. Some species of Lycopodium are called ground pine or creeping cedar, esp. those that resemble miniature hemlocks with flattened fan-shaped branches, and are often used for Christmas decorations.
COOL CLIMATES Lycopodium species such as L. clavatum, L. obscurum, L. alpinum, L. complanatum, and L. annotinum are native to the cool, boreal forests of North America, Russia, and Scandinavia. They are considered an indicator of cool temperature climates, fresh and very moist nitrogen-poor soils, and compacted forests floors. They will tolerate low nutrients and can withstand a wide range of light conditions. If temperatures become warmer and the forest becomes drier, these species will decrease. Lycopodium clavatum can be found in boreal forest, bracken grassland, northern lowland forest and northern upland forest.
CONTRASTS "The capsule which contains the gametes and the oil has a tetraedic, almost crystalline form, and is of such hardness that in the preparation of the remedy, trituration of several days duration is needed, using a special mill, in order to release the soft inner contents. During its entire phase of development, Lycopodium thus exhibits a contrariness in all its characteristic manifestations. From the enormous tree to the crouching tiny plant, from powerful vitality to the greatest vegetative weakness, and combined with such weakness enormous tenacity of survival. Such contrariness is symbolized, as it were, by the spore, where the extraordinary hardness contrasts with the softness of the contents. Once a mighty tree with an enormous trunk, the plant now winds snake-like [therefore the byname snakeroot], reaching a length of ten metres along the ground. Its basic form is still tree-like and it is thus called ground pine. From its miniature stem ascend tiny branches whose growth always favours one side. The side with the weaker growth remains retarded, the branches appearing curved to the side of stronger growth. They are covered with scale-like leaves which develop very slowly. The tiny plant requires coolness and for this reason favours the shade of woods, thickets, barren and solitary places, often near the relics of old walls. It does not develop directly from the spores, but goes through an asexual phase of a prothallus producing the sexual organs from which the spores originate. These remain sterile in most instances and only a few germinate. If they develop they need six to seven years until leaves appear, and for its whole development the plant needs ten to twenty years, the time a tree needs for its full growth. The few germinating spores need even here the presence of a saprophytic fungus to bring about any spermatogenesis at all. The sperms move actively with the help of tiny tails and need the element of water around them in order to be able to move. The outstanding characteristic is the enormous slowness of development of the plant, beginning with inability to achieve spermatogenesis independently, together with frequent sterility, sexual development slowed down even further, and the inability to form chlorophyll independently. In connection with extremely slow growth, this points to a generally slowed-down metabolism and thus to reduced vitality. This again is contrasted by great persistence through the plant's evolution and a wide distribution which makes Lycopodium endure through millions of years, with 11 main and 40 subspecies and in all zones of the earth. Thus the phylogenesis and ontogenesis of Lycopodium, its development, growth and metabolism manifest an unusual slowness, and at the same time great persistence of the life process. Again a certain contrariness emerges."1
USES Several Lycopodium species are grown as ornamentals, some are a source of fibre, and Lycopodium spores or powder are utilized in sound experiments in physics. The spores of Lycopodium clavatum are very flammable and were formerly used in fireworks, in theatre productions [special effects] and as an absorptive powder for pharmaceutical purposes. Its [former] use for surgical gloves has caused granulomatous reactions in wounds. The powder used in powders, soaps and shampoos has been reported to cause dermatitis. In 19th-century Sweden, the trailing stems were used to plait doormats, as well as to mop floors and to scrub pots and pans. "Used as a base for face-powder preparations, and a dry shampoo for the hair. The spores were used in tracer bullets and flares in World War II. It has been found that L. clavatum spores used to coat non-lubricated condoms, so that they will not stick when rolled up, can cause allergic reactions ranging from dermatitis to severe asthma attacks and worse. In Colombia a decoction has been made of 60 g of the green plant in one litre of water. This is put in baths that are taken twice by retarded children. Apparently the baths have been of great benefit. An infusion of the plant was taken by the Aleuts of the Aleutian Islands for post partum pain. The spores were used as a styptic and coagulant by the Potawatomi American Indians. In British Columbia the moss was inserted into the nose to cause bleeding and to cure headache."2
NAME The name is derived from Gr lykos, wolf, and podus, foot, in allusion to the rhizomes which resemble a wolf's paw. The specific name clavatus means club-shaped and refers to the shape of the stems. Although the members of this family resemble the mosses, they are considered to be evolutionarily more advanced because of their specialized fluid-conducting tissues [vascular plants]. True mosses are more primitive and nonvascular.
CONSTITUENTS Alkaloids [lycopodine, clavatine, clavotoxine]; cinnamic acid; flavonoids; polyohenols; triterpenes; sulphur compounds [whence its popular name of 'vegetable sulphur']; aluminium [the ash of the spores consist of 15-54% aluminium]; fatty acids [the spores consist of 40-50% of a greenish-yellow oil]; traces of copper, arsenic, iron, magnesium, manganese, and zinc [none of them in significant amounts].
MEDICINE "The parts of the plant now employed are the minute spores which, as a yellow powder, are shaken out of the kidney-shaped capsules or sporangia growing on the inner side of the bracts covering the fruit spike. Under the names of Muscus terrestris or M. clavatum the whole plant was used, dried, by ancient physicians as a stomachic and diuretic, mainly in calculous and other kidney complaints; the spores do not appear to have been used alone until the 17th century, when they were employed as a diuretic in dropsy, a drastic in diarrhoea, dysentery and suppression of urine, a nervine in spasms and hydrophobia, an aperient in gout and scurvy and a corroborant in rheumatism, and also as an application to wounds. ... The spores are still medicinally employed by herbalists in this country [England], both internally and externally, as a dusting powder in various skin diseases such as eczema and erysipelas and for excoriated surfaces, to prevent chafing in infants. Their chief pharmaceutical use is as a pill powder, for enveloping pills to prevent their adhesion to one another when placed in a box, and to disguise their taste. Dose, 10 to 60 grains. They have such a strong repulsive power that, if the hand is powdered with them, it can be dipped in water without becoming wet."3
PROVINGS •• [1] Hahnemann - 8 provers; method: unknown.
•• [2] Segin - 3 self-experimentations, 1835 and 1842; method: repeated doses of 18th and 30th dils.; 10-50 drops of 30th dil.; 10 drops of tincture and 1st dil., 1 drop of oily residue, and 50 drops of 3rd dil.
•• [3] Schelling - self-experimentation; method: ten trials with 8th, 19th, 20th, 23rd, 24th, and 200th dils., single dose or repeated doses.
•• [4] Genzke - self-experimentation, and experiment on 6 persons, 1846; method: "Dr. Genzke also experimented on five of his own children, boys and girls varying from 6 to 15 years of age, to whom he administered daily increasing doses of the 15th attenuation. No symptoms attributable to the drug resulted, and the same was the case after a 10 days course of the 3rd trit. The negative results of these experiments on Herr Rusch and on his children, led him to question whether the symptoms noted in his own case were really attributable to Lycopodium." [Hughes]
•• [5] Huber - 10 provers [6 females, 4 males], 1850; method: 5 grains of 5th trit., twice daily for 5-8 days [5 provers]; daily increasing doses from 15-20 to 60-90 grains, decreasing potencies from 6x to 1x, for periods ranging from 9 to 40 days [5 provers].
•• [6] Martin - 11 [male] provers, 1859; method: 1-4 doses of 1-2 grains of crude drug or 1st trit., observation periods ranging from 3 to 14 days.
•• [7] Baumgartner - self-experimentation, 1862; method: single dose of 100 drops of 30th dil., after 17 days same dose of 24th dil., after 28 days two doses of 100 drops of 18th dil., followed by 100 drops of 15th dil. on 1st and 2nd days, of 12th on 4th day, of 9th dil. on 6th and 7th days, of 6th dil. on 9th and 10th days, of 3rd dil. on 13th day, of 2nd dil. on 14th day, of 1st dil. on 15th day, then 10 drops of tincture on 16th day, 30 drops of tincture on 17th day, 100 drops of tincture on 18th and 20th days, and 1 1/2 ounces of tincture on 24th day; six weeks after last dose, continued with twice daily 5 grains of 1st trit. for 29 days.
•• [8] Robinson - 3 provers [2 females, 1 male]; method: one doses of 1000th dil. every third day; 18th dil., three times a day; 12th dil., three times a day.
[]1 Gutman, Homoeopathy. [2] Riley, Maori Healing and Herbal. [3] Grieve, A Modern Herbal.
Affinity
NUTRITION [DIGESTIVE TRACT; portal system; skin]. URINARY ORGANS. RIGHT SIDE [THROAT; chest; ovary; abdomen]. Brain. Lungs. * RIGHT SIDE. Left side. RIGHT then LEFT side.
Modalities
Worse: PRESSURE OF CLOTHES. WARMTH; warm room; wrapping up head. Waking. Wind. Eating; to satiety. Oysters. Indigestion. 4-8 P.M. Lying on right side [liver troubles]. Bread.
Better: WARM DRINKS; warm food. Cold applications. Motion. Eructations. After urinating [pain in back]. Loosening the clothes. Open air. Uncovering the head. Warmth of bed.
Main symptoms
M EXTREME LACK OF SELF-CONFIDENCE.
Aversion to undertaking NEW THINGS [expects failure].
• "Lack of confidence in his strength." [Hahnemann]
Self-protective.
Doesn't take risks when older, no personal decisions.
Often verbally criticised when younger - no confidence. 1
M Feeling of HELPLESSNESS.
• "He can properly speak about higher and even abstract things, but gets confused in everyday matters." [Hahnemann]
Cautious, irresolute [about trifles].
M Carefulness.
• "A peculiar strain of conservatism and slowness runs through all shades of Lyc. personalities. It is the caution of a person who has learned to rely not on physical strength and impulsiveness but upon the slower pace of deliberation and careful scrutiny. [Conscientious even about trifles.] Underneath this deceptively slow surface frequently smoulders a choleric temper given sudden vehement outburst, more pronounced of course in the irritable neurasthenic who is devoid of self-control." [Whitmont]
M Fears, shuns RESPONSIBILITIES.
M Compensatory HAUGHTINESS and DICTATORIAL, presumptuous behaviour. 'Nice outside, tyrant at home' [abusive, intolerant of contradiction, etc.].
• "Bravado is seen more often in Lycopodium than in any other type. It is an attempt to cover up anxiety by acting confidently. ... Not all Lycopodiums succumb to bravado. For simplicity's sake we can divide Lycopodium into three subtypes, which we could label 'the Wimp', 'the Strutter' and the average Lycopodium. In my experience the latter accounts for about half of the type, whilst the first two account for about a quarter each. The 'Wimp' does not resort to bravado. His nervousness is undisguised and often quite crippling. ... He has not learned to hide his fear behind the subtle defences of the average Lycopodium, or the cruder defences of the 'Strutter'. ... In direct contrast to the 'Wimp', the 'Strutter' counteracts his sense of impotency by exaggerating his masculine power. ... There are the physical strutters who go in for body-building and martial arts, so that they can kick sand in the eyes of wimps [or at least look as if they would]. ... Since he overvalues the masculine, he undervalues the feminine, and this means that the strutter is a very chauvinistic man. ... Strutters like to dominate others. Physical strutters do this with physical intimidation. ... Since they are cowards, physical strutters tend to bully women and timid men, and seek to impress those with more power." [Bailey]
M Pompous, stiff and pretentious.
INFLATED EGO.
M Irritability MORNING on WAKING.
[anger, cross, discontented, impatience, loathing at life]
• The Female Lycopodium.
• "As a general rule women who need Lycopodium become aware of being unwell in - or following - a situation for which their usual strategies for dealing with conflict are no longer adequate. They may feel too small to cope with something which seems overwhelming: 'not up to it'. ... In the patient's personal history, the decisive turning-point may well be the death of the father or, later on, the death of the husband or life-partner [or of some other person who has taken on a 'male' role in their life. This loss means that suddenly they find themselves needing to take on additional responsibilities, tasks and duties which over-stretch their own potential. Similarly, growing up without a father can lead to a Lycopodium situation: they have to take on too much responsibility too early. [Differentiate with Carc.] In Lycopodium, however, it is particularly the area of 'male duties'. ... A central feeling is that of smallness. The patient may experience herself as a dwarf; everything else seems much too large. The rubric 'Dreams of giants' is maybe the most expressive in the Repertory regarding Lycopodium. Things which formerly were experienced as being of normal size suddenly seem bigger and more threatening. ... Family or social obligations however demand a strength which is basically not available. So as to do justice to these demands, a pseudo-strength is set up. ... It is rather a question of self-overestimation. In other words, they compensate for their feeling of smallness with a feeling of enlargement. ... Too great closeness is also an issue for Lycopodium. Lycopodium's timidity makes this intimidating, Lycopodium's distension makes it restricting, Lycopodium's pseudo-strength implies the danger of being unmasked by it. ... Since it is the nature of praise to make the recipient feel greater than they actually are, Lycopodium has problems in dealing with it. Praise hits the Lycopodium button fairly and squarely. ... In order for the synergy of pseudo-strength and inner uncertainty to work, the one must suppress the other. In this case what is involved is the suppression of the softer and more emotional side by the harder and more rational side. ... The suppression of the intuitive side [left] by the rational side [right] has sometimes been marked by a rather masculine or boyish disposition, even in the physiognomy. ... Instances of self-control are particularly to be found in the area of eating ['I exercise moderation'; 'I restrain myself and try to set a good example.'] Other areas: Health; Aggression ['I am able to control myself.']; Weeping ['Not in front of other people.']."2
G Keen intellect, weak muscular power.
• "People of a robust muscular or fat digestive type are usually mentally less active than people of the cerebral type who tend to suffer from digestive and muscular weakness and are of frail vitality. The Lycopodium patient presents a special instance of the 'cerebral' type with its vitality depressing activity proceeding from the head [brain] downwards towards the vital and reproductive centres. Thus we find that Lycopodium fits weak children with well developed heads but puny sickly bodies; that its symptoms generally are: aggravated from above downwards; and that it produces and cures a state of emaciation of the upper part of the body with a semidropsical condition in the lower parts." [Whitmont]
G Chilly, yet strong craving for OPEN AIR.
Sensitive to DRAFTS.
G < WARM room, yet > warm BED.
• "A peculiar thing about Lycopodium is the paradoxical symptoms in regard to heat and cold. In one case it expressed itself in this way. During the daytime he can't stand heat and throws off all his clothes. At night he wants to pile one blanket on top of the other, particularly on the feet, and he freezes and closes all the windows. During the day he just couldn't live in the warm room." [Whitmont]
G Becoming COLD [< or >].
< Becoming warm in open air. G EASY SATIETY, or increased appetite after eating a little. G HUNGRY at night; wakes from hunger. Has to eat before going to sleep. MUST eat at regular times [to avoid headache]. G Craving for SWEETS. G < FLATULENT FOOD. G HOT food [desire + >].
G < 3-4 A.M. and 4-8 P.M. c In terms of biorhythms and the 'organic clock', at 3 a.m. "the lung's vital capacity is at its lowest point, with congestion in the pulmonary circulation and venous return at a minimum. 4 a.m. is the critical period when the change-over from assimilation to dissimilation occurs. Switch-over from trophotropic to ergotropic rhythms in autonomic sphere, and to secretory functions in glandular system. All patients whose regulatory functions are out of phase and who are unable to switch easily from night-time to day-time rhythms wake up at 4 a.m. At 4 p.m. the change-over from day to night phase in liver rhythms takes place."3 G > FORENOON.
> AFTER midnight.
G FULL of GAS. INFLATED.
Gastrointestinal disturbances.
G Bubbling / clucking sensation.
[ears; chest; heart; liver; renal region]
G RIGHT-SIDED complaints; or from RIGHT to LEFT.
G < At beginning of motion. > Motion.
G DRYNESS [palms, vagina, skin, nose, etc.].
• "Most conspicuous among the trace minerals in the enveloping structures of the spores is aluminium, the percentage of it in the ash varying between 15 and 54%. This might account for the great dryness of mucous membranes, sometimes characteristic of Lycopodium, and also the great hunger which is found in the picture of Alumina." [Gutman]
P Headache from overheating.
> Cold [uncovering head >].
[Stomach, abdomen and throat > warmth and warm drinks.]
P One foot cold, the other hot. Puts ONE foot out of bed.
[1] Wallace, Remedy Notes. [2] Karl-Josef Müller, The Female Lycopodium: New Aspects of the Remedy with Clinical Confirmation. [3] Köhler, The Handbook of Homoeopathy.
Rubrics
Mind
Want of amativeness, in men [3], in women [1]. Answering, dictatorial [2]. Anxiety, when the train is in a tunnel [1]. Aversion, to her own children [2], to women [3]. Cheerful when it thunders and lightens [3]. Dictatorial [3]. Delusions, has childish fantasies [1/1], of being in two places at the same time [2], everything will vanish [1/1]. Dulness, > open air [3]. Fear, during coition [1], of being unable to reach his destination [1/1], body is smaller [1*], with sensation of stoppage of circulation, at night [2/1], of undertaking anything [3]. Flattering [3]. Irritability, from noise, even from crackling of newspapers [1]. Laughing, when looked at [1]. Sadness, < company [2]. Starting, startled, on going to sleep, as if starting from feet [1/1]. Weary of life, in company [2/1]. Weeping, when thanked [3/1]. Vertigo When looking at revolving objects [1]. Head Empty sensation while talking [1]. Motions of head, shaking head involuntarily, which makes him dizzy [3/1]. Pain, > sneezing [1], > uncovering head [3].
Eye
Sensation as if eyes were falling out [1]. Pain, stitching, when looking at anything white or red, or at the sun [3/1]. Pupils, dilated before menses [1/1].
Vision
Hemiopia, with hemicrania [3/1]. Lost, evening at twilight [3]. Vibration, as of heated air [2/1].
Hearing
Acute, to noises, noises long retained [1]. Lost, during menses [1].
Mouth
Speech, indistinct, morning [2/1]; stammering, last words of sentence [1/1].
Throat
Constant disposition to swallowing from choking [2].
Stomach
Appetite, increased, with pain in stomach [2]. Aversion to food, until he tastes it, then he is ravenous [3]. Indigestion after onions [3]. Nausea, after cold drinks, not after warm drinks [1], while fasting [3]. Sinking sensation at night [2]. Vomiting without nausea [1].
Abdomen
Pain, alternating with backache [2]; right hypochondrium, after eating to satiety [3/1]. Rumbling, on walking [2/1].
Rectum
Constipation when away from home [2]. Diarrhoea, after fat food [1*].
Urine
Copious, at night [3]. Scanty, during daytime [2].
Female
Pain, bearing down, uterus, when stooping [2/1].
Cough
Lying on back > [2]. From putting out the tongue [1/1].
Chest
Palpitation during digestion [3], after eating [3].
Back
Electric-like shocks along the spine, extending to vertex [1/1].
Limbs
Coldness of feet after wine [1/1].
Sleep
Waking, with anger [1], from hunger [3], with inability to move [1], from sexual excitement [1]. Yawning, with bulimia [2/1].
Dreams
Anxious, when lying on left side [1]. Giants [1]. Trees [2].
Chill
Icy coldness of body, as if lying on ice [1/1].
Generals
After midnight > [3].
* Repertory additions [Müller].
Food
Aversion: [2]: Beans and peas; bread; bread, brown; coffee; cooked food; meat; rye bread; smoking; sweets; tobacco; warm food. [1]: Cabbage; farinaceous; fat; onions; pastry; salt; solid food; sour.
Desire: [3]: Sweets; hot food; olives. [2]: Alcohol; cold drinks; cold food; oysters; warm drinks; warm food. [1]: Bread; farinaceous; smoking; sour.
Worse: [3]: Beans and peas; cabbage; chocolate; cold food; flatulent food; onions; wine. [2]: Bread, black; carrots; cold drinks; dry food; fruit; milk; oysters; pastry; sardines; sauerkraut; shellfish; sight of food; turnips. [1]: Beer; coffee; eggs; farinaceous; heavy food; herring; raw food; salad; salt; vegetables.
Better: [3]: Hot food. [2]: Sweets; warm drinks. [1]: Warm food.
Comments
Post a Comment
PLEASE WRITE YOUR SYMPTOMS HERE TO GET SUGGESTION.