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This mint ..."
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<td valign="top" width="50%">This mint species, once known as bleehon or
glechon, was apparently an ingredient of kykeon,
the potion drunk by initiates to the Eleusinian
mysteries (Ruck 1995, 142). Aristophanes, in Pax,
mentions a drink containing pennyroyal that was
named kykeon and which Hermes, the messenger
of the gods, recommended as a protection against disease. Pennyroyal was also used to produce love
drinks and was considered an obscene metaphor
for a woman's pubic hair and a symbol of illicit
sexuality. The herbalist Bodin (1591) identified it
with Homer's nepenthes. Pennyroyal was one of
the most renowned abortifacients of antiquity and
was used medicinally to treat cramps in the lower
abdomen (Ratsch 1995a, 237 f.). In ancient times,
it was also burned as an incense. In South America,
the dried plant is still used as a ritual incense and
is offered to the earth goddess Pachamama (Ott
1993,412).
A medicinal use of pennyroyal can still be
found in the folk medicine of Cyprus, where fresh
leaves are eaten in salad to treat male impotency.
They are also consumed as a tea for stimulant and
tonic purposes.
Pennyroyal has medicinal and ritual significance
for the pagan Berber peoples of the Atlas
Mountains (Morocco) that may have its roots in
ancient ideas. A tea made from the herbage is
drunk to treat abdominal pains, colic, rheumatism,
and flatulence and as a tonic and digestive. During
the summer solstice, the plant is burned as a ritual
incense to protect humans and animals against
misfortune. The feast consumed on the night of
the summer solstice consists of snails that have
been cooked in salt, pepper (Piper nigrum; cf.
Piper spp.), pennyroyal, and thyme (Thymus
spp.). Eating this preparation ensures good health
throughout the coming year. The medicinal
properties of the plant are said to be best when the
plant is collected shortly before the solstice. It is
used externally to treat wounds and is taken internally
to treat coughs and colds (Venzlaff 1977).
Hildegard von Bingen had the following to say
about the psychoactive effects of pennyroyal: "He
who has pains in the brain so that he is ill should
add pennyroyal to wine and boil it, and he should
lay it on his head while still warm, and he should
tie a cloth over this, so that the brain is warm and
suppresses the madness in him" (Physica 1.126).
Pennyroyal contains 1 to 20/0 essential oil, 80 to
94% of which is pulegone, a substance that can
induce abortions in animals and humans (Boyd
1992). Piperitone and (- )-limonene also occur
(Roth et al. 1994, 493). Use of the plant as an
abortifacient can be dangerous (Gunby 1979,
Vallance 1955), and deaths have been reported (cf.
Focus [1994] 32:95). Higher dosages of oleum
pulegii can produce delirium and an anesthesialike
paralysis. Apart from the essential oil, no
psychoactive compounds have been isolated (Ott
1993,412).</td>
<td valign="top" width="53%"><strong>Literature</strong>
Boyd, E. 1. 1992. Hedeoma pulegioides and Mentha
pulegium. In Adverse effects ofherbal drugs, ed. P.
A. G. M. de Smet, K. Keller, R. Hansel, and R. F.
Chandler, 151-56. Berlin: Springer.
Gunby, P. 1997. Plant known for centuries still causes
problems today. Journal ofthe American Medical
Association 241 (21): 2246-47.
Vallance, W. B. 1955. Pennyroyal poisoning, a fatal
case. Lancet (1955): 850-851.</td>
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