Pellitory-of-the-wall (Parietaria officinalis) can be found in gardens across the city growing on walls, beside shady paths, over rubble and along fences. It has reddish, brittle stems, downy leaves and small flowers at the base of the leaf stem. It is abundant, yet a largely an unknown nuisance, being responsible for pollen allergy all over Europe, and most academic research focuses on this aspect.¹

Pellitory is actually a useful diuretic, mild laxative, and demulcent herb for treating the skin. According to Dioscorides the juice of the plant will also help with persistent coughs, is an effective gargle for sore throats and inflamed tonsils, and can be dropped in the ear for earache.²

Pellitory has a strong reputation for treating gout, gravel, dropsy (oedema) and kidney stones, and can be made into an infusion or decoction for this purpose. You can also drink the juice of the fresh herb.³  For stones, pellitory will combine well with wild carrot and nettle. Culpepper, a man who knew his Dioscorides, says that ‘the juice of pellitory-of-the-wall clarified and boiled in a syrup with honey, and a spoonful of it drank every morning by such as are subject to the dropsy…let them come but to me, and I will cure them gratis’.⁴

Dioscorides also tells us that you can use the leaves as a poultice, being astringent and cooling, for such conditions as erysipelas, warts, inflammations and herpes. Combined with goat’s grease and Cyprus oil to make a cream, it can be used for gout. Culpepper enlarges on this, making pellitory a very useful woundwort much like plantain for all sorts of skin complaints and injuries in adults and children: ‘A poultice made hereof with mallows, and boiled in wine and wheat bran and bean flower, and some oil put thereto, and applied warm to any bruised sinews, tendon, or muscle, doth in a very short time restore them to their strength, taking away the pains of the bruises, and dissolves the congealed blood coming of blows, or falls from high places’.

Disclaimer: this article is intended for the purpose of general education only, and is not a substitute for a diagnosis, treatment advice, or a prescription given in a consultation with a qualified physician.

References:

1.         Ciprandi G, Puccinelli P, Incorvaia C, Masieri S. Parietaria Allergy: An Intriguing Challenge for the Allergist. Medicina (Kaunas) 2018;54.

2.         Dioscorides P. De Materia Medica. South Africa: Ibidis; 2000.

3.         Grieve M. A Modern Herbal. London: Tiger Books International; 1994.

4.         Culpepper N. Culpepper’s Complete Herbal. London: Richard Evans; 1814.