Bellis perennis

Bellis perennis

“Your pleasures spring like daisies in the grass,
Cut down, and up again as blithe as ever.”
[Walter Savage Landor, ‘Ianthe’]
Signs

Bellis perennis. Common Daisy. Bruisewort. Bairnwort. N.O. Compositae.
CLASSIFICATION Bellis, a genus of 7 species, is widely distributed throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. It comprises annual or perennial herbs with simple leaves, often borne in a basal rosette, and numerous small flowers in dense heads.
FEATURES The outer flowers [white] are the ray florets or rays; the inner ones [yellow] the disk florets. It flowers from the earliest days of spring till late in the autumn; it may even blossom under a thin layer of snow. It prefers nutritious, calcareous soils, with sufficient moisture during the winter and spring. It grows slowly, but will, in due time, cover large areas. In meadows and lawns it is very persistent and sometimes considered being a pest. In spite of being repeatedly trodden upon, it “always comes up smiling afterwards.” Mowing the lawn regularly, stimulates Bellis to produce more flowers [and seed]. In hay-fields blossoming is prevented by the high grasses which take away the sunlight. But very soon after the hay is harvested, Bellis perennis starts its second flowering season. Bellis perennis is a typical representative of the group of vulneraries belonging to the Aster family or Compositae. Other members of this group are Arnica, Millefolium, Calendula, and Echinacea. Bellis should not be confused with the American White or Ox-eye Daisy, which is Chrysanthemum leucanthemum.
NAME Bellis derives from L. bellus, pretty; perennis means perennial, living more than two years. Its common name is a contraction of ‘Day’s eye’, because it closes its pinky lashes and goes to sleep when the sun sets, but in the morning expands its petals to the light. Another version is that bellis comes from L. bellum, war, because it grew in fields of battle and is useful in curing wounds. Its Dutch name, madeliefje, probably comes from ‘made, maagd’ [virgin, maiden] and ‘lief’ [sweet, pretty], referring to the virgin Mary and representing her innocence and purity. In Nordic countries the plant was dedicated to the love and fertility goddess Freya. Her alternate name, Frigg, became a colloquialism for sexual intercourse as well as masturbation. In some Germanic countries it is still believed that Freya’s sacred day, Friday, is the luckiest day for weddings. The Friday was thought to favour fertility.
SYMBOLISM As an emblem of deceit, Greene called the daisy the ‘dissembling daisie’. ‘Light of love wenches’ are warned by it ‘not to trust every fair promise that such amorous bachelors make them.’ Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet gives the queen a daisy to signify, ‘that her light and fickle love ought not to expect constancy in her husband.’ It is said that whoever picks the first daisy of the season, will be possessed of a spirit of coquetry beyond any control.

Bellis perennis

FOLKLORE Fresh as a daisy, bright and vigorous, finds its opposite in pushing up the daisies, dead and buried, or in someone on his way there while drinking himself under the daisies. Also: you must put your foot on the first daisy you see in spring unless you want daisies to grow on your grave or that of someone dear to you before the year is out. According to an old Celtic legend, the spirits of children who died at birth scattered new and lovely flowers on earth to cheer their sorrowing parents. “The cheerful little daisy is a symbol of innocence, because of its association with children, and of survival. Daisies adapt to almost any landscape and soil type, and will survive being trodden underfoot and all the indignities of the hoe and the lawnmower.”1
LOVE DIVINATION The daisy was often used in love divination. “In Wales the daisy is generally selected by the doubting maiden who is wishful to test the fidelity of her lover. Gathering a daisy, she commences plucking the petals off, saying with each one, ‘Does he love me? – much – a little – devotedly – not at all’, and the last petal decides the question.” On Empire Day – 24 May – daisy chains were worn and daisies were picked from the lawns. “Gather daisies. The daisy is a symbol of our greatness. The golden centre was us – Great Britain; the petals were the colonies, absolutely inseparable and dependent on us.”2
SOCIAL ORDER The daisy has also been used to express criticism of the social structure of Great Britain: “‘They are nice flowers’, he said, her emotional tones putting a constraint on him. ‘You know that a daisy is a company of florets, a concourse, become individual. Don’t the botanists put it highest in the line of development? I believe they do.’ ‘The compositae, yes, I think so’, said Ursula … ‘Explain it so, then’, he said. ‘The daisy is a perfect little democracy, so it’s the highest of flowers, hence its charm.’ ‘No’, she cried, ‘no – never. It isn’t democratic.’ ‘No’, he admitted. ‘It’s the golden mob of the proletariat surrounded by a showy white fence of the idle rich.’ ‘How hateful – your hateful social orders!’ she cried. ‘Quite! It’s a daisy – we’ll leave it alone.’3
MEDICINE In early British medicine, doctors used the daisy to tell whether a patient would live or die. “Take the flower of the daisy and pound it well with wine, giving it to the patient to drink; if he vomits it he will die of the disease, if not he will live and this has been proven.”4 The daisy has a long history of medicinal use. In his Herball [1597], Gerard states that “daisies do mitigate all kinde of paines, but especially in the joints, and gout, if they be stamped with new butter unsalted, and applied upon the pained place.” Various local names refer to its reputation in healing broken bones: Bonewort [“it helps bones to knyt agayne”, says William Turner], Beinwell and Knochenheil [German folk names, meaning ‘bone healer’], Consaude [old French name, derived from L. consolida, to unite]. Other medicinal applications include its internal use for coughs and catarrh, and externally for ruptures, varicose veins, minor wounds, and sore eyes. The first three daisies that one ate in spring were said to prevent one from having toothache, fever or eye complaints for the rest of the year! Its use in the treatment of apoplexy led to its name Herba Paralysios. Due to its alleged abortifacient properties, Bellis perennis was in 17th century Germany banned as an herb and attempts were made to destroy all species. Recent research has shown that triterpenoid glycosides obtained from Bellis perennis inhibit the growth of human-pathogenic yeasts [Candida and Cryptococcus species]. 5
LIGHT “The crimson petal tips contain anthocyanin which is able to convert light rays into heat rays. When the daisy is closed these central tips are concentrated and form a dome over the central disc, thereby concentrating the sun’s rays directly and producing heat. When the sun is high the petals open, since the heat concentration is no longer necessary.”6
PROVINGS Introduced into homoeopathic medicine by Compton Burnett.
•• [1] Compton Burnett – 1 prover, 1880; method: 1-3 times daily 10-15 drops of tincture for 24 days.
•• [2] Hinsdale – 6 provers [2 females, 4 males], 1915; method: daily doses of tincture for 23 days.
•• [3] Mezger and Haehl – 21 provers, 1937; method: daily doses of tincture, 2x, or 6x, for periods ranging from 6 to 10 weeks.
•• [4] Deacon and Ribot-Smith – 13 provers [9 females, 4 males], 1995; method: 30c and 200c, ‘not to be taken for more than 3 doses a day for two days [six tablets maximum].’
[1] McIntyre, Flower Power. [2] Vickery, Oxford Dictionary of Plant-Lore. [3] D.H. Lawrence, Women in Love. [4] Buckner Hollingsworth, Flower Chronicles. [5] Bader et al., The antifungal action of polygalacic acid glycosides, Pharmazie July 1990. [6] Stephenson, A Materia Medica and Repertory.
Affinity
Blood vessels; capillaries. Nerves. Spleen. Female organs. Joints. * Left side.
Modalities
Worse: INJURY. Sprains. TOUCH. Cold baths or drinks. Wet. Becoming chilled when hot. Warm bed.
Better: [Continued] motion. Open air. After eating.
Main symptoms
M Great irritability. [5 provers]*
Irritated persons that think slowly; often dream of anger and revenge. [Mangialavori]
M Detached and disconnected whilst feeling alert, vital, at peace or all right.
Delusion daughter was dead, with unconcerned feeling.
Presentiment of own death with lack of concern about this.
• “In my experience of this trauma was an out of body withdrawn state which felt all right though disconnected. This is one of the mind symptoms which emerged most strongly in this proving; the feeling of being all right with a lack of real connection. … These two states of Bellis perennis may be paralleled to the way the daisy responds to light. In sunlight the flower heads open and bask in the sunshine whilst in darkness the flower is closed. These are the two states of Bellis perennis, one is feeling open and expansive, vital and at peace with the world combined with the alternative feeling of being depressed, exhausted and disconnected often simultaneously present. … The central mental theme of this proving has been the state of detachment and disconnection with a contradictory simultaneous feeling of being at peace, all right, calmness or tranquillity. This seems to reflect an out of body state. The provers would report they were all right and peaceful and calm yet actually what had been happening or being experienced was far from this ideal state. It was a state that was difficult for both provers and supervisors to grasp exactly what was happening and it was sometimes a subtle state that the prover was unaware of. On the one hand the feeling of being all right combined with cerebral stasis which resulted in the person being disinclined to talk or go to work. On further questioning it seemed that difficulties in relationships and life’s ups and downs were just passing them by or going over their heads. In this sense it was a state of positive indifference [though positive only to the prover and not those around] and a state in which the person felt more objective and less caught up in emotional reactions with the resulting effect of being better able to function without this. However to the provers’ families and loved ones the state of indifference led to extreme marital strain. The polarity of this was also expressed in the sphere of family and close friends, in the need to contact the family, feeling the marriage was over, the relationship not working, and dreams of reconciliation. There was a lack of awareness by the prover of their own indifference since they felt just fine, in fact more tranquil and at peace with themselves than usual.”1
• “I lost my cheerfulness, there is no feeling accompanying my experience. It makes me restless: things happen as things, except when it is a strong stimulus. I strive for the extremes, because that makes me feel at least something, otherwise I am not present in the here and now. … I feel like a child that is beaten repeatedly and waits for the next blow. I have no energy to play with my children or chat with my friends, but on the other hand have lots of energy to clean the house. I don’t even hear my children, they put me out and bring me out of balance.”2
c Friends with everybody.
Compton Burnett’s prover – a male adult in sound health – compares the effects of Bellis with those of alcohol. He suffers from all sorts of physical complaints, e.g. his splenic region is ‘tight as a drum’, but his spirits remain continually good.
• “Brain getting muddled, in excellent spirits, but is repeatedly told that he is under the influence of ‘something stronger than tea.’ … In letter written to Dr. Burnett he described his mind as getting confused, his memory weak, thoughts jumbled, talk incoherent; and states that the splenic region has become large, the false ribs as it were forced out, with stitches there. … Is laughed at for asking one question ever so often. … He described himself while under influence of Bellis as ‘happy as a king, feeling he was doing strange things, but could not help it; friends with everybody.” [Hughes]
c Clinical experience of Karl-Josef Müller with Bellis perennis confirms the idea of friendliness. Bellis wants to appear nice, smile, and make a nice thing of every problem. In addition, they want to be surrounded by nice people; a nice, friendly, superficial kind of company. They love me, they love me not, etc.
G INJURIES / VULNERARY.
Recent and remote effects of blows, falls, accidents, straining.
• “Bellis is pre-eminently indicated in sprains. Arnica takes better care of contusions. But the sprains of Bellis are bruised and both the soft and ligamentous tissues are involved. Bellis achieves results when the sprain comes from a heavy impact. Rhus-t. is indicated in simple sprains. … I never overlook Bellis in fractures which are near joints; such injuries nearly always result from falls. Once more, Bellis is nearly a specific for falls on the coccyx. Have we not all heard a patient say that they have never felt well since a certain fall years before? I believe that many of the ‘cures’ of crooked, painful spines reported by the Osteopaths might be checkmated by a dose or two of Bellis.”3
c Deep trauma or septic wounds; esp. abdominal, pelvic, etc.
c Injury when swelling remains after treatment with Arn.
c Railway spine.
c Persons who have done hard physical work, travelled much.
• “Another indication for Bellis is: neuralgia after running out into the cold when overheated, and after effects of cold or iced drinks when heated. Labourers or gardeners, drinking large draughts of cold cider or cold water, while perspiring profusely, may develop dyspepsia or rheumatism. Have you noticed how often you see old men hobbling along county lanes? They have been stooping over garden beds or in the fields, hoeing and weeding, sowing and planting, all through their lives. As a result of their labours, the prolonged bruising of their muscles, overuse of their spinal muscles, along with imbibing cold drinks when hot, they are bent almost double. Give Bellis perennis in the early stages to these gardeners and farm labourers, and you would save many a poor old chap from such crippling rheumatism and stiffness of back, spondylitis, slipped disc and the rest.”4
c Fall on coccyx.
c Bearing down with labour-like pain after parturition.
c [Cancerous] induration of mammae after contusion.
c Lymphoedema after mamma amputation.
G Exhaustion and tiredness.
And Inner nervousness, making one move around, which >.
G < Cold; > heat.
But headache < heat, > cold.
G Increased appetite; must even eat at night.
• “Seldom is there loss of appetite. There is a desire for appetite-stimulating foods such as vinegar, onions, wurst, and a great thirst.”*
Appetite increased after eating # loss of appetite.
Desire for vinegar and raw onions. [considered characteristic by Mangialavori]
G Thirst increased or constantly thirsty during both day and night.
Desire for cold water. [Observed in provings of Mezger and of Deacon.]
G Sleeplessness after 3 a.m.
• “I made a slight proving of Bellis perennis. I had seven persons take Bellis perennis 30. I obtained symptoms from one prover only unless a state of well-being in the other six could be called a symptom. This one prover after sleeping very well would awake at 3 a.m. and not be able to go asleep again. There was marked desire for company and unusual energy of feeling. There was loquacity and cheerfulness, abdominal and rectal flatus. There was lameness of the knees for six days and then it passed off.”5
• “When given at night Bellis is apt to cause the patient to wake up very early in the morning, hence I order it by preference to be taken not too late in the day. I have often cured with it the symptom, ‘Wakes up too early in the morning and cannot get off again’, and here the higher dilutions act much more decidedly and lastingly.”6
This symptom also occurs, in one prover, in the proving by Deacon and Ribot-Smith.
• “I was extremely restless during the night, esp. after 3 a.m. I woke up repeatedly and had lots to drink. … Looking back, I see that for several nights I have woken about 3 a.m. like clockwork, and never got properly back to sleep after.”
G Desire for motion [esp. in open air] which >.
Motion > flatulence in stomach and abdomen, and cardiac arrhythmia.
Continued motion > rheumatoid pains [also > massage].
• “Rheumatic pains all over the body, < morning, > motion. Soreness in the muscles.” [Hinsdale]
G Bruised soreness; sometimes > motion, > rubbing.
P Dysmenorrhoea.
Pain in uterus as if squeezed.
Pain extending down the anterior surface of the thighs.
And Dizziness; < rising, > lying down.
Strong bearing down pains [labour-like] and backache.
P Inability to walk during pregnancy [from straining abdominal muscles, or internal bruising of uterus by kicking or violent motions of foetus, or mechanical pressure on groins due to heaviness of foetus].
P SKIN.
c Three of Hinsdale’s provers developed skin symptoms.
Itching on the back and along the flexor surfaces of the thighs.
< Heat [bed; bath]; > cold.
c During an experiment on himself – 20 drop doses of the pure tincture for 14 days – Dr. Thomas developed boils.
• “In two weeks after leaving it off, for the first time in my life I had a large boil on the back of my neck [r. side]. … Three days after this boil got well another made its appearance, but yielded speedily. … As at no other time in my life have I suffered from boils, I am inclined to think that these were due to the use of the daisy.” [Hughes]
c Compton Burnett’s prover reported that “several pimples are coming out on face and neck, which is unprecedented with him.”
c Dr. Lloyd Tuckey arrived at the following conclusion:
• “I have myself twice made short provings of Bellis, but have lost my notes. It acted laxatively with me, and produced many little boils with mattery heads.” [Hughes]
c Of Mezger’s provers, 14 reported skin effects.
• “The changes demonstrated all signs of dermatitis with itching and burning, from erythema, wheals, urticaria, vesicles, herpes labialis and nasalis, weeping eczema, to the formation of furuncles and carbuncles. One prover reported a dry skin, chapped and cracked fingertips with rhagades. Three provers reported a real furuncle, and the fourth a carbuncle.”*
* Mezger, Gesichtete Homöopathische Arzneimittellehre. [English translation by Whitmont and Stephenson in: Journal of American Institute of Hom., 1965 vol. 58 no. 1-2.]
This translation is far from accurate! It contains inexplicable mistakes, some of which ended up in the repertories. For example: five of Mezger’s provers reportmarked irritability, to the extent that the surroundings of the five provers notice it. The translation, however, is: “Extraordinary excitability so that he becomes confused about his surroundings [five provers].” The symptom ends up in the repertory as Confusion of mind, of surroundings [1/1]. A similar odd translation regards the skin symptoms. Whereas Mezger states that many skin symptoms were recorded, ranging from erythema to weeping eczema and, even, boils, the translators turn this into: “The changes demonstrated all phases of erythema, … and weeping eczema leading to boils.” One of the provers experiences arrhythmia with a feeling of weakness about the heart. This irregularity of the heart disappears entirely during a walk. In the translation the “irregularity migrates around until it completely disappears.” In addition, the translators state that “Two other provers reported palpitation during heart pain.” It should have been: “In two other provers there occurred palpitation of the heart and pain in the heart, respectively.” “Marked feeling of hunger, so that one even has to eat at night”, in the translation becomes: “Insatiable hunger, so that one must eat again immediately.” According to the translators there is a “strong pulling upward in the uterus associated with a backache”, – a symptom eligible for a high grade of peculiarity – whereas actually it reads “strong bearing down feeling”. The word translated as “upward” apparently was chosen in imitation of the sound of the German word, “abwärts”, although it means the opposite, “downward”. The “strong clotted menorrhagia” of one prover was not caused by the fact that “during this time she was moving her house”, as the translators state, but came after physical exertion. Under “Bleeding” the reaction of one particularly sensitive patient to Bellis perennis 6x is misinterpreted as strong headaches “followed by strong nosebleeds which lasted several hours and relieved the headache.” Fortunately, not the nosebleeds lasted for several hours, but the headache improved for several hours after a bleeding from the nose.
[1] Deacon and Ribot-Smith, Bellis perennis: A Proving. [2] Jansen, When feelings are neglected by those responsible; HL 1/99. [3] Krichbaum, Bellis perennis; Intern. Hahn. Ass. 1911-12. [4] Shepherd, A Physician’s Posy. [5] Hutchinson, cited in Krichbaum’s article. [6] Compton Burnett, Change of Life in Women.
Rubrics
Mind
Cheerful when it thunders and lightens [1]. Confusion regarding other people’s identity [1D]; mistakes strangers for familiar people [1D]. Delusion of being friendless [1]; of hearing noises, of telephone ringing [1D]. Detached, distant from partner without being aware of it [1D]; as if head under water [1D]; as if mind buffered [1D]. Fastidious [1]. Desire to go home and see the family [1D]. Loquacity [1]. Sadness, aversion to company, desire for solitude [1D], with heaviness of body [1D], with weeping [1D]. Taciturn, indisposed to talk [1D].
Vertigo
During painful menses [1H], > lying down [1H], < rising [1H]. From motion [1D]. With nausea [1D]. On seeing an expanse of white floor [1D]. Head As if head were a solid lump [1D]. Eye Desire to close eyes, with heaviness of lids [1D]. Pain, aching and burning, < moving the head [1D]. Vision Colours, pulsating white light [1D]; kaleidoscope of bright colours [1D]. Sensation as if looking through ripples of water [1D]. Hearing Noises and voices seem distant [1D]. Nose Feeling of coldness of nose [1D]. Coryza with acrid, excoriating discharge [2M], watery [2M]. Obstruction, wakes him at night [1]. Sneezing [1D]; sensation as if going to sneeze [1D]. Face Eruptions, acne, with irregular menses [1]. Sensation of swelling of lips [1D]. Mouth Sensation of swelling of tongue [1D]. Teeth Sensation of elongation [1M]. Pain, > warmth [1M].
Stomach
Appetite increased at night [1M]. Fulness and pressure in epigastrium after fat pastry [1M]. Pain, > bending double [1M], > eating [1M], while lying [1], > pressure [1M].
Abdomen
Feeling of a knotted ball in central upper abdomen [1D]. Inflammation of appendix [1M]. Rumbling, and flatulence, > motion [1M].
Stool
Odour, offensive diarrhoea, stool sour smelling [1D].
Male
Disposition to masturbation [2], in children [1].
Female
Ailments from coitus interruptus [1]. Disposition to masturbation [1]. Menses, clotted [1], copious < exertion [1], scanty with acne on face [1]. Pain, uterus, extending down anterior surface of thighs [1M]; bearing down, and backache in lumbar region [1H]; uterus, as if squeezed [1H]. Chest Cancer, mammae, from contusion [2; Con.]. Induration, mammae, after contusion [2; Con.]. Sensitive nodules in mammae, in [2]. Palpitation after exertion [1D], > walking in open air [1M]. Feeling of weakness about the heart [1M].
Back
Injuries of spine, coccyx [1]. Pain, while lying on abdomen [1].
Limbs
Heat in legs and desire to put legs out of bed [1D]. Pain, rheumatic, < beginning motion [1M], > continued motion [1M], > rubbing [1M]; in right shoulder [deltoid muscle], awakening him at night [1M], > rubbing and movement [1M]. Weakness after gout [1/1].
Sleep
Position, sleeps on abdomen [2]. Sleepiness during the day with extreme tiredness [1D]. Waking at 3 a.m. , unable to sleep again [2], at 3 a.m. from thirst [1D].
Dreams
Danger [2D]. Hoses, pipes, tubes [symbols of the umbilical cord] [1D]. Difficult journeys [2D].
Skin
Eruptions, boils slow to form and slow to heal [1D]. Itching > cold [1H], < heat [1H]. Repertory additions. D = Deacon and Ribot-Smith; H = Hinsdale; M = Mezger and Haehl. Food Desire: [1]: Chocolate [D]; meat; onions; pickled food; vinegar. Worse: [1]: Apples [= vomiting]; cold food or drinks when overheated; fat pastry [= pressure and fulness in epigastrium].