Anagallis Arvensis — Homeopathic Remedy Profile

Anagallis arvensis, the scarlet pimpernel, is a small annual of the Primulaceae, whose fresh expressed juice is tinctured in equal parts alcohol. Boericke's range for it reads "tincture and all potencies," and both faces of that range are still met in practice — as a herbal vulnerary at Ø for warts and splinters, and as a dynamic preparation at 30C and above for a curiously specific picture: a dry, bran-like, ring-shaped eruption on the palms and fingers carried by an oddly hilarious mind.

At a Glance

Source and Preparation

The whole fresh scarlet-flowered plant is gathered before its bloom is out, pounded to a pulp, pressed, and the expressed juice is mingled with an equal weight of alcohol. Two prescribing registers follow from that single source. Ø and the low decimals belong to the herbal tradition — juice on ill-conditioned ulcers, on warts to be softened, on splinters lodged in flesh. Classical homeopathic prescribing sits at 30C and above, where nothing of the crude plant remains and the picture is used on its self-expressions alone. Saponin content, the antique reputation in hydrophobia and dropsy, the pharmacology of the fresh juice — these describe the substance and apply to Ø and the low decimals. They do not apply to the dynamic preparation. Home prescribers meet Anagallis in both forms; the two do not overlap in what they do.

The Essence of Anagallis

The Greek name of the plant means to laugh out loud, and the remedy carries that etymology into its picture. Clarke and Boericke both record the same sequence. Great hilarity. An exhilarated feeling. A mind so full of jovial thoughts that the patient cannot collect them while another person is speaking. And then, after the over-activity, prostration. Picric acid is the closest partner for the exhaustion after study, but Anagallis colors the hilarity where Picric acid gives only the weight.

On the body the remedy meets skin. Not the hot, angry redness of Belladonna or the moist honey-crusts of Graphites, but a dry, bran-like scaling that comes in rings, prefers the palms and the backs of the fingers, and itches all over. Small vesicles gather in groups, smart, itch, ooze a yellowish-brown lymph, and dry to a scurf under which a new crop appears.

Clinical Portrait

Mind and Temperament

The Anagallis patient one meets in the clinic is often a young adult with hands that look older than they are — dry, stiff, dirty-looking, cracked along the knuckles — who apologizes for interrupting because they cannot hold onto the next cheerful thought long enough to let the sentence finish. Mind very active. Great hilarity. Then, after a long evening's reading or a hard conversation, prostration. The sequence is more diagnostic than any single mood.

Skin

The skin picture carries the remedy. Itching everywhere, dry and rough. Bran-like ring-shaped tetters on the palms and fingers. Groups of small vesicles that ooze and scurf and return underneath. Palms especially affected — the eruption runs across the knuckles and along the sides of the fingers. Ulcers and swellings on the joints belong to the same expression. Two practical notes recur through the older literature: Anagallis softens flesh, and it favors the expulsion of splinters. Hepar sulphuris does the same, and the pair are often named together for that use.

Head, Face and Throat

Headache over the supra-orbital ridges, with rumbling in the bowels and belching, relieved by coffee — a modality worth marking, since coffee usually antidotes rather than helps. Violent sneezing expels lumps of yellow phlegm, with a copious running water from the nose. Viscid saliva raised by coughing; water in the mouth with tearing pains in the molars. Scraping in the throat and larynx, hoarseness worse after eating. Tickling and itching in the left ear complete the upper-body scatter.

Urinary and Sexual

Irritation in the urethra tending towards sex. Burning on urinating, the orifice agglutinated. Urine passes in several streams and must be pressed out — a picture close to Thuja. Burning before and during erection ceases during sex. Clarke records these among the older syphilitic prescriptions, alongside nosebleed, deranged mind and pain in the small of the back.

Extremities

Rheumatic and gouty pains, wandering from place to place. Cramp in the ball of the thumb and in the fingers. A tensive drawing climbs from the left shoulder to the nape, worse for raising and extending the arm. Violent pain in the sacrum when lifting even a slight load belongs to the same joint-and-muscle picture.

Modalities

Worse:

• After eating
• From touch
• From mental exertion
• From raising and extending the arm

Better:

• From coffee (relieves the headache)
• During sex (urethral burning ceases)

Relationships

Coffea stands nearest for the joyous, over-excited mind, and differentiates from Anagallis's settled hilarity by its jangling over-stimulation. Picric acid meets it for the prostration that follows mental work. Cyclamen shares the sneezing. Pulsatilla is compared for the chilliness and shifting catarrhs. Hepar is the classical companion for splinters and unhealthy skin. Primula obconica shares the family and the cutaneous action; both plants contain saponin.

Clinical Uses

Skin — Chronic Tetters and Palm Eruptions

Anagallis is one of the smaller remedies for dermatitis when the eruption is bran-like, ring-shaped, dry rather than weeping, and settled on the palms and the fingers. Small clusters of vesicles that scurf and return underneath the scurf. Boericke's advice on potency stands: "tincture and all potencies." 30C once or twice daily is a reasonable home dose on a clear picture, stopped on improvement.

Ringworm

The rough, ring-shaped tetter on the face is close enough to a true ringworm that Clarke lists Anagallis among the ringworm remedies. The differentiating feature is the palm involvement. Ring on the face without bran on the hand points elsewhere — often to Sepia or one of the sulphurs.

Warts and Splinters

The herbal use survives in the modern armoury: the pounded fresh plant, or the tincture, on warts to be softened and on splinters that will not lift. Hepar is the partner here, and is often the better remedy for a deep, sore splinter.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Anagallis homeopathic medicine used for?

Chiefly the skin — a dry, bran-like, ring-shaped itching eruption on the palms and fingers, with wandering rheumatic pains and a hilarious mind that prostrates after mental work. Boericke and Clarke center their entries on the cutaneous picture; the mind is the second key.

What potency of Anagallis is used?

Boericke's note reads "tincture and all potencies." Home prescribers meeting the skin picture may reach for 30C once or twice daily on a short course and stop on improvement. Ø on warts and splinters belongs to the herbal register.

Is Anagallis the same as scarlet pimpernel tea?

No. Scarlet pimpernel as a herbal preparation is a crude plant medicine with its own dosimetry. Anagallis in classical prescribing is the dynamic preparation from 30C upward, in which no plant material remains.

What remedies compare with Anagallis?

Coffea for the joyous mind, Pulsatilla for chilliness and shifting catarrhs, Hepar for splinters and unhealthy skin, Picric acid for prostration after study, Cyclamen for the sneezing.

References

• Boericke, W. Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica. Anagallis arvensis.
• Clarke, J. H. A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica. Anagallis arvensis.
• Murphy, R. Nature's Materia Medica. Anagallis arvensis entry.