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Parietaria officinalis

Common name:	Pellitory Of The Wall	Family:	Urticaceae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Western Europe to Western Asia and the Caucasus.
Habitat:	Not known
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	3

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	P. erecta[H]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Kestere [E], Parietaire [E], Parietaria [E], Paritory [E], Pellitory [E], Pellitory Of The Wall [H], Pellitory On The Wall [E], Upright Pellitory [P,B], Yapiskanotu [E],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	officinalis = sold as an herb;
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Urticales. Nettle family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Britain; Europe; France; Haiti; Sicily; Spain; Turkey

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 0.6m by 0.6m . It is not frost tender. It is in flower from June to October. The flowers are dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required) and are pollinated by Wind. The plant not is self-fertile. We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 3/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires dry or moist soil.

Edible Uses

Leaves.

Young plant - raw or cooked[2, 105]. The young shoots can be added to mixed salads[7].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Cholagogue; Demulcent; Diuretic; Laxative; Refrigerant; Vulnerary.

Pellitory of the wall has been valued for over 2,000 years for its diuretic action, as a soother of chronic coughs and as a balm for wounds and burns[254]. In European herbal medicine it is regarded as having a restorative action on the kidneys, supporting and strengthening their function[254].
The whole herb, gathered when in flower, is cholagogue, slightly demulcent, diuretic, laxative, refrigerant and vulnerary[4, 7, 61, 165, 238]. It is an efficacious remedy for kidney and bladder stones and other complaints of the urinary system such as cystitis and nephritis[4, 238, 254]. It should not be prescribed to people with hay fever or other allergic conditions[238].
The leaves can be usefully employed externally as a poultice on wounds etc[4]. They have a soothing effect on simple burns and scalds[7].
The plant is harvested when flowering and can be used fresh or dried[238].

Other Uses

Cleanser.

The whole plant is used for cleaning windows and copper containers[7].

Cultivation details

Prefers a well-drained to dry alkaline soil in full sun or semi-shade[238]. The plant grows well on drystone walls[17].
The pollen of this plant is one of the earliest and most active of the hay fever allergens[7].
Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.

Propagation

Seed - sow spring or autumn in a cold frame. Prick out the seedling when they are large enough to handle and plant them out in the summer. If you have sufficient seed then it can be sown in situ in autumn or spring.
Division in spring. Very easy, larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found that it is better to pot up the smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade in a cold frame until they are well established before planting them out in late spring or early summer.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[7] Chiej. R. Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants. MacDonald 1984 ISBN 0-356-10541-5
Covers plants growing in Europe. Also gives other interesting information on the plants. Good photographs.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[165] Mills. S. Y. The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism.
An excellent small herbal.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[238] Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London. 1995 ISBN 0-7513-020-31
A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.

[254] Chevallier. A. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants Dorling Kindersley. London 1996 ISBN 9-780751-303148
An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.

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Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Parietaria+officinalis
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