Parts Used
Leaves

Properties
Expectorant, decongestant, diuretic, antiseptic, stimulant, diaphoretic, febrifuge

Common Uses
Make tea and add honey to soothe a cough or congestion.

Locating and Handling
Commonly used in cough drops and syrups. Tea may be found in health food stores.

Caution
Excessive amounts can cause irregular heartbeat

Origin
Europe, Asia, Africa, used in Ancient Greece

Early Herbal Notes MEDICAL VIRTUES -- It has a bitter principle, and has been recommended for pituitous asthma, coughs, and femal weaknesses; and Haller mentions his having cured a consumption by means of an aqueous infusion. The dose is two or three ounces of the expressed juice, or the infusion of half a handful of the fresh leaves, in a sufficient quantity of boiling water, drunk as tea. At present the following is chiefly employed: Candied Horehound -- Boil some horehound till the juice is extracted. Boil up some sugar to a feather (see p. 330, of New London Family Cook); add your juice to the sugar, and let it boil till it is again the same height. Stir it with a spoon against the sides of your sugar pan till it begins to grow thick, then pour it into a paper case that is dusted with fine sugar, and cut it into squares. You may dry the horehound, and put it into the sugar finely powdered and sifted. Small pieces are put into the mouth, and this certainly greatly tends to allay irritation; and probably the bitter may have some good effect in bracing the stomach, and hence the whole system.