Cactus Grandiflorus – Night-blooming Cereus

The mother tincture is prepared from the youngest stems and flowers, from the plant Selenicereus grandiflorus [L.] Britt. et Rose, which grows wild in Central America but is often grown as a pot-plant on account of its beautiful flowers which only open for a few hours of one night. N.O. Cactaceae.

Selenicereus grandiflorus is a large-flowered high-standing cactus, sometimes called “Queen of the Night”. It contains a few resins, but no alkaloids or glycosides, and is considered non-toxic.

One important symptom dominates the whole remedy, namely the sensation of being tightly bound or squeezed together, or of being constricted by an iron band, not only the heart, but also head, gullet, diaphragm, neck of the bladder, uterus or rectum. However, in general heart symptoms predominate, with a tendency to weak- ness of the heart and general violent disturbances in circulation, with aggravation from lying on the left side when violent palpitations usually occur.

Haemorrhages, which are associated with heart diseases, are also usually helped by Cactus.

Cactus also helps in conditions such as emphysema with constriction of the chest or difficult respiration, as if the chest could not be expanded; it also helps in period- ic suffocative attacks which may proceed to the point of fainting and cold sweat on the face, or even a complete lack of pulse.

Cactus also has a beneficial effect in that symptom so often noticed in angina pec- toris: a sensation of numbness in the left arm.

Other symptoms of Cactus should also be mentioned, which however may be con- sidered as of secondary importance, unless they accompany the characteristic heart complaints, e.g. painful menstruation with copious “tarry” menstrual blood, accom- panied by pains in the mammary gland, pulsating, drawing pains in the uterus and ovaries, extending up as far as the stomach or down into the thighs, also involuntary urination during sleep and frequent urge to urinate, periodic dimness of vision, con- gestion of blood in the brain, and possible haemoptysis. However, it must be appre- ciated that these complaints, along with lassitude and sleeplessness, and a closed, taciturn, gloomy and melancholy mood, mostly occur in conjunction with the heart- symptoms as described, or are present with heart conditions which may then require Cactus as their remedy.

The most important symptoms are as follows:

1. Cramping complaints with contraction, as if surrounded by an iron clamp, espe- cially the heart (angina pectoris), but also in the rectum, neck of the bladder, uterus, diaphragm, head, gullet, stomach etc.
   1. Bleeding from all cavities of the body, especially in congestion and heart affec- tions, also pulmonary haemorrhage and menstrual bleeding.
   1. Pulsating headache, as if a heavy weight were on the vertex. Pulsations through the whole body, preventing sleep.
   1. Sensation of pressure, as of a load in the chest. Sensation of a load on the vertex.

• 5.   Gastro-cardiac symptom-complex with constriction of the heart, pulsations in the stomach area, nausea and eructations, and possible haematemesis. (Acute or chronic hepatic congestion).

The German Monograph-Preparation Commission for the Homoeopathic Field of Therapy has, under the Preparation Monograph for Selenicereus grandiflorus, pub- lished the following indication(s) in the German Bundesanzeiger (German Federal Gazette) for cactus: spasmodic conditions affecting the musculature, vascular or- gans, and hollow organs; mucosal haemorrhages; organic and functional cardiac dis- orders; angiosclerosis; hypertension.