Hepatica Triloba – Liver-Wort

The mother tincture is prepared from the fresh leaves of the plant, Hepatica no- bilis Gars., which occurs in woodlands of South-East and Eastern Europe. N.O. Ra- nunculaceae.

The main indications are:

Pharyngitis, bronchitis. Clearing the throat. Tough sticky mucus.

Whilst Hepatica was recommended by doctors in the old days for liver diseases, in line with the Doctrine of Signatures, its leaves being liver-shaped, in the provings the principal action was found to be on the pharynx and bronchi, with roughness, scratching and tickling in the throat, and a sensation in the throat as if food had stuck there. It was possible to establish the presence there of an accumulation of thick, tough, sticky mucus, which caused frequent clearing of the throat.

There was also violent bronchitis with yellowish, creamy, very sweet, bloody and copious expectoration, with a painful sensation in the chest as if tied up tightly, ac- companied by a continual tickling, itching and scratching in the pharynx, very an- noying and aggravated by food and dust. Where the expectoration is sweet, in addi- tion to Stannum one should always think of Hepatica.

The German Monograph-Preparation Commission for the Homoeopathic Field of Therapy has, under the Preparation Monograph for Hepatica nobilis, published the following indication(s) in the German Bundesanzeiger (German Federal Gazette) for hepatica triloba: pharyngeal catarrh.