Description

Also known as Mentha pulegium in Latin, Pennyroyal Leaf can be found mentioned in herbals and other documentation by the other common names as Run-by-the-Ground, Look-in-the-ditch, and Pudding Grass. A common cooking herb among Greeks and Romans, it remained popular within culinary practices throughout the mid-ages. The famed writer Pliny listed Pennyroyal as quite conductive to good health, suggesting that it be hung in sleeping rooms.
It has also been mentioned in literature of old as being able to purify water, making it drinkable. It was also said to purify blood, cleansing it of illness, and it was often taken with honey for this purpose. Old traditions hold it as being a valuable cure for headaches and giddiness, and prescribed that one wear it around ones head for this. It was also given as an antidote for spasmodic, nervous, and hysterical conditions. In spiritual traditions, it draws on some of these properties to aid in protective and purification magic, and aid in exorcisms.
Modern herbalists use it in another traditional sense, where it is taken to stimulate menstrual flow. In eras past this was used for the purpose of abortion, though this unregulated use was often dangerous and even life threatening to those who used it. Otherwise, it is also used for treating flatulence and gall ailments, and some herbalists still hold that it is a potent aid in treating lung disease, hepatitis, and gout. This is a 2 oz packet of cut Pennyroyal Leaf.