BUGLEWEED Lycopus virginicus Common Names: Water Horehound.  Horehound.  Gipsy Wort. Paul's Betony.  Gipsyweed.  Sweet Bugle.  Virginia Water Horehound.  Water Bugle. Range: Eastern N. America - New York and Wisconsin south to Georgia and Texas. Habitat: Wet Open Places.  Low damp shady ground in rich moist soils.
Description:  A very common perennial in North America, growing in low, damp, shady ground and flowering from July to September.  From the creeping root, the stem rises anywhere from 6 to 24 inches tall.  Bugleweed bears pairs of opposite leaves on short stalks, those on the upper part being toothed and lance-shaped.  The lower leaves are wedge-shaped.  The flowers are in clusters in the axils of the leaves and are purple.  Medicinally, the whole herb is used.  It has a slight mint scent and is used fresh, in flower, and dried.
	Use:  Narcotic, Sedative. Astringent.  Used in coughs, bleeding from the lungs and consumption. The infusion made from 1 OZ. of the dried herb to 1 pint of boiling water is taken in wineglassful doses, frequently, the fluid extract in doses of 10 to 30 drops, and the dry extract, Lycopin, in doses of 1 to 4 grains.

Leaf extracts are more active than root extracts. The recommended oral preparation is a tincture (alcohol extract) rather than a tea. In one study using laboratory animals, bugleweed tincture resulted in a significant decrease in thyroid hormone levels.

Bugleweed is widely used in Europe as an herbal treatment for early-stage Graves' disease, often in combination with lemon balm. However, bugleweed--and other herbal treatments for Graves' disease--have mild effects and are best used in early stages of the condition or in addition to synthetic pharmaceuticals.

The whole plant is used as an astringent, hypoglycaemic, mild narcotic and mild sedative. It also slows and strengthens heart contractions. The plant has been shown to be of value in the treatment of hyperthyroidism, it is also used in the treatment of coughs, bleeding from the lungs and consumption, excessive menstruation, etc. It should not be prescribed for pregnant women or patients with hypothyroidism. The plant is harvested as flowering begins and can be use fresh or dried, in an infusion or as a tincture.

The root has been chewed, a portion swallowed and the rest applied externally in the treatment of snakebites.

Historic Reference:

Cherokee - Ceremonial Medicine -Infusion taken at green corn ceremony.  Chewed root given to infants to give them eloquence of speech.  Root chewed for snakebites, a portion swallowed, the rest applied to wound.  Decoction fed to snakebite dog.

"The L. Virginicus is an excellent sedative...It has only lately been taken notice of...The whole plant is employed, it has a balsamic, terebinthaceous smell, peculiar to itself, when bruised, which is stronger in the seeds.  The taste is pleasant, balsamic, and slightly bitter...on of the mildest and best narcotics in existence.  It acts somewhat like Digitalis, and lower the pulse, without producing any of its bad effects, nor accumulating in the system...I have made many experiments on this plant, and the results are, that although it does not cure the consumption, nor heal the lungs, it is very useful in hemoptysis, a plethoric habit, and internal inflammation.  I consider it a very good substitute for all narcotics, Prussic acid, and even to bleeding, since it produces the same state of pulse and arterial system, without inducing any debility, nor acting on the heart or brain in any injurious manner.  It may be used in may diseases, and whenever it is required to quell inordinate actions o the blood, or even other fluids.  I am informed it it commonly used in New Jersey for diarrhoea and dysentery, which it helps cure...It is also useful in inflammatory diseases of drunkards, in diseases of the heart & c.  I deem it the best sedative in almost all cases; it does not appear to act on the nervous system, but chiefly over the blood vessels.  The usual way to take it has been in the form of a warm infusion, allowed to cool, taken as a diet drink, and without much nicety about the quantity...The Lycopus vulgaris has lately been extolled in Europe in fevers, and is said to have cured intermittents alone.  As its qualities are very near alike those of L. virginicus being only a little more tonic and astringent, and a little less narcotic and sedative; they may, perhaps be tried as mutual equivalents in fevers and inflammatory disorders.  All the species appear to have somewhat similar qualities and properties; but it best to trust to L. virginicus alone as a sedative.  The dried plants preserve their properties for many years."  1830 Rafinesque