Hawthorn Medicine
This week, we will turn to another rose family herb - hawthorn. When thinking of an herb for heart health, hawthorn immediately jumps to the mind of herbalists. The slightly tart berries get a lot of the attention, but the leaves and flowers are actually much more potent medicine and have quite a bit of research showing their powerful nourishing effects on the cardiovascular system. As one of my mentors Dr. Deborah Frances says,
“A flavonoid-rich, nutritive tonic, hawthorn enhances cardiovascular health by decreasing inflammation, opening coronary vessels, lowering blood pressure, and generally strengthening the function and integrity of cardiovascular tissue.”
She has much more to say about hawthorn and even devoted an entire chapter of her book to this Northern hemisphere shrubbery. Let’s dive in.
What is Hawthorn?
Fall Hawthorn gone to berry. Notice the thorns.
Hawthorn, Crataegus spp, is a genus of northern hemisphere shrubbery with showy five petaled flowers that are usually in full bloom by Beltane or early May and round to oblong red to black berries that ripen in the early Fall. Some species grow more tree-like while others make good hedgerow plants. Here in the Pacific West, we have two main native species: Crataegus douglasii and Crataegus columbiana which both grow more hedge-like with the dougliasii species growing taller (10-15 feet). (3)
Hawthorn is a plant that enjoys hybridizing with others in its genus, so it can often be difficult to identify exactly which species you come across. Luckily, this entire genus can be used medicinally, so as long as you know it’s a true hawthorn, you know you have good medicine to work with.
Hawthorn in bloom. Notice the clusters of flowers.
Effects of Hawthorn:
When we look at the energetic effects of hawthorn, we do need to distinguish between the berry and the leaf and flower. The best medicine incorporates all three plant parts, but you can adjust depending on your own constitution. For more information on formulating herbal combinations to match your energetics, please refer to my previous article on herbal formulating.
Leaf and Flower: Warming, Drying, Relaxing
Berry: Cooling, Moistening, Relaxing
Next, let’s turn to some of the key molecules found in hawthorn and their general effects to better understand how hawthorn works in the body:
Flavonoids: Remember, the person who consumes the most flavonoids wins! Flavonoids like tannins help increase tissue integrity. When you sip a cup of black tea and notice the drying/tightening effect on your tongue, this is due to tannins and other flavonoids. This tightening effect is found in many different plants such as tea leaves, witch hazel, rose petals, nettles, red raspberry leaf, and many more. This effect can be used to help tighten swollen/boggy tissue, stop bleeding when applied topically, and can help with retention of fluids by preventing them from seeping out of leaky capillaries. This is why people use cold tea bags over their puffy eyes.
Organic acids: any plant that has a tartness or sourness to them will be rich in organic acids. These substances have an overall cooling effect and are anti-inflammatory in nature.
Mucilage: found in the berries and gives them their moistening quality. Mucilage is a polysaccharide (carbohydrate) that has the ability to hold on to large amounts of water and deliver them to dry irritated tissues. This produces a cooling, moistening, and anti-inflammatory effect.
The leaf and flower have a much higher concentration of flavonoids while the berries are richer in organic acids.
On a more subtle energetic level, hawthorn helps to open a closed down heart allowing emotions and feelings to be worked with while also providing a gentle, supportive, and uplifting energy that aids one in this process. This effect can be accessed through spending time with the plant in nature, a flower essence of the blossoms, or drop doses of hawthorn tincture or tea.
Hawthorn for the Cardiovascular System:
First, let’s clarify what I mean when I mention the cardiovascular system, this includes the heart, the lungs and the blood vessels. Hawthorn is considered “a heart tonic - period” according to herbalist Michael Moore. Dr. Sharol Tilgner goes further in her Herbal ABCs book stating that:
Hawthorn is indicated for irritable, nervous heart conditions, heart ailments related to an emotional heartache or disconnection from spirit and in conjunction with weak or slow digestion.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the measurable changes we can see with long-term consumption of hawthorn:
Lowered Cholesterol levels specifically LDL and VLDL the “bad cholesterol” while preserving and even increasing levels of HDL the “good cholesterol.
Reduces inflammation specifically in the cardiovascular and digestive systems. This reduces the risk of forming atherosclerotic plaques - the main concern with high cholesterol and heart/brain health.
Increases the integrity of tissues specifically in the cardiovascular system, this is seen most prominently in cases of swelling feet, hemorrhoids, varicose veins, and cold hands/feet.
Regulates heart rate both in cases of slow heartbeat and fast heartbeat; however, some herbalists caution against using hawthorn in cases of slow heart rate (bradycardia).
Improves blood flow and oxygenation within the heart muscle itself
Decreases blood pressure by relaxing the blood vessels giving the heart less resistance to pump against.
Acts as a mild blood thinner
The potent antioxidant effect of the flavonoids has also been shown to prevent damage to mitochondria (the powerhouses of the cells) (5)
These are all general supportive effects that are all much needed. As Rosalee De La Foret says in her Alchemy of herbs book:
With heart disease being the number one cause of death in the United States, it’s surprising to me that more people don’t know about hawthorn.
Traditionally, hawthorn has been used throughout Europe, China, and in Indigenous healing practices in North America - it’s an herb/food with a long history of successful use.
Most herbalists classify hawthorn as a heart tonic or cardiac trophorestorative indicating that it generally supports and restores heart function. Other herbalists like Dr. Jillian Stansbury also classify hawthorn as an adaptogen. She notes:
Crataegus is not terribly specific for anything and yet is appropriate for everything.
That sounds like an adaptogen to me.
Newer research with hawthorn and the clinical experience of Dr. Frances show that hawthorn is also good medicine for the lungs specifically in cases of allergic asthma. Dr. Frances has been using hawthorn tincture in conjunction with and sometimes in leu of asthma inhalers for her patients for years. (2) The dose is pretty high for hawthorn tincture, but when one is having difficulty breathing, they don’t have the time to make tea.
Working with Hawthorn:
My preferred way to work with hawthorn is as a tea. The active substances mentioned above are all very water soluble making a tea a very easy and nourishing way to get the best medicine. With the berries, making a jam or concentrated solid extract is by far the best way to consume their medicine. Tincture also be used, but the doses are pretty high and will bring a hefty dose of alcohol along with them. If you are making a tincture of hawthorn, be sure to keep your alcohol around 35-40% and if possible extract the leaf and flower in one jar and the berry in another and then mix the two together for a whole plant medicine.
Hawthorn is a remedy best taken in food based quantities over a long period of time 3 months or so. It can be used in conjunction with most medicines, but always work with a medical provider well versed in pharmaceuticals and herbs if you intend to use the combination. Extra care should be taken by anyone on a heart or blood pressure medication as your need for the medication will likely change over time as your cardiovascular system heals and becomes more effective leading to overmedication and potentially unpleasant and dangerous side effects.
Pregnant and nursing women rejoice - hawthorn is not contraindicated during pregnancy nor nursing!
Other Considerations:
Here, I will enter into cloudy territory and mention the Coronavirus. Hawthorn cannot prevent or treat COVID-19; please do not be confused by this. We do not have the research needed to determine if any specific herbs are effective against the virus. There are herbs that can generally support the immune system, but herbs do not work like pharmaceuticals with concentrated direct effects like a steroid or blood thinning drug.
One of the most troublesome aspects of COVID-19 is how it confuses our immune systems causing them to overreact and create life-threatening situations. The other troublesome aspect is the seeming randomness of who will be asymptomatic, who will have mild symptoms, who will have major symptoms, and who will develop Post-COVID syndrome. I know very healthy people who have had major symptoms and developed Post-COVID syndrome and people who have every known risk factor for severe disease who developed mild or asymptomatic cases. We just don’t know enough yet to explain these phenomena.
Back to hawthorn. I believe hawthorn can exert its most beneficial effects in the face of COVID-19 is in strengthening the cardiovascular system prior to infection and in adjunctive treatment of Post-COVID syndrome. The anti-inflammatory, tissue strengthening, cardiac rate regulating, and increased delivery of blood and oxygen to the heart muscle all theoretically would provide benefit. Do note this is an assumption I am making based on how hawthorn works and what we know about the effects of the virus. I look forward to seeing research on this topic in the future.
Personally, I have been drinking hawthorn leaf and flower tea along with taking my adaptogens and nootropics, eating a plant based whole foods diet, getting my regular sleep, exercising gently, masking up, and practicing social distancing. These actions help me live in less fear, have multiple other beneficial effects, and support my overall health in my healing journey.
Are you looking for someone to aid you in developing your long-term health strategies, looking for relief from chronic pain, interested in starting your journey with diet and herbal medicine, or looking for supportive care with your chronic health issues? If so, and you are located in Oregon, I invite you to schedule a free 15 minute discovery video visit where we can determine if we are a good fit to work together.
To our Health!
References:
De La Foret, R, Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients into Foods & Remedies That Heal, Hay House, 2017
Frances, D, Practical Wisdom in Natural Healing: Sage Advice for the Modern World, Polycrest Publishing, 2014
Moore, M, Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West, Museum of New Mexico Press, 1993
Stansbury, J, Herbsl Formularies for Health Professionals, Volume 2: Circulation and Respiration, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018
Tilgner, S, Herbsl ABC’s: The Foundation of Herbal Medicine, Wise Acres LLC, 2018
