Scrophularia Nodosa

Figwort, a tall woodland herb, traditionally used in homoeopathy for swollen glands, eczema around the ears and painful piles.

Scrophularia nodosa is common or knotted figwort, a tall perennial of the figwort family found in damp woods and waste ground across the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Its square, sharply angled stems rise to about one and a half metres from a knobbly rootstock and carry small, rounded, greenish to brownish-purple flowers. Its name comes from scrofula, the swollen neck glands it was once used for.

Homoeopathy keeps its association with the glands. Homoeopaths traditionally turn to it when glands are swollen, and for skin complaints such as eczema behind and around the ears and prickly itching. It is also associated with painful, bleeding piles and with heavy drowsiness.

• Swollen glands
• Eczema around ears
• Itchy skin
• Painful piles