Senega

A North American root with a long history as an expectorant, used in homoeopathy for rattling chests and tough phlegm, especially in older people.

Polygala senega, Seneca or senega snakeroot, is a small perennial of the milkwort family from southern Canada and the central and eastern United States, named after the Seneca people who used it. It bears slender spikes of small white flowers above a twisted, knobbly root rich in saponins, which loosen mucus in the airways.

Homoeopaths traditionally use Senega for catarrh of the chest: a rattling cough, a sore, oppressed chest and profuse, tough mucus that is hard to bring up, particularly in older people. The old texts also mention hoarseness, loss of voice and wheezing in elderly asthmatics.

• Rattling chest
• Tough phlegm
• Hoarseness
• Wheezing