Angelica

Angelica archangelica

Also: Garden angelica, Archangel, Holy ghost root

WarmingDryingTonifying

Warms a cold, stuck body from the gut outward.

A statuesque, hollow-stemmed biennial with great globes of greenish-white flowers and a musky, sweet scent through every part. Angelica warms cold digestion, sends circulation to cold hands and feet, brings up phlegm, and moves a scant, clotted, crampy period.

Energetics: Warming, drying, toning
Taste: Bitter, pungent, aromatic
Family: Apiaceae (carrot family)
Parts used: Root and seed (stems candied)

Medicinal uses 5

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Traditional useLab and mechanism studiesClinical studies

Indigestion & bloatingTLC
A warming bitter that wakes up appetite and moves gas in people who run cold.
Cold hands & feetTLC
Pushes warmth and blood out to cold hands and feet.
Menstrual crampsTLC
Eases cramping with a scant, dark, clotted flow, the picture of a cold, stuck cycle.
Wet cough & congestionTLC
A warming expectorant for a wet, phlegmy cough.
Colds & fluTLC
Drunk hot, it warms a chilled body and starts a sweat at the start of a cold.

Preparations

Root decoction, seed tea, tincture, and honey-candied stems.

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Cautions

Angelica makes skin more sensitive to sun; go easy on strong sun while taking it.
It brings on a period; leave it out in the week before your period if you bleed heavily.
Chinese angelica, dong quai, is a related but stronger herb for the pelvis; the two are not interchangeable.

Medication interactions

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Pregnancy & breastfeeding

PregnancyAvoid

Angelica brings on menstruation and stimulates the uterus, so it is contraindicated in pregnancy.

BreastfeedingAvoid

Its action on the uterus and its coumarins keep it out of nursing.

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Folklore

A European legend says an archangel revealed angelica as a remedy in a year of plague, and the plant was said to bloom on the feast of Michael the Archangel. Its root and seed flavor gin and vermouth, and are said to be among the secret herbs in Chartreuse and Bénédictine. Bakers still decorate cakes with its candied green stems.

How to grow

A biennial or short-lived perennial for cool summers, rich moist soil, and part shade. Sow fresh seed in autumn, since it loses viability fast. Dig roots in the autumn of the first year; the plant flowers and dies in its second or third.

In the wild

Damp meadows, riverbanks, and coastal grounds of northern Europe, from Scandinavia and Iceland to Greenland and northern Russia.

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