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1 October 2002 The Doctrine of Signatures in Present-Day Israel
Amots Dafni, E. Lev
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Abstract

Some evidence of the existence of an ancient pharmacological theory—the Doctrine of Signatures—has been found in the folk medicine of Israel. The research reported 14 plants with folk medicinal uses based on the Doctrine of Signatures categories including: similarity of the plant or plant organ to the damaged human organ (Alhagi maurorum, camel thorn; Astragalus macrocarpus, milk-vetch; and Cynoglossum creticum, blue hound’s tongue), similarity to animal shape or behavior (Heliotropium europaeum, European tumsole; Asteriscus spinosus, starwort; and Briza maxima, large quaking grass), similarity of plant color to the color of the disease’s symptoms or the medical phenomena (Rhamnus alaternus, Italian buckthorn; Citrullus colocynthis, bitter gourd; and Ecballium elaterium, squirting cucumber), and similarity of plant habitat or characteristic to human features (Parietaria judaica, wall pellitory; and Ruta chalepensis, African rue).

Amots Dafni and E. Lev "The Doctrine of Signatures in Present-Day Israel," Economic Botany 56(4), 328-334, (1 October 2002). https://doi.org/10.1663/0013-0001(2002)056[0328:TDOSIP]2.0.CO;2
Published: 1 October 2002
JOURNAL ARTICLE
7 PAGES

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KEYWORDS
Doctrine of Signatures
ethnobotany
folk medicine
Israel
medicinal plants
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