Cleavers
Cleavers grows prolifically across much of the world. It’s sometimes known as “Sticky Willy” or “Sticky Plant” because it often sticks to your clothes and even your skin. Latin name Gallium aparine.
In folk medicine, cleavers was used topically in Europe, Asia, and the Americas to treat skin diseases. It also has two abilities that make it a traditional spring tonic. Herbalists describe it as an alterative and as a lymphatic tonic (Hoffmann, 2003).
An alterative is an herb that gradually restores proper function to the body and increases overall health and vitality, and may do so by promoting the ability of the body to eliminate waste through the main elimination channels of the kidneys, skin, liver, or lungs (Hoffmann, 2003). A lymphatic, also sometimes called a lymphagogue, is an herb that supports or stimulates the lymphatic system (Tilgner, 1999).
Topically, it is often applied topically to address various skin issues, such as psoriasis, eczema, and acne.
Some evidence suggests that cleavers might help the body’s natural defenses in battling pre-cancerous cells. The herb’s fruits and seeds can be dried and roasted to make a coffee-like beverage, and its extracts are found in many herbal remedies and supplements. Reference
Colpepper said:
‘It is a good herb to be taken in spring, to be eaten, chopped small and boiled in gruel to cleanse the blood and strengthen the liver, thereby keeping the body in health, and fitting it for that change of season that is coming’
‘The juice of the leaves or the leaves a little bruised and applied to an bleeding wound, stays the bleeding. It is also very good to close the lips of green wounds, and the powder strewed there upon does the same and likewise heals ulcers’.
‘Being boiled in hogs grease it heals all sorts of hard swellings or kernels in the throat, being anointed there with’.
But more recent writings suggest that exposing cleavers to the heat of boiling may harm the beneficial activity of the plant (Cech, 2000), and that it’s best to use cleavers as either a cold infusion, a fresh pressed juice (also called a succus), or as an infused oil for topical use.Reference
In several studies, cleavers is also listed as an immunomodulatory active herb influencing the defense response of the human body. In one study, it was shown that all substances from cleavers significantly stimulate the transformational activity of immunocompetent blood cells, with the aqueous extract being the most active. All samples also displayed antioxidant properties. Reference