Fumitory's appearance ties in with its name, its light and wispy and can fill an area in no time. The beautiful, tubular flowers are a give away to its identity. Once you've seen the pics below, you'll know it.
Fumitory can heal us, especially inflammatory skin conditions, in several ways. It is excellent fro things like psoriasis and eczema.
This wonderful plant has antihistaminic properties that can reduce the amount of inflammatory histamine in our body, reducing redness and irritation. It helps support our liver, which is an overworked organ, labouring hard to metabolise and store or eliminate the products of food, immune responses, stress hormones, environmental toxins and medications. Interestingly, from a herbal perspective, skin problems often arise from a liver imbalance because the skin is our largest organ of elimination and often takes up the excess from the liver when it is overwhelmed. It also has an immunomodulatory effect, through more than just histamine, that helps folks with issues such as psoriasis.
Any herb that supports our liver is a good one nowadays. Being bitter (very bitter, to the point of yuckiness) Fumitory also helps our liver produce bile, which is important, not just fro the digestion of fats but is the main antimicrobial in our lower intestine plus the key lubricant there. Without a goodly amount of bile, our poo doesn't move easily and we all know what that means. Fumitory has a special power too, it can regulate the opening and closing of our bile duct aiding (but needing to be used with caution and under supervision) those suffering from gallstones. Be careful if you have large stones or a diagnosed obstruction of the gallbladder.
Fumitory is also supportive of our kidneys and can help prevent the formation of stones in those organs. It also helps kick up a sweat (it's diaphoretic) further helping us cleanse ourselves and taking pressure off of the liver and kidneys.
You can crush or juice leaves and apply them straight to the inflamed area or make a n infusion (strong tea) and washing the area or adding it to a cloth and applying it in a manner known as a poultice. Drink the tea for internal issues but you'll probably need a sweetener too, it's pretty bitter.
Be careful using Fumitory if you are on autoimmune medications or have large gall or kidney stones awaiting surgery.
I'll bring a sample to the Community Barbecue at Fremont Park tomorrow if you want to learn to ID the plant. It'll be one of the starts of Food Underfoot too, so book soon if you want to learn more about this very common local healer.
https://ligayagarden.online/2025/08/04/food-underfoot-2025/
