Used as an infusion, decoction, extract, tincture, poultice and ointment.

The 1997 Commission E on Phytotherapy and Herbal Substances of the German Federal Institute for Drugs recommends Celandine herb for 'Spastic discomfort of the bile ducts and gastrointestinal tract.'

'Average daily dosage 2 - 5 g of herb, equivalent to 12 - 30 mg total alkaloids calculated as chelidonine. Mode of Administration: Cut herb, herb powder or dried extracts for liquid and solid medicinal forms for internal use.'

'Actions: There is evidence of a mildly antispasmodic, papaverine-like action on the upper digestive tract. In animal experiments: cytostatic [retards cellular activity and multiplication], nonspecific immune stimulation.'

The clinical subtlety of the great empirical herbalists, below, will be appreciated.

Grieve's classic 'A Modern Herbal': 'Alterative, diuretic, purgative. It is used in jaundice, eczema, scrofulous diseases, etc., the infusion of 1 oz. of the dried herb to a pint of boiling water being taken in wineglassful doses. The infusion is a cordial and greatly promotes perspiration. The addition of a few aniseeds in making a decoction of the herb in wine has been held to increase its efficacy in removing obstructions of the liver and gall.'

'A fluid extract is also prepared, the dose being ½ to 1 drachm. Eight to 10 drops of the tincture made from the whole herb, or of the fresh juice, given as a dose three times a day in sweetened water, is considered excellent for overcoming torpid conditions of the liver. In the treatment of the worst forms of scurvy it has been given with benefit.'

'The orange-coloured, acrid juice is commonly used fresh to cure warts, ringworm and corns, but should not be allowed to come into contact with any other part of the skin.'

'In milk, it is employed as an eye-lotion, to remove the white, opaque spots on the cornea. Mixed with sulphur, it was formerly used to cure the itch.'

'An ointment made of the roots and lard boiled together, also of the leaves and flowers, has been used with advantage for piles.'

'Celandine is a very popular medicine in Russia, where it is said to have proved effective in cases of cancer.'

'It is still used in Suffolk as a fomentation for toothache.'

King's 1898 Dispensatory: 'Stimulant, acrid, alterative, diuretic, diaphoretic, purgative, and vulnerary. As a drastic hydragogue [laxative that promotes elimination of water] it is fully equal to gamboge. The juice, when applied to the skin, produces inflammation, and even vesication, and has long been known as a caustic for the removal of warts; also applied to indolent ulcers, fungous growths, etc., and is useful in removing specks and opacities of the cornea, and in curing ringworms.'

'Celandine is superior to arnica as a vulnerary; an alcoholic tincture of the root (3 ounces to 1 pint), will be found an unrivaled external application to prevent or subdue traumatic inflammations.'

'Used internally in decoction or tincture, and externally in poultice or ointment, for scrofula, cutaneous diseases, and piles.'

'Likewise useful in hepatic affections, and is supposed to exert a special influence on the spleen. It is a remedy influencing the parts supplied with nerve force from the branches of the solar plexus, and with blood from the hepatic artery, and to some extent by the splenic artery. Both acute and subacute forms of inflammation of the liver, when suppurative action has not set in, are benefited by chelidonium.'

'Migraine, bilious headaches, supraorbital neuralgia, bilious dyspepsia, with headache, and other gastric and intestinal disturbances, due to faulty action of the liver, are well treated with it. It is a remedy for so-called 'liver coughs.'

'Hemorrhoids, hepatic and splenic congestion, and gastro-intestinal disorders, due to capillary engorgement of the viscera, are conditions for its exhibition. It is one of the best of remedies for biliary catarrh, the result of hepatic congestion, and for jaundice, due to obstruction of the bile ducts, the mucous membranes of which are swollen from the subacute inflammation present.'

'The remedy has acted favorably in biliary calculi, and in the small dose (½0 to 1/10 drop, every 2 or 3 hours) the extravagant claim of having radically cured hydrocele, has been made by some leading Homoeopaths.'

'Dose of the powdered root, from ½ to 1 drachm; of the fresh juice, from to 40 drops, in some bland liquid; of the tincture, from 1 to 2 fluid drachms; of the aqueous extract, from 5 to 10 grains. The foregoing doses represent its gross action, but for the specific purposes for which it is now employed, the dose should be small, preferably from 1 to 15 drops of specific chelidonium. Prof Scudder preferred it as follows: Specific chelidonium, gtt. x; aqua, fliv. Mix. A tablespoonful every 3 or 4 hours.'

American Materia Medica, 1919 (Ellingwood): 'The conditions to which chelidonium are especially applicable are found in fully developed abdominal plethora, inefficient functional action of the glandular organs of the abdominal cavity, and imperfect, sluggish and deficient circulation of the tissues, glands and organs of this cavity.'

'Defective liver circulation is the cause of a long train of remote manifestations, among which are slow pulse, frequent palpitations, a feeling of weight, stiffness and swellings of the hands, feet and limbs, cold extremities, pallid and doughy skin, local and general, edema, dull pain or constant aching in the limbs and muscles, aching in the front head and occiput, vertigo, weariness, irritability, inactivity, irregularity of the bowels-constipation, followed by diarrhea, erratic colicky pains, sallowness, jaundice and other disorders. Chelidonium is an excellent remedy in a case with these manifestations.'

'In disease of the spleen, it relieves congestion and reduces splenic hypertrophy, acting in harmony with chionanthus and grindelia squarrosa. Its action upon the pancreatic glands is satisfactory, relieving congestion and engorgement and irritation, and inducing a better circulation. It will be found an excellent remedy in combination with helonias in the treatment of diabetes mellitus.'

'This agent was used thirty years ago with eminent success in the treatment of biliary calculi. It is now in use for that purpose among many physicians, who consider it superior to any other agent known in preventing their formation.'

'Its influence upon the functional activity of the liver induces a thinner and more profuse secretion of the bile, and it is thus useful in promoting the expulsion of gall stones. It is available also in simple biliousness, hepatic congestion, acute or sub-acute inflammation of the liver, jaundice, due to catarrhal conditions of the ducts, or when dropsy depends upon hepatic trouble. When migraine or supraorbital neuralgia depend upon hepatic difficulties this remedy is indicated.'

'Some of the old writers believe that this agent is superior to arnica or hamamelis, as an external application to bruises and sprains. It prevents the development of local inflammation from traumatic causes.'

'The specific use externally, is in the application of the juice to warts, corns and epitheliomata, for which it has been widely used, and much evidence accumulated in its favor. In these conditions and in the treatment also of urticaria, eczema and itching eruptions, its careful application, persisted in, cures within a short time.'