Gin is often specified as the menstuum in abortifacient tincture recipes.
Words to the Wise: Anyone with kidney or nerve damage or diseases should not use juniper. Juniper may irritate the kidneys. Juniper berries can cause a drop in blood sugar if food is not consumed within twenty minutes of ingestion. Do not take internally for longer than 6 weeks without a break.[285] Juniper contains uterine contracting and possibly toxic thujone. Juniper, when taken internally, may interfere with the absorption of iron and other essential minerals. Juniper is a diuretic which gives the urine the odor of violet flowers.[286] Late term abortions in cattle due to juniper leaf consumption often have the dangerous complication of a retained placenta.
Watch for Signs of Toxicity Specific to Juniper: Diarrhea, purplish urine, blood in the urine, kidney pain, intestinal pain, elevated blood pressure, and a quickened heartbeat.
Juniper Berry Menstrual Promoter: 1 Tbs. berries to 1 cup (250 ml) water. Steep 20 minutes, two to three times a day.
Juniper Implantation Inhibiting Infusion (Needles): One ounce (28 g) needles to 2 cups (500 ml) water. Steep, covered, ½ - 1 hour. Take 1 - 3 Tbs. (15 – 45 ml), two to three times a day for up to six days.
Lupine
Many women... “doe use the meale of lupines mingled with the fall of a goate and some juyce of lemons to make into a forme of a soft ointment.”
- John Parkinson in Theatricum Botanicum, 1640
AKA: Blue lupine, narrow-leafed lupine (English), smalbladet lupin (Danish), lupin bleu; lupin à feuilles étroites (French), blaue lupine (German), and Altramuz azul (Spanish).
Other North American lupine varieties that may contain bitter alkaloids: Texas bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis), California tree lupin (Lupinus arboreus), and wild perennial lupine (Lupinus perennis).
Part Used: Seeds.
Medicinal Properties: Diuretic, vermifuge (seeds), anthelmintic, emmenagogue (internal-seeds), and utilized for skin ulcers (external application of seeds)
Effects on the Body: Increases urine output and affects the nerves.
Abortifacient Action: Causes contraction of the uterus and embryo toxic.
Contains: Abortifacient Chemicals: Anagyrine and lupinine. Concentration of abortifacient alkaloids is highest in mature seed.
Description: Blue lupine is an annual that grows to a maximum height of 1.5 ft. (0.5 m). From velvety stems branch lupine’s dark green leaves, which are made up of 5 - 10 narrow oblong 1.5 in. (4 cm) leaflets. Lupine’s dark blue flowers form short bunches in summer.
Lupine originated in the Mediterranean area and was cultivated since the days of ancient Egypt. Dioscorides noted lupine’s abortifacient effects “extracts the menses and fetus.”[287] For emmenagogual and abortifacient purposes, Soranus suggested a paste of ground lupine beans combined with wormwood as a poultice on the lower abdomen to cause abortion. He also suggested lupine bean meal with equal parts wallflower and myrtle formed with a little water into a pill the size of a bean to make an abortive vaginal suppository.[288] Although the ancient texts suggest that lupine was used in external applications for abortifacient purposes, in the ‘Creation of Man’, by Abu al-Hasan al Tabib (AD 1044 - 1101) lupine is listed as an oral abortifacient herb.[289]
Modern science has confirmed that lupine contains compounds that have a direct effect on the uterus. In studies, Lupinus termis seeds have increased the motor activity of the uterus at times outside of menstruation, during menstruation, and pregnancy.[290] Lupinine, an alkaloid in bitter lupine seeds, produces contractions of isolated pig uteri.[291]
Bitter lupine seeds are considered a safe food crop, but only when lupine seeds are carefully soaked to remove the poisonous alkaloids is lupine safe for human consumption. Taste is a good indicator of the presence of the bitter alkaloids. Traditionally, lupine seeds of Lupinus albus following debittering have been used in the Middle East and Europe to make snack foods. In Europe, lupine seeds are known as lupini beans.
Gathering: There are bitter and sweet forms of Lupinus augustifolius. It is the bitter alkaloids that are highly teratogenic and can cause abortion and human death. Modern alkaloid free varieties have white flowers.
The bitter lupines usually have blue flowers. Mature blue lupine seeds, gathered in fall, often have a wide range of colors, ranging from uniform grey to speckled brown to nearly black with light spots.
Preparation: Lupine seeds can be purchased online and occasionally can be found in health food stores. A coffee grinder or mortar and pestle can be used to grind dry lupine seeds. Alternately, seeds can be soaked in water overnight, and ground in a mortar and pestle wet. Lupine is used to abort during the first trimester.
Words to the Wise: Lupine seeds are known to cause birth defects in animals. Lupine alkaloids are known to produce birth defects in cattle if eaten during certain early gestational times: cleft palates, crooked legs, distorted spines. It is suspected that human birth defects occasionally are associated with ingestion of milk of sheep or goats that have been grazing on lupine.[292] Teratogenity has been shown in cows if grazing on lupine during 2nd and 3rd month of pregnancy.[293] Lupine alkaloids can affect the nervous system of the person who consumes them, causing a loss in muscle nerve control that is usually reversible.[294] Human deaths have resulted from eating of lupine seeds that were not adequately de-bittered. In lupine seeds, a lethal dose of lupanine has been determined to be about 100 mg/kg. If not properly debittered by repeated soaking and rinsing, 10 g of seeds consumed may lead to death. People with a peanut allergy may also be allergic to lupine flour.[295]
Watch for Signs of Toxicity Specific to Lupine: The alkaloids of lupine target the nervous system: malaise, unpleasant sensations in the head, dimness of vision, cerebral heaviness, dizziness, mental excitation, laryngeal and pharyngeal constriction.
Abortifacient Lupine Pessary: Grind 1 g bitter lupine seeds to a flour, and mix one part lemon juice and four parts of water to form a thick paste. Place paste into a circle of silk and tie securely with tooth floss to form a small pessary. Insert high into vagina. Replace every twelve hours for up to four days.
288
Soranus,
289
Martin Levey and Noury al-Khaledy,
290
A. Sharaf, “Food Plants as a Possible Factor in Fertility Control,”
291
M. Mazur, P. Polakowski, and A. Szadowska,
292
R.F. Keeler, “Quinolizidine Alkaloids in Range and Grain Lupins.”
293
A. M. Davis and D. M. Stout, “ Anagyrine in Western American Lupines,”
294
Australia New Zealand Food Authority, “Lupin Alkaloids in Food,” Technical Report Series No.3. (2001).
295
G. Rotiroti, I. Skypala, G. Senna, and G. Passalacqua, “Anaphylaxis Due to Lupine Flour in a Celiac Patient,”