Medical plants
Marshmallow
- Aloe vera
- Black cohosh
- Black elder
- Blue cohosh
- Chamomile
- Common centaury
- Common horsetail
- Cowslip
- Cyclamen
- Dandelion
- Eucalyptus
- Hop
- Ignatius bean
- Iris
- Ivy
- Lovage
- Marshmallow
- Medicinal paprika
- Monk’s pepper
- Oak
- Pockwood
- Pokeweed
- Rosemary
- Sorrel
- Thyme
- Tiger lily
- Valerian
- Vervain
- Walnut
- Yarrow
- Yellow gentian
Marshmallow
Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) belongs to the Malvaceae family. The herbaceous perennial grows up to a height of 1.5 metres, is covered in velvety hairs and produces several stems that have few branches and that bear elongated, toothed grey-green leaves with a silk-like sheen. From June to September, light pink flowers with a short stem develop in panicles in the leaf axils. The roots (Radix altheae) develop into a horizontal, branched rhizome that has the thickness of a finger. Marshmallow is distributed across Europe and Asia and prefers salty and moist soil.
The botanical term althaea is derived from the Greek word altho and its meaning is equivalent to ‘healing’. The name indicates that numerous traditional uses of marshmallow as a medicinal plant have been handed down.
All plant parts of the marshmallow contain active substances that are used mainly in the treatment of inflammations of the mucosa in the mouth and throat and also boost immune defence. Extracts rich in mucilage are obtained from the root of the medicinal plant for the herbal preparation Imupret® N, which act to boost the immune system in combination with other medicinal plants.
