The Curry Plant (Helichrysum italicum) for Immortality?

This post was inspired by a thriving curry plant in my garden and the recent interesting contribution by Dr Cristina Isola on the wild poppy of Sardinia in the MedicineTrees Facebook Group page. Helichrysum italicum which grows wild in Sardinia and other parts of the Mediterranean region is widely used there as a medicinal herb, so much so that some commentators have referred to it as ‘the sleeping giant of Mediterranean Herbal Medicine’. The plant is not related to the curry tree (Murraya koenigii) which has the aromatic leaves commonly used to flavour our favourite curries and tadka dal. However, the plant’s strong fragrance immediately associates it with the intoxicating blend of curry spices most of us know so well. Despite being a Mediterranean plant, Helichrysum italicum also thrives in the often wet and cold climate of Britain as my specimen bought two years earlier as a tiny plant shows; a serendipitous find among the herbs at my local garden centre in Nottingham. Perhaps it is its adaptability to climate change that has earned the plant its alternative name – the Immortelle, or perhaps it is because of the fantastic but largely unvalidated medicinal claims made for the plant.

The flowers and leaves of Immortelle are claimed to be effective for allergies, coughs and colds, skin, liver and gallbladder disorders, inflammation, infections, and sleeplessness. It is also used in the perfumery industry as a fixative for its rosy, exotic, and spicy redolence (Curry perfume. Really?). Test-tube investigations show that extracts and isolated compounds from the plant have some antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities, but none has provided the robust clinical trial evidence of efficacy and safety needed for formal regulatory approval. So, for now, the plant must be regarded only as a sleeping ‘potential’ giant of therapeutics. Perhaps one day, it will yield an artemisinin or a paclitaxel licensed for prescription (see previous group posts), but not yet.

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Photos – A thriving specimen of the Curry plant in my garden in England, shown in the foreground next to a flowering rosemary bush. The photos of the flowering Helichrysum italicum are from Wikipedia Commons.