By Michèle Boisvert

Fresh air and sunshine, a profusion of flowers and greenery entice us outdoors in summer. For all of the natural beauty that beckons, the landscape can also bring rough terrain and steep trails, uneven footing and unyielding surfaces that require a little caution.

When outdoor activities bring aches and injuries, Mother Nature provides a plant that flourishes in mountain meadows called arnica (Arnica montana). Master herbalists will tell you it’s no coincidence that arnica, similar to other medicinal plants, naturally grows in those places that are appropriate to provide animals with an antidote to an ailment or a painful mishap, such as a fall from a rocky cliff.

The herb arnica, which blooms into a vibrant yellow flower, has earned some unusual names depending on the country where it grows. It is known as wolf's bane, leopard's bane, mountain tobacco and sneezewort, but often it’s simply called "tumbler's cure all," reflecting its common medicinal use to heal bruises, sprains and sore muscles.

Arnica originates in Europe and Siberia, and also grows in Canada and the US. In Siberia the leaves were smoked as a substitute for tobacco, which led to its name, mountain tobacco. Arnica can be toxic, especially if applied to the tip of an arrow and aimed at a wolf, as native North Americans did, resulting in the name wolf’s bane.

Arnica has been used as a folk medicine since the sixteenth century. An American tribe was reported to prepare a tea from arnica roots to ease back pain. German writer Johann Goethe credited arnica with saving his life during the 1700s by bringing down a high fever. Arnica preparations were used extensively throughout Russia, where village people used it externally to relieve black eyes, and internally for a variety of serious ailments. It is very potent and should be used topically, not taken internally except when diluted or in homeopathic medicine.

Arnica has been used in homeopathic medicine for centuries, particularly in Germany where over 100 preparations are made from the plant, used in treating everything from epilepsy to seasickness. It is given internally to relieve vertigo, calm a hoarse throat, heal bleeding, and externally it’s been added to a footbath to relieve sore feet, and even applied to the scalp to make hair grow! Yet the German Commission E recommends it for external use as an anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antiseptic. Its antibacterial/anti-inflammatory qualities are used to relieve eczema, arthritis, burns and acne. In the US, arnica was listed in the US Pharmacopeia from the early 1800s until 1960 (when many herbal remedies were eliminated from medical texts), and it is still widely used in North America to reduce irritations from trauma such as inflammation, bruises, and muscle pain caused by overuse.

As a homeopathic preparation it is applied in a gel or salve one to two times per day to unbroken skin, or taken in highly diluted tablet form. Arnica is known to stimulate blood circulation to disperse trapped fluids from bruises (bruises are made of little pools of blood, causing discolouration and tenderness due to leakage of blood from an injured blood vessel into the tissues).The plant’s active healing components include a substance called sesquiterpene lactones. German studies have found that these lactones are responsible for arnica's anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects, and can decrease pain. Other active ingredients are thymol (an essential oil), flavonoids, inulin, carotenoids and tannins. Arnica may also act as an immunostimulant, meaning that it stimulates white blood cells to increase resistance to bacterial infections.

On a flawless afternoon while hiking hillsides and meadows, keep a watchful eye for the wild herb’s yellow daisy-like flower. Not only pretty to look at, the “aspirin of homeopathy” may ease your pain caused by summertime activities.