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 | Barley Other Names: Pearl Barley. Perlatum
Botanical Name: Hordeum distichon (LINN.)
Family: N.O. Graminaceae |
Description: |
| Pearl Barley is the grain without its skin; rounded and polished; this is the official variety. Taste and odour farinaceous. The Scotch, milled, or pot barley isthe grain with husks only partly removed. Patent Barley is the ground decorticated grain. |
Constituents: |
| Pearl Barley contains about 80 per cent of starch and about 6 per cent of proteins, cellulose, etc. |
Medicinal Usage: |
| Pearl Barley is used for the preparation of a decoction which is a nutritive and demulcent drink in febrile conditions and in catarrhal affections of the respiratory and urinary organs: barley water is used to dilute cows' milk for young infants, it prevents the formation of hard masses of curd in the stomach. Malt is produced from barley by a process of steeping and drying which develop a ferment 'diatase' needed for the production of alcoholic malt liquors, but in the form of Malt Extract it is largely used in medicine. Vinegar is an acid liquid produced by oxidation of fermented malt wort. Malt vinegar is the only vinegar that should be used medicinally. |
Ancient Lore: |
BARLEY HORDEUM VULGARE
A plaister made thereof with tar, wax and oil, helpeth the king's-evil in the throat.
Where to find it. This is the cereal that is grown all over the world, being yearly sown.
Flowering time: It does not flower, being a cereal it ripens in summer.
Astrology: It is a notable plant of Saturn. If you view diligently its effects by sympathy and antipathy, you may easily perceive a reason of them; as also why Barley-bread is so unwholesome for melancholy people.
Medicinal virtues: Barley is more cooling than Wheat and a little cleansing. All the preparations thereof, as Barley-water, do give great nourishment to persons troubled with fevers, agues and heats in the stomach. A poultice made of Barley-meal or flour boiled in vinegar and honey, and a few dried figs put in them, dissolves all hard imposthumes, and assuages inflammations. Boiled with Melilot and Chamomile flowers, and some Linseed, Fenugreek and Rue in powder and applied warm, it eases pains in the side and stomach and windiness of the spleen.
The meal of Barley and Flea-worts boiled in water and made into a poultice with honey and Oil of Lilies, and applied warm, cures swellings under the ears, throat, neck and such like. Boiled with sharp vinegar, made into a poultice and laid on hot, helpeth the leprosy; boiled in red wine with Pomegranate rind, and Myrtles, stayeth the lax or other flux of the belly; boiled with vinegar and Quince, it easeth the pains of the gout. Barley-flour, white salt, honey and vinegar mingled together takes away the itch speedily and certainly.
The water distilled from the green Barley, in the end of May, is very good for those that have defluxions of humours fallen into their eyes, and easeth the pain being dropped into them. White bread steeped therein, and bound on the eyes, cloth the same.
Modern uses: Barley is nutritional and demulcent. It is rich in vitamins B and E and is recommended for those convalescing. It is given as Barley-water or as an extract of malt. Barley-water is soothing to the bowel where there is inflammation or diarrhoea. Hordenine, an alkaloid with properties similar to ephedrine, is produced in the root of the germinating grain, and is therefore of value in the treatment of asthma and bronchitis. |
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