By C. Kurz Drosera rotundifolia (fam. nat. Droseracee), an insectivorous plant, grows in swampy regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. From a basal set of leaves, frequently overgrown by moss, it sprouts a stem which grows a new set of leaves above the moss, thereby smothering it. The obstinate and pertinacious character of this plant with which it fights to survive, enables it to live in its swampy environment.

The rounded, stemmed leaves are covered with innumerous small glandular hairs which exude a clear, sticky fluid. This fluid gathers at the end of each hair and attracts small insects which mistake it for a source of nectar. Once an insect touches a droplet, it is caught by the sticky fluid. Neighboring glandular hairs curve toward the insect and make escape impossible. A digestive enzyme in the fluid slowly dissolves the insect body, and the plant eventually absorbs it, leaving behind the empty chitinous hull. Drosera can survive on an insect-free diet but doesn't  grow as tall nor develop as many seeds.

The entire plant is used for preparation of the homeopathic remedy. Rajan Sankaran quotes Misha Norland (c.f. The Substance of Homeopathy, page 92), who said that the remedy is prepared from the entire plant including the  trapped insects.

It may be interesting to note that all insectivorous plants I know grow in or near the water. Certainly in the case of Drosera the capture of an insect by the plant is in some way analogous to the dangers a swamp poses to an unsuspecting wanderer. The pertinacious and stubborn clinging to the intruder, which makes escape impossible, is present in both cases. The engulfing nature of the surroundings are reflected in the behavior of the plant.

Starting from the observation that the homeopathic remedy Drosera is patterned by both the prey as well as the predator, let's look for both expressions in its symptomology. In perceiving this picture I found the article by Peter Andersch-Hartner, Documenta Homeopathica, Vol. 13, p65,  helpful. In the following section I took rubrics from the repertory (Synthesis) and original provers' language from Allen's Encyclopedia.

The Insect

It is the morning of a bright and beautiful day. The little insect is already thirsty (Stomach, thirst, morning; "He dreams of thirst and drinking, wakes very thirsty and is obliged to drink."). The night before it slept very restlessly and had many anxious dreams (Dreams, anxious; Sleep, unrefreshing; Sleep, waking frequent; "Frequent starting at night  from sleep, as if from fright or fear, but without anxiety on waking."). It is almost as if the night had been a foreboding of danger (Fear of hearing bad news; Fear of misfortune; Suspicious, mistrustful). On the search for something to drink, the little insect is drawn from one flower to the next (Capriciousness; Inconstancy; Irresolution, indecision), when it notices a plant whose leaves appear to be covered with nourishing nectar. An irresistible attraction (Delusion, someone calls; Illusions of hearing) which calls out to it! This sight is so gorgeous and mouth watering that  its fears are dispelled (Cheerful, gay, mirthful). Proceeding to this plant it decides to land directly on one of the leaves covered with drops of nectar. The little insect gets stuck in the resinous fluid and quickly realizes that this was not such a good idea. What deceit (Delusion of being deceived)! Kicking and screaming it tries to free itself (Courageous; Restlessness, anxious; Violent, vehement; Rage, fury) - to no avail. The  more it struggles the deeper it becomes entrapped, and the leaf seems to  turn inward on the poor little insect (Delusion, tall, things grow taller; Delusion, persecuted; Delusion pursued by enemies). Movement becomes increasingly more difficult ("All the limbs feel paralyzed."). The little insect realizes that it is alone; nobody is coming to help (Anxiety, when alone; Desire for company; Discouraged about future; Sadness, despondency, dejection; Forsaken feeling). How much it wishes that it had stayed at home (Homesickness)! Finally, as the digesting enzymes eat away, we are reminded of the consumptive disease, tuberculosis, for which Drosera is an important remedy.

The Plant

It is the morning of a bright and beautiful day. The sundew plant (Drosera) enjoys the quiet and calmness which the early rays of sun bring (Tranquility, serenity, calmness). Each of its hair-like tentacles is crowned by an enticing droplet, ready to deal with breakfast (Deceitful,  sly). There, as if out of nowhere, comes a little insect and lands squarely on one of the sundew's leaves. The plant has never really gotten used to  the impertinence with which insects approach its seeming bountiful source of food. Anger over this intrusion starts to well up (Mood, alternating,  changeable; Morose, cross, fretful; Offended easily, takes everything in  bad part). As the insect continues to fight and struggle, the sundew curves its leaf inward to engulf the intruder (Extremities, stiffness, upper, fingers; "The fingers are inclined to be spasmodically contracted, and, on closing them, the joints of the middle finger to be stiff, as if the tendons would not yield, now in the right, now in the left hand.").  The  fighting of the insect tickles and stimulates more fluid to be exuded (Sensitive, oversensitive). Now what is needed is perseverance and patience. Very few insects have ever managed to free themselves, most eventually tire and give up (Perseverance; Pertinacity; Plans, carrying out, insists on; Obstinate, headstrong).

I hope that with this account I have shown that the remedy Drosera is more than just the plant Drosera. We can clearly perceive the situation of the struggling insect as well as the tenacious plant. Many symptoms which I didn't mention here will fit either one or the other element. The totality appears to comprise the interwoven fates of the plant and the insect.

Of course, everyone knows that Drosera is a leading whooping cough remedy with the typical barking sound and retching afterwards, leading to vomiting in some cases. The obstinate laryngeal tickling which provokes the cough is very characteristic of Drosera and fits in nicely with the totality as described above. When one focuses on the physical aspects of the cough, there are of course many remedies that come close to Drosera (Corallium,  Cuprum, Hyoscyamus, Kali-c, and many others). Margaret Tyler (in Homeopathic Drug Pictures) has described it as belonging closely to the tubercular miasm and therefore being similar to Tuberculinum. In this respect one has to think also of Calc-phos and Rhus-tox as belonging to this group (also Pulsatilla). Many Drosera cases have in common this feeling of wanting to shake off something terribly annoying and harassing, which clings to them obstinately. Sankaran mentions a very descriptive case in The Substance of Homeopathy, page 89. It is of a school teacher who feels constantly harassed by her principal yet feels trapped in her job and does not want to give it up.

DROSERA

Keynotes:

- Whooping cough with retching and vomiting.
- Vertigo when walking in fresh air with tendency to fall to the left.
- Coldness of left side of face with hotness and stitching pains of the right side.
- Worse at night, with restless sleep and anxious dreams

 Mind:

. Anxiety and fear at night, starting from sleep
. Obstinate
. Feeling of being persecuted and harassed
. Easily angered

Generals:

. Weakness of entire body.
. Oversensitive to noise and smells.

Agg.:

. Being alone
. After midnight
. On lying down

Amel.:

. Company
. Sitting up in bed

Face:

. Left side cold, right side hot.

Head:

. Heavy, pressing headache from cheekbones extending downward.

Throat:

. Persistent tickling in larynx, as if from bread crumb.
. Difficulty swallowing solid food
. Low and weakened voice from tenacious mucus.
. Difficulty exhaling.

Chest:

. Spasmodic, dry, irritating cough in paroxysms
. Barking noise when coughing
. Cough starts as soon as head hits the pillow.

Extremities:

. Paralytic pains, stiffness, and weakness in joints
. Bed feels too hard
. Stitching pains in muscles and joints

Complem.:

 .Nux-v, Sulph

Correspondence

I'm glad you mentioned the prey in your story.  The plant lives on nitrogen poor ground and it's nature to eat insects was an attempt to correct this deficincy.

I find it interesting that this remedy addresses the Tubercular miasm which often tends towards vegetarianism (the bug in your description, perhaps) and yet the strong indications for 'meat' also, as presented by the stories was there.  The Doctrine of Signatures that you described aptly explains both phenomena.

I have only used Drosera for that 'hacking cough' situation, and found it especially helpful with teens (tending towards vegetarianism who were at that 'keep their activities a secret from their parents' stage) which covered both the mentals of 'secret, gay, mirthful' as well as 'deceitful, sly' sx you described.  Interesting, like always, the mentals guide the case - whether I was aware of it at the time or not.

Drosera cases

1. It involves a young man of 21 who developed a case of whooping cough 3 weeks before he was to get married. He whooped all the way through the ceremony. On his wedding night, in mid stride, so to speak, he got caught by a fit of coughing, which he tried to relieve by dancing up and down on the bed and pounding himself on the back. The paroxysm ended in a fit of  vomiting. The next morning, as he and his new wife were at a restaurant having breakfast, he remembers looking at her and realizing he had made a terrible mistake. In describing the outcome of this relationship, he used  the following words:" We stayed together for a few years, and in the end, she chewed me up and spit me out."

The moral of the  story. There is such a thing as a Drosera state. No doubt about it. Congratulations on catching the universal aspects so well. It' s work like this that redeems the griping that goes on around.

Stanley Fefferman

2. I have a lovely Drosera case, that dazzled me with the doctrine of signatures. This was actually one of my very early cases, back before I learned that  Drosera was only for whooping cough :-)) (please understand that was an attempt at humor, in the understated self-effacing way we tend to do that up here in Maine).

This was a woman in her mid 40's who developed a spasmodic dystonia of the right (dominant) forearm & hand.  Basically, her hand would involuntarily  clench painfully whenever she tried to grasp something in it, so hard that she'd break pencils, water glasses, whatever.  This left her unable to write or feed herself with her right hand; and if she tried with her left hand, the right would close up painfully anyway, digging her fingernails  into her palm.  The spasmodic contracture was stimulated by even very light pressure on the finger pads.  She was unable to continue her employment, and the condition was attributed to occupational overuse of the hand, so it became a workers' compensation case.  Now in this country these are often heavily contested legally by the workers' compensation insurance companies - but in this case it was not, her claims adjuster was very helpful in getting her to appropriate care, her claim was not contested, etc. - but  she persisted in believing that she was getting the shaft from the insurer and/or the employer.  There actually was little else in the case, but for a very strong attachment to her home, such that she was quite unable to leave it for more than a few days at a time, e.g. on vacations.

The following rubrics (from the Complete Repertory) are rather small, so  I've combined them:

EXTREMITIES; CONTRACTION of muscles and tendons; Fingers; grasping (3)
arg-n., dros(2)., stry

EXTREMITIES; CONTRACTION of muscles and tendons; Fingers; spasmodic (25) 

EXTREMITIES; CONTRACTION of muscles and tendons; Hand; grasping involuntarily things taken hold of (3) ambr., dros., sulph

And used the following rubrics for repertorization:

    EXTREMITIES; CONTRACTION of fingers, combined rubrics (28)
    MIND; HOMESICKNESS, nostalgia (52)
    MIND; DELUSIONS; persecuted, that he is (48)

Dros(6/3), Bell(5/3), Calc(5/3), and Lach(5/3) lead the repertorization; and Drosera is prominent in the 2 small rubrics above that describe her presenting complaint in greatest detail.

Kent describes this spasmodic contracture of the hand in Drosera, as a note in his MM Lectures chapter on Stannum; I recall him describing the inability to let go of a grasped broomstick.

I grew up exploring the bogs around my home, & know the Sundew well.  I was struck by the strong parallel between the hand-like Sundew leaf closing up when stimulated by an insect stuck to the dew on its "fingertips," and this woman's hand closing up to slight stimulation of the finger pads.

P.S. - Margaret Tyler states, in her Drug Pictures, "A few years ago, I came to the startling conclusion that the only two people who really knew anything about Drosera were Samuel Hahnemann and myself ..."  If we can keep up this kind of MM dialog, we might add to those numbers.  Thanks for starting this thread, Chris.

Will Taylor

Notes from Nandita Shaw's discussion on Drosera in her 3/96 Boston seminar

When Nandita Shaw was in Boston in 3/96, one of her cases was a fellow with a chronic cough, along with rich mental/emotional symptoms.  Case analysis ala the Bombay school suggested Nit-ac (central delusion, that he was involved in a lawsuit).  Nit-ac failed to act.  Nandita then analyzed the case again, this time restricting attention to the physical particulars (of cough) - which were quite prominent and characteristic.  It came out Drosera, which acted curatively for the whole person - physicals and M/E's as well.  A great case illustrating Drosera, also a great case illustrating our need to be open to what the patient brings to us as a totality of symptoms - and not getting stuck in one dogma or another about having to  find a case in the mentals, or the lesional illness, or whatever.

Drosera

skinny, eats a lot - tubercular
delusions, imaginations, enemy, rest allows him no
del, enemies surrounded by
del., persectuted, that he is
obstinate, headstrong, execution of matured plans in
pertinacity
rage, fury, violence
del., that he is deceived (Dros, Ruta)
suspicious, mistrustful
"as if had to do with none but false people" - MM Pura
"as if enemies would not leave him quiet - envied & persecuted him" - MM Pura the sx's of drosera are the sx's of the plant with the insect inside.

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