Borage

Borago officinalis – Borage
Boraginaceae – Borage family

Parts used in medicine include borage seed oil and the herb. The oil is obtained by cold pressing ripe seeds. The herb is harvested during blooming and dried in drying rooms in max. 40° C.

Borage – appearance and origin:

Annual or biennial from the borage family, originating from the Mediterranean. It currently grows as a weed or crop in Europe, Asia and North America.

Borage has an elevated stem up to 70 cm, thick, juicy, apical branches, big lower leaves, ovate, small upper leaves, sessile. The entire plant is covered with white, bristly hairs and has a cucumber-like smell. The flowers are in a corymb on the stem apex, radiate with acute petals, blue or white. The fruit is a dark brown, ribbed cremocarp.

Borage – effects and use:

The borage herb contains up to 11% of mucous compounds, pyrrolizidine tannins, flavonoids, quercetin derivatives, organic acids, saponins, resin, choline, soluble silica, mineral salts containing potassium, manganese, iron, copper, zinc and other elements. The oil contains unsaturated fatty acids, i.a. up to 20% of gamma-Linolenic acid. The herb extracts are lightly diuretic, diaphoretic and antipyretic, which helps remove harmful metabolic waste in chronic liver disease, gout and rheumatism. The mucilage protects the gastrointestinal mucosa and externally promote wound and skin healing. Moreover, borage has anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, anticoagulant, antihypertensive, immunostimulant and cholesterol-lowering properties (it influences the prostaglandin PGE synthesis). Due to its hepatotoxicity and carcinogenicity, it is currently not used internally.

Externally, it is used for bathing in inflammation of the skin and the mucosas. The regenerative effect borage has on skin has been used for cosmetics such as creams, washing gels or facial masks.