Taraxacum

Prepared from the fresh root (and sometimes whole plant) of Taraxacum officinale (Asteraceae) by tincturing and potentising according to homœopathic pharmacy. Constituents include bitter sesquiterpene lactones (e.g., taraxacin), triterpenes, inulin, minerals, and cholagogue/diuretic principles that plausibly underwrite the remedy’s gastric–hepatic and urinary affinities [Hughes], [Clarke]. Classical sources emphasise a picture centred on stomach–liver derangements with a “mapped” (geographic) tongue, bilious headaches, bitter taste, flatulence, and irregular stools; there is also a minor thread of nervous twitchings and restlessness in gastric states [Hering], [Allen], [Boericke], [Clarke].

Collated chiefly from small [Proving] sets and extensive [Clinical] confirmations in gastric–hepatic complaints; compiled in Allen with confirmations from Hering and Clarke; pathogenetic notes show mapped tongue, bitter taste, hepatic soreness, eructations, and stool irregularity, with accessory nervous twitchings and restlessness in dyspeptic states [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Boger].

Taraxacum is the dyspeptic–bilious regulator whose barometer is the tongue: coating lifts in islands and the mouth tastes bitter, while the stomach feels loaded and windy and the right hypochondrium full and sore. The patient is psorically reactive to dietary indiscretion—fats, pastry, coffee, beer—and to inactivity after meals. Relief comes in homely, physiological ways: a warm drink, a good belch, a walk in fresh air, and a regular morning stool. Head and stomach balance each other: as eructations or stool restore the stomach, the frontal/temporal headache melts; if digestion stalls, the head tightens and the tongue becomes more geographic [Clarke], [Farrington], [Hering]. The temperament is restless and peevish while the stomach labours, not deeply anxious; nervous twitchings (lids, facial muscles) flicker in the “nervous dyspeptic” and then subside when the gastric–hepatic axis is calmed [Hering].

In kingdom signature, a bitter Asteraceae: like other bitters it primes secretion and flow, so much of Taraxacum’s action is read through direction of cure—from congestion to discharge: belching, stool, the thinning of tongue coat. Miasmatically psoric–sycotic, it rarely advances to severe destructive pathology; it is the functional deranger and functional corrector. The clinical essence crystallises when four notes sound together: (1) mapped tongue, (2) bitter taste on waking, (3) flatulent dyspepsia worse fats/coffee, (4) right-sided hepatic fullness with bilious headache—all better from warm drinks, gentle motion in open air, and evacuations. Then Taraxacum stands distinct from Chelidonium (deeper, fixed hepatic pains), from Nux (tense, chilly, irritable with ineffectual urging), and from Pulsatilla (mild, thirstless, tearful with fat-worse but without the tongue keynote). Proper regimen—plain diet, regular mealtimes, avoidance of heavy fats and late coffee, and a post-prandial walk—often allies with the remedy to restore a stable digestive rhythm [Clarke], [Boericke], [Farrington].

• Tongue—epithelium & papillae. Geographic/mapped tongue—large, irregular denuded patches with islands of coating; taste bitter or “sickly,” mouth slimy; a leading keynote linking mouth to stomach/liver [Hering], [Clarke]. See Mouth, Teeth, Stomach.
• Liver & biliary tract. Fullness, dull aching or stitching in right hypochondrium; bitter risings; bilious headaches; stools alternately pale/constipated and loose [Boericke], [Clarke]. See Abdomen, Rectum, Food & Drink.
• Stomach. Flatulent dyspepsia, eructations after fats; nausea with mapped tongue; craving bitters yet aversion to rich foods [Allen], [Boger]. See Stomach.
• Head (hepatic cephalalgia). Frontal/temporal headache with bitter taste, coated–mapped tongue, and gastric oppression—improves as gastric secretion flows [Clarke], [Farrington]. See Head.
• Intestinal function. Alternation of constipation and soft, bilious stools; morning urging after breakfast (bitter saliva) [Hering], [Allen]. See Rectum.
• Urinary (secondarily). Increased urine with gastric–hepatic states; sediment scant; mild dysuria from acidity in dyspeptics [Clarke], [Boericke]. See Urinary.

Dyspeptic irritability with restlessness—cannot keep still during gastric oppression, shifts about seeking a position to ease belching [Hering]. Mental dulness in the morning with thick/slimy taste and a “patchy” tongue; he becomes brighter after stool and a light breakfast (cross-ref. Better after evacuation) [Allen], [Farrington]. Slight anxiety rises with hepatic headaches and right-sided pulling, yet true fear is small; it is a fretful impatience born of indigestion [Clarke]. Aversion to mental work immediately after meals; the effort “fixes” the headache [Farrington]. Oversensitive to smells of cooking/grease when the stomach is off; cross and critical then [Boericke]. Sleep loss from late eating worsens temper next day—classic psoric dyspepsia shade [Clarke]. Case [Clinical]: A clerk with midday bilious headache, mapped tongue, and bitter mouth—habitually snacking on pastries—steadied on Tarax. 6C and regulation of diet; headaches ceased as the tongue de-mapped and morning stool regularised [Clarke].

Sleep unrefreshing after late rich meals; wakes with bitter taste and patchy tongue [Clarke]. Restlessness in first sleep from epigastric weight; must turn for relief—settles after warm drink or belching (cross-ref. Better warmth & eructations) [Hering]. Dreams of business or kitchens/food when digestion labours [Boger]. Early morning waking to stool brings relief and clearer head [Allen]. Yawning frequent in forenoon dyspepsia [Boericke].

Dreams of eating rich dishes, of being late for meals, of foul tastes; wake with coated–mapped tongue and frontal fulness [Clarke]. Bad kitchen smells in dreams provoke real nausea on waking [Boger]. Dreams cease as bowels regularise [Allen].

A functional gastric–hepatic remedy marked by the geographic tongue keynote, bitter taste, flatulence, and right-sided hypochondrial fullness, with bilious headaches that improve as the stomach/bowels are relieved [Clarke], [Hering], [Boericke]. Worse fats, coffee, beer, inactivity after meals, morning before stool, and cold wind on abdomen; better warm drinks, gentle open-air motion, free eructations and stool, and plain diet [Boger], [Farrington]. Nervous twitchings and restlessness are secondary and disappear as dyspepsia clears [Hering]. The clinical direction of cure is from head ↔ stomach ↔ bowels in reciprocating relief, with the tongue as barometer throughout.

Little true fever; rather flushes with head heat during bilious attacks, followed by slight sweat when flatulence passes [Boericke]. Chilliness after cold wind on abdomen with colic (modal modality) [Boger]. Alternating heat of face and cold extremities with nausea [Clarke].

Chill: Sensitive to draughts on abdomen after meals [Boger].
Heat: Head/face hot with stomach oppression [Clarke].
Sweat: Slight, oily; brings little relief unless eructation follows [Boericke].

Bilious cephalalgia: heavy, pressing frontal pain extending to temples, with bitter taste and “patchy” tongue; often relieved by free eructations or stool [Clarke], [Farrington]. Head feels hot, face sallow; sometimes a band-like tension round forehead, worse on stooping after meals [Boger]. Dull occipital ache on waking after a rich supper; clears in fresh air and after a warm drink [Boericke]. Headache alternates with gastric oppression—when one rises, the other falls (reciprocity) [Clarke]. Scalp sensitive during mapped-tongue flares, with small tingling/twitches about the forehead in nervous dyspeptics [Hering].

Lids heavy in the morning with gastric foulness; vision “muzzy” until breakfast [Clarke]. White of eye takes a bilious hue in hepatic subjects (functional) [Boericke]. Lachrymation on exposure to cold wind with frontal pain [Boger]. Flickers before eyes when nausea grows, especially in warm rooms after food [Allen]. Itching at inner canthi in dyspeptic states [Hering].

Transient buzzing with congestive head during bilious attacks [Clarke]. Ears feel hot/full with headache after greasy foods; better after belching [Farrington]. Occasional twitchings about the auricle in the “nervous dyspeptic” pattern [Hering]. Slight earache with catarrh when digestion is disordered (reflex) [Boger].

Morning stuffiness with foul posterior taste; mucus thick, hawked from throat; clears after breakfast [Clarke]. Sensitive to kitchen odours and frying fats; smells provoke nausea [Boericke]. Occasional sneezing fits after meals (vaso-vagal reflex) [Boger]. Tip of nose cool during nausea, warm again after eructations [Allen].

Sallow, bilious tint; lips dry with bitter mouth; a faint, oily sheen in dyspeptic states [Clarke]. Twitchings of facial muscles or eyelids accompany gastric unrest (minor but characteristic) [Hering]. Facial heat during hepatic cephalalgia, especially across malars [Boger]. Expression peevish in mornings, brightening after stool [Allen].

Keynote: “Mapped” or geographic tongue—coating comes off in islands, leaving smooth, red, shining patches; often with saliva that is thick/ropy yet mouth feels dry; taste bitter or sickly [Hering], [Clarke], [Allen]. Tongue large, indentations at edges in the bilious; tip sometimes bright-red and sensitive [Boericke]. Small aphthous points at the margins during flares [Clarke]. Fetor oris on waking; cleanses after warm drink and stool [Farrington]. Much accumulation of saliva alternating with dryness, both disagreeable [Allen].

Teeth feel elongated/sensitive after acids or coffee (dyspeptic hyperacidity) [Boger]. Gums spongy with bitter mouth in hepatic states [Clarke]. Toothache worse after sweets or hot, alleviated by warm rinses if stomach is settled [Boericke]. Grinding at night during gastric disturbance is occasionally noted [Hering].

Throat coated with thick, tasteless slime mornings; constant need to clear it, better after warm drink and hawking [Clarke]. Sensation of lump rising with nausea that subsides after eructations [Hering]. Rawness after gastric acid risings [Boericke]. Subacute catarrh with stomach derangement [Boger].

Oppression at sternum with need to eructate; breathing “frees” after a good belch [Farrington]. Palpitations in bed after late, rich supper; vanish as stomach settles [Boger]. Substernal burning from sour risings; better warm drinks [Clarke]. Stitching under right breast with liver soreness [Boericke].

Pulse soft and a little frequent with nausea; palpitation from gastric flatulence (cardio-gastric reflex) [Boger], [Clarke]. Anxiety at precordia in dyspeptic fit, without true fear, easing after belching [Farrington]. Worse when lying left side soon after meals; better on sitting up [Hering].

Short breath with fullness in epigastrium; sighing respiration until gas passes [Clarke]. Dyspnoea after hurrying to meals; relieved by slow walking in air [Boger]. Tickling cough after sour risings; clears with warm drink [Boericke].

Centre of action. Persistent flatulent dyspepsia: fullness and weight in epigastrium, early satiety, sour or bitter risings; worse fats, pastry, coffee, beer; better warm food/drink, gentle walking, and free belching [Clarke], [Boericke], [Boger]. Nausea more mornings or after greasy meals; waterbrash sometimes replaces vomiting [Allen]. Eructations frequent but incomplete, “needing one good belch” to relieve head and chest [Farrington]. Crampy pains across epigastrium with mapped tongue flares; pressure of clothing is intolerable [Hering]. Craves bitters and simple fare; aversion to heavy sauces and sweets during flares [Clarke].

Right hypochondrium full, sore, or stitching; gall-region sensitive after dietary indiscretion [Clarke]. Much rumbling and gurgling—borborygmi with relief from flatus [Boger]. Umbilical dragging when sitting after a meal; better walking [Hering]. Abdomen distended towards evening on rich diet days [Boericke]. Cold wind across belly brings colic (modality: worse cold/damp) [Boger].

Irregular habit: alternating constipation and soft bilious stools; morning urging after breakfast a common pattern [Allen], [Hering]. Stools sometimes clay-coloured or pale, then later dark and loose as bile reappears (functional swings) [Clarke]. Itching at anus in bilious states [Boericke]. Tenesmus slight; the keynote is functional flux rather than inflammatory diarrhoea [Boger].

Urine quantity often increased during gastric–hepatic phases; straw-coloured, low odour [Clarke]. Dysuria mildly burning when gastric acidity is high; settles as stomach improves [Boericke]. Urging more in morning with bowel regularisation [Allen]. Occasional phosphatic cloud in nervous dyspeptics [Boger].

Aversion: fats, fried foods, pastry, heavy sauces; worse for coffee and beer [Clarke], [Boger]. Desires: bitters, warm soup, toast; sometimes salad in moderation (when stomach is quiet) [Clarke]. Thirst moderate; warm drinks soothe [Boericke]. Sour fruit may aggravate risings during flares [Farrington].

Desire subdued in periods of gastric oppression; nocturnal emissions followed by bitter mouth and mapped tongue next morning (functional) [Clarke]. Dull right-inguinal dragging linked to hepatic congestion [Hering]. Sweat at genitals with flatulent states [Boger].

Bilious attacks before menses: mapped tongue, bitter mouth, and frontal headache; often constipation during flow with improvement after first stool [Clarke], [Farrington]. Nausea from kitchen odours aggravated in pregnancy—a minor indication [Boericke]. Right-sided pelvic fullness reflex from hepatic region at ovulation times (functional) [Clinical].

Dorsal ache between shoulders in bilious states; as if a weight lay there—improves with movement and as stomach lightens [Clarke]. Lumbar weariness after long sitting post-prandially [Boger]. Right subscapular stinging (reflex from gall-region) [Farrington].

Heaviness of limbs with languor after food, especially midday; better gentle motion [Boger]. Small twitchings of fingers or calves in “nervous dyspeptics,” disappearing with gastric relief [Hering]. Cold hands during nausea; warm up after tea and toast [Allen].

Sallow, bilious hue; tendency to greasy skin in dyspeptic phases [Clarke]. Itching here and there with little relief from scratching during mapped-tongue periods (reflex) [Hering]. Acne may worsen on rich diet days and improve with regulation [Clinical]. Slight icteric tinge around eyes in hepatic congestion (functional) [Boericke].

Mapped / Geographic Tongue

• Kali-bi. — Deeply circumscribed, “punched-out” patches; stringy mucus; more catarrhal sinuses; Tarax. more purely gastric–hepatic, bilious taste [Hering], [Clarke].
• Merc-sol. — Flabby, imprinted tongue, profuse saliva, metallic taste; more ulcerative mouth; Tarax. saliva may be slimy but less offensive [Allen], [Clarke].
• Nat-m. — Mapped tongue with fissures and dryness; craving salt; Tarax. stronger bilious/hepatic link and aversion to fats [Kent], [Clarke].

Hepatic–Biliary / Bilious Headache

• Chelidonium — Right scapular pains, constant desire for hot drinks; stronger, fixed right-sided pains; Tarax. milder, functional, map-tongue keynote [Farrington], [Clarke].
• Carduus-m. — Enlarged tender liver, bitter taste, haemorrhoids; more portal stasis; Tarax. centred on stomach/tongue map [Boericke].
• Chionanthus — Sick-headache with jaundice and clay stools; more overt jaundice; Tarax. fluctuates functionally [Clarke].
• Leptandra — Black, tarry stools with liver pains; more prostration; Tarax. alternates constipation/soft stools [Farrington].
• Nux-v. — Gastric irritability, sedentary, coffee/spirits; Nux is tense, chilly, constipated with ineffectual urging; Tarax. has map-tongue and bitter morning mouth [Kent], [Boger].
• Lycopodium — 4–8 p.m. flatulence, right-to-left complaints; Tarax. less intellectual irritability, more tongue-keynote [Kent], [Clarke].

Flatulent Dyspepsia / Fats Intolerance

• Pulsatilla — Worse fats, but craves open air and is thirstless, mild; Tarax. has bitter mouth, mapped tongue and morning aggravation [Kent], [Clarke].
• Ant-crud. — Thick white coat, disgust for food, gastric irritability; Tarax. has patchy de-mapping and hepatic element [Hering].
• Carbo-veg. — Extreme distension, desire to be fanned; Tarax. less collapse, more biliary-taste and tongue sign [Farrington].

• Complementary: Chelidonium—to complete hepatic drainage when fixed right-sided pains remain [Farrington].
• Complementary: Nux-v.—when sedentary excess and coffee maintain dyspepsia; Nux regulates reactivity, Tarax. settles the mapped-tongue biliousness [Kent].
• Follows well: Puls. in fat-intolerance when the case turns more bilious with bitter mouth and tongue-mapping [Clarke].
• Follows well: Lyc. when 4–8 p.m. flatulence declines yet morning bitterness/tongue remain [Kent].
• Precedes well: Carduus-m. or Chionanthus if overt hepatic enlargement or jaundice develops [Boericke], [Clarke].
• Antidotes (functional): Nux-v. for coffee/late-supper aggravations; Carbo-veg. for acute flatulent oppression [Kent], [Farrington].

• Indications: Dyspepsia with geographic tongue and bitter morning taste; bilious headaches that ease after eructations or stool; fats-intolerance with right-sided fullness; functional alternation of constipation/loose stools; nervous twitchings tied to gastric unrest [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Farrington].
• Potency & repetition: For organotropic gastric–hepatic cases many use Q/Ø or 3X–6C in short courses (days to weeks), adjusting to reaction; for functional “tongue–head–stomach” patterns, 12C–30C once daily or every other day, spacing as the tongue steadies and morning bitterness fades. Intercurrent 200C has been reported when the keynote persists despite diet correction [Farrington], [Clarke].
• Adjuncts: Plain, warm meals, avoid late rich suppers, walk after eating, loosen tight garments, modest bitters when appropriate; track the tongue as progress marker (de-mapping with clinical improvement) [Clarke], [Hughes].
• Pearls:
  • Mapped tongue + bilious head: frontal pain cleared each day after breakfast stool; Tarax. 6C tid for one week regularised tongue and stool [Clarke].
  • Post-supper oppression: patient required to sit up to belch; small dosing before and after meals (3X) reduced episodes [Farrington].
  • Fat-worse dyspepsia in office worker: removing late coffee plus Tarax. 30C nightly steadied mornings in ten days [Clinical].

Mind

• Irritability with dyspepsia; peevish mornings. — Clears after stool/breakfast [Clarke].
• Restlessness during gastric oppression; must move about. — Seeks relief via eructation [Hering].
• Aversion to mental exertion after meals. — Headache fixed by reading/working [Farrington].
• Oversensitive to smells of cooking/grease. — Nausea provoked [Boericke].

Head

• Headache, bilious, frontal/temporal, with bitter mouth. — Better after belching/stool [Clarke], [Farrington].
• Headache after fatty food, coffee, beer. — Dietary modality [Boger], [Clarke].
• Band-like tension across forehead after meals. — Worse stooping [Boger].
• Occipital heaviness on waking after late supper. — Better warm drink/open air [Boericke].

Mouth / Tongue

• Tongue, mapped (geographic); coating in islands; denuded red patches. — Keynote [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke].
• Taste, bitter, mornings. — Classic bilious sign [Clarke].
• Saliva thick/ropy alternating with dryness. — Dyspeptic mouth [Allen].
• Aphthous points on edges with gastric derangement. — Minor feature [Clarke].

Stomach

• Eructations, incomplete; relief after a “good belch”. — Cardio-gastric reflex eases [Farrington].
• Flatulence after fats/pastry; aversion to rich foods. — Central modality [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Nausea from kitchen odours; better warm drinks. — Sensory aggravation [Boericke].
• Pressure of clothes over epigastrium intolerable after meals. — Distension [Hering].

Liver / Abdomen / Stool

• Pain, right hypochondrium; stitching/soreness; worse rich food. — Biliary axis [Clarke].
• Stools alternating—constipation and soft bilious. — Functional flux [Allen], [Hering].
• Clay-coloured stools followed by dark loose as bile flows. — Dynamics [Clarke].
• Borborygmi with relief from flatus. — Better discharge [Boger].

Urinary

• Urination increased with gastric–hepatic derangement. — Secondary sphere [Clarke].
• Burning, slight, with hyperacidity; improves as stomach settles. — Reflex [Boericke].
• Urging, mornings, alongside bowel regularisation. — Rhythm [Allen].

Generalities

• Worse fats, pastry, coffee, beer; worse after meals or inactivity. — Core modalities [Clarke], [Boger].
• Better warm drinks, gentle open-air motion, after eructations/stool. — Relief axis [Farrington], [Hering].
• Morning aggravation till breakfast/stool. — Daily cycle [Allen].

Hahnemann — Materia Medica Pura (1821–34): methodological baseline; comparative notes for gastric remedies.
Hering — The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica (1879–91): mapped-tongue keynote; gastric–hepatic confirmations; minor twitchings.
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): proving fragments—bitter mouth, mapped tongue, flatulence, stool alternations.
Hughes, R. — A Manual of Pharmacodynamics (1875): pharmacology of Taraxacum constituents; rationale for cholagogue/diuretic affinities.
Clarke, J. H. — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): full clinical portrait—tongue barometer, bilious headaches, diet modalities.
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Homœopathic Materia Medica (1901): keynotes—mapped tongue, dyspepsia, hepatic soreness, diet aversions.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica (1915): modalities (fats/coffee/beer worse; warm drinks/air better), gastric–head reciprocity.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (1887): head–stomach relationships; “better after eructations/stool”; regimen guidance.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homœopathic Materia Medica (1905) & Repertory: miasmatic framing; comparisons (Nux-v., Puls., Lyc.).
Phatak, S. R. — Materia Medica of Homœopathic Medicines (1977): concise gastric–hepatic pointers; modalities and relationships.
Tyler, M. L. — Homœopathic Drug Pictures (1942): clinical emphasis on the bitter stomach type and tongue signs.
Nash, E. B. — Leaders in Homœopathic Therapeutics (1899): differentiations among bilious remedies (Chel., Nux-v., Puls., Lyc.) in functional dyspepsia.