Herb Profile: Bidens

Bidens frondosa

Herbalist Stephen Buhner has quite a lot to say about the medicine of this plant in his book Herbal Antibiotics. It is considered better medicine to tincture fresh bidens as opposed to using the medicine in dry form. "The plant is one of the great easily available systemic antibacterial herbs. ...for a number of resistant bacterial infections and is very simple to use. .." It is used by Ayurvedic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine and in western herbal medicine, likely used in many other cultures as well.  From Buhner, "The plant is a mucous membrane tonic and not only stops the inflammation and acts as a potent antibacterial in UTI infections but also heals the mucous membranes themselves." There is much more in this detail rich book, I highly recommend checking it out along with Buhner's website and facebook page.