Betonica officinalis, common name betony[2][3][4] is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae, native to Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa.

It flowers in mid summer from July to September, and is found in dry grassland, meadows and open woods in most of Europe, western Asia and North Africa.

[14] De herba Vettonica liber, a book originally attributed to Antonius Musa but now thought to have been written in the 4th century,[15] lists nearly 50 uses for the plant.

Properties ascribed to it include help for those with "the falling sickness", cramps, ague, jaundice, and sciatica, clearing of the lungs, chest, liver, and gallbladder, killing of worms, and breakage of kidney stones, among many others.

His summary of uses for betony is vast, and reflects influence from Pseudo-Musa and the same tradition as Gerard: "Epidemical Diseases, Witchcraft, Apetite, Indigestion, Stomach, Belching, Jaundice, Falling-sickness, Palsey, Convulsion, Shrinking of the Sinews, Gout, Dropsie, Frensie, Cough, Cold, Shortness of Breath, Agues of all sorts, Sore Eyes, Worms, Obstructions of the Liver and Spleen, Stitches, Pains in the Back and Belly, Terms provokes, Mother, Childbirth Stone, Toothache, Venemous Beasts, Mad-dogs, Weariness, Bleeding at Mouth and Nose, Pissing & spitting of Blood, Ruptures, Bruises, Wounds, Veins and Sinews Cut, Ulcers, Fistulaes, Boyls, Ears."

[5] A Welsh prescription attributed to the Physicians of Myddfai ascribes dream-controlling properties to betony, advising hanging its leaves around the neck or drinking the juice before sleep.

[citation needed] Modern herbalists prescribe betony to treat anxiety, gallstones, heartburn, high blood pressure, migraine and neuralgia, and to prevent sweating.