Introduction
Herbalism is based on phytotherapy, which uses medicinal plants in various galenic forms. Dry plants (herbal teas, capsules, ...), essential oils (aromatherapy), mother tinctures, bud macerates (gemmotherapy), and many other forms indeed help us to solve and prevent health disorders.
Gemmotherapy distinguishes itself from other forms by the use of embryonic tissues of trees. The preparations made in gemmotherapy are indeed made from young plant tissues (especially fresh shoots and buds). The benefits of bud macerates on the body are now recognized.
The use of buds and young shoots for therapeutic purposes is not a recent practice. Indeed, many peoples have used them since antiquity. Chinese and Ayurvedic medicines have been using them for millennia. Closer to us, Hildegard of Bingen already recommended the use of 8 tree buds in the 12th century: birch, blackcurrant, hornbeam, chestnut, lemon, rosehip, poplar, and apple. Alchemists made a particularly effective spring elixir from them.
It seems that Goethe's study of plants was the inspiration for modern gemmotherapy.
It is the work of the Belgian doctor Pol Henry (in the 60s) that will give gemmotherapy its nobility, a therapy using buds or more generally young plant tissues of trees and shrubs that surround him. He finally named it "gemmotherapy". His practice is based on the use of bud macerates diluted to 1/10. Dr. Pol Henry makes the link between pathologies and blood profile, then observes the biochemical modifications in his patients treated with bud macerates.
In the 70s, Max Téteau, a French homeopathic doctor, continued the research of his Belgian colleague on the bud macerate diluted to 1/10, but with a different approach. His studies notably confirm the pharmacological superiority of the bud over the whole plant. He also studied the more subtle action of buds on the psyche and emotions. His work contributed to the spread of gemmotherapy, and its virtues, among his colleagues.
At the end of the 80s, it was Philippe Andrianne, founder of Herbalgem, who made gemmotherapy accessible to all, by making a dietary supplement of the mother-macerate (undiluted bud macerate or concentrated macerate). Gemmotherapy then began to popularize. His symptom-based approach helps to popularize this branch of phytotherapy.
In the contemporary era
In addition to a scientific approach, Christian Escriva and Stéphane Boistard now propose a more sensitive approach to gemmotherapy.
Christian Escriva, based in the Maritime Alps and author of several books, transforms the plants he cultivates biodynamically as well as wild plants. He actively contributes to research in gemmotherapy, notably expanding the list of trees involved, and developing a sensory approach that gives full place to the diluted extracts he recommends.
He has also questioned the use of glycerin and has opened the door to other excipients: agave syrup, grape syrup, honey, etc.
Stéphane Boistard also tends to distance himself from the symptomatic approach to gemmotherapy. He favors the sensitive approach, particularly through a reconnection with the genius of trees and the forest. He shares this approach in his book and offers periodic online meetings to let us hear the "Voice of the Trees".
He has chosen to replace glycerin with honey in the mother tinctures he produces.
We give special mention to Dr. Fernando Pitera for his "Precise Guide to Gemmotherapy" which is indeed considered a major reference.
One cannot isolate man from his natural environment and it is within this remarkable balance that his well-being and healing process are inscribed... Healing with what has sprouted from the earth is the most beneficial act one can conceive, the most intimate and effective therapeutic interaction between the forces of nature and human pathology... - Dr. Fernando Pitera
Gemmotherapy has taken off. Many of us today are contributing to its dissemination, it's a very beautiful collective energy...
