Back to home page Minerals in plants, By Jan Scholten MD

This book review is reprinted with permission from Homeopathic Links.
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Minerals in plants
Jan Scholten MD

Reviewed by Jan Bol MD
The Netherlands

In producing his world-famous book on minerals and elements, Jan Scholten must have had many ideas not ripe enough to fit into the structure of that brilliant work.

One of the thoughts that came to his mind was to compare the plant's mineral spectrum with its homeopathic picture.

A study on this theme is now published by Scholten, showing the results of an analysis done some years ago on the mineral contents in plants.

It's an experimental study with only 22 minerals analysed in 100 mostly not well-known plants (like for instance Marrubium, Lespedeza, Eugenia, Carica papaya and Ballota foetida). To be honest, in 150 pages of lists and charts full of test results, you'll find more questions than answers.

But don't worry, the statistics in this book contain some intriguing stuff. some high mineral levels like manganum in the helpful Betula alba and lithium in the extreme Hyoscyamus niger support the materia medica picture. Also remarkable are the highest levels of cuprum, selenium, molybdenum and magnesium all in one plant: Vitis vinifera (Vine tree). Hard for me to understand are the completely different mineral profiles of 'twin plants' like Echinacea aug stifolia/echinacea pur-purea and Tilia alburnum /Tilia cordata. And how about the resemblance between the remedy pictures of Valeriana officinalis and Zincum etallicum, while Valerian appears to have one of the lowest zinc levels of all tested plants?

Questions, questions and more (exciting) questions, not to be answered yet by Jan Scholten who admits he cannot draw too many conclusions as he states: 'This kind of analysis should be repeated often with plants from different regions and climates, from different kinds of soil, with different varieties of plants. More minerals should be analysed with different techniques by different laboratories.'

Homeopathic Links
Volume 14, Number 4, Winter 2001