I knew of this plant first from Bach Flower Remedies. Many years ago now, while I was still living in Seattle, the Star of Bethlehem flower essence was prescribed to me for a short while. But Bach Flower Remedies generally have to do with emotional issues, not physical ones (though, of course, the physical and emotional are related). When I started looking for information about local medicinal plants, here in Israel, this was a logical one to look up.
I was shocked to find out what the use of this plant is. This is not a sweet, comfy, daily use kind of plant ally. Star of Bethlehem has one listed medicinal use: to combat congestive heart failure.
WebMD explains that this plant has an action similar to the drug digoxin.
Of course, WebMD doesn’t give any dosage information, and simply says not to use it. However, digoxin is taken once a day, in some cases for years. I would guess that somewhere in some ancient medicinal text there is some similar use of this plant, but I have not yet found any such reference.
Dukes Handbook of Medicinal Plants from the Bible does have some information on Star of Bethlehem on pages 312-315, but the end result is more questions than actual information. I would not, based on the information I have available currently, recommend the use of this plant at all to anyone ever.*
For more information about this plant and its distribution within Israel, see the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Flora of Israel Online
*Of course, being the imaginative person that I am, I can imagine some apocalyptic world in which there was no access to other medical options, and a person with congestive heart failure. Despite the constant expectation of such total societal collapse by environmentalists and religious fanatics alike, I doubt it’ll ever come to though, though. (chas ve chalilla, as they say)
Sheva BaBoker 