The Medicinal Herb Info site was created to help educate visitors about the often forgotten wisdom of the old ways of treating illnesses. Many of today's drugs and medicines were originally derived from natural ingredients, combinations of plants and other items found in nature.

We are not suggesting that you ignore the help of trained medical professionals, simply that you have additional options available for treating illnesses. Often the most effective treatment involves a responsible blend of both modern and traditional treatments.

We wish you peace and health!

Columbine

Scientific Names

Columbine

  • Aquilegia vulgaris L.
  • Aquilegia canadensis L.
  • Buttercup family

Common Names

  • Garden columbine

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Parts Usually Used

The plant
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Columbine is a perennial, herbaceous plant; its prominently branching stem is sparsely hairy and grows from 1 to 2 1/2 feet high. Both the basal and lower stem leaves are shaggy-haired underneath and biternate, with the leaflets or ultimate segments broadly wedge-shaped. The nodding blue, purple, or white flowers grow at the ends of the branches during the summer. Their 5 petals have characeristic nectar-containing, backward-projecting spurs about 3/4 inch long. Bloom in May.
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Where Found

Originally came from Europe to be naturalized in the eastern United States. In moist, rich woods, wet, shaded rocky outcrops. Southern Canada southward.
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Medicinal Properties

Astringent, diuretic, diaphoretic, anodyne
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Uses

A decoction of the root helps stop diarrhea. The flowers taken with wine promote perspiration, and the seeds with wine are said to speed the delivery of a child, opens obstructions of the liver, good for jaundice, relieve kidney stones. Leaves are sometimes used in lotions to soothe sores in the mouth and throat. A lotion made from the fresh root is rubbed on the affected area to relieve rheumatic aches and pains.

Native Americans used minute amounts of crushed seeds for headaches, love charms, and fevers. Seeds rubbed into the hair to control lice. Root chewed or weak tea for diarrhea, stomach troubles, diuretic. Root tea for uterine bleeding.
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Formulas or Dosages

Infusion: steep 1 tsp. plant parts in 1 cup water. Take 1 tbsp., 3-6 times a day.

Tincture: a dose is from 5-10 drops.
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Warning

Potentially poisonous.
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Bibliography

Buy It! Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs, by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814)

Buy It! Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke., Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000

Buy It! The Herbalist Almanac, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994

Buy It! The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.

Buy It! Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, New World Dictionaries: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023

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