Contents:
Common Names | Parts Usually Used | Plant(s) & Culture | Where Found | Medicinal Properties
Legends, Myths and Stories | Uses | Formulas or Dosages | Bibliography
Scientific Names
- Gerardia pedicularia L.
- Pedicularis palustris L.
- Figwort family
Common Names
- American foxglove
- Bushy gerardia
- False foxglove
- Fern-leaved false foxglove
- Lousewort
Parts Usually Used
The entire plant
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Feverweed is a sticky and hairy, annual or perennial plant; the numerous stems are 1-4 feet high and bear opposite, fern-like leaves, 1-3 inches long, which are pinnately lobed and deeply serrate. The large, yellow, bell-shaped flowers grow in loose terminal racemes in August and September, followed by 2-celled fruit capsules.
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Where Found
Grows in dry woods, pine ridges, mountains, and thickets from Maine to Florida and west to Ontario, Minnesota, and Missouri.
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Medicinal Properties
Antiseptic, diaphoretic, febrifuge, sedative
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Legends, Myths and Stories
Other herbs are called lousewort: Wood betony (Betonica officinalis); and (Pedicularis canadensis).
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Uses
A warm infusion is particularly effective in producing perspiration to reduce fevers and relieve inflammatory diseases. Helps wounds heal.
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Formulas or Dosages
Infusion: use 1 tsp. herb with 1 cup water. Take 1 cup per day.
Tincture: take 5-20 drops at a time.
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Bibliography
Back to Eden
, by Jethro Kloss; Back to Eden Publishing Co., Loma Linda, CA 92354, Original copyright 1939, revised edition 1994
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)
The Herb Book
, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.
Indian Herbalogy of North America
, by Alma R. Hutchens, Shambala Publications, Inc., Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973
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