Goldenrod

Scientific Names

• Salidago odora L.
• Compositae
• Composite family

Common Names

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Parts Usually Used

Leaves and  flowers, dried
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Description of Plant(s) and
Culture

The creeping rootstock of this perennial plant produces a slender, simple stem growing to a height of 2-4 feet.  The leaves are sessile, thin, entire, lanceolate, and covered with transparent dots.  The alternate leaves grow on lower parts of the stem; they are smooth, stalkless, long and narrow. (Not toothed, but tiny prickles catch the skin when rubbed backward along the edge of  the leaf). The golden-yellow flower heads appear crowded on arching branches on the upper part of the stem, in terminal panicled racemes from July to September.  This species has strongly anise-scented leaves that can be made into a pleasant beverage tea.

Other varieties: Gray goldenrod (S. nemoralis), European goldenrod (S. virgaurea), Canada goldenrod (S. canadensis), there are 80 species.
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Where Found

Sweet goldenrod can be found in dry, sandy soils in the eastern half of the United States.  Dry open woods, heathland, hillsides, and fields, from New England to Florida, west to Missouri and Texas.
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Medicinal Properties

Astringent, carminative, diaphoretic, diuretic, stimulant
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Legends, Myths and Stories

Nearly 100 members of the species of Solidago are centered in North America, especially the eastern United States.
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Uses

Warm sweet goldenrod tea has diaphoretic properties; taken cold it stimulates the system and helps to dispel flatulence.  A tea made from the dried leaves and flowers is an aromatic beverage and can be used to improve the taste of other medicinal preparations.  Native Americans applied a lotion made from goldenrod flowers to bee stings.  Promotes sweating in fevers.  An infusion of flowers has been used to treat kidney gravel and dropsy.  A digestive stimulant.  Used for colic, to regulate menses, cystitis, colds, coughs, dysentery, diarrhea, measles; externally, a wash for rheumatism, neuralgia, headaches.  Externally, treats old sores, wounds, sores or ulcers in the mouth.

Culpeper says use of this herb will “fasten the teeth that are loose in the gums.”
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Warning

May cause allergic reactions.
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Bibliography

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

Chinese Medicinal Herbs, compiled by Shih-Chen Li, Georgetown Press, San Francisco, California, 1973.

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

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

The Nature Doctor: A Manual of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, by Dr. H.C.A. Vogel; Keats Publishing, Inc., 27 Pine Street (Box 876) New Canaan, CT. 06840-0876. Copyright Verlag A. Vogel, Teufen (AR) Switzerland 1952, 1991

The Magic of Herbs, by David Conway, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, England. (Out of print)

The Complete Medicinal Herbal, by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993

Planetary Herbology, by Michael Tierra, C.A., N.D., O.M.D., Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. WI 53181., Copyright 1988, published 1992

American Folk Medicine, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973

Indian Herbalogy of North America, by Alma R. Hutchens, Shambala Publications, Inc., Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973

How Indians Use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine & Crafts, by Frances Densmore, Dover Publications, Inc., 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014, first printed by the United States Government Printing Office, Washington, in 1928, this Dover edition 1974

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

An Instant Guide to Medicinal Plants, by Pamela Forey and Ruth Lindsay, Crescent Books (January 27, 1992).

The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book), edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. Emmaus, PA, 18049., 1974

The Healing Plants, by Mannfried Pahlow, Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. 250 Wireless Blvd., Hauppauge, NY 11788, 1992

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