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!

Ironweed

Scientific Names

Ironweed

  • Vernonia fasciculata L.
  • Compositae
  • Composite family

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Parts Usually Used

Root, leaves
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Ironweed is a coarse, perennial plant; the simple, glabrous stem grows 2-10 feet high and bears alternate, ascending, purplish-green, linear or oblong-lanceolate leaves, 4-8 inches long. The reddish-purple or purple flowers grow in dense cymes of short-peduncled heads, somewhat like miniature thistles, from July to September.

Another variety: Also called ironweed, (V. glauca) is a blue-green perennial, 2-5 feet tall. Leaves are on stems only, not at the base; oval to lance-shaped and narrowly sharp-pointed at the tip and base. Flowers July to October. Seed crowns are yellowish. Found in rich woods; New Jersey to Georgia; Alabama to Pennsylvania. The root used by Native Americans as a blood tonic, to regulate menses, relieve pain after childbirth, and for bleeding, and stomachaches.
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Where Found

Grows in woods, on prairies, and along riverbanks and streambanks in the states west of Ohio.
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Medicinal Properties

Bitter tonic, deobstruent, alterative
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Uses

The root is taken in the form of a powder or a decoction primarily to stimulate appetite and promote digestion. Useful for female complaints, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, leucorrhea, and menorrhagia. A remedy for chills and fevers, scrofula, diseases of the skin, syphilis. A decoction of the leaves is used as a gargle for sore throat.
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Formulas or Dosages

Decoction: use 1 tsp. rootstock with 1 cup water. Take 1-2 cups per day, 1/2 to 1 hour before meals.
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Bibliography

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

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

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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