Contents:
Parts Usually Used | Plant(s) & Culture | Where Found | Medicinal Properties
Uses | Formulas or Dosages | Bibliography
Scientific Names
- Vernonia fasciculata L.
- Compositae
- Composite family
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
Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants
The Herb Book
Indian Herbalogy of North America
Webster’s New World Dictionary
