Buck Bean
Parts Usually Used
Leaves
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Buck bean is a perennial water plant; the black, branching, jointed rootstock sends up a flower stem dilated at the base, as well as the dark green ternate leaves with obovate, sessile leaflets. The racemed flowers are white inside, rose-colored outside. (Note the clover-like leaves arising from the root). Flowers are 5-parted, petals have fuzzy beards; bloom April to July.
Where Found
Found on the shorelines, bogs, shallow water, in the ditches and marshy meadows of Pacific North America, Canada, Alaska, and Eurasia. Eastern and north central states of the United States have a smaller variety.
Medicinal Properties
Bitter tonic, cathartic, febrifuge, diuretic, anthelmintic, emetic
Biochemical Information
Used as flavoring and for beer making. Native Americans cut the nicotine in tobacco by using buck bean leaves. Smoked alone or mixed with tobacco. Science confirms phenolic acids may be responsible for bile-secreting, digestive tonic, and bitter qualities.
Uses
Historically, herbalists prepared buck bean tea for fever, migraine headaches, indigestion, rheumatism, scurvy, and jaundice, as well as to stimulate the appetite. Traditional practitioners also employed it for dropsy, bleeding, skin affections, and liver or kidney complaints, and regarded it as a purgative and an agent for expelling intestinal worms. Externally, folk traditions recommended preparations of buck bean for ulcerous sores.
How Sold
Capsules, powder
Warning
Fresh plant causes vomiting.
Bibliography
, Loma Linda, CA 92354, Original copyright 1939, revised edition 1994 The Complete Medicinal Herbal , by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993 Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.
copyright 1974. Old Ways Rediscovered , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, published from 1954, print 1988 The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine , by Dr. David Frawley & Dr. Vasant Lad, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, Second edition, 1988. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023