Columbine

Botanical reference entry

On this page

Parts Usually Used
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Where Found
Medicinal Properties
Uses
Warning
Bibliography

Parts Usually Used

The plant

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Columbine is a perennial, herbaceous plant; its prominently branching stem is sparsely hairy and grows from 1 to 2 1/2 feet high. Both the basal and lower stem leaves are shaggy-haired underneath and biternate, with the leaflets or ultimate segments broadly wedge-shaped. The nodding blue, purple, or white flowers grow at the ends of the branches during the summer. Their 5 petals have characeristic nectar-containing, backward-projecting spurs about 3/4 inch long.

Bloom in May.

Where Found

Originally came from Europe to be naturalized in the eastern United States. In moist, rich woods, wet, shaded rocky outcrops. Southern Canada southward.

Medicinal Properties

Astringent, diuretic, diaphoretic, anodyne

Uses

Historically, herbalists prepared a decoction of the root to address diarrhea, stomach troubles, and to serve as a diuretic. The flowers were traditionally consumed with wine to induce perspiration, while the seeds were taken in wine for liver obstructions, jaundice, and kidney stones. Topical preparations of the leaves were employed in lotions for mouth and throat sores, and fresh root lotions were rubbed onto areas affected by rheumatic aches and pains.

Native American traditions utilized crushed seeds for headaches, fevers, love charms, and rubbed them into the hair against lice. The root was also chewed or brewed into a tea for digestive complaints and uterine bleeding.

Warning

Potentially poisonous.

Bibliography

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) Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000 The Herbalist Almanac , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.