Senecio aureus

Also, Known As:

• Cocashweed
• Coughweed
• False Valerian
• Golden Ragwort
• Golden Senecio
• Liferoot

The herb known as the life root is a perennial wildflower species of the daisy family of plants – Asteraceae; it reaches about half to two m in height. A small rosette of basal leaves approximately six to eight inches across is found at the base of each plant. The basal leaves have blades that are normally two inches in length and two inches wide. The leaves are cordate orbicular in shape, possessing crenate, dentate edges without any hair on the surface. The length of the blades is matched by the length of the slender petioles of the basal leaves. Each rosette develops a flowering stalk from its center which grows up. Usually, two to three alternate leaves are borne along this flowering stalk. The size of the alternate leaves is smaller compared to the size…

Viburnum prunifolium

Also, Known As:

• American Sloe
• Black Haw
• King’s Crown
• Sheepberry
• Snowball Tree
• Stagbush

The American plant known as the black haw is native to the American continent, and it is believed to have been in traditional use for the preparation of many types of herbal remedies as well as a source of food by the original Native Americans – though documentation is scarce. The black haw is a shrub or more correctly a small deciduous tree which can reach a height of five to fifteen feet when fully mature. The plant is characterized by its red-brown bark and the grooved branches. The black haw plant also bears a number of characteristic flat-topped white flowers and in the season many shiny and blue-black berries, the black haw berries are very juicy and used in many Native American food preparations.

The herbal literature does not have too many details on…

Also, Known As:

• Baptisia
• Clover Broom
• Horsefly Weed
• Indigo Broom
• Rattlebush
• Shoofly
• Wild Indigo
• Yellow Indigo

The very term ‘indigo’ associated with a plant’s name brings to the mind that it must be yielding a rich blue pigment. But, unfortunately, wild indigo is a plant that is an inferior alternative to the original indigo dye that has provided people across the globe with a deep blue color for over 4000 years now. Indigenous to North America, the wild indigo is a shaggy plant that has bluish green leaves and yellow colored flowers that are akin to the ones found on the pea plant. According to history, the Mohegans of south New England precipitated the root of wild indigo to acquire a medicine with which they washed cuts and gaping wounds and this practice is followed even now. In fact, wild indigo has antiseptic properties and is immensely beneficial in treating…

Viburnum opulus

Also, Known As:

• Crampbark
• Cranberry Bush
• Cranberry Tree
• Guelder Rose
• Pembina
• Pimbina
• Whitten Tree

Crampbark (botanical name Viburnum opulus) is basically a shrub that is indigenous to Europe as well as North America and is also found growing in the northern regions of Africa and Asia. The US National Formulary documented crampbark as late as in the 1960’s in the form of a tranquilizer for conditions related to the nervous system as well as in the form of an antispasmodic in treating asthma. As the name ‘crampbark’ suggests, the therapeutic use of this herb is primarily related to easing cramps as well as other conditions, for instance, painful menstruation due to excessive tightening of the muscles as well as colic.

Crampbark is a shrub that sheds its leaves annually (deciduous) and usually grows up to a height of 4 meters to 5 meters. The leaves of this herb…

Rhus trilobata

Also, Known As:

• Aromatic Sumac
• Basketbush
• Fragrant Sumac
• Ill-scented Sumac
• Scented Sumac
• Skunkbush
• Skunkbush Sumac
• Squawbush

Skunkbush (scientific name Rhus trilobata) is a low-growing, bushy shrub belonging to the sumac genus. Also known as sour berry or three-leaf sumac, it grows up to a height of anything between 2 feet and 6 feet. This shrub is found growing in clumps in rocky terrains all through a different section of the eastern United States. The leaves of this shrub are trifoliate (hence the common name three-leaf sumac), which appear on an inch-long stalk. The leaflets of skunkbush appear directly from the stems (sessile) and are covered with very fine, short hairs (pubescence) when they are young. Compared to the lateral leaflets, the terminal leaflet is significantly large, measuring about 1 inch to 2 inches long and roughly two-thirds of its length in width. The leaflets are complete and narrow…