Cinquefoil
Parts Usually Used
The herb and root
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
A hardy, creeping, low perennial plant 6-18 inches high; its blackish rootstock sends out slender, rooting runners (somewhat like strawberries) and also produces a rosette of basal, dark green, pinnate leaves consisting of 13-21 oblong, serrate leaflets that are dark green on top and covered with silvery hairs beneath. In the leaves, large leaflets alternate with small leaflets.
The bright-yellow flowers grow singly on long peduncles, stalks growing from the leaf axils; blooms from May to September. The root has a bitter, styptic taste. Other varieties: Tall cinquefoil (P. arguta), (P. reptans), and dwarf cinquefoil (P. canadensis).
Where Found
Found in dry fields, wet meadows and banks, and pastures and also in damp marshy places all over North American and Europe. Found across Canada to the arctic circle, South in northern areas of the United States and the Rockies to New Mexico.
Medicinal Properties
Antispasmodic, astringent, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, tonic, antiphlogistic, antiseptic, hemostatic
Legends, Myths and Stories
Cinquefoil was used as a laxative by Paiutes; cook the whole plant which looks silvery and silky. Also makes a red dye. Industrially, tormentil is used to process leather; in the textile industry for dying in the color red. In ancient China, this herb was used in magic for casting spells and as a love-divining herb.
Uses
Historically, herbalists administered decoctions, teas, and tinctures of this plant for diarrhea, enteritis, alternating bowel complaints, and dysentery. Preparations made with water or milk were traditionally utilized for fevers, hemorrhages, and leucorrhea. Folk practitioners employed diluted solutions as mouthwashes and gargles for sore throats, hoarseness, coughs, colds, canker sores, and bleeding gums.
The root was historically applied in cases of catarrhal enteritis, jaundice, toothache, and digestive complaints. Herbalists also combined the plant with balm leaves and German chamomile flowers in infusions intended for abdominal cramps and menstrual pain. Nicholas Culpeper and other early writers documented the herb's supposed ability to expel venoms and poisons. Traditional systems also associated the plant with the management of ague, cystitis, gout, rheumatism, arthritis, sciatica, and palsy.
Externally, herbalists used teas and topical preparations as astringents for skin conditions, bruises, aches, and general skin irritation. Baths infused with the plant were historically recommended in folk medicine for piles, boils, sores, and wounds.
Bibliography
The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. The Complete Medicinal Herbal , by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993 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) Indian Herbalogy of North America , by Alma R.
, 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014, first printed by the United States Government Printing Office, Washington, in 1928, this Dover edition 1974 Chinese Medicinal Herbs , compiled by Shih-Chen Li, Georgetown Press, San Francisco, California, 1973. , West Nyack, NY, 1987. Indian Uses of Native Plants , by Edith Van Allen Murphey, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1958, print 1990 Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A.
, Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000 The Nature Doctor: A Manual of Traditional and Complementary Medicine , by Dr. A. , 27 Pine Street (Box 876) New Canaan, CT. 06840-0876. Copyright Verlag A. Vogel, Teufen (AR) Switzerland 1952, 1991 The Magic of Herbs , by David Conway, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, England. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 An Instant Guide to Medicinal Plants , by Pamela Forey and Ruth Lindsay, Crescent Books (January 27, 1992).
The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , Loma Linda, CA 92354, Original copyright 1939, revised edition 1994 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. Indian Herbalogy of North America , by Alma R. , Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973 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.