Rattlesnake Plantain
Parts Usually Used
Leaves, rootstock
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Rattlesnake plantain is a perennial plant to 16 inches in flower; the fleshy, creeping rootstock produces dark green, basal, ovate leaves with networks of white veins. A glandular-hairy flower stalk with leaf-like, lanceolate scales bears a spike-like raceme of white or greenish-white flowers from July to September.
Where Found
Native to evergreen woods and rich soils of the eastern United States. Maine to Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, to western Quebec.
Medicinal Properties
Demulcent
Legends, Myths and Stories
This information is of historical interest only. The plant is too scarce to harvest.
Uses
Historically, herbalists applied the fresh leaves and root externally to skin rashes, bruises, and insect bites. Native American traditions utilized a tea brewed from the roots for pleurisy and snakebites, while a leaf tea, sometimes combined with whiskey, was consumed to stimulate the appetite, act as a general tonic, and address colds, kidney ailments, and toothaches. Leaf poultices were also used externally in traditional medicine to soothe burns and skin ulcers.
In past medical practices, physicians applied fresh leaves steeped in milk as a poultice alongside an ingested leaf tea for swelling of the lymph nodes.
Warning
This plant is rare; do not harvest.
Bibliography
American Folk Medicine , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973 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. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023