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| Common Uses: |
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| Properties: |
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| Parts Used: |
Dried rhizome and roots |
| Constituents: | |
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Snakeroot has been cultivated for medicinal use since the at least the middle ages when it was used as a birthing herb. It was also used in early America in adjunct to quinine to promote perspiration and break fevers. As snakeroot is toxic in large doses, it is not a herb for casual home use.
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| Side Effects: |
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| Too large doses occasion nausea, griping pains in the bowels, sometimes vomiting and dysenteric tenesmus. According to Pohl, aristolochine in sufficient dose produces in the higher animals violent irritation of the gastro-intestinal tract and of the kidneys, with death in coma from respiratory paralysis.
The celebrated Portland powder for the cure of gout contained aristolochia, with gentian, centaury and other bitters in the dose of a drachm every morning for three months, afterwards diminishing for a year or more, but its prolonged use injured the stomach and nervous system, bringing on premature decay and death.
Grieve, Maude Modern Herbal (1931) |
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Preparation Methods & Dosage :
 Remedies using : Snakeroot
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Snakeroot for :Fevers, digestion |
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Stimulant, tonic and diaphoretic, properties resembling those of valerian and cascarilla. In small doses, it promotes the appetite, toning up the digestive organs. It has been recommended in intermittent fevers, when it may be useful as an adjunct to quinine. Maud Grieve, Modern Herbal Volume 2 (1931) |
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- Flowers: multiple fluffy, red or pinkish-white capitula in clusters, growing from the joints near the root and drooping until they are nearly buried in the earth or in their dried leaves.
- Stem: multiple, much-branched woody stems
- Leaves: triangular, serrate and opposite with a foul-smelling, musky scent
- Root: short, horizontal rhizome, giving off numerous long, slender roots below. Serpentaria has a yellowish or brownish colour, and both smell and taste are aromatic and resemble a mixture of valerian and camphor.
- Preferred Habitat: rich, shady woods
- Flowering Season:
- Distribution:The Central and Southern United States. Two Mexican species have become a pest in parts of Australia and Taiwan
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Related Species
Many species of Aristolochia have been employed in medicine, the classical name being first applied to A. Clematitis and A. rotunda, from their supposed emmenagogue properties.
A. Clematitis, or Birthwort, is found in England, usually near old ruins, as if it had been cultivated for its medical use, as an aid to parturition.
A. serpentaria and A. reticulata, or Texas Snakeroot, differ slightly in leaves and flowers, the latter having a slightly coarser root.
The genus Ageratina used to belong to the related genus Eupatorium, but it has been reclassified. Black cohosh, (Cimicifuga racemosa), is commonly called Black Snake Root to distinguish it from the Common Snake Root (Aristolochia serpentaria) .
Grieve, Maude Modern Herbal (1931)
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Snakeroot Medicinal Uses & Benefits
