One of the beautiful perennials on the Ozarks forest floor is the Black Cohosh plant that has been used for as long as man has tread the woodlands as an important medicinal supplement to help insure health and well being. Old timers here also call it black snakeroot, bugbane, bugwort, rattleroot, rattletop, rattleweed, and probably a few other names that have been passed down through time. It’s a member of the buttercup family that insects avoid, which accounts for some of it’s given names.
According to the National Institute Of Health preparations of black cohosh are made from its roots and rhizomes. Black cohosh was used in North American Indian medicine for malaise, gynecological disorders, kidney disorders, malaria, rheumatism, and sore throat. It was also used for colds, cough, constipation, hives, and backache and to induce lactation. In 19th-century America, black cohosh was a home remedy used for rheumatism and fever, as a diuretic, and to bring on menstruation. It was extremely popular among a group of alternative practitioners who called black cohosh “macrotys” and prescribed it for rheumatism, lung conditions, neurological conditions, and conditions that affected women’s reproductive organs (including menstrual problems, inflammation of the uterus or ovaries, infertility, threatened miscarriage, and relief of labor pains).
Not only is the plant a woodland native, but it can be cultivated as an ornamental. According to a post on United Plant Savers the plant has many uses:
“Black cohosh was one of the many important and distinctive remedies that the pioneers learned about from the Native Americans. Members of all the important medical schools of the nineteenth century, including the allopaths, homeopaths, Eclectics, and physio-medicalists, used it. It has proven to be a widely useful medicine. It not only acts on important and common physical problems but also has properties that run in a deep psychological vein. Today it is still widely used, both by the more scientific phytotherapists and the traditional community of herbalists drawing on expanded lore.
Black cohosh can easily be grown from seeds. It can also be propagated by breaking up the crown, but this is more tedious and does not yield as many plants. The seeds need to be stratified in a sequence of warm temperature, followed by cold for several months, and then warm again. The reason for this is to mimic the conditions of the central temperate region, where black cohosh grows wild, ripening its seeds in midsummer. It can be sown in the ground right then and will sprout the following spring.
Farther north it does not ripen its seeds until August. This seems to be a limiting factor–causing it not to propagate naturally in the climes, since the seeds need warm, cold, warm stratification. If you do this artificially, the seeds will be ready to sprout in the spring.
Although Cimicifuga is native to woodlands, it is readily cultured in the sunlight, hence it can be grown fairly easily as a crop. This is important, since it is widely used in traditional and modern herbal medicine. This is one plant we should not be exterminating in the wild.”
Source: http://www.unitedplantsavers.org/content.php/432-Black-Cohosh
The plants chemistry lends to many medicinal uses, all of which were very important to native Americans. Here’s what Annies Remedy has to say:
“Black cohosh contains numerous chemical constituents, among them isoflavones which mimic hormonal activity. This makes this herb useful for hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and even the depression sometimes associated with menopause. Though black and blue cohosh are unrelated botanically they are often used together in formulas to support the female reproductive system. Blue cohosh acts primarily as a uterine stimulant, while black cohosh effects estrogen levels. It appears to provide that relief without having adverse estrogenic effects on mammary gland or uterine tissue.
Black cohosh is mainly known as a woman’s botanical but has some additional uses according to older herbalists who praised it as a calming cough remedy. American Indians in the late 1880's would add the tincture to your cough remedy, or drink black cohosh tea to quiet a nighttime cough.
In addition to its estrogenic properties, black cohosh has pain relieving and anti-inflammatory actions that makes it useful for arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is a common affliction among women, and can be aggravated by the hormonal imbalances during menopause. Emerging research suggests the estrogen levels may be implicated in many conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and heart disease, though the relationship is still unclear. More study may determine a broader range of benefits for black cohosh than previously thought.
Black Cohosh may be found in your woodland lot, but if not it can certainly be found in your stroll garden. It’s nice to know you have a precious herb growing at your place, but it’s also great that the finished product can be purchased from many trustworthy medicinal outlets.