Culver’s Physic

With great anticipation I’ve waited for this plant to start flowering along our road, so I could show it to YOU, of course!  It is known by various names……Culver’s Root, Tall Speedwell, High Veronica, Bowman’s Root, and Culver’s Physic.  (This is the first year I’ve seen a pink one…..usually they are only white.)

Reportedly, there was a frontier physician by the name of “Culver” who recommended using an extract from this plant as an effective laxative.  (I wonder if the fly in the next two photos knows what he’s in for!)

This plant is native to North America.  Another source mentioned that Culver’s Root was introduced to European herbalism by the Seneca Indians.

Here’s info from the book, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie, by Runkel & Roosa:  The root was once used as a cathartic by early settlers, hence the name “Culver’s Physic”.  It was often combined with other medicines.  An infusion of the dried root was used cautiously for a sluggish liver. (One teaspoon of dried root steeped in 1 cup boiling water for 30 minutes equaled one dose.)  Fresh root was a drastic purge and abortivant, but its action was uncertain and severe.  Other uses of the root were as a stomach tonic, a laxative, an antiperiodic, a hepatic, and a cholagogue.  It was also used to treat dyspepsia, torpidity of the liver, debilitated conditions of the digestive tract, typhoid, intermittent fever, diarrhea, and “summer bilious fevers”.

The Seneca made a tea of the root for use as a mild laxative.  Roots were gathered and stored at least a year before they were used.  The root helped to promote vomiting.  Taking a decoction of the root for a month was once considered a cure for venereal disease.  For the Menomini, Culver’s Root served as a strong physic, a reviver, and as a means for purification when they had been defiled by the touch of a bereaved person.  The Meskwaki used the root to treat constipation, to dissolve kidney stones, to make ague tea, and to treat women who were weak from labor.

(There may be a quiz over this material tomorrow, so study up!)

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