Boneset

[Peanut]

Boneset aka Eupatorium perfoliatum, it’s in the sunflower family of plants. I was out looking for Boneset in the rain today. It was growing in all the places I’ve seen it in the past and I found a couple of new spots. It likes shady wet areas so it is predictable where it might be found. It grows primarily in the eastern half of north america. It’s leaves are opposite and wrap around the stem. It’s flowers are “bone white” and appear in late summer. Normally its between 2ft and 5ft tall when it blooms.

Boneset is a “go to medicine” for the flu. It got its name for its ability to treat severe flu cases, flu so severe it feels like your bones are breaking. Early settlers learned about this plant from native americans who universally used it for seasonal influenza that produced chills and aching bones. It was also a common treatment for malaria, (see below).

Charles Frederick Millspaugh, an american botanist wrote in 1892... There is probably no plant in american domestic practice that has more extensive or frequent use than this. Later in life he was professor of medical botany at the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College.

The plant was harvested just before it bloomed, dried and then hung from the rafters of people’s homes.

It was primarily used to make a hot infusion using water, oil or alcohol as a solvent.

Although I thought for many years this plant was not used to help set bones I learned just days ago that it was in fact used for that purpose. There are several plants that speed the healing of broken bones like mullein and comfrey. Now I can add one more plant to my arsenal, boneset.

For this post I relied primarily “The Book of Herbal Wisdom” by Matthew Wood, found here…Herbal Medicine Books - Peanut recommends

Recently boneset has proved useful in treating Covid 19. Especially treating the fibrosis in the lungs… This is mentioned in this thread…
Alternative Medicine for preventing/treating COVID-19 infections (formerly 2019-nCoV)

Just today I found the references about boneset effectively treating malaria… Sort of funny that Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine are also old drugs used to treat malaria that are being used to good effect on Covid 19. Most would say that’s just a coincidence, I’m not big on coincidences… This is a riddle I’ll probably never know the answer to…

I wrote about it in treating the regular flu here…
The Flu

The first pic is Boneset I found today, it’s about 14 inches high. The next 4 are boneset in bloom I took in years past. The last photo is boneset drying on my porch.

 

[goshengirl]

So helpful. Thank you!

 

[Bacpacker]

Thanks Peanut

 

[Grizzleyette___Adams]

Love your informative post (as usual)! The generous photos make me feel like I am right there, getting ready to harvest more medicine.

Thank you so much, Peanut.

 

[dademoss]

Thanks, I'll have to look for that one when spring finally arrives

 

[Peanut]

@dademoss It's a very distinctive plant, not hard for find if you know where to look. I ususally find it beside narrow gravel roads where they cross a creek over a small bridge. It'll grow beside the ditches on either side of the road if there is a tree canopy shading the road most of the day, wet ground.