::trixxie17

gallery

Maybe it was the peak of the season when I visited as this prairie wildflower was everywhere. Culver's root is a graceful perennial typically reaching 4-6' tall when in bloom. Slender flower spikes are densely packed with small white flowers that open from the top down in mid-summer. It has a distinctive form with a center dominant spike and a ring of five other spikes around the center. Butterflies and bees visit the flowers for nectar. The tall stems provide good winter cover for all kinds of hibernating insect wildlife. The first documented use of culvers root was when Puritan leader Cotton Mather requested it as a remedy for his daughter's tuberculosis in 1716. It was used by early physicians as a powerful laxative and emetic. Native American tribes also used the plant and drank tea preparations to induce vomiting and to help cleanse the blood. Herbalists have use this herb for its ability to increase the flow of bile from the liver. It's found in moist meadows and prairies from Manitoba east to Vermont and south to Louisiana and Georgia. (various sources)