- Region
- North America
- Origin
- Northeastern United States and southeastern Canada; Hydrastis canadensis
North America · Herb · № 34
Hydrastis canadensis
Herb · North America
Goldenseal
Hydrastis canadensis
There is not enough evidence to determine whether goldenseal helps any health condition.
Safety notes
It can change how the body processes many medicines, including metformin. Do not use during pregnancy or breastfeeding, and do not give to infants. Wild plants are overharvested and listed in CITES Appendix II.
Cautions by tradition (6)
- Herbal medicine worldwide: Not in pregnancy or with high blood pressure. Endangered species.
- Herbs for viral infections: Not in pregnancy, breastfeeding or for newborns.
- Natural skin and hair care: Not during pregnancy or breastfeeding, not for children and not for long periods; can interact with medicines. The plant is endangered in the wild: choose cultivated goldenseal.
- Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) medicine: Not in pregnancy. Overharvested: choose cultivated.
- Cherokee (Tsalagi) medicine: Not in pregnancy or while breastfeeding; endangered in the wild.
- Western herbs in Chinese medicine: Seriously endangered in the wild by overharvesting: use only cultivated goldenseal, which is now available in commercial quantities.
Preparation
The bright yellow rhizome was used historically; today mostly as a supplement, sometimes combined with echinacea.
Use in traditions
NCCIH notes that Native Americans used goldenseal for conditions including digestive disorders, wounds, and skin and eye conditions.
Applications
Use by tradition
How different herbal traditions describe this herb. Amounts are traditional guidelines checked for obvious errors; they are not medical advice. For poisonous plants no dosage is given on purpose.
Herbal medicine worldwide
Attributed effects
Astringent, tonic, stimulates digestion and bile, anticatarrhal, laxative, heals the stomach lining, raises blood pressure.
Preparation and amount
Tincture 0.5–2 ml 3 times a day for catarrh (nose, gut, vagina), sluggish digestion, excess alcohol; with liquorice for stomach ulcers; mouthwash (2–3 ml in warm water) for mouth ulcers and gums; powder as snuff; capsules 200 mg 3 times a day.
Caution: Not in pregnancy or with high blood pressure. Endangered species.
Herbs for viral infections
Attributed effects
Strengthens the immune system and antiviral (berberine); especially against flu and colds, cold sores and herpes; further for eczema, hay fever, haemorrhoids, chronic fatigue, liver problems; endangered species.
Preparation and amount
Tablet or capsule 0.5–1 g, liquid extract 0.3–1 ml or tincture 2–4 ml, each 3 times a day; tea as a gargle or wash for cold sores.
Caution: Not in pregnancy, breastfeeding or for newborns.
Natural skin and hair care
Attributed effects
Contains berberine, a bitter yellow substance; traditionally used for inflamed mucous membranes. Good research on its effect on colds is lacking.
Preparation and amount
Internal: a small amount of cultivated root in a cold-season tincture (see the recipe).
Caution: Not during pregnancy or breastfeeding, not for children and not for long periods; can interact with medicines. The plant is endangered in the wild: choose cultivated goldenseal.
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) medicine
Attributed effects
For fever, liver and gall complaints, whooping cough, diarrhoea and earache.
Preparation and amount
A pinch of ground root in warm water.
Caution: Not in pregnancy. Overharvested: choose cultivated.
Cherokee (Tsalagi) medicine
Attributed effects
As a tonic for general debility and poor digestion, to improve the appetite, and as a wash for local inflammations; also a dye.
Preparation and amount
A tea of the root; externally as a wash.
Caution: Not in pregnancy or while breastfeeding; endangered in the wild.
Western herbs in Chinese medicine
Attributed effects
Bitter and cold: cools heat and dries dampness, also externally in poultices on inflamed areas.
Preparation and amount
Preferably buy goldenseal as whole or coarsely cut root: ground powder is easily adulterated, for example with cheap turmeric. Have the powder ground at the time you order it.
Combinations
- With yarrow and yerba mansa externally on damp-hot sores
- With sage and yerba mansa for damp heat in the lower body
- With Chinese skullcap and coix for painful, bloody urination
Caution: Seriously endangered in the wild by overharvesting: use only cultivated goldenseal, which is now available in commercial quantities.
Folklore and herbal magic
Symbolic meanings from folk use and modern herbal magic. These are handed-down associations, not effects.
Attracts money, heals the body, mind and soul, lets go of negativity, strengthens other herbs.
Herbal magic and rituals
Attributed effects
In herbal magic associated with money, healing and letting go of negativity.
Preparation and amount
The Cherokee and other peoples of eastern North America used the bright yellow root as a remedy and as a dye for clothing and the face. In the nineteenth century goldenseal became so popular in American patent medicines that the wild plant declined sharply; it is now listed under CITES.
- Ways to prepare herbs
- Tea (infusion)TincturePowder and kitchen
- Recipes
- Tincture for the cold season
Tags
Sources
- www.nccih.nih.gov
- en.wikipedia.org
- Owen Jackson, Chinese Herbal Medicine (2020)
- Penelope Ody, The Complete Medicinal Herbal (1993; 2017)
- Stacey Dugliss-Wesselman & Susan Gregg, Herbal Remedies Made Simple (2018)
- James W. Herrick, Iroquois Medical Botany, ed. Dean R. Snow (1995)
- Paul B. Hamel & Mary U. Chiltoskey, Cherokee Plants and Their Uses: A 400 Year History (1975)