- Region
- North America
- Origin
- Peat bogs of eastern North America, from Labrador to Florida
- Traditions
- Haudenosaunee medicine
North America · Herb · № 945
Sarracenia purpurea
Herb · North America
Purple pitcher plant
Sarracenia purpurea
A carnivorous plant with pitcher-shaped leaves that hold rainwater, in which insects drown. Little research exists on effects in people.
Safety notes
Grows only in fragile bogs; leave wild plants alone.
Cautions by tradition (1)
- Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) medicine: Leave wild plants alone.
Preparation
Do not gather it. The tradition uses the dried leaves as a tea.
Use in traditions
Because the plant catches insects, it is, according to the notes in Herrick, a medicine to attract: for love and for selling baskets. A woman went to town with the medicine on her and the buyers came by themselves, an herbalist said in 1933. Herrick sees in this the same thinking as the European doctrine of signatures. The tea was also drunk for fever, chills and whooping cough.
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.
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) medicine
Attributed effects
As a love and selling medicine; the tea for fever, chills and whooping cough.
Preparation and amount
The tradition steeps the dried leaves as a tea, or carries the medicine with tobacco.
Caution: Leave wild plants alone.
- Ways to prepare herbs
- Tea (infusion)