Blue Cohosh

Blue cohosh, Caulophyllum thalictroides, is a medium-tall perennial in the barberry family, Berberidaceae, with bluish-green foliage and blue berry-like fruits coated with a waxy bloom. A single stalk bears one large, three-branched leaf and a yellow-flowered cluster. The name cohosh is probably from an Algonquian word meaning "rough". It grows in the hardwood forests of eastern North America, in moist coves and shady hillsides. American Indians used it as a medicinal herb, and many Native American tribes, later followed by European herbalists and midwives, used it with other herbs and fluids for abortive and contraceptive purposes. The seeds have reportedly been used as a coffee substitute. The page warns that high doses taken as an abortifacient can produce symptoms like nicotine poisoning, and that these can reach seizure and respiratory failure.