Deer's Tongue

Deer's tongue is a perennial composite of North America, standing three to five feet tall on purplish-brown stems that branch towards the top. Its basal leaves are fleshy, smooth and shaped like a spatula or a tongue, while those higher on the stem are oval and clasp it at the base, and small clusters of purple flowers open on the branching stems. Bruised, the plant smells of vanilla, which accounts for its folk names vanilla leaf and wild vanilla; Grieve put the scent down largely to coumarin, which can be seen as crystals on the upper face of the leaves. Grieve also notes that it was grown in England and that the leaves were used to flavour tobacco. The Cherokee, Creek and Choctaw used it in just that way, adding it to tobacco or using it to soften the harshness of smoking mixtures, and the Cherokee also used it to clear the mind and to keep evil spirits away. In magic, Cunningham and Kynes both give it to Mars and to fire. Cunningham makes it a herb of lust and psychic power: worn, carried or sprinkled on the bed it attracts men, and worn it aids the psychic powers. Kynes adds love and protection, and scatters the dried leaves on an altar or table to strengthen any kind of psychic work.