- Botanical Name
- Collinsonia canadensis
Stone Root
Details
Stone root is a perennial of the mint family native to eastern North America, where it is the most widely distributed member of its genus and grows in damp, shaded woods from Quebec to Florida. Wikipedia says it bears lemon-scented flowers in mid-summer, when little else blooms in dense forest, and that Native Americans used it for a variety of ailments before it regained popularity as a medicinal herb in the mid-1800s. Grieve describes a four-sided stem one to four feet high, a hard, knobby, brown-grey rhizome about four inches long, and a strong odour and pungent, spicy taste. She names it for its discoverer, Peter Collinson, and calls the root its chief virtue.
Correspondences
- Elements
- No elements recorded.
- Celestial Bodies
- No celestial bodies recorded.
- Zodiac Signs
- No zodiac signs recorded.
- Colours
- No colours recorded.
- Deities
- No deities recorded.
Folk Names
- Baume de Cheval
- Hardback
- Heal-all
- Horsebalm
- Horseweed
- Knob-Root
- Knobweed
- Knot-Root
- Oxbalm
- Richleaf
- Richweed
Categories
No categories recorded.
Substitutes
No substitutes recorded.
Forms
Root
Grieve gives the whole plant and the fresh root as the parts used, and says the chief virtue is in the root, which should always be used fresh. She calls it sedative, antispasmodic, astringent, tonic, diaphoretic and diuretic, says a decoction of the fresh root has been given for catarrh of the bladder, leucorrhoea, gravel and dropsy, and gives a fluid extract dose of 15 to 60 drops.
References
References
Bibliography
- Grieve, M. "Stone Root." A Modern Herbal. Accessed October 11, 2026. https://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/stoner92.html. Open the Source (opens in a new tab)
1 3 - Wikipedia, under "Collinsonia canadensis." Accessed October 29, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Collinsonia_canadensis&oldid=1321882075. Open the Source (opens in a new tab)
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