Black
Cohosh
Cimicifuga Racemosa
Black snake root, Bugbane
Use the root
 An American herb first used by many Indian tribes such as the
Dakotas, Penobscots and the Winnebago's. They used it internally
and externally for such ailments as snake bites (they called it
snake root), coughs, chest difficulties, diarrhea and irregular
menstruation.
The flowers of Black Cohosh have a strong aroma that make it an
effective insect repellent and it is also the reason for its
botanical name Cimicifuga which is Latin for insect repellent.
In this country Black Cohosh was made famous by Lydia Pinkham who
created a tincture for women in 1876 called 'Lydia E. Pinkham's
Vegetable Compound'. Black Cohosh was the main ingredient and it is
said that 1/3 of the population of America was conceived by women
using this tincture 'everyone called it baby in a bottle'. Lydia
became a very famous herbalist in America where she was named 'the
savior of her sex'. Her compound was sold in American drug stores
until the 1930's when it was driven off the market by the medical
establishment
Dr. Andrew Weil was recently on the Larry King show discussing the
use of hormone replacement therapy. He highly recommended the use
of the herb Black Cohosh over drug therapy's like Premarin, which
are now being linked to cancer and heart problems.
Black Cohosh works directly on the lungs, heart, stomach, kidneys
and the reproductive organs. Black Cohosh helps with hot flashes,
it contracts the uterus and increases menstruation where it is
sluggish.
Black Cohosh is also an excellent nervine herb and is used in
combinations for nervous conditions for both men and women.
Medicinal Uses:
Asthma, Bee Stings, Blood Cleanser, High Blood Pressure, Bronchitis,
Childbirth, Diarrhea, Dropsy, Dysmenorrhea, Epilepsy, Estrogen
Deficiency, Fevers, Hormone Balancer, Hot Flashes, Hysteria, Insect
Bites, Lungs, Malaria, Measles, Menopause, Menstrual Problems,
Neuralgia, Poison Antidote, Poisonous Bites Rheumatism, Snake Bites,
Sores, Spasms, Spinal Meningitis, Saint Vitus Dance, Tuberculosis,
Whooping Cough
Female Balance Formula:
Wild Yam, Black Cohosh root, Chaste Tree berry, Angelica root, Dong
Quai root, Motherwort herb, Licorice root, Cramp Bark,
Skullcap
herb,
Ginger root, Horsetail herb, Damiana leaf, Hops flower, Lobelia herb/seed
Sources:
Little Herb Encyclopedia, by Jack Ritchason; N.D., Woodland Publishing Incorporated, 1995
Nutritional Herbology, by Mark Pedersen, Wendell W. Whitman Company, 1998
Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs, Rodale Press, Emmaus, Pennsylvania 1987
Planetary Herbology, Michael Tierra, C.A., N.D., Lotus Press, 1988
Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, by James A. Duke, Pub. CRP Second Edition 2007
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