Monday, August 25, 2008

8/25/08: INDIANS, GREEKS, STONES AND BONES



Monday, 8:00 AM. 44 degrees, wind SSW, calm. The channel is calm. The skies are clear and the barometer predicts the same.
Joe Pye weed, Eupatorium maculatum, is named after an American Indian healer (common name), and the genus name after the Greek king Eupator, who supposedly was the first to recognize the medicinal properties of the genus. It is a common native plant of damp fields and roadsides, and is often seen in the garden, where its use probably derived from medicinal herb gardens. Its common name in herbal use is gravel root, which alludes to its functions in treating diseases of the kidneys and urinary tract (stones), arthritis and gout. Both Joan and I depend on this plant in the treatment of our respective ailments but you will have to do our own research, I am afraid. Another common native plant in the genus is Eupatorium perfoliatum, boneset, much used in the past for treating virulent, high fevers.