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 | Cranesbill Other Names: Alum Root. Spotted Cranesbill. Wild Cranesbill.Dove's-foot.
Botanical Name: Geranium maculatum
Family: N.O. Geraniaceae |
Description: |
| A perennial, grows from 1 to 2 feet high. The entire plant is erect and unbranched, more or less covered with hairs; the leaves deeply parted, each division again cleft and toothed, flowering April to June, colour pale to rosy purple, petals veined and woolly at base, fruit a beaked capsule, divided into five cells, each cell containing one seed, the root stocks 2 to 4 inches long thick with numerous branches for the next growth, outside brown, white and fleshy inside when fresh, when dried it turns to a darkish purple inside; no odour, taste strongly astringent, contains much tannin which is most active just before the plant flowers. This is the time the root should be collected for drying. |
Habitat: |
| Flourishes in low grounds and woods from Newfoundland to Manitoba, south to Georgia, Missouri and in Europe. |
Constituents: |
| Tannic and gallic acid, also starch, sugar, gum, pectin and colouring matter. |
Medicinal Usage: |
Styptic, astringent, tonic. Used for piles and internalbleeding. Excellent as an injection for flooding and leucorrhoea, and taken internally for diarrhoea, children's cholera, chronic dysentery; a good gargle.
The leaves are also used and give the greatest percentage of tannin and should be collected before the plant seeds. |
Ancient Lore: |
DOVE'S-FOOT GERANIUM MOLLE
The decoction in wine fomented to any place pained with gout, or to joint-ache, or pains of the sinews, giveth much ease.
This has several small, round, pale green leaves, cut about the edges like Mallows, standing upon long reddish, hairy stalks. The small, bright red flowers are followed by seed pods shaped like small, short beaks, just like other sorts of this herb which we now known as Cranesbill.
Where to find it: In pastures and by the sides of paths. It also grows in gardens.
Flowering time: From mid spring to early autumn.
Astrology: A very gentle, though martial plant.
Medicinal virtues: It is found by experience to be singularly good for colicky wind and to expel the stone and gravel in the kidneys. The decoction in wine is excellent for those that have inward wounds, hurts or bruises, to stay the bleeding, to dissolve and expel the congealed blood, and to heal the parts. It is also used to cleanse and heal outward sores, ulcers and fistulas. For small wounds many just bruise the herb and apply it to the place. The powder or decoction of the herb taken for some time is good for ruptures and burstings in either young or o1d.
Modern uses: Medical herbalists now prefer to use the American Wild Cranesbill (Geranium maculatum), which is also known as Dove's-foot. The root and herb are both styptic and therefore excellent for internal haemorrhage. Use the fluid extract of the root when available. The root is more astringent but for simple diarrhoea an infusion of the herb, 1 oz (28 g) to 1 pt (568 ml) of boiling water, can be used. For leueorrhoca, a vaginal injection or douche is prepared from an infusion of 1 oz (28 g) of the root. This can be combined in equal parts with an infusion of Beth root (Trillium pendulum), which is also indicated for this condition. The treatment is given night and morning. The fluid extract can be taken internally as well. The dose varies between 3o and 6o drops, according to the severity of the condition. |
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