Myth and Folklore: Birthwort

Birthwort. The very name has the reek of folklore; a plant (‘wort’) useful in childbirth, and perhaps other female conditions. Actually, it has had a much wider range of applications.

There are several familiar species in the Birthwort Family (Aristolochiaceae), including Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense), Long-tailed Wild Ginger (A. caudatum), Dutchman’s Pipe (Aristolochia durior) and Virginia Snakeroot (A. serpentaria). Species of the Aristolochia genus were those most often used in this family of plants, and each was commonly known as Birthwort.

While it was Dioscorides, in the 1st century A.D., who first recommended Birthwort as an aid in childbirth, it was “prescribed” for women’s ills as early the 5th century B.C. At that time, Hippocrates considered it useful in the treatment of women with ulcers or pains in the side. Pliny, a contemporary of Dioscorides, believed that, if taken with beef immediately after conception, Birthwort would assure the birth of a male child.

Regardless of its name and associated usages, Birthwort was used primarily to dress wounds, and as an antidote for poison. It was also used as an antidote for demons. That is, it was used to drive them out. And at one time or another, it was also used to treat problems with teeth, liver, spleen, loins (hubba hubba), and lungs. It was even used to treat skin problems.

In 1633 Gerard wrote of Virginia Snakeroot, “The root...is a singular and much used antidote against the bite of the rattlesnake.” It was also used, “...against the plague, small pox, measels...and contagious diseases.”

The Cherokee used a decoction of the root of Virginia Snakeroot for fevers, headaches and coughs. They also used the bruised root for toothaches, placing it in the hollow of the tooth.

The Choctaw Indians drank an extract of the root for stomach pains. The Natchez drank a warm infusion of the entire plant as a treatment for fevers.

The root of Virginia Snakeroot also has had its magical uses. It was said to break hexes and curses, and was a good luck talisman. It was also believed it would lead those who carried it to riches.

In somewhat flowery, foppish prose, John Pechey wrote about Wild Ginger in 1694. He claimed it, “...purges violently upward and downward, flegm and choler,” and, “Tis diuretick also, and forces the courses; wherefore wenches use...it too frequently, when they think they are with child.”

In the 19th century Jacob Bigelow noted that the root of Wild Ginger was, “...more agreeable than that of aristolochia serpentaria, which...it seems to resemble in its medicinal powers.”

And as lately as 1930, James Teit wrote that the Thompson Indians used Long-tailed

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