2012-11-06

Trillium.

Image source here

Trillium pendulatum is the official flower of Ontario.  
You can see a cartoon version of the flower featured on the Ontario government symbol.


In Botanical Medicine this week, we learned that this plant (specifically the root and bulb parts) are very high in astringent tannins (I briefly explain tannins here). As a result of these binding tannins, it is often used to treat bleeding; the plant is a hemostatic herb. The root and bulb can be ground into a pulp/paste and applied topically to cuts and wounds that are bleeding.  Internally, Trillium can be taken as a tincture (more written about tinctures here) as a treatment for bleeding uterine fibroids.

Hmm, I wonder if the government of Ontario knows that they are inadvertently advertising an anti-bleeding plant... 

2 comments:

  1. Very interesting - a hemostatic!

    So many things right in your own backyard, too cool!

    Mom

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