Common Names

Blazing star root
Rattlesnake-master
Scaly blazing star
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Parts Usually Used

Root
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Scaly blazing star is a native North American perennial plant; it resembles the marsh blazing star but much smaller, has a tuberous root that produces the stem growing only as high as 2 feet and the leaves to 6 inches long. The alternate linear leaves are dotted, the lower of which are longer. The flower spike is also smaller, made up of blue-purple florets, appears from June to September.

Other varieties: Rough blazing-star (L. aspera); Marsh blazing star (L. spicata); Tall blazing star (L. scariosa); also called Rattlesnake master, Eryngo (Eryngium aquaticum L.); A tiny plant called Blazing star (Mentzelia albicaulis) is also known to the Paiutes as the Gravy Plant, (called Ku-Ha).
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Where Found

Found in dry, open woods, clearings, and fields from Ontario to Pennsylvania and Florida, and westward to South Dakota, Nebraska, and Texas.
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Medicinal Properties

Diuretic
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Legends, Myths and Stories

Star grass (Aletris farinosa) is sometimes called blazing star.
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Uses

Used for gargle of sore throat. Remedy for gonorrhea, snakebite, wounds, insect bites.
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Formulas or Dosages

Decoction: boil 1 heaping tsp. root in 1 cup water. Take 2 oz. 3-4 times a day. If for snakebite, substitute milk for the water in the formula.

Tincture: a dose is 1/2 to 1 tsp.
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Bibliography

• Back to Eden, by Jethro Kloss; pgs., 188.
• Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke, Plate 41, pg., 196.
• The Herb Book, by John Lust, pgs., 126-127, 483.
• Indian Herbalogy of North America, by Alma R. Hurchens, pgs., 119-120.
• Indian Uses of Native Plants, by Edith Van Allen Murphey, pg., 27.
• How Indians Use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine & Crafts, by Frances Densmore, pg., 295.
• Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, pg., 147.
• Indian Uses of Native Plants, by Edith Van Allen Murphey, pg., 27.

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