James L. Cummins

Mississippi's Medicinal Plants by James L. Cummins

In the last few years people have been looking more and more to nature to cure what ails them–and with good reason. With pharmaceutical prices soaring for even the simplest of aid with many side effects, it is no wonder people are looking for natural cures and health aids. Mississippi boasts of hundreds of medicinal plants, but for the purpose of space, we will only look at a few of these. A word of caution: Always do your research before trying to self-treat with home remedies and let your physician know of any natural remedies you would like to try. 

Broadleaf Plantain - is a common plant (weed) found growing in the cracks of sidewalks or along the roadside, especially during summer. The broadleaf plantain is especially helpful during the summer when mosquitoes and other biting insects are out. The entire plant is edible and young leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. Although it is somewhat bitter, the broadleaf plantain serves as a wonderful analgesic for drawing out insect venom and lessening the resulting inflammation. A tea of the plantain leaf can be ingested to help with treating chronic diarrhea and, with its high vitamin and mineral content, the tea will also replenish nutrients lost due to diarrhea. When ingested, the aucubin (an anti-microbial agent) in plantain leaves leads to increased uric acid excretion from the kidneys and may be useful in treating gout. 

Cattail - their roots, made into a poultice (a soft, moist mass of material), are used to treat wounds, sores, boils, carbuncles, inflammations, burns, and scalds. The fuzz from mature female flowerheads can be applied to scalds and burns and to prevent chafing in babies. The young flowerheads can be eaten for diarrhea. The root of the cattail is infused in milk to cure dysentery and diarrhea. 

Goldenrod - has been used traditionally to treat urinary tract disorders of all kinds, influenza, and whooping cough. It is used as a mouth rinse for inflammation of the mouth and throat, and it is also applied directly to the skin to improve wound healing. Goldenrod is used as “irrigation therapy” to increase urine flow to treat inflammatory diseases of lower urinary tract, as well as kidney and bladder stones. 

Mayapple - can be found in woods and clearings. American Indians and early settlers used roots as a strong purgative, “liver cleanser,” for jaundice, constipation, hepatitis, fevers, and syphilis. Resin from the root, podophyllin (highly allergenic), is used to treat warts. Podophyllotoxin, an important lignan from the root, has anti-cancer and antimalarial activity. This is a very short list of medicinal plants found in our great state. 

If you are interested in learning more about these natural remedies, it is best to find someone highly educated in this field because experimenting on your own can be dangerous—while there are many plants in our state that help with illnesses, we also have our own variety of poisonous plants that can cause terrible illness or even death.

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