Lomatium columbianum

Hello Medicine Clubbers! Welcome to the growing season! I've been away, studying the land and visiting friends in New Mexico and then came the birthday season of my beloved Tauruses.

Well we're back in the medicine making phase of things here at the Medicine Club and I was more than happy to kick things off with Lomatium columbianum, AKA Columbia Desert Parsley.

Most of the reference work in finding out about this plant comes from Lomatium dissectum a very close relative of the Columbia plant. I like working with the Columbia Lomatium and I like the land I go to harvest it off of. Though to tell you all the truth, my assistant Erica and I got kicked off the land this time because, apparently, it's private. Well, not before getting a few pounds of the plant!

I guess I need to find a new spot.

Lomatium is a large plant, fern like in appearence. There are many, many varieties of Lomatium, but for the purposes of medicine making, it is best to look for the Big Root of dissectum or columbianum. Lomatium is a plant of the dry regions and can be found in the Eastern Gorge all the way to the Rocky Mountain Slopes of Idaho and Montana. Look for it in drainages that cut through the dry landscape. Lomatium is the Great Basin healing plant of choice and can be found throughout the basin and range land of Nevada, E. California, W. Utah and Southern Idaho.

Dissectum is a darker green with yeallow flowers. Columbianum has purple flowers and is silvery green in appearence, feathery, basal leaves that are sometimes over a foot long. Larger plants sometimes have more than a dozen basal leaves radiating from the ground. The leaves of both plants are reminicscent of carrot leaves, though more so with the dissectum.

The flowers of both species are umbel arrangements from a single stem These flower stalks can be 2 to 5 feet tall and pop out well above the folliage. After polination, these flowers turn into flat, oval seeds that are green at first and then brown by the end of the summer.

Lomatium is a perennial plant, with individuals attaining great ages of 20 to 30 years. These are the plants that produce the most twisted, gnarly, resinous roots. I wish we took a picture of the roots, but we were in a rush to not piss off the land owner so, we did not and then when Marion and I prepared the roots last night, we did not think to take a picture...so, I have provided a link to Kiva Rose, an herbalist from New Mexico with some of the roots. http://bearmedicineherbals.com/?p=290 She is pictured here holding a few roots of Lomatium.

Lomatium is considered Big Medicine by the natives of Nevada and they would use it for many ailments related to respiratory tract problems such as chronic coughing, congestion, and common colds.

Lomatium is an anti-viral, anti microbial, and anti-biotic and has been proven effective against many strains of influenza. Check out this article about the great epidemic of 1920's Nevada where many people died, but those who used Lomatium survived!!! Click here.

This seems like good info to keep in mind, what with pigs flying.

There is also ample evidence to show that Lomatium works well in keeping Herpes I and II at bay.

Lomatium can cause a rash! This is not the end of the world, but something important to consider when working with this plant. I have provided a link to a great little article about this rash here: <00>

Please use wisely, or better yet, come to the next class about lomatium when the tincture is ready and learn more!