False Solomon's Seal

This week's plant was False Solomon's Seal (Smilacena racemosa).

False Solomon's seal is a perennial plant that can be found growing in moist forest openings and clearings from North Carolina to the Oregon Coast north through to Alaska and south beyond the Bay Area of California. In the mountain west, on the east side of the Cascade Mountains it is found above the Ponderosa belt in all higher, moist mountains from 5,000 to 10,000 feet. West of the Cascade Crest, the plant is widespread at low to sub-alpine elevations.

False Solomon's seal has ovate, clasping leaves that grow from a central stalk in an alternating pattern. The plant grows from creeping rhizomes that can form substantial clumps. The white six sided flower is very fragrant and looks like the magical seal of Solomon, though this is not how the plant got its name. The term 'false' is in relation to its east coast cousin that looks similar in root, leaf and stalk appearance.

The other name for this plant is Solomon's plume, a name I will use for the rest of this blog. I cant bare to call a plant false.

We investigated the medicinal properties of the root.

Medicinally, the plant is an astringent and an anti-inflammatory. An astringent is an agent that causes tissue to contract. As an anti-inflammatory, Solomon's plume has a long history of use as a treatment for sore throats. It also has a soothing, relaxing, and sedative effect on the lungs and bronchial tubes.

A poultice of the root has been used to treat boils, bruises, and poison oak.

Solomon's plume root can be chewed and swallowed for upset stomachs, ulcers, and constipation.

First Nations peoples of both coasts used a root tea for rheumatism and chronic back pain. The plant was also known as a blood purifier.

The root can be chewed for gum irritation.

This week's plant was gathered by myself off of the skyline trail in the northern portion of Forest Park.

This week's gathering saw many new faces at the Medicine Club. I was really excited to be facilitating the club again and it was cool to see that my flier efforts had paid off and that there were new folks interested in herbalism and the Medicine Club.

Things went pretty smoothly at first and then got downright sticky by the end.

We went through the process of meeting Solomon's plume by investigating all of its parts from the creeping rhizomes to the wilting berries. We found its name by identifying the plant from the field guides. We investigated the Hooker's fairy bells and Twisted Stalk in order to know Solomon's seal's look alike plants.

We drew the plant from both sides of our brains, fostering an analytical and intuitive recognition of the look of Solomon's plume. We then took a break and washed the roots for medicine making.

The group took turns chopping and dicing the roots until we had some nice piles of root to put in the pot. The group then watched with excited eyes as the honey was poured into the pot.

Earlier in the week, I had decided to finally make the cough syrup from Michael Moore's book, Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West. It's a fairly straight forward recipe that calls for one part Solomon's plume and four parts honey.

Earlier in the day, I had bought a hotplate from for the Medicine Club. That night was the first time I had used it. I guess it gets quite a bit hotter than I had given it credit for.

I plugged in the unit and turned it up to high with the pot filled with honey and root on top of the hotplate. I then turned my back on it and started to talk more about the various attributes of Solomon's plume that can be found on the web.

Eric was the first to comment upon the bubbling mess on the horizon as he pointed out that the pot was about to overflow.

To the class's credit, we were all very quick about moving the pot to safety. A decent amount of honey boiled over the top of the pot, some of it dripped on the shelf and then some more poured down the wall. What a sweet sticky mess clean up was!

Everyone seemed in good humor about the incident. Next time, I 'm putting the pot in the middle of class and am keeping a better eye on things. Seat of the pants medicine making requires the utmost attention of the practitioners!

On the upside, I was so concerned for the well-being of the medicine syrup that I gave it plenty of time to simmer that night and the next day, I simmered it some more so that we would haver no water in the honey...it can lead to fermentation.

The mixture was strained at the end of Thursday and looks great. Sore throats be warned!

Thank you to those in attendance!!!: Jon, jess, Mikaela, Eva, Chris, Megan, Eric, and Andrew. You folks make the Medicine Club possible.