Bushy Gerardia

Dull, heavy right upper quadrant fullness with a sallow or slightly yellow complexion, suggesting a torpid liver

Weeping, vesicular poison-ivy or contact dermatitis, applied locally as a wash or fomentation

Overview. Gerardia is a North American hemiparasitic annual of the broomrape family, historically classified in the genus Gerardia and now generally placed within Agalinis. The bushy species, once called Gerardia fasciculata, grows in dry sandy soils and open fields across the eastern and southeastern United States. Eclectic physicians of the nineteenth century used the flowering herb, gathered fresh or dried, as a bitter hepatic remedy and as a topical application for skin eruptions, though the plant never entered mainstream pharmacy and has left little modern trace.

Clinical Notes. In Eclectic practice Gerardia was reached for mainly as a liver remedy, given as a decoction or tincture for a torpid, congested liver with sluggish bowels and a dull, bilious complexion, often alongside other hepatic bitters of the period such as culver's root or dandelion.