Hawkweed

Purplish-veined, low-growing leaf picture used traditionally as a signature for bleeding or venomous conditions, a low herb with dark purple veining and a milky juice, applied where tissues are relaxed and oozing

Loose, watery stools with a sense of laxity in the bowel, calling for a gentle astringent tone-restorer rather than a harsh binder

Overview. Hieracium venosum is a small perennial herb of the aster family, native to dry, open woodlands and sandy hillsides of eastern North America. Its basal leaves are notable for their purple veining and undersides, a feature that gave rise to its old common names of bloodwort and rattlesnake weed, the latter reflecting a folk belief that it could counter snake venom. The aerial parts and leaves are the parts used, gathered in flower during late spring and summer. Within the physiomedicalist tradition it was classed among the astringents, valued for its ability to restore tone to relaxed, weeping tissues.

Clinical Notes. In the older physiomedicalist literature this plant was reached for where tissue tone was lax and secretions were thin and unchecked, whether in the bowel, the uterus, or a weeping skin surface. It was used as a mild astringent infusion for looser stools and minor spotting, generally in combination with other astringents or alteratives rather than alone, and applied topically as a wash or poultice to slow-healing sores.

Properties and Uses. The roots and leaves are stimulating and astringent, moderately permanent, and quite positive in action. They arouse a full outward circulation; and may be used to advantage when the surface is cold and sluggish, and there is hemorrhage from any internal organ.

Description. Natural Order, Compositae. The genus hieracium embraces several species, all of which have heads of many yellow flowers; flowers all perfect, and all ligulate, (as in dandelion;) leaves alternate, and the entire herb yielding a little milky juice.