Starwort

Low fever with restlessness where sweating is slow to break

Suppressed menses in a person who feels chilly and internally tense

Overview. Aster cordifolius, now more commonly classified as Symphyotrichum cordifolium, is a native North American woodland perennial bearing pale blue to whitish ray flowers in autumn. The root was used by nineteenth century physiomedical and Eclectic practitioners under the common name Starwort, generally grouped with other native Aster species used in a similar way. It has no significant place in modern herbal practice and survives mainly as a historical curiosity in the physiomedical literature.

Clinical Notes. In the physiomedical framework this root was regarded as a gently diffusive, warming remedy suited to fevers where the surface was cool and sweating slow to establish, and to complaints where tone in the pelvic organs seemed sluggish, such as delayed menses with a background of chilliness and tension.

Properties and Uses. This plant was introduced to the profession by Prof. Rafinesque; and experience has confirmed the brief account he gave of it. The root is relaxant and aromatically stimulant, acting slowly and rather permanently.

Description. Natural Order, Compositae. The Genus ASTER is a large and very common one throughout our country, flowering late in the autumn; with the ray florets always well marked, varying from whitish-purple to bluish purple, but never yellow, always in a single row, and pistillate.