Scientific Name: (Coptis trofolia, Crowfoot Family)
Common Name: Mouth Root, Canker Root, Yellow Root
Medicinal Part: The root and plant
Description: This plant has a small, creeping perennial root of a bright yellow color; the stems are round and slender and at the base are invested with ovate, acuminate (tapering to a point), yellowish scales. The leaves are evergreen on long, slender petioles; leaflets roundish and acute at base. small, smooth, veiny and sessile (having no stalk). The flower is a small, starry white one and the fruit an oblong capsule containing many small black seeds.
Gold thread is found growing in dark swamps and sphagnous woods in the northern parts of the United States, in Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Siberia. It flowers early in the Spring to July. The root is the medicinal part and Autumn in the season for collecting it.
Properties and Uses: It is a pure and bitter tonic similar to quassia, gentian, and columbo without any astringency. It may be beneficial in all cases where a bitter tonic is required and is decidedly efficacious as a wash or gargle when a decoction. In irritation of the mouth, equal parts Gold Thread and Goldenseal (be aware of plant status) made into a decoction and in many instances, will destroy the appetite for alcoholic beverages.
Dose: Steep a teaspoonful of the granulated root into a cup of boiling water for half hour. Strain. Take a tablespoonful 3-6 times a day. Of the tincture, 5-10 min.