Goldenseal Botanical Illustrations: North American Herb and Wildflower

Summary: Goldenseal botanical illustrations and images depict a spring-flowering, summer-fruiting and fall-seeding North American herb and wildflower.

goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis, Linn.) illustration by Charles F. Millspaugh, American Medicinal Plants (1887), Table 9: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

Goldenseal botanical illustrations and images acclaim artistic aspects of the distribution ranges, life cycles and physical appearances of North American herbs and wildflowers with appreciable applications for apothecary gardens and herbal medicine.

The Ranunculaceae (from the Latin ranunculus, "little frog") buttercup family member bears the common names goldenseal, orangeroot and yellow Indian paint for natural dyes from roots. Goldenseal carries the common names eyebalm, ground raspberry and Indian turmeric for respective herbal medicinal contributions, foliage configuration comparable to raspberry's and tints like subcontinental spices. Hydrastis canadensis (from the Greek ῠ̔́δωρ [húdōr, "water"] and the Latin canadēnsis ["in Canada"]) scientifically designates goldenseal, described by John Ellis (Jan. 10, 1710-Oct. 15, 1776).

The English equivalents of the goldenseal genus and the buttercup family express the wildflower's existence in watery habitat niches and evoke the frog-like shape of eggs.

Spring-formed foliage that falls autumnally fits into goldenseal life cycles while the wildflower flowers April through May, fruits June through July and seeds August through September.

Goldenseal gets three- to seven-plus-year perennial life cycles, 8- to 14-inch (20.32- to 35.36-centimeter) mature heights and 6- to 12-inch (15.24- to 30.48-centimeter) row-to-row, stem-to-stem spacing. Goldenseal has two or more hairy, red- or yellow-green, straight, terete (from the Latin teres "[cylindrically] rounded") stems with one short-lived basal and two upper leaves. One cauline (from the Greek καυλός [kaulós, "stem"]) leaf is sessile (unstalked, from the Latin sessilis, "sitting") while another inclines from a 2-inch- (5.08-centimeter-) long petiole.

Goldenseal botanical illustrations juggle one 1.18- to 9.84-inch- (3- to 25-centimeter-) wide leaf on one 2-inch- (5.08-centimeter-) long petiole (stalk, from the Latin petiolus, "little foot").

Stalked, not 10-inch- (25.4-centimeter-) long and wide basal, foliage under 3.94 inches (10 centimeters) long and wide know one two- to three-week flower at a time.

Each 0.32- to 0.71-inch- (8- to 18-millimeter-) wide flower lounges atop a 0.19- to 1.49-inch- (5- to 38-millimeter-) long peduncle (from the Latin pedunculus, "little foot"). They maintain three green-white, 0.14- to 0.28-inch- (3.5- to 7-millimeter-) wide sepals; 10 semi-flattened, short-beaked pistils; 40 0.16- to 0.32-inch- (4- to 8-millimeter) green-yellow-anthered, white-filamented stamens. Pistils on stalked, 3.94-plus-inch- (10-plus-centimeter-) long and wide leaves net two-lipped stigmas (pollen-receivers, from the Greek στίγμα [stígma]) and nurture berry-like, green fruit reddening in July.

Goldenseal botanical illustrations and images observe 0.19- to 0.32-inch- (5- to 8-millimeter-) long, 0.06- to 0.19-inch- (1.5- to 5-millimeter-) wide berries with black, moist, shiny seeds.

Goldenseal naturally propagates from 0.09- to 0.18-inch (2.5- to 4.5-millimeter) seeds and knotty, 1.97-inch (5-centimeter) by 0.39-inch (1-centimeter), yellow rhizomes (from the Greek ῥίζα [rhíza, "root"]).

Humus-rich, shaded, well-drained soil pHs 5.4 to 7.8 in United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) hardiness zones 2 through 10 queue up the most sustainable propagations. Goldenseal ranges with amaryllis, asparagus, balsam, barberry, beech, birch, geranium, grapevine, laurel, lilac, lily, mallow, meadowfoam, poppy, rose, soapberry, trillium, violet, walnut, willow-herb and yam families. It survives from Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut through Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Kansas, Iowa and Minnesota through New York and everywhere in-between and in Ontario, Canada.

Goldenseal botanical illustrations and images teem with roots and five- to nine-lobed, single- to double-toothed shoots that transmit anti-bacterial berberine, blood-regulating hydrastine and muscle-relaxing alkaloids.

Map Showing the Distribution of Hydrastis Canadensis; J.U. Lloyd and C.G. Lloyd, Drugs and Medicines of North America, Vol. I (1884-1885), Plate IX (page 82): Public Domain, via Internet Archive

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis, Linn.) illustration by Charles F. Millspaugh, American Medicinal Plants (1887), Table 9: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26077364

Map Showing the Distribution of Hydrastis Canadensis, Plate IX (page 82), J.U. Lloyd and C.G. Lloyd, Drugs and Medicines of North America, Vol. I (1884-1885): Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/b20414535#page/82/mode/1up

For further information:

Cavender, Anthony. 2003. Folk Medicine of Southern Appalachia. Chapel Hill NC: The University of North Carolina Press.

Flora of North America Editorial Committee. 1997. Flora of North America. Volume 3: Magnoliophyta: Magnoliidae to Hamamelidae. New York NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.

"Hydrastis canadensis L." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/27100410

"Hydrastis J. Ellis." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40028821

Linnaeus, Carl. 1759. "Hydrastis . . . Ellis." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus II, Editio Decima, Reformata: 1069. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/586988

Linnaeus, Carl. 1759. "Hydrastis canadens." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus II, Editio Decima, Reformata: 1088. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/587007

Lloyd, J.U. (John Uri); and C.G. (Curtis Gates) Lloyd. 1884-1885. “Hydrastis Canadensis. Golden Seal.” Drugs and Medicines of North America: A Publication Devoted to the Historical and Scientific Discussion of the Botany, Pharmacy, Chemistry and Therapeutics of the Medicinal Plants of North America, Their Constituents, Products and Sophistications. Vol. I-Ranunculaceae, no. 1: 76-96. Cincinnati OH: Press of Robert Clarke & Co.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/b20414535#page/76/mode/1up

Millspaugh, Charles F., M.D. 1887. "Hydrastis. Golden-Seal." American Medicinal Plants; An Illustrated and Descriptive Guide to the American Plants Used as Homoeopathic Remedies: Their History, Preparation, Chemistry, and Physiological Effects: 9-1 to 9-3. Illustrated by the Author. New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA: Boericke & Tafel.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26077364