Aniseroot, Osmorhiza longistylis, a licorice flavored plant that can be used to add flavor to soups, stews, desserts and tea. It was used medicinally by several American Indians for absence of menstruation, as a dietary aid, throat aid, eye medicine and dermatological aid. Western herbal medicine used it for flatulence, coughs and a gentile stimulating tonic for upset stomaches.
keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry.
Aniseroot Sources:
Brill, Steve. Wild Edibles Plus. Computer Software. WinterRoot LLC. Version 1.5. 2012. Web. Feb. 15, 2014.
Felter, Harvey Wickes, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D. King’s American Dispensatory, Vol. 2. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 1421-1422
Fernald, Merritt Lyndon & Alfred Charles Kinsey. Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1996. Print. pg. 286-287
Foster, Steven and James A. Duke. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. 2nd. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Print. pg. 72-73
Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 371
Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 224-225
Peterson, Lee Allen. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants; Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. Print. pg. 42-43
United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.
The picture you have at the beginning of this is not O. longistylis. Those hairs are indicative of O. claytoni.
I can understand why you think this. I got the two mixed up in college as well and that is why I’m certain I have them right now. The comments from my field biology professor are still in my field guide explaining the difference. Osmorhiza longistylis and O. claytoni both have hairs and yes O. claytoni has more, but what I think you missed from that image is the long styles that gave O. longistylis its name. O. Claytoni has styles shorter than the petals where as the styles in O. Longistylis are longer than the petals.