Smooth Solomon’s Seal, Polygonatum biflorum, is an edible and medicinal wildflower but please only harvest this plant where it’s abundant. The shoots can be harvested in early spring and eaten raw or cooked liked asparagus. The root can be harvested all year but don’t misidentify it for False Hellebore, Mayapple or False Solomon’s Seal. It can be boiled and served like potatoes. Medicinally, the root was used as a tonic, mild astringent, stimulant and sedative. The root was burned in a room as incense before bed to insure sound sleep.
Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry!
Smooth Solomon’s Seal Sources:
Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software. Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.
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. 1. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 598
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. 36-37
Hamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey. Cherokee Plants and Their Uses- A 400 Year History. North Carolina: Herald Publishing. 1975. Print. pg. 56
Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 422
Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 342-343
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. 76-77
United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.
Do you know the carb value of Solomon’s Seal tubors?
Thanks, Mike! I so appreciate what you’re gifting to all us us by sharing this wealth of information!
Rock on into continual discoveries of Truth and Love, that give meaning and joy to life 🙂
Love your video. I would like to subscribe but don’t see the option to do so. I have read on other sites that Solomon’s Seal plant has a “scar” on the leaves that resembles the seal of King Solomon . Is this true?