Dutchman’s Breeches, Dicentra cucullaria, a native plant that is potentially poisonous. It was used as a strengthener for long distance runners by the Iroquois and considered powerful love medicine by the Menominee. Western medicine claims that a root tea is diuretic, and it will induce sweating. You can find this plant in early spring in rich woods and it has a close look-a-like known as Squirrel Corn, Dicentra canadensis. Sorry it is not known for its edibility but it’s still a cool plant to admire.

Keep your eyes and ear open and your powder dry!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dutchman’s Breeches Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software. Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 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. 610-611

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. 16-17

Herrick, James William. Iroquois Medical Botany. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: State University of New York, Albany 1977. Print. pg. 129

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 199

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 34-35

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.