What is Lithospermum used for in medicine?
The root of Lithospermum erythrorhizon, commonly known as “Zicao”, is a Chinese medicinal herb widely used to treat infections, inflammation, and hemorrhagic diseases over two thousand years [1]. Lithospermum ruderale is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name western stoneseed or lemonweed.Lithospermum is a genus of plants belonging to the family Boraginaceae. The genus is distributed nearly worldwide, but most are native to the Americas and the center of diversity is in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Species are known generally as gromwells or stoneseeds.Lithospermum erythrorhizon, commonly called purple gromwell, red stoneroot, red gromwell, red-root gromwell and redroot lithospermum, is a plant species in the family Boraginaceae. It is called zǐcǎo (紫草) in Chinese, jichi (지치) in Korean, and murasaki (ムラサキ; 茈) in Japanese.
What is the common name for Lithospermum officinale?
Lithospermum officinale, or common gromwell or European stoneseed, is a flowering plant species in the family Boraginaceae, native to Eurasia. Lithospermum arvense), known as field gromwell, corn gromwell, bastard alkanet, and stone seed, is a flowering plant of the family Boraginaceae. It is native to Europe and Asia, as far north as Korea, Japan and Russia, and as far south as Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.
Is Lithospermum edible?
It is usually eaten boiled or roasted. The root has also been used to make a tea. The root has been chewed by some native North American Indian tribes as a treatment for colds. The Cheyenne Indians used the finely powdered leaves, root and stem and rubbed them on the body in the treatment of paralyzed limbs. The plant was used as a contraceptive by several Native American groups, including the Navajo and Shoshone. Studies on mice show the plant reduced their fertility. Plains Indians also used the roots to treat respiratory issues and cooked them as food. The throat of the flower is glandular with no protrusions.