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This plant is rich in saponins, natural cleaning agents. It also has a long history as a medicinal plant and is still considered a popular home remedy for poison ivy, probably because it thoroughly cleanses the skin. The leaves and rhizomes boiled in pure water makes a highly effective soapy lather for cleaning and brightening delicate fabrics.

Sometimes mistaken for forsythia, spicebush produces yellow flowers that appear while the twigs are still barren of leaves.

The prime medicinal use of spicebush is as an agent that reduces fever. It's still used by some herbalists for this purpose. It's also recommend for colds and as a tonic. There's very little scientific evidence to validate this use, but since colonial times the berries have served cooks as a substitute for allspice. The leaves do make a nice tea as well.

Sorrel came to the new world as a salad green. Mashed sorrel leaves mixed with vinegar and sugar were popular as a green sauce with cold meat. The herb's sharp taste is due to its oxalic acid and Vitamin C content. Because of the vitamin content it was used in folk medicine to prevent scurvy. It is toxic to some extent, but the toxicity can be reduced by parboiling before cooking.

Research has determined that sorrel does contain chemical compounds that have mild antiseptic effect and also act as a laxative.

Since at least the time of the ancients, yarrow has been used to treat cuts, wounds, burns and bruises. It is one of a handful of plants called allheal in the English herbal tradition. It was considered the 'life medicine' by the Navajos.

An infusion of the leaves and flower tops is drunk to reduce fever and as a tonic to stimulate appetite. A poultice made from the whole plant or a powder made up of the dried tops is applied to cuts and wounds. It seems to be accepted by scientific research as acceptable in these uses, particularly as an astringent.

Historically this plant was a folk remedy used as a laxative. Scientific studies have validated this, but mostly the young leaves of bitter dock may be eaten fresh as a salad or cooked like spinach.

The root yields a yellow dye.

Birthroot still remains a folk cure for bleeding and skin irritations. Studies indicate that it probably acts as an external astringent and might help external bleeding.

The leaves still sometimes serve as a potherb or salad green in Appalachia.

The American beech bark and leaves have astringent and antiseptic properties that account for whatever medicinal effectiveness the plant was claimed to have in the past. Today it's valued chiefly for its wood; it's used in flooring, furniture, crates and tool handles.

The juice from Celandine has a strong skin-irritating effect and was used in folk medicine to remove warts and treat eczema and ringworm. Today the plant is mainly used in the production of yellow dye for wool.

This plant has been used historically both medicinally and as a food. Today chicory, both wild and cultivated, is used primarily as food. Young chicory leaves can be gathered in spring for a salad; older leaves can be cooked in soups, but they have a slightly bitter taste. The dried, roasted, and ground root is often blended with coffee; it gives the brew a pleasantly bitter taste while reducing it as a stimulant, since chicory has no caffeine.

At one time it was used when coffee was not available.

Butterfly weed is a native of North America. It was used by Native Americans both as a paste for curing cuts or scratches and as a tea to induce perspiration during fevers. It was also used as an expectorant in severe respiratory problems including pleurisy and whooping cough.

Because it contains toxins its use is no longer recommended.

The species is considered rare or protected in some states.

Ajuga reptans is of the mint family. Its species name, reptans, refers to the reptilelike creeping of the plant's runners.

Its use in folk medicine for healing external wounds is considered valid because the plant contains tannin, a substance that helps stop bleeding. Though it was considered a medicinal plant at one time, its use as an astringent is the only use that has been validated scientifically.

The red cedar tree has a tremendous history, both legendary as well as medicinal. Our Native American ancestors used teas made from it as various cures for ailments, but the cedar chippings themselves with their aromatic scent were used as well. In Appalachia, a mixture of nuts, leaves, and cedar twigs is often still boiled and inhaled as a treatment for bronchitis.

Sources tell me that cedarwood oil is used in insect repellants, perfumes and soaps. Cedar chips have been used as moth repellants. The oil also shows up in furniture polish. These are some of the same uses that I grew up with in the southern Appalachians. We also used cedar chips as bedding for our dogs.

It was also considered to be a revered tree, holy, because the souls of ancestors resided within the tree. Legend has it that it remains evergreen because of those souls. It's a beautiful tree with an unusual history. Where it grows wild, seedlings sprout nearby in abundance.

Red clover is an old plant, celebrated historically for its magical powers. At one time it was credited with the ability to protect against evil and witchcraft. The four leaf clover, an occasional variety resulting from mutation, was and still is considered a sign of luck.

Medicinally it was used to ease coughing, colds, sore throats and skin irritations. Native Americans made a salve of it to help cure burns. In spring they also ate the leaves of the plant (a relative of the pea) as a vegetable. Red clover tea is still used by some herbalists as a remedy for sore throats.

In agriculture it is used as a soil improving cover crop, as fodder for cattle and it is a good source of nectar for honeybees.

Its name comes from the color of its blooms.

Tansy is an extremely hardy perennial with a strong smelling scent that acts as a natural insect repellant. Historically it was used to keep vermin and pests (lice, flies, fleas) out of homes and storage areas.

It was introduced from Europe and grows in most of the US. It's a nice background plant, growing in clumps about 3 feet high. It has feathery, dark green narrow, lance shaped leaves growing alternately along the stem. At the top of the stem the blooms appear in clusters of small, button-like, yellow flowerheads. They bloom from July to October.

The sassafras tree is a native of eastern North America. It's an aromatic deciduous tree growing to around 40 feet. It has a rough gray bark; its bright green alternate leaves are oval with one to three lobes. It flowers around May, greenish yellow flowers that appear before the leaves. They are followed by pea sized fruits.

Historically it was used by Native Americans for a wide range of ailments; the bark of its roots was used in various ways to treat fevers and rheumatism; as a tonic it was thought to cleanse the blood of impurities. An oil extracted from the tree was in use as an antiseptic in dentistry and as a flavoring in toothpastes, root beer, and early in the 1870's sassafrass and licorice were used by Thomas Adams as flavoring for Adams chewing gum. It continued to be used as flavoring until the 1960's when the Food and Drug Administration declared that safrole, a chemical compound in the oil of the root bark, was a carcinogen.

In the '90's safrole was removed from the oil and the FDA allowed it to again be used for flavoring. However, it is not recommended as a home remedy.

Queen Anne's Lace can be identified by a tiny single red or purple flower in the middle of a flat cluster of hundreds of tiny white flowers. It should not be confused with the poisonous water hemlock.

The first colonists arriving in America brought carrot seeds with them but the plant soon escaped from gardens and reverted to the wild state that we know as Queen Anne's Lace. The wild root is rich in vitamin A which is good for vision.

Monarda is native to eastern North America. It's endangered in some areas.

It is of the mint family, evidenced by its square stems and the strong scent of its leaves. The Native Americans at one time made tea from the dried leaves of Monarda didyma and shared it with the settlers, who went on to use it as a substitute when imported tea became scarce after the Boston Tea Party.

Some groups thought the tea effective in treating colds and sore throats while others steamed the plant and inhaled the fumes to clear sinuses.

The plant is not recommended for its medicinal use today, but the tea from the leaves is still popular in some areas.

This plant is a North American native. Its yellow blooms exude a perfume that attracts the nocturnal sphinx moth, which pollinates it. It has been used by Native Americans for various ailments for years, but more recently it has become the focus of medical research. The plant may have an anti-clotting factor that would make it useful in the prevention of heart attacks. It has also been found that the oil of the evening primrose might help those who suffer from atopic eczema, asthma and from migraine. None of these drugs has been approved in the US, however.

Cowslip grows in dry meadows and along roadsides. It's native to Eurasia, but is now a common escapee from gardens in temperate North America.

It's a perennial herb with long oval hairy leaves that form a basal rosette. It has yellow flowers in spring and they are marked with orange dots. They grow in hanging clusters on top of an unbranched leafless stalk.

In the past our ancestors used Cowslip for many purposes, some are still used by herbalists today: an expectorant, a mild painkiller, a diuretic and a laxative. Others have used it as a skin cleanser. None of these uses have been verified scientifically.

In older times, as the dogwood began to bloom in spring, it signaled to the Native Americans that it was time to plant corn. They used the dogwood tree medicinally too. The bark was simmered in water and the extract was used to relieve sore and aching muscles. They made a tea of the bark to promote sweating, to relieve fevers. At one time during the Civil War, when quinine was not available, tea from the dogwood tree bark was used to treat malaria.

Those are ancient beliefs and there is no reason now to believe they are true. But there is one fact that I know to be true: when the dogwoods are blooming the fish are biting in Kentucky and Barkley Lakes!