Plant of the day  Hydrastis canadensis (Goldenseal)

The action is tonic, laxative, alterative and detergent.

Goldenseal is in serious danger due to overharveseting. Goldenseal became popular in the mid-nineteenth century. By 1905, the herb was much less plentiful, partially due to overharvesting and partially to habitat destruction. Wild goldenseal is now so rare that the herb is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, goldenseal is one of the most overharvested herbs. More than 60 million goldenseal plants are picked each year without being replaced. 

The Cherokee used goldenseal to treat cancer and indigestion, to improve appetite, and as a topical treatment for skin disorders. The Iroquois used goldenseal for whooping cough, fever, heart disease, and as an eyewash. In addition, they used goldenseal as an aid for stomach and bowel ailments, an emetic, and an antidiarrheal agent. Because the goldenseal plant is native only to the eastern U.S., it has never been used in traditional Indian or Chinese medicine.

One traditional use of goldenseal is as a mucous membrane tonic. Note that it does not have to come in contact with the mucous membranes to have this effect. Hold some goldenseal in your mouth for a minute or two, and you can feel the effect on the mucous membranes in your nose and sinuses. Traditional doctors stated that goldenseal increases the secretion of the mucous membranes. At the same time, goldenseal contains astringent factors, which also counter that flow. Thus it was referred to as a mucous membrane "alterative", increasing deficient flow but decreasing excessive flow. How this happens has not been determined by science, but is thoroughly supported by the traditional uses.... It is my opinion that goldenseal acts as an "antibiotic" to the mucous membranes not by killing germs directly, but by increasing the flow of healthy mucous, which contains its own innate antibiotic factors—antibodies. This effect is unnecessary in the early stages of a cold or flu, when mucous is already flowing freely.