Photos of Aristolochia serpentaria L., Endodeca serpentaria (L.) Raf., Virginia Snakeroot, Virginia Snake Root
Aristolochia serpentaria L., Endodeca serpentaria (L.) Raf., Virginia Snakeroot, Virginia Snake Root, was a famous colonial American medicinal plant introduced in the 1636 Thomas Johnson edition of Gerard's Herball. By 1650 it was included in the London Pharmacopeia. The camphoraceous, turpentine-fragranced, threadlike root was valued as a stimulating tonic and diaphoretic, and for venomous snakebites (hence the name “serpentaria”). Thomas Jefferson listed it among the twenty most important medicinal plants of Virginia. Too rare for harvest. Likely harvested in tonnage in colonial America greatly reducing its populations. Virginia snakeroot and the closely-related Texas Dutchman's Pipe [Aristolochia reticulata Nutt. or Endodeca reticulata (Nutt.) Floden & Weakley] are fed upon by pipevine swallowtail butterfly caterpillars who sequster toxic artisolochic acid making them unpalatable to predators.
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