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HERB ALLEY
Wild Yam
(Dioscorea villosa)
COMMON NAMES: China root,
colic root, devil’s bones, rheumatism root, yuma.
MEDICINAL PART: Root.
DESCRIPTION: Wild yam
is a perennial bine which grows in the U.S. from Rhode Island to Minnesota,
Florida and Texas. Twining in thickets and hedges and over bushes
and fences, the , wooly, redish-brown stem grows from 5 to 18 feet long.
The slender, tuberous uootstock is crooked and laterally branched.
Broadly ovate and cordate, the leaves are from 2 to 6 inches long and aout
three-fourths as wide, glabrous on top, and finely hairy underneath.
They are usually alternate, but the lower leaves sometimes grow in twos
and fours. The small, greenish-yellow flowers bloom during June and
July, the male flowers in drooping panicles, the female in drooping spicate
racemes. The fruit is a three-winged capsule conaining winged seeds.
PROPERTIES AND USES:
Antispasmodic, diaphoretic, duiretic, expectorant. Wild yam is duiretic,
expectorant, and possibly emetic in large doses. It was once commonly
prescribed for bilious colic. Wild yam is said to be soothing to
the nerves and beneficial for neuralgia and pains in the urinary tract.
Some have considered it an antispasmodic and recommended it for cramps.
During pregnancy, small frequent doses will help allay nasea.
PREPERATION AND DOSAGE:
Infusion: Steep 1 tsp
root in 1 cup water for 30 minutes. Take 1 cup in the course of the
day, a mouthful at a time.
Tincture: Take 10 to
30 drops in water, three or four times a day as needed.
The Herb Book by
John Lust
