Ageratina altissima, pretty poison
In the late 18th and early 19th century, thousands of Americans (including perhaps Abraham Lincoln’s mother) were dying of “milk sickness”. It was Dr. Anna Hobbs who showed that this pretty woodland plant was the cause after being told so by an elderly Shawnee woman. It’s toxin, tremetol, passes into the milk of cows that ingest it. After Dr. Hobbs’ demonstration of its nature, pasturelands were cleared of Snakeroot, and the scourge of milk sickness abated. No credit accrued to Hobbs in those times for her lifesaving work. White snakeroot is not uncommon, innocently blooming in partial shade along woodland paths I walk here in Northern New York.
Ageratina altissima, pretty poison
In the late 18th and early 19th century, thousands of Americans (including perhaps Abraham Lincoln’s mother) were dying of “milk sickness”. It was Dr. Anna Hobbs who showed that this pretty woodland plant was the cause after being told so by an elderly Shawnee woman. It’s toxin, tremetol, passes into the milk of cows that ingest it. After Dr. Hobbs’ demonstration of its nature, pasturelands were cleared of Snakeroot, and the scourge of milk sickness abated. No credit accrued to Hobbs in those times for her lifesaving work. White snakeroot is not uncommon, innocently blooming in partial shade along woodland paths I walk here in Northern New York.