Queen's Delight

Stillingia sylvatica

Queen's Delight Queen's-root Silverleaf Yawroot Parts used Uses Habitat and cultivation Constituents How much to take Collection and harvesting Combinations

Queen's delight - a perennial herb growing to 4 feet tall. Leathery, elliptical alternate leaves, about 1-3 inches long, are finely toothed and nearly stalkless. Yellow flowers of queen's delight (March-August or all year in warm climates) are petalless and occur in dense terminal spikes, with the male blossoms along the upper part of the spike and the female blossoms along the lower part.

Native to a large part of the southern United  States, queen's-delight was once a popular home medicine with settlers in the region. They claimed that its root had many virtues: as a laxative, an emetic (to induce vomiting), an expectorant (to bring up phlegm), a so-called blood purifier, and a treatment for syphilis.

Unfortunately, doctors found that queen's-delight had to be fresh to be effective. And doctors and herbalists later decided that the plant was more reliable for the laxative or emetic properties that many other plants also afforded than as a remedy for syphilis, for which no cure existed. Some modern herbals recommend queen's delight for "purifying" the blood system and restoring it to normal, but another herbal reference mentions queen's-delight as an "empiric" - that is, a medication of doubtful value.

PARTS USED

Root.

USES

Queen's delight appears to promote general detoxification. Queen's delight is taken internally to help clear constipation, boils, weeping eczema, and scrofula (tubercular infection of the lymph glands of the neck). The fresh root is also taken for the treatment of bronchitis, laryngitis, and throat infection. Externally, queen's delight is applied in the form of a lotion to hemorrhoids and to itchy skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.

The root was once promoted as a blood purifier (restoring health by cleansing the blood of so-called impurities) and as a syphilis cure; but herbalists no longer recommend it. There is no scientific evidence for any of its medicinal uses.

HABITAT AND CULTIVATION

Native to the United States, queen's-delight grows from Virginia south to Florida and Texas, and west to southeastern Colorado.

CONSTITUENTS

Queen's delight contains alkaloids, diterpene esters, fixed oil, volatile oil, resin, and tannins. The fresh root is considered most active.

HOW MUCH TO TAKE

Decoction: put 1/2-1 teaspoonful of the dried root in a cup of water, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes. This should be drunk three times a day.
Tincture: take 1-2 ml of the tincture three times a day.

COLLECTION AND HARVESTING

The root of queen's delight is unearthed after flowering has finished in July.

COMBINATIONS

For the treatment of skin problems queen's delight will combine well with burdock, yellow dock, cleavers and blue flag.