Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Collinsonia canadensis
Also known as Collinsonia
Pronounced Stone Root: STOHN root. Collinsonia canadensis: kol-in-SOH-nee-uh kan-uh-DEN-sis.
Warm, dry, and astringent: a stimulating venous tonic that firms slack, atonic vein and capillary walls and drains the boggy, dusky, passively congested still-water terrain of piles, varicosities, pelvic fullness, and the relaxed, congested larynx.
No pre-1900 source found for this reading.
Insufficient modern safety data; avoid in pregnancy as a precaution. Standard modern supplement monographs (WebMD/NMCD) state there is not enough reliable information about stone root in pregnancy and advise avoiding it. This is worth stating plainly because the Eclectics did use it in pregnancy for pelvic, vulvo-vaginal, and rectal varicosities, often combined with witch hazel (Ellingwood), so a genuine traditional use exists. But there are no controlled human safety data, the root is high in tannins and mildly diuretic, and the prudent modern course is to avoid medicinal doses during pregnancy unless supervised by a qualified practitioner. Pregnancy-related varicosities and hemorrhoids should be assessed by a clinician rather than self-treated.
Insufficient modern safety data; avoid during breastfeeding as a precaution. Standard supplement monographs advise avoiding stone root while nursing because there is not enough reliable information on transfer into milk or on effects in the infant. No specific harm is documented, but in the absence of data the prudent course is to avoid medicinal doses while breastfeeding unless directed by a qualified practitioner.
No established pediatric dosing and little modern safety data; not recommended for young children except under qualified supervision. The Eclectics used small drop-doses of the tincture in older children and adults, and the herb is low in toxicity, but modern pediatric data are lacking, so use in children only with professional guidance at reduced, weight-appropriate doses, and avoid the large doses that can cause dizziness, nausea, and painful urination.
Stone root is a low-toxicity herb with a long Eclectic record of safe use, and the cautions are largely functional and dose-related. Large or excessive doses can cause dizziness, nausea, painful or difficult urination, and gastric irritation. The root is rich in tannins, which can irritate a sensitive stomach, aggravate constipation in some, and, taken with meals, bind and reduce the absorption of dietary iron and other minerals (take it well apart from iron supplements and iron-rich meals). Its diuretic action can, at high or prolonged dosing, add to fluid and electrolyte loss, a particular concern in kidney disease or alongside diuretic drugs. Because boiling is traditionally held to destroy the fresh root's evanescent active principle (King's), a hard, prolonged decoction may yield only a weak, chiefly astringent preparation; the fresh-root tincture or a short, gentle infusion better preserves activity. Modern clinical safety data are limited, so use ordinary rather than heroic doses and avoid where data are lacking (pregnancy, lactation).
Pregnancy and lactation, on the precautionary grounds of insufficient modern safety data (see safety fields), notwithstanding a historical Eclectic use for varicosities in pregnancy. Known hypersensitivity to the plant. Caution in significant kidney disease and in dehydration or electrolyte depletion given the diuretic action, and in those already taking potent diuretics. Because the high tannin content can hinder iron uptake, use cautiously and dose apart from food in iron-deficiency anemia. Acute, hot, thrombosed, or heavily bleeding hemorrhoids and any unexplained rectal bleeding call for evaluation rather than self-treatment (see refer threshold).
A species to source with care. United Plant Savers flags stone root for conservation concern (its at-risk assessment places it in the vulnerable range), chiefly because the medicinal part is the root and wild harvest commonly kills the plant, leaving native stands open to overcollection; it is listed as Endangered at the state level in Wisconsin. Prefer cultivated root, or ethically wildcrafted material from abundant, landowner-permitted stands with replanting of crowns and seed, over commercial wild harvest. Buy from suppliers who can name a cultivated or stewarded source.
Not a plant of the biblical Near East and not named in canonical Scripture. Collinsonia canadensis is native to eastern North America and belongs to the North American Eclectic and Native American traditions rather than the Mediterranean-biblical one; indigenous peoples used the root for bladder complaints and as a poultice, and it entered nineteenth-century Eclectic practice as a leading venous and hemorrhoidal remedy (King's, Ellingwood). Included here as a cross-traditional materia medica entry, honestly sourced to its North American origin.
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