Blue cohosh
Pappoose root, squawroot, blueberry root; Omaha-Ponca zhu-nakada-tanga-makaⁿ, ‘great fever medicine’; Ojibwe oci’gîmîc; Caulophyllum thalictroides (L.) Michx.
- Known today as
- Caulophyllum thalictroides, of the barberry family, Berberidaceae, a handsome perennial, smooth and glaucous, of rich, moist ground in swamps and beside streams in the United States and Canada, bearing small yellowish-green flowers in May and June and seeds the size of a large pea. The knotty root is the drug; its taste is sweetish-bitter, then acrid and pungent, and Grieve lists among its constituents a body like saponin.
- Kind
- Plant, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- saponin
- Earliest authority here
- Gilmore, Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region (1919)
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online · GBIF · Wikidata
Caution. That review records three case reports in which blue cohosh taken around delivery was linked to serious harm: a perinatal stroke; a heart attack with profound heart failure and shock; and severe injury to several organs from lack of oxygen. It records one report of abortifacient effect and laboratory evidence that it may harm the embryo and cause malformations, and finds its safety in breast-feeding unknown.
Blue cohosh: what was it used for?
A remedy for women and for labour. Grieve calls it emmenagogue, antispasmodic, diuretic, diaphoretic, and anthelmintic, used in rheumatism, dropsy, epilepsy, hysteria, and uterine inflammation, and “preferable to Ergot, expediting delivery,” where labour was delayed by debility or fatigue. Smith found the Pillager Ojibwe using the root for female troubles, “especially for cramps in the stomach during painful menstruation.” A 2008 review cites a survey in which about 64 per cent of American midwives reported using it to help induce labour.
Blue cohosh: what does modern science say?
No European monograph covers it, and no clinical trial of it was found for this entry. A systematic review of 2008 on its use in pregnancy and breast-feeding found only case reports and laboratory evidence, and concluded that it should be used with extreme caution in pregnancy, only under medical supervision, and should not be sold over the counter, calling for urgent studies of its safety among midwives who use it.
Blue cohosh: is it poisonous?
Yes, in some form or dose. That review records three case reports in which blue cohosh taken around delivery was linked to serious harm: a perinatal stroke; a heart attack with profound heart failure and shock; and severe injury to several organs from lack of oxygen. It records one report of abortifacient effect and laboratory evidence that it may harm the embryo and cause malformations, and finds its safety in breast-feeding unknown. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- saponina body analogous to it, in Grieve’s list
- Mechanism
- Not established in the sources read for this entry.
- Standing
- There is no European monograph. A 2008 systematic review advised extreme caution in pregnancy, use only under medical supervision, and no over-the-counter sale.
- Grieve, M. A Modern Herbal, “Cohosh, Blue.” As published on botanical.com. Read in full · the text read
- Dugoua JJ, et al. (2008). Safety and efficacy of blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) during pregnancy and lactation. The Canadian journal of clinical pharmacology = Journal canadien de pharmacologie clinique. PMID 18204101. Abstract read · the text read
The abstract of each source, beneath its citation. For Club members. About the Club or sign in.
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Blue cohosh: what lore surrounds it?
Grieve notes that the seeds were sometimes roasted and boiled to make a drink resembling coffee. Smith records the Eclectics’ claim that it would prevent miscarriage “by causing uterine contraction when uterine inertia is present.”
Blue cohosh: what did the older authorities say?
- Gilmore, Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region (1919)
- Among the Omaha and Ponca it was “great fever medicine,” a name built on their word for fever, literally ‘hot flesh.’ A decoction of the root was given for fevers, and “this was considered the most effectual febrifuge known to the Omaha.”
Sources
- Grieve, M. A Modern Herbal, “Cohosh, Blue.” As published on botanical.com. Read in full · the text read
- Smith, H. H. (1932). Ethnobotany of the Ojibwe Indians, Blue Cohosh. Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee 4. Project Gutenberg, 49527. Read in part · the text read
- Gilmore, M. R. (1919). Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region, “Caulophyllum thalictroides.” Thirty-third Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Internet Archive, usesofplantsbyin00gilm. Read in part · the text read
- Dugoua JJ, et al. (2008). Safety and efficacy of blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) during pregnancy and lactation. The Canadian journal of clinical pharmacology = Journal canadien de pharmacologie clinique. PMID 18204101. Abstract read · the text read
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 4 cited: 1 read in full, 2 read in part, 1 abstract read. 1 with the abstract on file.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Club members can point at a technical term in this entry, such as a constituent, an action, or a word of Jung’s, to read its definition from the source. The Club.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published October 17, 2026
- Chicago
“Blue cohosh.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 17, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/blue-cohosh.
- MLA
“Blue cohosh.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 17 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/blue-cohosh. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Blue cohosh. (2026, October 17). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/blue-cohosh
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See Also
Sharing saponin
Primula vulgaris · Dioscorea villosa · Saponaria officinalis
Drawing on the same sources: Grieve, Smith
Bogbean · Bloodroot · Boldo · Burdock · Cattail · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
Bloodstone (iron oxide, which streaks blood-red) · Boneset · Blessed paper (Paper blessed so that what is written on it may take effect) · Borage (Borago officinalis) · Blessed oil
Historical description, not medical advice.
