Medical Uses: Native Americans used this plant to treat toothache. The Cherokee woul hold hot tea, root tea or beaten root on the painfull tooth. They used a poultice to treat inflammation. It seems contridictory but a hot tea was used as a purgative and a cold tea to prevent vomiting. Baptisia species are being investigated as an immune system stimulant. WARNING: some sources consider this species toxic.

Similar Species: There are many Baptisia species in our area but this is the only one with blue flowers.

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One of the best general guides to wildflowers of the North Eastern and North Central United States. Newcomb's key is an excellent, simple method for identifying plants. Newcomb has drawings for almost every plant mentioned that are excellent aids to identifying the species. Though only the more common plants are covered this is often the first book I pick up when trying to identify a wildflower.

Wildflo wers of Tennessee the Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians

This is perhaps the best of many field guides covering this region. Featuring 446 excellent color photographs (located with the text) and mentioning as similar to those illustrated are another 800 or so species for a total coverage of over 1,200 species. The start of each family section includes line drawings of some of the species showing important features. The text includes the usual description, bloom season, range, habitat and additionally includes information such as medical uses and lore and how the species was named. This is the official field guide of the Tennessee Native Plant Society.