Herbal Spotlight: GoldenRod

Goldenrod is currently in bloom here in New England. It flourishes abundantly on roadsides and meadows in late summer and fall with flowers thwt have a gorgeous golden hue with the plant standing up to four feet tall.

Goldenrod can be infused in oil and used in salves for inflammation or used in tea or tincture to aid in respiratory congestion and seasonal allergies.

Benefits of Goldenrod

Goldenrod is a bitter aromatic herb with an anise flavor. It is great for cleansing the kidneys, liver, and urinary tract, acting somewhat like a broom by sweeping out the system. It contains flavanoids, saponins, and tannins, making it an antimicrobial and antiseptic ally. Topically, goldenrod can be used as a salve to increase blood flow to particular areas of the body.

Musculoskeletal Support

A great liniment for overworked joints, inflammation, and body aches, goldenrod can bring stimulation and circulation to an area in need. Often the summer season offers space for physical movement, gardening, hiking, walking, and maybe even camping, and while it can feel good to have a more somatic season, some individuals need extra support while taking a more active role with their body. As an anti-inflammatory herb, goldenrod can ease chronic rheumatic pain. For an exhausted body, this late-summer herb is soothing as a tincture, tea, oil, or liniment.

Digestive Support

Goldenrod is bitter and can be used if an upset stomach with nausea and diarrhea is present. Because goldenrod is a bitter plant, it stimulates digestive secretions, thus acting as a digestive aid and carminative. These actions help promote a well-functioning digestive system. While goldenrod is predominantly warming and stimulating, its flavonoids make it cooling, and therefore, beneficial to tissues that need to be cooled and stimulated at the same time. These energetic qualities lend themselves well to the digestive system, particularly where inflammation is concerned, as goldenrod helps to soothe inflammation in the digestive tract by decreasing inflammation to the tissues.

Immune Support

Colds can occur any time of the year, and when they do, why not think about using a seasonal herb. Goldenrod, with its cooling bitter properties, can be helpful when a fever is present during an upper respiratory infection. As a hot tea, it serves as a diaphoretic which increases perspiration, thus, lowering the body’s temperature gently. It can also be a useful mouthwash or gargle for tissue inflammation in the mouth and throat as well. With a high flavonoid content, goldenrod aids in caring for the immune system, and these flavonoids are known to be antiallergenic, anti-inflammatory, and vulnerary.

How to Harvest Goldenrod

Goldenrod grows in disturbed areas across most of the United States, often lining roadsides and highways, flowering between July and August.

Goldenrod is sometimes mistaken for ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya)—the culprit of allergies. However, there are some ways to tell them apart. Primarily, goldenrod flowers are a much more striking golden color compared to ragweed’s small, green-tinted buds, and goldenrod’s flowers are arranged in a more robust plume.

It’s best to harvest the flowers and leaves in the morning when the flowers have just opened. When harvesting, cut above the spot where the leaf joins the stem. This will encourage the plant to send up three or four new shoots from the cut.

This will be my first year wild harvesting and using goldenrod in recipes, I plan to make a few Herbal Tea and Honey's so I will keep you all updated in a future post this fall about different Immune Boosting Herbal Allies.