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Tephrosia virginiana

Common name:	Catgut	Family:	Leguminosae
Author:	(L.)Pers.	Botanical references:	43, 200, 274
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	Contact with the plant can cause dermatitis in sensitive people[222]. The seeds are toxic[222].
Range:	Eastern N. America - New Hampshire to Florida, west to Texas and Manitoba.
Habitat:	Dry sandy woods and openings[43].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	0	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	2

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Cracca latidens[B,P] Cracca mohrii[P] Cracca virginiana[B,G,P] T. latidens[B,P] T. mohrii[P] T. virginiana var. glabra[B,P] T. virginiana var. holosericea[B,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Goat'S Rue [E], Goat's-rue [B], Virginia Tephrosia [P],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Fabales. Renamed to Fabaceae -- Pea family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Mexico Us Us(Amerindian) Us(Cherokee)

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 0.6m. It is hardy to zone 4. It is in flower from May to July. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. We rate it 0/5 for edibility and 2/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, requires well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Sunny Edge.

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Anthelmintic Cancer Diaphoretic Diuretic Pectoral Tonic Women's complaints.

The root is anthelmintic, diaphoretic, diuretic, pectoral and tonic[207, 222, 257]. A tea made from the roots is said to make children muscular and strong[222, 257]. A cold tea is used to improve male potency and also to treat TB, bladder problems, coughs, irregular menstruation and other women's complaints[222, 257]. Experimentally, the root has shown both anticancer and cancer-causing activity[222].
The leaves have been placed in the shoes in order to treat fevers and rheumatism[257].

Other Uses

Hair Insecticide.

The root is a source of the insecticide 'rotenone'[207, 213]. This is especially effective against flying insects but appears to be relatively harmless to animals[213].
A decoction of the roots has been used as a hair shampoo by women in order to prevent hair loss[257].

Cultivation details

A deep rooted plant, requiring a dry to moist light or medium very well-drained soil in a sunny position[200].
Plants are hardy to about -25° when given a suitable position[200].
This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[200].

Propagation

Pre-soak the seed for 12 hours in warm water and then sow in a greenhouse in spring. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow on in the greenhouse for their first winter, planting out in the following spring or early summer.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[S] Illustration from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
[PHARM] Phytochemical Data (common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[207] Coffey. T. The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers. Facts on File. 1993 ISBN 0-8160-2624-6
A nice read, lots of information on plant uses.

[213] Weiner. M. A. Earth Medicine, Earth Food. Ballantine Books 1980 ISBN 0-449-90589-6
A nice book to read though it is difficult to look up individual plants since the book is divided into separate sections dealing with the different medicinal uses plus a section on edible plants. Common names are used instead of botanical.

[222] Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1990 ISBN 0395467225
A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.

[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

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