Herb. No. 085 · Ranunculaceae
Eastern North American rich woods. Buy cultivated rhizome.
Native · North America
Native Also grown
OpenCautionplant
Black cohosh
Actaea racemosa
A woodland candle whose rhizome is a menopause herb with a real liver signal on extracts.
Black cohosh is an eastern North American woodland plant. Traditional Native and Eclectic use includes women’s complaints and rheumatic aches. Standardized extracts are widely sold for menopause. Rare liver injury is documented. Wild-dug rhizome is a conservation problem — cultivated only.
Flavor
Bitter, earthy, slightly acrid. Not a tea you drink for pleasure.
Parts used
Rhizome
In favor
- A well-known, well-studied North American root
Against
- Liver reports with extracts
- Wild harvest depletes woods
- Not for pregnancy