Comments on: Blue Mountain Tea: A Sunny Medicine for Cloudy Days

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:29:56 +0000

The Goldenrod is just starting to come on in my area and I am excited to start harvest so that I can utilitze it more. I love using my local herbs and always check you blog to see what other uses everything has. Thanks Kiva for all the info that you provide to help those of us still learning.

By: leslie postin

leslie postin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:26:50 +0000

wonderful info about one of the prettiest wildflowers there is kiva! thank you for sharing your wisdom. very interesting that ananda noted the benefit of goldenrod and seasonal affect disorder. i am thinking that this particular plant would be very beneficial to our family as we have members who suffer from SAD, arthritis and several other conditions mentioned in this lovely article. thank you for all you do kiva.

By: Kiva Rose

Kiva Rose — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:14:32 +0000

Thanks Susan for your sweet comment!

I had begun using Goldenrod for all sorts of liver deficiency type issues based mostly on its taste and then more recently, Matt Wood really expanded my understanding of how that works and wow, now I’m using it all the time!

I believe the name Blue Mountain Tea originates with the Pennsylvania Dutch, but I as far as I can remember none of my sources cite exactly why… I should ask Susan Hess, I bet she’ll know

By: Kiva Rose

Kiva Rose — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:50:36 +0000

I have, but only as a tea, they are indeed a lovely combo where there coldness and fatigue. The combo is personally too hot and stimulating for me most of the time (mostly the Rosemary combined with my labile blood pressure and deficiency heat) but works really well for many kapha types how need warmth and movement from their herbs

By: Susan

Susan — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:13:09 +0000

Great posting, Kiva! This completely jives with my experiences with goldenrod, esp as helping with allergies, UT issues, and externally for muscle pains. I never totally keyed in on the benefits to the liver (under stress from kidney deficiency), but that figures totally for a yellow-flowered plant. The info about SAD and anxious/nervous exhaustion is new to me, but also figures for a plant that seems to be an all-around great kidney tonic. I can’t wait to try more uses of goldenrod this winter!

Gathering some this week. I LOVE seeing all the insects on the goldenrod and sharing it’s bounty with them.

Why was it called blue mountain tea? Was it because of the “Blue Ridge” or (I wonder) does the plant have a “blue” calming effect (similar to the blue essential oils of cousins yarrow and chamomile)?

By: kristine

kristine — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:06:42 +0000

have you ever used goldenrod and rosemary together? they sound like they’d make a great combination for treating chronic fatigue and carminative issues.

By: Kiva Rose

Kiva Rose — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:41:25 +0000

I’m so glad, Dana! You’re so welcome and thank you for your sweet commments

By: Kiva Rose

Kiva Rose — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:37:36 +0000

Well, Helena, as far as I know pretty much all Solidagos are medicinal and they originate from all over the world not just eastern Europe, in fact, there are more than a hundred in N. America and a little over a dozen in South America, Europe and Asia combined (and most of those are actually derived from N. American spp and I think there’s actually only one species indigenous to Europe, all others are imported!)….

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed my post.

By: Dana/Danu

Dana/Danu — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:34:36 +0000

Hello Kiva!

Amazing how life works…I was just discussing Goldenrod with my Sisters in Celebration ladies at our annual gathering this weekend; I get home, and here is your perfect description of our fabulous plant sibling!

Thank you for sharing this!
Love
Dana
Danu Gray Wolf

By: Helena Wolkonowski

Helena Wolkonowski — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:54:24 +0000

Most medicinal goldenrod originates in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and other eastern European countries. (Solidago virgaurea) Used widely in Europe to treat urinary tract infections and help eliminate kidney or bladder stones. In Germany, where goldenrod has government approval as an aid in treating urinary tract disorders, the plant is often combined with java tea leaf, birch leaf, or uva ursi leaf. In North America (s. Canadensis) is the most common species and the small sweet goldenrod (s. odora) has anise scented leaves used to make herbal tea. In the Appalachian Mountain region, Blue Mountain Tea was used to battle fatique and the Native American drank goldenrod for sore throats. Chippewa Indians called it gizisomukiki, meaning sun medicine. The Blue Ridge Goldenrod has been designated as a threatened species.
Another fact; the flowers of the goldenrod can be made into a wonderful dye for cloth and watercolors on porous paper.
Whenever you see the golden yellow bloom of the goldenrod you will be sure to find the sweet blue aster always beside her.
Here in upstate NY, woodpeckers have learned to pick the galls to get to the larvae inside.

By: Kiva Rose

Kiva Rose — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:20:00 +0000

Ah, no wonder… Our Solidago’s don’t get that but the Oaks and certain other plants here definitely do… Oak galls, specifically, have a medicinal value of their own, I wonder if the Goldenrod Galls do as well?

By: AarTiana

AarTiana — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:13:31 +0000

I did what you suggested, but didn’t see what I notice – so I did a google image search for “Solidago” until I found photos resembling what I see – boy did I learn something! The ones I usually harvest are most likely S. Canadensis, but the ones with these “bulbs” seem to be the S. altissima variety – but with a gall fly infestation!
http://www.oswego.ed/wscp/GOLDGALL.htm
Learn something every day!
Here is Susun Weed’s Goldenrod Post:
http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/February08/healingwise.htm

By: Kiva Rose

Kiva Rose — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:20:59 +0000

Thank you, AarTiana! Goldenrod, does have a long and very interesting history which I hope to go into more at some point. I’d forgotten the Liberty Tea name though, I’ll have to add that to the post, so thank you! If you look at plants.usda.gov and look up Solidago, that’s one fairly easy way of figuring out which spp are living your area and then work from there to figure out who’s who.

By: AarTiana

AarTiana — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 03:15:09 +0000

I absolutely love Goldenrod, and I always learn even more about it when I read your blog Kiva! I love the dried green leaves as tea, and they taste great, better than Dandelion to me! I also loved discovering on Susun Weed’s website that Goldenrod was also called “Liberty Tea” and what the rebelling Colonists drank when the Boston Tea Party was an issue – they likely had good health benefits as well! I like the idea of attempting to find different species (I think I found one with a large bulb toward the top third of the stem, not sure which species that is, but the taste was milder). Thanks Kiva, as always – you ROCK!

By: Kiva Rose

Kiva Rose — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:28:56 +0000

Hi Melinda,

As I indicated above, there is a great variety of Solidagos, and there will be differences in action based on the taste and scent of the varying spp. As far as I know, all Solidagos are medicinal to some degree and none are toxic, and certainly the most common type such as S. canadensis and S. odora are known to be beneficial.

There has been some record of toxicity to livestock fed Solidago mollis, because of a fungus called Goldenrod rust that had contaminated the feed. Other than that, as far as I know Solidago has not toxicity whatsoever.