Echinacea?

Durn, my echinacea never converse when I'm around.

Here's a favorite herb with mystical properties - it contains complex alkaloids, has been used in ancient times as an anesthetic, and reportedly was mixed into wine by the Carthaginians to render invading Roman troops unconscious. And speaking of talking herbs, this one is said to shriek when you pull it up by the roots*.

Guesses?

*It's not a good idea to do this (legend has it that you'll be sorry).size>

Mandrake?

I'm covered with short white hairs and my name suggests that I am covered with frost. I am so bitter that the favorite way to use me is in sugar lozenges, which one can still buy at Cracker Barrel. I am good for bronchial conditions.

What am I?

Horehound

Yes, I was referring to mandrake. (I had considered using as a clue the Peter Sellers character in the movie "Dr. Strangelove" - {{gwi:59978}} is at left in this photo). :)

This is fun! herbalbetty it's your turn! I'd like to if you don't, as I guessed right on two,lol. Your's was very interesting eric.

I am a very large North American tree. My bark is used for colds. My leaves can be poisonous to livestock.
Who am I?

I'm one of the earliest plants to emerge in spring. I am capable of thermogenesis. I was part of the American Pharmacopea and was used for relief of spasms. At one time, I was used as a contraceptive.

goshen - Wild Black Cherry

herbalbetty - themogenesis can only mean skunk cabbage!

Here's another....

I'm a broad-leaf plant found in people's lawns. I'm not native to North America. I came to North America with the Europeans and seemed to spread westward with them. So much so that the Native Americans called me "White man's footprint." I am also called "Nature's Band-Aide" because a mashed or chewed poultice of me soothes insect bites and scrapes. Who am I?

FataMorgana

Oh oh, I think I know this one Fata! Are you Plantain?

You got it!:)

FataMorgana

I come in many many varieties, some edible, some just beautiful.

I'm good for morning sickness, and am very delicious pickled. You can make me into a tea, cook with me, or appreciate my beautiful flowers and foliage. Some of my flowers are edible and I come in all colors.

Other benefits include:

It promotes energy circulation and increases the metabolic rate. Naturopathic medicine uses it for heart and artery renewal and hypertension. It protects the lungs and the colon. Its healing qualities can transform, reduce, or expel phlegm in the lungs. Cold-type asthma (white, clear, foamy discharge, with cold extremities and pale complexion) is alleviated by the addition of this to your diet. It stimulates circulation and is useful for arthritic and rheumatic disorders, especially for muscle complaints due to age; the oil should be massaged into affected parts.

~~~~Ginger~~~~ :0)

I am believed to bring wisdom, joy and delight. Hippocrates called me his medicine chest. You can make wine from me or if you like liqueur. I grow as small trees or shrubs, but don't cut me down unless you sing a special chant.
I am a strong antioxidant, and anti-viral and have been shown to inhibit the flu.
Who am I?

Elderberry!

The Europeans use to plant me along pathways to their door and Native Americans hung me in bunches above doorways to ward off witches and evil....
my medicinal uses can be traced back to early Greece....
Also used in past externally as anti-inflammatory, astringent, antiseptic...
possible tx for alcoholism....
i can cause photosensitivity, lethargy.......
i was one of those widely popular herbs of the minute for awhile..........
i have yellow flowers used for dyes...
am named according to flowering time and harvest.....
who am I?

I'm stumped Novice!

Novice, if you added that my yellow flowers stain your hands red, perhaps silversword would get it...

Herbalbetty, I have no clue what herb Novice is talking about... share it if you know!! I'm intrigued!

St. John's wort

thanks herbal betty, i was trying to keep an obvious herb from being too obvious.lol. maybe i'm not good at this game.

Novice, I think you are excellent at this game! C'mon, do another herb.

This is fun! Can we keep it going?
Even though it's herbalbetty's turn...
Here's another:
I have purple blooms and serrated leaf edges, you can find me in the wild growing close to a poisonous plant (as the antidote)
usually used fresh by chewing blooms and flowers, and applying the mixture of plant and saliva
astrigent for bites, stings, rashes
used to tx burns and scar tissue
NEVER use me externally for more than five minutes at a time
a nervine, you can use me in a tea or pillow sachet
also good as bath tea for relaxation and sore muscles
simmer me in a pot to calm hyperactive children
in colonial times, I was used to tx STDs
male elks will roll in a patch to attract a mate
I am a member of the mint family
medicinally, this wild SPECIES is considered superior to the species found growing in gardens..........
considered a cure-all by the Muskogee

Nettle?

No, think flowers...purple , but another flowers red....
the common name for garden plant includes an insect name, as it's flowers attract it....
frequently seen along roadsides in eastern US and Canada...

Jewelweed?

nope.
native plant of Ohio, currently their garden plant of the month....
i recently bought a rose-scented species to make tea, since I lost my rose bush to black spot....
all species attract butterflies and bees....
this SPECIES i grow for medicinal purposes

The clues were good. I'm surprised no one has guessed it. Here's another clue that should get everyone calling up google maps....

One of its other common names includes the name of a city located on the shores of Lake Ontario which is also a county name in New York State.

(novice_2009, I got the right one, don't I? :)

FataMorgana

OK, my knowledge of North American herbs is scanty, and my geography of that pert of the world's even worse, but going on the last clues, are we talking about bergamot? (Oswego Tea?)

Skullcap?

Oswego marching through Georgia?

I'm an American plant growing in most of eastern US. I am a bush or small tree. I have yellow flowers blooming in the fall.
My bark and leaves are used for an astringent, for insect bites,skin irrations and poison ivy.
What am I?

Wild Bergamont, aka- sweet leaf, bee balm
This is Monarda fistula, not didyma
Fatamorgana and andy were right on

is that jewelweed, goshen?

OK,here's an easy one in riddle:

A flash of the lion's teeth
May make you wet the bed,
But allay the effects of ale
When root wins over bean.

Dandelion?

In one!

Goshen is talking about witch hazel.

Okay, here's one:

I'm sometimes known as Bible leaf, as smelling my leaf was said to revive many a weary church-goer during lengthy sermons. Another of my folk names refer to my use in brewing. I can grow 3-4 ft and am best propagated by division.

Costmary?

You are correct!

herbalbetty got it. Sorry i was so slow answering. Don't come here much anymore.
Here,s a hard one.
I grow in Siberia.
Russian cosmonauts and olympic athletes use me on a regular basis for stamina. Also used for depression and to help boost immune systems.
I've been featured in major science periodicals. Northern Canada is trying to grow me as is N Carolina. I can now be bought in USA sometimes.

Goshen, I don't know whether it is Eleuthero (Siberian ginseng) or Roseroot (Rhodiola) that you are talking about. Both fit the bill for Siberia and the actions you are discussing. Don't know about the Canada and N. Carolina growing though. Time to look it up!

If it is ginseng, don't forget about Wisconsin.

Its rosea rhodeola, Herbalbetty was right. It's being tried grown experimentally in both northern Canada and the Carolinas according to Science News.
Russia does not want to share. LOL

I grow both Eleuthero and Rhodiola. They are both interesting plants. Eleuthero is quite a shrub. Rhodiola is a low growing plant that looks very alien-like. In the early spring, it's an ugly blob with little nubbins on it. Then, it sends out growth from the nubbins and becomes a pretty plant.

>> Its rosea rhodeola, Herbalbetty was right. It's being tried grown experimentally in both northern Canada and the Carolinas according to Science News.

Yup. One brand I bought is grown in Canada. Relatives in Scandinavia grew it (or a related plant from that genus) as an ornamental -- they had no idea it might be good for anything other than looking pretty. And they didn't want me to dig it up to smell the roots. :)