Spreading Dogbane

Spreading dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium) is a poisonous plant that also has lore as a physical and spiritual medicine. Indigenous peoples like the Haudenosaunee, Chippewa and Potawatomi know how to prepare the bitter, toxic root into medicine for heart, kidney and digestive. issues. They also associate the plant with times in one’s life that require personal transformation. Western herbalist Matthew Wood reports this plant being called “Werewolf root” for this reason. Some Western herbalists make a flower essence (an energetic preparation containing no physical material from the plant) from the plant and use it in times when one must decide to either “change or die.” I’ve also heard about it being used for chronic Lyme disease.