Bracted Lousewort
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Like other lousewort, they are principally mountain or subalpine species. Bracted Lousewort grows in dry meadow areas.
The flowers grow directly on the large, thin stem.
A book called Mountain Wild Flowers of Canada published in 1906 had this to say about the plant,
The Romans had a proverb, "Sell your coat arid buy Betony," and another old saying was, "May you have more virtues than Betony." Antoninus Musa, physician to the Emperor Augustus, wrote in high praise of its powers, stating that it would cure forty-seven of the ills to which human flesh is heir.
Franzins, in his History of Brutes, alludes to its healing virtues for animals. He says of the stag, "When he is wounded with a dart, the only cure he hath is to eate some of the herbe called Betony, which helpeth both to draw out the dart and to heale the wound.""
The medicinal properties of Pedicularis species are still studied today.
© 2008 Patricia A. Michaels.