Folk Names: American Adder’s Tongue, Serpent’s Tongue, Adder’s Mouth
Gender: Feminine
Planet: Moon (Cancer)
Element: Water
Powers: Healing
Erythronium (also known as Fawn Lily, Trout Lily, or Dog’s-tooth Violet), a genus of lilies. The erythronium americanum is the herb most often referred to by herbalists as fawn lily or fawn lily, trout lily, dog’s-tooth violet and adder’s-tongue.
Cooking: The bulb is edible as a root vegetable, cooked or dried, and can be ground into flour. The leaves can also be cooked as a leaf vegetable and the green seed pods have the flavor of string beans and are tasty raw or cooked. In Japan, Erythronium japonicum is called katakuri, and the bulb is processed to produce starch, which is used in the preparation of tempura, mochi and other dishes. True katakuriko is now quite costly and is rarely available in stores.
Medicinal Uses: Adder’s tongue was a popular treatment of scrofula, a form of tuberculosis that affects the lymph nodes in the neck, and is still used for skin ailments. Use one teaspoon of fresh leaves or two teaspoons of root to one cup of boiling water. A poultice can be made using crushed leaves, or pieces of root simmered in milk until it reaches the desired consistency.
Magickal Uses:
This is a feminine plant governed by the moon and the element of water. It has healing powers and is used to treat wounds and bruising. Soak some adder’s tongue in cold water, wrap it in a cloth, and apply it to the wound or bruise it until the herb grows warm. Bury the wet herb in a muddy place. The wound will be cured.
To envious people from gossiping about you or slandering your name. It is especially effective against relatives by marriage. It is rarely found on the market. but SLIPPERY ELM can be substituted for it.
To Stop Enemies From Mentioning Your Name: Sprinkle dried and powdered ADDER'S TONGUE leaves at the doorsteps of those who have slandered you. and it is said that they will no longer mention your name.
To Protect Yourself from Back-Biting or Meddling In-Laws: Mix ADDER'S TONGUE leaves or leaf powder with SLIPPERY El.M bark and brew them into a tea. Strain it. let it cool a bit. and pour it over yourself from the neck downward nine times as you recite the 37th Psalm. Collect the used BATH WATER. pour it into a pail of hot water. and add a tablespoonful of AMMONIA. Use this specially-prepared scrub water to cleanse the front doorstep and your living room, so that visiting in-Jaws do not bother you.
Botanical notes: ADDER'S TONGUE is a wild woodland bulb in the Lily family and is not related to the VIOLET. despite the similar common name of DOG·TOOTH VIOLET.
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