Course and hairy, onosmodium is a white flower-bearing plant native to North America. The leaves, seeds, and roots of the plant are employed in homeopathic medicine. Remedies for various maladies, including those of the kidneys and the sexual organs, can be created from the plant.
Also known as false gromwell, the plant is sometimes referred to as gravel weed and Wild Job's tears. It works as a diuretic and tonic for various ailments. The plant serves as a swelling reducer. To cure kidney or gall stones, an infusion from the plant's seeds and roots may be imbibed up to four times daily until the stones are released from the body. It may also provide a remedy for male sexual dysfunction.
Migraines can be treated with the bristly herb. Female lack of sexual desire can be reversed through use of the plant, while painful urination can be cured as well. Bladder irritation in general may be alleviated from using the onosmodium plant. The plant's root, which is still flexible once dried, can help relieve kidney irritation when used as a tonic. Drinking such a solution is said to also support and strengthen renal areas.
Caution should be used when self-medicating with onosmodium. Because it causes excessive urination, it can also cause dehydration. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should not use the supplement.
Found in New England, North Dakota, New Mexico, and along the southern coast from Louisiana to Florida, onosmodium prefers dry, open woods or prairie full of sandy soil. Dry, hilly grounds make a good habitat for the herb as well. Optimal onosmodium growth occurs in areas with light to moderate grazing pressure. False gromwell is a member of the Boraginaceae family, named for its unpleasant odor.
The perennial herb features five-petaled, curled yellow-white flowers that bloom from June to July. These crowded, half-inch (one and one-half centimeters), residing on the upper third of the plant, are melded with a tubular center corolla. Inside the corolla, the long styles, or female reproductive organs, protrude like a group of needles.
Elongated leaves, graduated in length, sprout from the coarse, bristled, slender stem. Some onosmodium plants appear to be bushes. This is due to the presence of both dead and living stems pushing up from the brown root. During the winter, after the plant freezes, it bears white nutlets that remain throughout the winter. The entire bristle-covered plant can grow up to three to four feet (.9 to 1.2 meters) tall.
