Liatris spicata - Gay Feather, Colic Root
"CONSTITUENTS: -
PREPARATIONS: Extractum Liatris Fluidum, Fluid Extract of Liatris: Dose, from one-half dram to one dram. Specific Medicine Liatris: Dose, from ten to sixty minims. Infusion Liatris: Dose, from one to four drams.
Therapy: Liatris stimulates the stomach mildly, and is a tonic and antispasmodic to the entire gastro-intestinal apparatus, relieving colic and soothing irritation, after fevers and after other acute prostrating diseases, restoring healthy glandular action. Its eliminative action is quite marked, it having been often used in syphilis and scrofula.
It is a prompt diuretic, relieving kidney irritation and assisting in the removal of dropsical effusions, but we have more direct and efficient remedies."
(Finley Ellingwood: The American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy, 1915)