Adder's Tongue
Quick Facts
- What it is: A small North American spring wildflower, Erythronium americanum, used in 1800s folk medicine mainly to cause vomiting and as a skin poultice.
- Main uses: Skin poultice for sores and swellings, Historic emetic (to cause vomiting), Folk use for coughs and swollen glands
- Active ingredients: Tuliposide-type compounds (suspected, not confirmed), Mucilage, Starch and sugars
- Forms: Fresh leaf poultice, Fresh bulb or juice (historic), Dried leaf, Tincture
- Time to effect: Vomiting within about an hour; no proven benefit at any point.
- Side effects: Nausea, vomiting and cramps are expected, not rare; the fresh plant can also cause skin rash.
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What is Adder's Tongue?
Adder's Tongue is a common name for Erythronium americanum, a small yellow spring wildflower of eastern North America. It is better known as dog's-tooth violet or trout lily. Folk healers used the leaves, the small bulb and the fresh juice.
The name causes real mix-ups. A fern, Ophioglossum vulgatum, is also sold as adder's tongue. Check the Latin name on any pack, because the two plants are not the same thing.
Here is the honest verdict. There are no human trials of this plant for any health use. Long use in tradition is not proof that it works, and it is not proof that it is safe.
One thing is well recorded: the fresh plant can make you vomit. That was the point of much of its old use. It is the main reason to treat this herb with care rather than curiosity.
How does Adder's Tongue work?
No one has shown how this plant acts in the human body. Any account of how it works is best treated as a guess.
The old writers explained the vomiting simply. They thought the fresh plant irritated the lining of the stomach. That fits what is known about several lily-family plants, but it has not been tested here.
Plants in this family often carry tuliposides. In lab tests these compounds can irritate skin and slow the growth of some bacteria and fungi. Whether that happens on human skin, or in the gut, is not established.
The soothing poultice use likely rests on mucilage, a slimy gel in the leaf and bulb. A wet gel pack can feel cooling on sore skin. That is comfort, not proof of healing.
What forms does Adder's Tongue come in?
You will rarely find this plant on a shop shelf. It is not a mainstream supplement.
Historic use was mostly of the fresh plant. Healers crushed fresh leaves into a poultice, a soft pack laid on the skin.
Fresh bulb or pressed juice was swallowed to bring on vomiting. That use is not something to copy at home.
Dried leaf and alcohol tinctures turn up now and then from small herb sellers. Drying is said to weaken the vomiting effect. That claim has not been properly tested.
Trout lily spreads slowly and takes years to flower. Many foragers leave it in the ground for that reason.
Where it comes from:
Eclectic doctors in 1800s America listed adder's tongue in their dispensatories. They described the fresh plant as emetic, meaning it caused vomiting. The dried plant was thought to be much weaker.
Folk healers in the north-east laid wet leaf packs on sores and swellings. It was also used for scrofula, swollen neck glands caused by tuberculosis. These uses faded by the early 1900s.
Some Native peoples of the eastern woodlands ate the cooked bulbs as food. Leaf preparations were also used in a few nations. The written records are patchy and differ from place to place.
The plant never entered modern medicine. It was dropped as better and safer options arrived.
Who should avoid Adder's Tongue?
- Do not swallow the fresh bulb, fresh leaf or pressed juice to make yourself vomit.
- Do not use if you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant.
- Do not use if you are breastfeeding.
- Never give it to a child, in any form.
- Do not use if you have, or have ever had, an eating disorder or a habit of making yourself sick.
- Do not use if you take digoxin (a heart drug) or lithium (a mood drug).
- Do not use if you take water pills (diuretics).
- Do not use if you have kidney disease or heart failure.
- Do not use if you have a peptic ulcer (a sore in the stomach lining), bad reflux, or have ever vomited blood.
- Do not use if you are frail, elderly, or dehydrated for any reason.
- Avoid handling the fresh plant if tulips or daffodils have ever given you a rash.
- Do not use any wild plant you cannot identify with full certainty.
- Do not use it in place of care for a lump, a lasting cough or a wound that is not healing.
When should you see a doctor?
Stop and see a doctor if you have taken it and feel unwell in any way.
Get urgent medical help for any of these:
Vomiting that will not stop, or lasts more than a few hours.
Blood in your vomit, or vomit that looks like coffee grounds.
Signs of dehydration: dizziness, dark urine, passing very little urine.
A fast or uneven heartbeat, chest pain, or muscle weakness.
Confusion or fainting.
A spreading rash, swollen lips or face, or trouble breathing.
See a doctor within days for a neck lump, a sore that will not heal, or a cough lasting over three weeks.
Is Adder's Tongue legal where you live?
In the United States and the United Kingdom it is not approved as a medicine. It may be sold as a dried herb or tincture by small suppliers, with no checks on strength. Picking wild plants is restricted in many parks and nature reserves.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
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