here is our second plant

cranesbill or wild geranium

this plant grows in the same area as bloodroot

it grows to about 16 inches or so high and early in the spring it has a purple flower.









a pic of the root



cranesbill is currently used as a treatment in chrones {sp?} disease.

cranesbill is easy to harvest...i use a long handled roundpoint shovel because the root is not very far underground at all.........and it grows in patches......it's not unusual to dig 2-3 pounds from one patch.

all you need to wash it is a plastic tote and some cool water.......don't use hot water...you'll mush the plant.

dry on old window screens or one can use a dehydrator.

store in paper sacks.

it's never a good idea to store any dried roots or herbs in plastic..........plastic can hold moisture.

hey buddy whats the value on avg ?

rags, last time i knew cranesbill was around $3 per pound for dried root.

i've seen it before,now i know what it is!
thanks

pm sent

can this be harvested throughout the summer?

yepper

have you ever tryed a box fan and celulose furnace filters to dry roots? u do it with jerky. do you think it would work because there is no heat?

a box fan would certainly help to move air........but i would hesitate from using those filters.......you may run the chance of getting some foreign materials from those filters stuck in the roots.

I see tons of that stuff.

It looks like waht we call "May apple" around here?

i guess i should have put a pic of a mayapple for a comparasion....i may do that tomorrow.

mayapple has more of an umbrella to it.

Very well done, you got something going here. Tom

Bic there is a big difference in cranesbill and mayapple. cranesbill more resembles goldenseal in size and shape excepting the root. mayapple leave is much larger and the root "runs for miles".

your exactly right stan. i'll try to get some pics after work today to show the diffrence.

we need to put all these in one spot for quick reference.

thank you foxkidd44.....this is awesome stuff for those of us that havent learned about these yet.

keep it up.

nice

Ok, gotta ask. Are you sure that's Cranesbill? Around here it's called Puccoon Root, although I think that's a local name because the pictures I get when I type that in aren't the right plant. However, when I type in Cranesbill or wild Geranium, I do fine a plant similar in appearance to the one above, but not the same plant.

yepper.....100% positive .

it would have been a better pic if i could have gotten them in the flowering stage which happens in early to mid may.

Cranesbill is worth 2.00 a lb. at this time. Someone was talking about Puccoon root. In my thoughts I have heard of yellow Puccoon and red Puccoon root. I had always heard that Goldenseal was called yellow Pucconn and that a plant very similar to goldenseal was called red Puccoon. The Puccoon root is a slang name for a root , not it's botanical name.