Goldenseal Root (Hydrastis Canadensis) Herbal Monograph

Description
Goldenseal (Hydrastis Canadensis), also called orangeroot or yellow puccoon, is a perennial herb in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to southeastern Canada and the eastern United States. It may be distinguished by its thick, yellow knotted rootstock. The stem is purplish and hairy above ground and yellow below ground where it connects to the yellow rhizome. The plant bears two palmate, hairy leaves with 5–7 double-toothed lobes and single, small, inconspicuous flowers with greenish white stamens in the late spring. It bears a single berry like a large raspberry with 10–30 seeds in the summer. (8)

In herbal medicine, Goldenseal is often used as a multi-purpose remedy and is thought to possess many different medicinal properties. In addition to being used as a topical antimicrobial, it is also taken internally as a digestion aid. (9)

Goldenseal may be purchased in salve, tablet, tincture form, or as a bulk powder. Goldenseal is often used to boost the medicinal effects of other herbs with which it is blended or formulated. (9)

Traditional use
The North American plant Golden Seal produces a drug which is considered of great value in modern medicine. The generic name of the plant, Hydrastis, is derived from two Greek words, signifying water and to accomplish, probably given it from its effect on the mucous membrane. (7)

In 1905 the United States Department of Agriculture called attention to the increasing demand for Golden Seal for medicinal purposes in a Bulletin (No. 51). There it is stated that the early settlers learned of the virtues of Golden Seal from the American Indians, who used the root as a medicine and its yellow juice as a stain for their faces and a dye for their clothing. (7)

It is known as a valuable remedy in disorders of the digestive system and has a special action on the mucous membrane, making it of value as a local remedy in various forms of catarrh, chronic inflammation of the colon and rectum and especially famous for reducing hemorrhoids. Goldenseal has been credited with the following herbal properties: bitter, hepatic, alterative/restorative, anticatarrhal, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, laxative, emmenagogue, and oxytocin. (7)

Active constituents 
The five major alkaloid constituents in goldenseal are berberine, palmatine, hydrastine, hydrastinine, and canadine.

Hydrastis owes its virtues almost entirely to Hydrastine, the alkaloid Berberine, apart from some effect as a bitter being practically inert. The United States Pharmacopoeia requires Hydrastis to yield not less than 2.5 percent of Hydrastine. (7)