Turtlehead
(Chelone glabra)
balmony, turtlebloom, saltrheum weed, snakehead

Description: A smooth perennial with simple, erect, square stems reaching 2-3 feet tall. The opposite, short-petioled, shining, dark green, pointed leaves are serrate and oblong-lanceolate. White, swollen flowers have a strongly arching upper lip, and resemble a turtle’s head. They are often tinged with pink or magenta and grow in dense terminal or axillary spikes. The fruit is an ovoid capsule. Found in eastern, central U.S. in moist soils.

Medicinal: It is a anthelmintic, aperient, cholagogue, stimulant, and tonic. The Leaf tea is used for indigestion, constipation, appetite, worms, fever, jaundice, liver diseases, fevers, inflammation, and a laxative. The flowering tops are used to treat worms, and a contraceptive to prevent pregnancy.Steep 1 teaspoon of the leaves to 1 cup water for 5 minutes. Take 1-2 cups a day. An ointment can be used for piles, inflamed breasts, painful ulcers, herpes,and eczema.