An Antidote to Poison Ivy

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Sticky fingers smelling of sweet pine-like resin, geez louise I love when it comes time for grindelia to grace us with her bloom. You may have passed by this shrubby little plant a thousand times and not thought much of it, or thought it was a weed. This little gem however is indigenous to the Americas and has been used throughout the ages by the Native Peoples of this land to treat afflictions of the lungs including bronchitis, pneumonia and asthma, and to relieve skin irritations of all kinds including poison ivy.

I consider many plants and herbs to be my friends, and this is one of my closest. There’s just something about her that fills my cup. 

I can personally attest to the effectiveness of her medicine as an antidote to an encounter with poison ivy. I was caught at one point hiking through a talus field in the backcountry with shorts and sandals where the only way to cross the talus was through a thick grove of poison ivy as tall as my knees. There were big boulders and cliff edges forcing me through the patch.


As beautiful as nature would have it, the antidote to many irritating plants grows nearby or alongside the one that causes the issue. And there at the other end of the grove was a small bunch of grindelia, glowing in her golden glory as if to say “I’m here if you need me, everything is alright.” So I took her up on her offer, mashed up some flower buds and rubbed the resin all over my legs. They tingled and buzzed for a few moments as the skin soaked up the medicine, and sure enough everything really was alright. I had no sign or symptom of any poison ivy anywhere. 

Grindelia, also known as gumweed, is a part of the Asteraceae family, which is the family that produces daisies, asters and sunflowers. As such (and with all herbs) it is important to get a positive identification before harvesting and using the plant. Obviously. With grindelia you are looking for a small shrub like plant with slightly toothed leaves and bright yellow flowers emerging from a pincushion-like base that is very sticky. The stick is the medicine containing resin and it smells like sweet pine sap. 

It blooms in late summer and is found throughout most semi-arid areas of North America often in disturbed areas, roadsides, trailsides, railroads and pastures. 

 

A Traditional Medicine
 

Medicinally, the fresh or dried flowers can be boiled into a tea, it can be ground into a poultice, and it can be made into a tincture which can be used externally or internally as well. The Cheyenne use the tea applied externally to the skin to relieve rashes, scabs and sores. The Lakota, the Ponca, and the Crow Tribes make the flowers into a tea to relieve coughs, pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma, colds and tuberculosis. The tea is also used by the Lakota as a mild stomach tonic. Western herbalists find that a tincture made from the fresh flower heads is supportive of healthy respiratory function, and especially useful for bladder and urinary tract infections. The tincture is also highly effective for relieving rashes from poison ivy and poison oak.

To Harvest

What I would love to share with you is how you can easily use this herb for yourself and your loved ones. Whether you are in the backcountry or just strolling the neighborhood, if you have a run in with poison ivy or some other skin irritant, look around for grindelia flowers that have opened but are not yet past. You want the color to be bright yellow, but not yet browning. There should be a good amount of resin on the buds—enough that your fingers should be real good and sticky by the time you harvest just a couple.

 

A Note On Wildcrafting

It is a beautiful offering to wildcraft herbs and plants. When we do this in a good way we are helping the plant to live out their life purpose, giving us their fruits to feed, nourish and sustain us. This being said, when you head out to harvest there are a couple of things that are good to be aware of. 

 

Always ask permission from the plant to harvest and make an offering. Some people offer tobacco, some a strand of hair. I say, offer whatever it is that is sacred to you. Maybe a song, a prayer, or something you’ve made. It is a way to acknowledge the generosity of the plant and give a little something in gratitude for all that we receive from them.
 

Only take what you need and have a plan for.  Know that what you harvest is food that other animals like the mule deer, squirrels and rabbits will not get. Harvest in gratitude for what you need, and leave what you don’t.

 

Always leave enough for the plant to reproduce for the coming year.  A good rule of thumb is to never take the first, never take the last, only take what is given, and never take more than half.
 

Making a Poultice 
 

To address skin irritants on the spot, harvest ripe and ready flowers (just the heads, not the stems) and mash them up until they are fairly well broken down in a small clump. Apply this to the affected area of the skin and allow the resin and medicine to do it’s magic. 

If you are stocking up your herbal medicine first aid kit or treasure chest, you can harvest some flower heads to dry for making tea with. You can also harvest the flower heads to make a tincture with. 

Making Grindelia Tincture
 

To make a tincture with grindelia, harvest enough flowers to fill a glass jar about half way, shooting for about a 1:2 ratio. Then fill the jar full of strong alcohol, either Vodka or Everclear. The strong resin in grindelia’s medicine requires at least 70% alcohol in order to be drawn out. Cover the jar and store in a cool place to let infuse for about 4 weeks. Strain the plant parts out using a cheesecloth and store the remaining tincture in a sealed and labeled jar. When stored out of sunlight the tincture should last indefinitely.
 

As mentioned above, you can use the mashed up fresh poultice or the tincture applied to the affected area to relieve poison ivy. I personally like to keep a very small little vile of grindelia tincture in my first aid kit for just this purpose. 

I hope you have a chance to get out there soon and meet grindelia in all her golden glory!