09/29/2025
One of the most significant herbs used for all disorders related to the reproductive system of women is called viburnum prunifolium or Black Haw. Viburnum is a landscape plant but mostly the varieties are not related to the Black Haw. I believe it is not in cultivation that I know of.
The history is one that makes it unforgettable but is also painful to hear. It was first used in Eclectic or western herbalism during the 1800's. At this time slavery was common all over and especially in the south.
Many times, the slave so called owners would want their workers to expand so they forced them to get pregnant. However since the slaves were not stupid they knew that the cotton root (Gossypium) would cause abortion. Therefore, in order to prevent bringing a child into slavery they would make a tea of cotton root and thus cause an abortion. It is an effective but dangerous practice.
The slave controllers picked up on this practice and also had some plant knowledge obviously and they forced them to drink of another tea and it prevented abortion in any case.
The local doctors picked up on this through observation and realized that black haw would prevent miscarriage even from a strong abortifacient as cotton root.
Therefore, they began to use it to prevent miscarriage with great success. It is stated in kings that even if the baby died still, the womb would retain the fetus without any harm.
This is one herb that has done so much to prevent miscarriage. The other herbs that are also noted but with a different history are squawvine (Mitchella repens) and star grass or false unicorn (Aletris farinosa). Together this formula is for sure to prevent miscarriage epecially if taken regularly and in the early stages or the first trimester is the most important.
Squaw vine comes from the native American history where many times tribes were somewhat migratory and when traveling if a mother was pregnant she would have to give birth and recover quickly to keep up with the tribe. It became noted that many times the child was born and the mother would take a bath and be ready to move due to drinking what is called squaw vine tea form this origin. The word squaw is not as bad a term as some may think as it came from a native American word sasquatchawa or something like that that actually translated to "princess of the forest".
So, the early settlers observed this and thus it became incorporated in early medicine to make the childbirth much easier. It also prevents miscarriage and is a great kidney herb also. It is hard to quantify how much it helps except from testimony of women who have taken it during pre-childbirth. I promise many of them swear by how easy the birth was compared to others. My wife is a great example as we were wanting to have a natural birth and were promised that but when we went to the hospital the doctor ignored the promise and started to do this thing with leads etc and even before he could put the things into the womb the little boy popped out. It was so funny to hear the surprise he had when the child just popped out unlike anything he had ever experience. Squawvine is the real deal.
The aletris farinosa is sometimes confused with true unicorn root. True unicorn root is chamelerium lutea. It is not so common as the false unicorn and people get them confused because the flower is similar and both have the name unicorn because of the shape of the flower. However, all the literature I have found indeed says they have the same use though if I could find the true unicorn I would use it also. It is more rare.
This formula is called Birthrite and is a blessing for midwifery. I feel very fortunate that we have been using it forever with good results.
You can see them at Blueboyherbs.com and the spelling might be more accurate with the latin there.
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