Traditional Uses

Solomon’s Seal has been used for centuries by various Indigenous peoples of North America as both food and medicine. The rhizomes are starchy and were used like potatoes in soups or breads; the young shoots sometimes eaten like asparagus.

In European herbalism, it was prized as a vulnerary for bruises and wounds, a tonic for weak or injured joints, bones, tendons, and as a cooling herb for lung, throat, and dry mucous membranes. In Chinese herbal tradition (though often using other Polygonatum species), it is considered yin-nourishing, moistening, tonifying of lungs, spleen, kidney, helping dryness, wasting, fatigue, and strengthening the sinews.

Current Uses

• Support for joints, tendons, ligaments: sprains, strains, chronic joint pain, arthritis, tendonitis, bursitis.

• As a demulcent in respiratory system: dry coughs, throat irritation, lung dryness.

• Support for digestive tract mucous membranes: soothing irritated gut, mild gastritis, ulcerations.

• Vulnerary / emollient uses topically: bruises, minor wounds, skin inflammations, hemorrhoids.

• As a general restorative tonic: for convalescence, weakness after illness, bone healing.

• For dry tissues / dryness complaints: vaginal dryness, dryness in mucous‐lined organs.

• Possibly for mild hypoglycemic support (blood sugar regulation) in traditional contexts, though evidence is preliminary.

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