Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Button snake root is the dried root of Liatris spicata, a tall purple prairie flower. Gardeners know the same plant as gayfeather or blazing star. Folk healers in North America once used the root as a medicine.
The common name is shared with other plants. Eryngium yuccifolium is also called button snake root. Several other Liatris species carry the name as well.
That matters if you buy it. Look for the Latin name on the label. Without it, you cannot know which plant is in the jar.
Here is the honest verdict. There is almost no human research on this root. Long use in a tradition is not proof that it works, and it is not proof that it is safe.
Nobody has shown how button snake root works in a human body. The proposed actions come from old writing and lab tests, not from trials.
Writers in the 1800s called the root a diuretic (something that makes you pass more urine). They also described it as a sweat promoter and a throat soother. Those were bedside impressions, not measured results.
Lab work on Liatris plants has looked at their resins and their coumarin content. In test tubes, some Liatris extracts slow the growth of certain fungi and bacteria. Whether this happens in people has not been tested.
The root also holds inulin, a plant fibre. In lab and animal work, inulin feeds gut bacteria. That is true of inulin from any plant, and it has not been linked to any claimed use of this root.
So treat every mechanism you read for this plant as a theory. None of it has been checked in a controlled human trial.
Button snake root is sold far more often as a garden plant than as a remedy.
Forms you may come across: - Dried, cut root, sold loose by herb suppliers. - Root tincture, an alcohol extract in a dropper bottle. - Powdered root in capsules, which is uncommon.
Corms, seeds and potted plants are also sold for the flower border.
Supply is patchy. Small herb sellers and online traders are the usual source. Quality checks are rare at that scale.
Garden stock is not grown or stored as food. Nursery plants may carry pesticide residue. They are not meant to be eaten.
Button snake root belonged to American folk medicine and later to the Eclectic doctors of the 1800s.
Settlers learned of Liatris roots from Native American neighbours. The snakebite use gave the plant its name. Chewed or mashed root was put on the bite, and that practice did not work.
Eclectic texts such as King's American Dispensatory listed the root for sore throat, kidney complaints and painful periods. Some writers also used it as a gargle. It never became a leading remedy in that school.
Use faded as the Eclectic colleges closed in the early 1900s. Today the plant is grown for its flowers far more than for its root.
Stop taking it and call a doctor if you notice any of these: - A rash, hives or itching. - Swelling of the lips, tongue or face, or any wheeze. Treat this as an emergency. - Yellow skin or yellow eyes (jaundice, a sign of liver trouble). - Dark urine, or passing much less urine than usual. - Vomiting that will not settle. - Dizziness or fainting when you stand up.
Also see a doctor if your symptom is not improving. A sore throat with fever, back pain with fever, or swollen legs all need a proper check.
In the United States it may be sold as a dietary supplement. The FDA has not approved it as a drug for any illness. In the UK and the EU there is no licensed herbal medicine made from it, and it is sold mainly as a garden plant.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
Reviewed by the HealisticMD editorial team How we grade evidence →
The published evidence for Button Snake Root is weak or absent. That usually means no controlled trial has tested it, not that a trial found it ineffective — the two are different, and we grade only what has been published.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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