Wild Yam
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Description:Wild yam (also known as colic root, devil's bones, rheumatism root, or yuma) is a perennial vine found in open woods and moist thickets throughout much of the eastern United States.
The plant has a woolly reddish-brown stem, which grows from 1 to 6 meters long, and broad, ovate leaves, which are 5 to 15 centimeters long and about three-fourths as wide. Wild yam flowers in June and July, bearing small, greenish-yellow blossoms, which eventually produce three-winged capsules containing winged seeds. The plant has a slender, knotty, matted, tuberous rootstock, which is used for health purposes.
Information:
Wild yam contains steroidal sapogenins (most notably diosgenin) and alkaloids. Wild yam extracts are often standardized to provide consistent diosgenin levels.
While the medicinal use of other yam species dates back over 2,000 years, the "discovery" of wild yam was relatively recent. Dr. Bone, a Hessian mercenary and physician who settled in New Jersey after the American Revolution, is reported to have used wild yam root to treat "bilious colic" in the latter part of the 18th Century. Prior to that, the root was primarily used in poultices to treat wounds.
Steroidal sapogenins found in several yam species have been used in the production of oral contraceptives and synthetic hormones (such as progesterone, corticosteroids, estrogens, androgens, and other sex hormones) since 1940.2 In recent years, wild yam root has become popular for treatment of menopausal symptoms, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and abdominal cramps; however, there is little scientific evidence to support such use.
