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(NaturalNews) A powerful antiviral plant used by Native Americans to survive the 1918 influenza epidemic may prove to be a strong modern-day cold and flu remedy, according to a report from the University of California.
The root -- called Lomatium Dissectum, Biscuit Root or Indian Consumption Plant -- was eaten by the Washoe Indians to battle viral illnesses such as influenza. During the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, not a single Washoe tribe member died from influenza or its complications. However, other tribes living in Nevada in areas where the plant did not grow experienced a number of deaths, according to Dr. Ernst T. Krebs, a Nevada physician writing in the Bulletin of the Nevada State Board of Health.
The plant, a member of the parsley family, is wildcrafted, and grows in dry, sandy climates. Krebs says it acts as a bronchial, intestinal and urinary antiseptic, and is also a diaphoretic (causes perspiration) and diuretic. It is usually prepared by cutting up the root and boiling it in water, then skimming off the top and consuming large doses of the broth to treat cold, flu and even pneumonia.
"As the human population faces the near-certain risk of future infectious disease pandemics, plants like Lomatium may prove themselves as lifesavers for those consumers wise enough to acknowledge that nature, not man, creates the best medicine," said Mike Adams, author of How to Beat the Bird Flu.
Currently the Lomatium plant is listed as "at risk" by United Plant Savers.
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