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Botanical Name: Corallorhiza odontorhiza (NUTT.)
Family: N.O. Orchidaceae

Synonyms: Dragon’s Claw. Coral Root. Chicken Toe.
OTHER COMMON NAMES—Corallorhiza, crawley, coralroot, small coralroot, small-flowered coralroot, late coralroot, dragon’s-claw, chickentoe, turkey-claw, feverroot.
Part Used: The root.
HABITAT AND RANGE: Rich, shady woods having an abundance of leaf mold produce this curious little plant. It may be found in such situations from Maine to Florida, westward to Michigan and Missouri. Indigenous to the United States, from Maine to Carolina westward.

Description:This peculiar native perennial, belonging to the orchid family (Orchidaceae) is unlike most other plants, being leafless, and instead of a green stem it has a purplish brown, sheathed scape, somewhat swollen or bulbous at the base and bearing a clustered head of purplish flowers 2 to 4 inches long. It does not grow much taller than about a foot in height.

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The flowers, 6 to 20 in a head, appear from July to September, and consist of lance-shaped sepals and petals, striped with purple and a broad, whitish, oval lip, generally marked with purple and narrowed at the base. The seed capsule is large oblong, or some what globular.

This parasitic plant has been used by herbalists for centuries. It grows in rich woods at the roots of trees.
It is singular and leafless, with muchbranched and toothed coral-like root-stocks, the root being a collection of fleshy, articulated tubers, the scape about 14 inches high, fleshy, smooth, striate, with a few long purplish-brown long sheaths, the flowers, 10 to 20, greenish brown in colour, on a long spike, blooming from July to October, with a large, reflexed, ribbed, oblong capsule.

DESCRIPTION OF ROOTSTOCK: The rootstock of this plant is also curious, resembling in its formation a piece of coral on account of which it is known by the name of “coralroot.” The other common names, such as chickentoe, turkey-claw, etc., all have reference to the form of the rootstock. As found in commerce, Crawley-root consists of small, dark-brown wrinkled pieces, the larger ones branched like coral. The taste at first is sweetish, becoming afterwards slightly bitter. It has a peculiar odor when fresh, but when dry it is without odor

The root is the official part: It is small and dark, with a strong nitrous smell and a slightly bitter mucilaginous astringent taste, the fracture is short and presents under the microscope a frosted granular appearance.

Collection Time: Crawleyroot should be collected in July or August.Other species of Corallorhiza are sometimes collected and are said to probably possess similar properties.

History: This plant is indigenous to the United States, growing in rich woods, about the roots of trees, from Maine to Carolina and westward to the east bank of the Mississippi River, flowering from July to October. Not very common south of 35° or 36° latitude. The species C. multiflora, C. Wisteriana, C. innata, and C. Macraei probably possess similar medicinal virtues. The rhizome of the first-mentioned species (C. multiflora, Nuttall), which grows as far west as the Rockies, is undoubtedly often present in the commercial drug, and is probably as valuable. It differs from the above species somewhat, especially in having in its spike from 15 to 25 or 30 flowers, which have a deeply 8-cleft lip, and are spurred, and are succeeded by a pendulous, elliptical capsule, instead of a roundish one. The plant is also much stouter. It was first discovered in 1816, by Dr. D. S. C. H. Smith, although long known previous to that time to herbalists. The entire plant is destitute of verdure. The root is the medicinal part; it is small, dark-brown, resembling cloves or a hen’s claw, has a strong, nitrous smell, and a mucilaginous, slightly bitter, astringent taste. It has not been analyzed.

Medicinal Action and Uses:Crawley is probably the most powerful, prompt, and certain true diaphoretic in the materia medica, but its scarcity and high price prevent it from coming into general use. It is also sedative, and promotes perspiration, without producing any excitement in the system. Its chief value is as a diaphoretic, in fevers, especially typhus, and in inflammatory diseases; it has proved efficient in acute erysipelas, cramps, flatulency, pleurisy, and nightsweats; and relieves hectic fever without debilitating the patient. Probably it will be found to combine tonic, sedative, diaphoretic, and febrifuge properties. When, in acute pulmonic troubles, a non-stimulating diaphoretic is needed, we can employ none better than the coral-root. To “break up a cold” it is one of the most certain of medicines. It is fully equal to asclepias, and lacks the dangerous features of jaborandi. It has done excellent service in diphtheria. Acute and chronic pleurisy are both conditions in which it will prove curative. Years ago it was used for the control of colliquative sweating of phthisis, and will be found equal to muscarine and salvia for this purpose. It is one of the best remedies ever employed for the general debility preceding pulmonic affections. We have employed tincture of coral-root in cases where all the symptoms were those of incipient consumption, with the most beneficial results. There is hacking cough, loss of weight, want of appetite, pleuritic pains, and marked general prostration. The remedy will be found slow, but certain in its action. From 3 to 5 weeks will be required before any good results can be observed. The appetite is the first to respond, the cough and pain cease, there is increased urinary product, and the functions of the skin are better performed. The patient increases in strength and flesh, and all the unfavorable symptoms disappear. It has been employed in dry bronchial irritation with “tightness across the chest, wheezing, and severe paroxysms of irritable cough,” and in one case where enlarged thyroid caused mechanical bronchial irritation, the physician was successful in removing the condition by the reduction of the size of the goitre with this agent. It should be employed either in infusion or tincture, and the doses should be moderately large and long-continued. The infusion is prepared by taking 1/2 ounce of the root to 1 gallon of water, and the patient is to drink freely of it. Or a saturated alcoholic tincture, or a saturated rye-whiskey tincture, may be given in 1/2-drachm doses 3 or 4 times daily. Its virtues are especially marked in the low stage of fevers. The dose is from 20 to 30 grains of the powdered root, given in water as warm as the patient can drink, and repeated every 1 or 2 hours, according to circumstances. The powder should always be kept in well-closed vials; it formerly constituted the “fever-powders” of some practitioners. Combined with extract of blue cohosh it forms an excellent agent in amenorrhoea and dysmenorrhoea; and is unsurpassed in after-pains, suppression of lochia, and the febrile symptoms which sometimes occur at the parturient period. In fevers it may be advantageously combined with specific leptandra, or resin of podophyllum, where it is found necessary to act upon the bowels or liver; and mixed with specific dioscorea, it will be found almost a specific in flatulent and bilious colic.

Crawley Root is one of the most certain, quick and powerful diaphoretics, but its scarcity and high price prevents it being more generally used. It promotes perspiration without producing any excitement in the system, so is of value in pleurisy, typhus fever and other inflammatory diseases. In addition to being a powerful diaphoretic, its action has a sedative effect. It has been found efficacious inacute erysipelas, cramps, nightsweats, flatulence and hectic fevers generally, and combines tonic, sedative, diaphoretic and febrifuge properties without weakening the patient, its valuable properties being most marked in low stages of fever.

This root is aid to be very effective for promoting perspiration and it is also used as a sedative and in fever.

Specific Indications and Uses:General prostration, malaise, hacking cough, loss of appetite, loss of weight, pleuritic pains, bronchial irritation, pyrexia.

Dosage: 20 to 30 grains of powdered root given in very hot water every two or three hours. The powder should be kept in wellstoppered bottles as it is subject to deterioration from insects.

Combined with the resin of Blue Cohosh, it is an excellent remedy for amenorrhoea, dismenorrhoea, afterbirth pains, suppression of lochia and for febrile conditions of the parturient period, and combined with extract of Leptandra or Podophyllum resin, it acts well on the bowels and liver, and if mixed with Dioscorea is excellent for bilious and flatulent colic.

Fluid extract, 15 to 30 drops.

Related Species.—As there was formerly some doubt as to the true plant which furnishes the crawley root, and, as Prof. King, in his first edition of the American Dispensatory (which he corrected, however, in a subsequent edition), described it as the Pterospora Andromedea, it may not be out of place to give a description of the latter. In many respects these plants resemble each other, as will be seen by the following description:

Pterospora Andromedea, Nuttall. Albany beech-drops, Pine-drops.—It belongs to the Nat. Ord., Ericaceae. It is a rare and singular plant, found on barren hills and shady uplands, and in a hard clay soil in the State of New York, and some of the northern states and Canada, flowering in July. It has a perennial, fleshy, tuberculous root, with many tubers which resemble the claws of a fowl. Stem or scape erect, simple, straight, dark-purple, cylindrical, covered with short viscid wool, from 8 to 30 inches in height, leafless, and sparsely beset with scales. Leaves none. Flowers pale or reddish-white, lateral, nodding, disposed in a terminal raceme from 6 to 12 inches long, composed of 50 or more flowers; pedicels irregularly scattered, from 3 to 8 lines in length, axillary to long, linear bracts. Calyx 5-parted; corolla roundish-ovoid, urn-shaped; limb 5-toothed, reflexed, inclosing the stamens. Stamens 10; filaments flat, anthers peltate, 2-celled, 2-awned, opening lengthwise; style short; stigma 5-lobed, capitate. Capsules or pod globose, depressed, 5-lobed, 5-celled, loculicidal. Seeds very numerous, minute, ovoid, tapering to each end, the apex expanded into a broad, reticulated wing, many times larger than the nucleus (G.—W.). It was discovered near Albany, N. Y., in 1817, by Dr. Edwin James, who regarded it as a Monotropa, and as such, on authority of Dr. Torrey, was designated by Amos Eaton (Man. of Bot., 2d ed.), under the name Monotropa procera.

Other Species:
It is considered that the varieties Corallorhiza multiflora, C. Wisteriana, C. verna and C. innata possess similar properties.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/crawl116.html
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/harding/corallorhiza.html

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