Bistort — Chambers's Encyclopaedia

Botanical illustration of Bistort (Polygonum bistorta). The drawing shows the entire plant, including the root system (labeled 'a'), the stem (labeled 'b'), and the flowering stem (labeled 'c'). Detailed views of a flower (labeled 'd') and a fruit (labeled 'e') are also included. — **Bistort** (*Polygonum bistorta*):
a, b, c, flowering stem and root stock; d, a flower; e, a fruit.
(From Bentley & Trimen.)

Bistort (Polygonum bistorta), a perennial plant, 1 to 1½ feet high, with a simple stem, ovate subcordate and wavy leaves, the radical leaves tapering into a long footstalk, and one dense terminal cylindrical spiked raceme of flesh-coloured flowers. The root is about the thickness of the little finger, blackish-brown externally, reddish within, and tortuous (whence the name bistort, and probably also the other popular name of Snake-root). The whole plant is astringent, containing much tannin; the root is one of the strongest vegetable astringents, and was formerly much employed in medicine, both internally and externally, in hemorrhages and many other complaints. Bistort is a native of meadows in Europe, and is found in Britain, but is by no means common. In times of famine the root has been used after washing as a source of starchy food. See POLYGONUM.