Habitat
Perennial herb, native to eastern North America from Nova Scotia to Manitoba, south to northern Mexico and east to Florida. Growing in moist open woods, thickets, along roadsides and clearings. Cultivation: Wood Betony is a member of the figwort family (Scrophulariaceae), difficult to cultivate, some reports say that it is a semi- parisic plant. It requires a moist well-drained soil and a partially shaded to sunny area. A low growing hairy plant 5 to 14 inches tall with up to five erect unbranched stems in a clump. A broad whorl of tubular, hooded flowers tops each stem, 10-20 flowers form a cluster. Flowers are about an inch long, may be pale yellow, yellow, red, or even a mixture of the two. Leaves are soft and hairy, alternate, mostly basal, and from 3 to 5 inches long. Leaf blades are fern-like and pinnately dissected, often tinted red. Upper leaves are about an inch long. Gather entire plant, as flowers bloom, dry for later herb use.

Actions: Sedative. Analgesic and anodyne. Astringent.
Betony was once the sovereign remedy for all maladies of the head, and its properties as a nervine and tonic are still acknowledged, though it is more frequently employed in combination with other nervines than alone. It is useful in hysteria, palpitations pain in the head and face, neuralgia and all nervous affections. 

50 seeds