Join Celine in this episode of The Herbalist’s Journal as she explores the Cucumber Magnolia (Magnolia acuminata), a rare Appalachian native with ancient lineage and surprising cultural history. From its medicinal bark to its role in Cherokee tradition and early American craft, discover how this quiet magnolia shaped healing, landscape, and story in the eastern forests.

In this episode of The Herbalist’s Journal, Celine explores Virgin’s Bower (Clematis virginiana)—a climbing vine of hedgerows, riverbanks, and woodland edges. Discover its role in Indigenous medicine, its symbolic ties to protection and boundary spaces, and its surprising chemistry. A plant of tangles, thresholds, and quiet power.

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Beneath the shade of eastern woodlands grows Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), a spring wildflower of striking beauty and hidden danger. In this episode of The Herbalist’s Journal, host Celine, forester and Board Certified Master Arborist, explores the plant’s unique biology, its role in Indigenous medicine, and the folklore that surrounds its hooded blooms and bright red berries. Discover how this woodland plant became both healer and teacher in human culture.

Towering over late-summer meadows, Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium spp.) is both a pollinator favorite and a plant steeped in healing traditions. In this episode of The Herbalist’s Journal, host Celine, forester and Board Certified Master Arborist, explores its role in Indigenous medicine, its use by the legendary healer Joe Pye, and its place in American folk remedies. Discover how this striking wildflower bridges ecology, culture, and history.

Along shady streams and damp woodland edges grows jewelweed (Impatiens capensis and I. pallida), a plant long treasured as nature’s remedy for poison ivy and nettle stings. In this episode of The Herbalist’s Journal, host Celine, forester and Board Certified Master Arborist, explores jewelweed’s shimmering leaves, exploding seed pods, and its deep cultural roots. From Indigenous healing practices to folk remedies carried into homesteads, discover how this humble wildflower became both medicine and marvel in the landscape.

Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) lights up late-summer meadows with brilliant yellow blooms — often blamed for allergies but truly a healer, pollinator ally, and cultural treasure. In this episode of The Herbalist’s Journal, host Celine, forester and Board Certified Master Arborist, explores goldenrod’s role in Indigenous medicine, its patriotic use as “Liberty Tea,” its place in folklore, and its enduring importance to wildlife. Discover how this resilient plant bridges science, story, and survival.

High on rocky ridges and cool northern slopes, the American mountain ash (Sorbus americana) glows with clusters of red berries that feed wildlife and spark human imagination. In this episode of The Herbalist’s Journal, host Celine, a forester and Board Certified Master Arborist, explores the botany, ecology, and rich cultural history of this small but striking tree. From Indigenous medicinal uses to European folklore of rowan as a guardian tree, discover how American mountain ash became a symbol of resilience, protection, and nourishment in rugged landscapes.

Welcome back to The Herbalist’s Journal — where we explore the plants that shaped human history, one story at a time. I’m your host, Celine Colbert, and today we’re venturing into the shady edges of North American forests to meet a plant that’s beautiful, mysterious… and, in the wrong context, deadly.