Just a quick one for today, as time is tight.
Known as both western stoneseed (Lithospermum literally means “stone seed”) and western gromwell, Lithospermum ruderale is a fairly common species of open, dry plains, hillsides and shrub-steppe in western North America.
According to Mabberley’s The Plant Book, the genus Lithospermum is distributed worldwide in temperate regions, except Australasia. Mabberley also notes that Lithospermum ruderale was the “inspiration for perfecting oral contraceptives”. A perusal of Daniel Moerman’s Native American Ethnobotany reveals that both the Navajo and Shoshoni peoples used it for that purpose. Wikipedia elucidates on Lithospermum, via Tilford’s Edible and Medicinal plants of the West: “Gromwell contains estrogen-like compounds that disrupt the female hormonal reproductive system and suppress the normal menstrual cycle. Gromwell has been used for centuries as a female contraceptive, and Lithospermum arvensis is currently used in Europe for that purpose. Gromwell has dramatic and dangerous hormonal effects on the body and is not approved for use in the United States.”