Rattlesnake Master

Eryngium yuccifolium

Also known as Button Snakeroot, Button Eryngo, Rattlesnake Weed

At a glance

Family

Apiaceae (carrot family)

Type

Herbaceous perennial wildflower

Parts used

Root (historically, in traditional and ceremonial use); leaves and flower heads for ornamental and craft use

Size

2 to 4 feet tall, with flowering stalks reaching up to 5 feet

Bloom

Summer, typically June through August, with round, greenish-white button-like flower heads

Habitat

Tallgrass prairies, dry to medium prairies, glades, and open savannas across central and eastern North America

Acquisition

Grow or buy

This plant in HerbSense

Key benefits

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Cherished native prairie plant

Historic ceremonial emetic root

Folk snakebite remedy lore

Pollinator and beneficial-insect magnet

Traditional uses

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Rattlesnake master earned its startling name from an old folk belief, held by settlers and passed down through Southeastern tribal traditions, that a preparation of the root could counteract the venom of a rattlesnake bite. Its more documented traditional role was different: several Native peoples of the tallgrass prairie and Southeast, prepared the root as a powerful emetic used in purification ceremonies, and it appeared in folk remedies for coughs and other respiratory complaints. Long before it was studied by botanists, its tough, spiky, parallel-veined leaves, so unlike anything else in the carrot family, were noticed and split by Native artisans to weave sandals and cordage, much as true yucca leaves were used elsewhere. Today it survives mostly as a beloved anchor of prairie restoration gardens rather than as a working medicine cabinet herb.

How to grow & use it

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Pairs well with

✦Echinacea (purple coneflower)
✦Butterfly milkweed
✦Little bluestem grass

Substitutes

✦Compass plant
✦Blazing star (Liatris)

Choose it when

“For the wild, silver-green heart of a tallgrass prairie, standing tall with its curious button blooms humming with bees.”

Did you know?

Despite belonging to the carrot family alongside parsley and dill, rattlesnake master grows spiky, parallel-veined leaves so convincingly yucca-like that early botanists and Native artisans alike treated it as an honorary yucca, splitting its fibrous leaves to weave sandals and rope just as they did with true yucca plants.

Safety

The root was traditionally used as a strong emetic to deliberately induce vomiting, and careless use can cause significant nausea and digestive upset. Despite the name, it has no evidence of treating snakebite, which is always a medical emergency.