Medicinal Monday...Twin Leaf - A President's Flower

Jeffersonia is a genus in the barberry family (Berberidaceae) with a single species in North America (and one other in Japan) named after Thomas Jefferson, who grew this plant in his gardens at Monticello. Jeffersonia diphylla is native to moist deciduous forests of eastern North America from Minnesota and Iowa east to Ontario, Canada, and New York and south to Alabama and Georgia. Jeffersonia diphylla is also known as Twin Leaf.

About Twin Leave

Twin Leaf is known as an ephemeral herbaceous perennial because of the way it grows. The first stage of growth is in the spring when the plant emerges and quickly fades away, dying back to its underground parts after a short growth and reproduction phase. When it emerges in the spring, both leaves and flowers are produced from the rhizome on long, smooth purplish stems. 

The wavy-edged leaves are blue-green and have two large deeply divided symmetrical lobes that resemble the wings of a butterfly. These twin leaves give this plant its name. The plant is about eight inches tall when the flowers appear and grow up to 18 inches tall forming a mound of foliage that disappears in early summer for the rest of the year. The cup-shaped flowers have with four sepals, eight petals, and eight yellow stamens. The flowers are short-lived and the leathery pear-shaped capsules that follow them have oblong shiny brown seeds. In its natural habitat Twin Leaf grows under deciduous trees in moist, well-drained soil.

Medicinal Uses

Native Americans used the root of Twin Leaf as a tea for cramps, spasms, diarrhea, urinary infections and as a gargle for sore throats. Externally, the leaves were used as a wash for sores, ulcers, inflammation, and rheumatism. Specifically, records indicate that the Cherokee made a poultice from the roots and used it to treat sores, ulcers, and inflamed joints. They also made an infusion and used it to treat urinary problems and dropsy. The Iroquois made a decoction of the entire plant and gave it to adults and children to treat diarrhea. They also used it as a liver aid.

Did You Know...

Ants often disperse the seeds of the Twin Leaf plant.

William Bartram named this plant genus in honor of his friend, Thomas Jefferson, who was then Secretary of State under President George Washington.

This plant can be found in the gardens of Monticello and blooms in the spring around the time of Jefferson's birthday.

The flowers of the bloodroot plant and twin leaf are almost identical.

Twin root in its natural habitat is considered endangered.

In 2009, a rare species of lichen, Caloplaca obamae was named after President Obama.