Orbexilum pedunculatum (Sampson's snakeroot) — a wild root chewed and steeped as a bitter stomach and 'snakebite' tonic, and carried in the conjure tradition for strength and protection. A root that lived on both the remedy shelf and in the mojo bag.
Sampson snakeroot sits at the meeting point of Black Southern folk medicine and hoodoo/rootwork — a plant that was both a real bitter stomach remedy and a spiritual root carried for strength. That dual life, medicine and conjure in one root, is characteristic of how the tradition refused to split the physical from the spiritual.
Sampson snakeroot was used as a bitter digestive and stomach tonic — chewed or steeped for indigestion, colic, stomachache, and to stimulate appetite, in the classic pattern of bitter roots acting on digestion. The 'snakeroot' name reflects the old (folkloric, not clinically reliable) belief in roots that countered snakebite and poisons. In the rootwork tradition it was a 'high john'–adjacent root carried for personal strength, protection, and mastery. Its bitter and tannin content gives the genuine digestive-tonic action.
The dried root was chewed directly for stomach complaints, or chopped and steeped into a bitter tea taken in small amounts before or after meals as a digestive. In conjure practice the whole root was carried dry, dressed with oil, in a flannel or mojo bag — a ceremonial, non-ingested use.
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