Spikenard Tincture & Alcohol-Free Extract

Spikenard (Aralia racemosa) is American spikenard, a large herbaceous perennial of the ivy family, Araliaceae, native to eastern North America from Quebec to Georgia, where it grows in rich, moist woods and along shaded ravines. It forms a bushy clump 1 to 2 meters tall with dark purplish stems and huge compound leaves of heart-shaped, toothed leaflets, and in summer bears long, branched racemes of tiny greenish-white flowers followed by dark purple berries. The thick, aromatic root smells spicy and sweet and once flavored root beer. We extract the dried root.