A native Indiana plant can be used as a treatment for poison ivy, among other uses.
According to Richters.com, yellow coneflower is a biennial or perennial which grows hardily in Zones 4 through 8. Indianapolis is in Zone 5B, and the plant, known botanically as Ratibida columnifera, is native to Indiana. The plant is easy to germinate and can be sown in spring, summer or fall.
"Used by the Navajo and Cheyenne Indians as an analgesic for chest pains, wounds and fevers," the Richters web page explains. "Also used as a treatment for poison ivy."
Wildflower.org reports it is also called upright prairie coneflower, Mexican hat, red-spike Mexican hat, long-headed coneflower and thimbleflower.
"Native peoples utilized a decoction of leaves and stems to treat pain, poison ivy rash, and rattlesnake bites," reads a United States Department of Agriculture page about the flower. "An infusion was made from plant tops to treat headache, stomachache, cough, fever, epileptic fits, and to induce vomiting. A medicinal or beverage-type tea was made from the ripened flower heads and leaves."
According to Montana.plant-life.org, yellow coneflower "has medicinal properties that are pain-relieving and fever-reducing. The leaves and stems especially are pain relieving. A tea has been used to relieve the pain of headaches and to treat stomachaches and fevers. The Cheyenne made a tea from boiling plants parts as a wash to relieve pain and to treat poison ivy rash, and also as a wash to draw the poison out of rattlesnake bites. The Sicangu people in South Dakota used a tea of plant tops for headaches and stomachaches. The Acoma and Laguna Indiana used crushed leaves rubbed on a mother's breast to wean a child."
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