If you are familiar with the spice turmeric, then you are familiar with golden seal in one of its current roles. The bitter taste and intense yellow color are characteristic of golden seal a.k.a. turmeric root.
Golden seal is a small perennial plant.
Due to lack of shady forests and virgin soil it is difficult to find in the wild anymore. The golden seal you buy today was probably cultivated by humans. In North America, it is native to the region framed by New York, Minnesota, Western Ontario, Missouri and Georgia. Early European settlers learned about golden seal from Native Americans, who used the root as a dye for cloth and as a stain for their faces. They also chewed the root to relieve a sore mouth, and used it in a cold water infusion to wash and soothe inflamed eyes.