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NATIVE AMERICAN TREASURES
Article by herbalist
Dave
Hawkins, MH, CNC
With
this being Thanksgiving week, I thought it would be
appropriate to write an article giving thanks to our Native
Americans who gave us a wealth of information about
medicinal herbs. We celebrate Thanksgiving traditionally
because of a remembrance to the settlers when they first
arrived in the
Americas. When you see
pictures portraying the feast, Native Americans have been a
vital part of the community. We all know the history that
followed, and I feel like we owe a lot to our native
peoples due to their exploitation. This article will deal
more with the plants that are native to
America and the historical
use of them. I think you will find it interesting that many
of the plants are still being used today even though they
are not the designer herbs of the month and not found in
the mass market. Herbalism goes much deeper than what we
see in the marketplace.
The settlers owed a deep gratitude to the
Native Americans. When they first arrived on this
continent, they had been on ships for weeks. Disease ran
rampant and many of these diseases, (scurvy and fever) were
not known in the
Americas. As a matter of
fact, the native people succumbed to them and had to learn
which plants would heal them. Influenza, diphtheria,
malaria and many other afflictions were the epidemics that
affected the settlers. If the ships from the Old World did
not make port on time, valuable medicines carried from
Europe used at that time were then in short
supply and many people died. It was the Native Americans
that came to the rescue.
Native American medicine has a different
aspect of understanding than conventional medicine in that
it is an energetic-based system. This means that the
healers were in tune with the plant energy and how to use
it appropriately. They did not have a defined method of
anatomy and physiology or care to call a sickness a
particular name or quote a diagnosis. This does not mean
they did not understand body imbalances. In text, it is
found that the Native Americans used herbs for liver, blood
regenerating, nerve tonics, to restore health, strengthen
the stomach, all of which had a purpose in systemic
harmony.
Let's take a closer look at some of the
plants the Native Americans used:
·
Bearberry – Was excellent against scurvy,
also used for urinary tract inflammation.
·
Black Cohosh –
Used as antidotes for snakebites, to relieve menstrual pain
and for painful childbirth. Also used
to treat hysteria, neuralgia, migraines, and asthma.
·
Black walnut – The nuts were used as food;
leaves and outer hulls for ringworm, and diphtheria; very
astringent.
·
Blue Cohosh –
Used for cramping during menstruation and during labor;
also for hysteria and rheumatism.
·
Bloodroot – Used for all blood conditions,
also as a stain or dye; useful for bronchitis, asthma,
whooping cough, and liver ailments.
·
Blue Flag – Cultivated as a cathartic,
meaning to move the bowels rapidly. Also used as a poultice
to heal leg ulcers and for lung ailments during cold and
flu.
·
Boneset (popular with all tribes) – Used to
break fever or help sweat out chills; used to treat
malaria, typhoid, and influenza.
·
Burdock – Used as a food and medicine; aided
all skin conditions - used for acne, bunions, ringworm and
to soothe mucus membranes.
·
Cascara Sagrada
– Used for constipation, indigestion and rheumatism.
·
Calamus
– The tribe runners chewed the fresh root due to its
ability to increase stamina and endurance.
·
Wild Cherry Bark – Used for sore throat and
a disease the colonist called bloody flux.
·
Dandelion – Used as nutritive tonic, for
anemia, all skin disorders and fluid retention
·
Elder (all parts were used) – Flowers for
kidney bladder infections and fevers; berries for fluid
retention and as a gargle; leaves for constipation.
·
Goldenseal – Used to treat ulcers and arrow
wounds, used for congested conditions, used for enlarged
tonsils, skin eruptions, sinus inflammation, scarlet fever
and smallpox. Great for gums and used as an eyewash for
conjunctivitis.
·
Ginseng – Used for stamina, digestion,
nervous disorders, whooping cough and asthma. Used during
weakness and debility.
·
Gravel Root (Queen of the Meadow or Joe
Pye Weed) – Used for all kidney
ailments, gout and rheumatism
·
Juniper – Used to purify the air during
sickness. Has an antibacterial and antiseptic property.
Used for kidney disorders.
·
Lady Slipper – Used for nervous debility, to
relieve pain and stomach disorders.
·
Mandrake Root – Used for incontinence, as a
liver balancer and for constipation.
·
Nettle – Was considered a food due to high
nutrient content, used as a counter-irritant for pain.
Useful in joint stiffness and rheumatism.
·
Pleurisy Root (Butterfly Weed) – Used mostly
for lung ailments.
·
Sassafras – Used as a tonic and rejuvenator,
helpful in all skin disorders and to thin the blood.
·
Skunk Cabbage – Used in lung conditions,
asthma and bronchitis and whooping cough.
·
White Pine – Used for colds flu with cough.
Also used for desperate wounds.
·
Yarrow was used for colds and flu, fevers,
chickenpox and for incontinence of the bladder.
Others herbs used included
Chaga, Wild Ginger,
Partridgeberry, Poke Root, Prickly Ash Bark, Slippery Elm,
Spikenard, Stoneroot, and
Thuja,
Most plant remedies were used singularly,
often as specific cures for a particular affliction. They
did not usually blend formulas like herbal medicine of
later times.
This is only a small list of plants used in
the Native American Materia
Medica.
As you can see, we owe a lot of thanks to the Native
Americans because of the wealth of knowledge they gave us
in friendship and in a time of need. Be thankful this
Thanksgiving season because many of these plants are still
with us and have not become endangered by over harvesting
or over use.
Much of the information came from two
sources, one called Indian
Herbology of North America by Alma Hutchens and
the other – Green Pharmacy by Barbara Griggs
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