Native American Medical Cures

By Liliana Usvat    
Blog 353-365

Native American medicine men developed a wheel very similar to the yin/yang of Asian medicine. The use of herbal remedies and other alternative forms of treatment was the cutting-edge medicine of their day. This was a holistic approach to medical treatment that relied heavily on plants and their unique benefits.

What follows is list of indigenous plants, trees, fruits and flowers unique to North America that have surprising benefits as defined by Native American tribes. If and when times are tough, it might be good to keep some of these ancient cures in mind. They also are good for everyday needs when you consider how effective some of them can be.

Licorice tea for a sore throat is a good example. It’s also interesting that many of these natural cures are still in use today, including beeswax and bee pollen, chamomile and others. It’s a good demonstration of the benefit of wisdom developed over centuries.

It’s also thought that they observed sick animals eating certain plants and determined that those plants must have a certain property worth exploring.  Since that time, scientific studies have verified the medicinal value of many plants. In fact, common aspirin is derived from salicin, a chemical in the inner bark of willow trees that was used in ancient times for fever and pain.

These medicines were usually administered via teas or pastes that were either ingested or applied externally. Sometimes the plants were eaten as food or added to food or water. On occasion, a salve or poultice was applied to open wounds. I would strongly recommend that you avoid the latter, given the risk of infection from wild sources.

1. Alfalfa: Relieves digestion and is used to aid blood clotting. Contemporary uses included treatment of arthritis, bladder and kidney conditions and bone strength. Enhances the immune system.

2. Aloe: A cactus-like plant. The thick leaves can be squeezed to extrude a thick sap that can be used to treat burns, insect bites and wounds.

3. Aspen: The inner bark or xylem is used in a tea to treat fever, coughs and pain. It contains salicin, which also is found in willow trees and is the foundation ingredient for aspirin.

4. Bee pollen: When mixed with food it can boost energy, aid digestion and enhance the immune system. If you’re allergic to bee stings you will most likely be allergic to bee pollen.

5. Beeswax: Used as a salve for burns and insect bites, including bee stings. Intended to only be used externally.

6. Blackberry: The root, bark and leaves when crushed and infused in a tea are used to treat diarrhea, reduce inflammation and stimulate the metabolism. As a gargle it treats sore throats, mouth ulcers and inflammation of the gums.

7. Black Raspberry: The roots of this plant are crushed and used as a tea or boiled and chewed to relieve coughs, diarrhea and general intestinal distress.

8. Buckwheat: The seeds are used in soups and as porridge to lower blood pressure, help with blood clotting and relieve diarrhea.

9. Cayenne: The pods are used as a pain reliever when taken with food or drunk in a tea. Also used to threat arthritis and digestive distress. It is sometimes applied to wounds as a powder to increase blood flow and act as an antiseptic and anesthetic to numb the pain.

10. Chamomile: The leaves and flowers are used as a tea to treat intestinal problems and nausea.

11. Chokecherry: Considered by Native American tribes as an all-purpose medicinal treatment, the berries were pitted, dried and crushed into a tea or a poultice to treat a variety of ailments. These include coughs, colds, flu, nausea, inflammation and diarrhea. As a salve or poultice it is used to treat burns and wounds. The pit of the chokecherry – much like apple seeds – are poisonous in high concentrations. Be sure to pit the cherries if you’re considering this for any use.

12. Echinacea: Also known as purple coneflower, this is a classic Native American medicine that is used to strengthen the immune system, fight infections and fever. It also is used as an antiseptic and general treatment for colds, coughs and flu.

13. Eucalyptus: The oil from the leaves and roots is a common treatment when infused in a tea to treat coughs, sore-throat, flu and fever. It’s used to this day as an ingredient in cough drops.

14. Fennel: A plant with a licorice flavor, this is used in a tea or chewed to relieve coughs, sore-throat, aid digestion, offer relief to diarrhea and was a general treatment for colds. It also is used as a poultice for eye relief and headaches.

15. Feverfew: Used to this day as a natural relief for fever and headaches – including severe headaches like migraines – it also can be used for digestive problems, asthma and muscle and joint pains.

16. Feverwort: Another fever remedy that also is used for general pain, itching and joint stiffness. It can be ingested as a tea or chewed, or crushed to a paste as a salve or poultice.

17. Ginger root: Another super plant in Native American medicine, the root was crushed and consumed with food, as a tea or a salve or poultice. Known to this day for its ability to aid digestive health, it also is anti-inflammatory, aids circulation and can relieve colds, coughs and flu, in addition to bronchitis and joint pain.

18. Ginseng: This is another contemporary herb that has a history that goes back across cultures for millennia. The roots were used by Native Americans as a food additive, a tea and a poultice to treat fatigue, boost energy, enhance the immune system and help with overall liver and lung function. The leaves and stems also were used, but the root has the most concentration of active ingredients.

19. Goldenrod: Commonly thought of today as a source of allergies and sneezing, it was actually considered another all-in-one medicine by Native Americans. As a tea, an addition to food and a topical salve, it is used to treat conditions from bronchitis and chest congestion to colds, flu, inflammation, sore throats and as an antiseptic for cuts and abrasions.

20. Honeysuckle: The berries, stems, flowers and leaves are used to topically treat bee stings and skin infections. As a tea, it is used to treat colds, headaches and sore throat. It also has anti-inflammatory properties.

21. Hops: As a tea it is used to treat digestive problems and often mixed with other herbs or plants, such as aloe, to soothe muscles. It also is used to soothe toothaches and sore throat.

22. Licorice: Roots and leaves can be used for coughs, colds, sore throats. The root also can be chewed to relieve toothaches.

23. Mullein: As an infusion in tea or added to a salad or other food, this is a plant that has been used by Native Americans to treat inflammation, coughs and congestion and general lung afflictions. It is quite common and you probably have it growing in your backyard or somewhere close.

24. Passion flower: The leaves and roots are used to make a tea to treat anxiety and muscle pain. A poultice for injuries to the skin such as burns, insect bites and boils also can be made from passion flower.

25. Red clover: It grows everywhere and the flowers, leaves and roots are usually infused in a tea or are used to top food. It is used to manage inflammation, improve circulation and treat respiratory conditions.

26. Rose hip: This is the red to orange berry that is the fruit of wild roses. It is already known to be a massive source of vitamin C and when eaten whole, crushed into a tea or added to food it is used to treat colds and coughs, intestinal distress, as an antiseptic and to treat inflammation.

27. Rosemary: A member of the pine family and used in food and as a tea to treat muscle pain, improve circulation and as a general cleanser for the metabolism.

28. Sage: A far-reaching shrub across much of North America, it is a natural insect repellent and can be used for the standard list of digestive disorders, colds and sore throat.

29. Spearmint: Used consistently by Native American tribes for treatment of coughs, colds, respiratory distress and as a cure for diarrhea and a stimulant for blood circulation.

30. Valerian: The root as an infusion in a tea relieves muscle aches, pain and is said to have a calming effect.

31. White Pine: Ubiquitous and the needles and the inner bark can be infused in a tea. Used as standard treatme

  for respiratory distress and chest congestion.



Links

http://www.nd.gov/dhs/services/mentalhealth/prevention/pdf/medicine-wheel-all.pdf

Atract Bees Avoid Pesticides, by Planting Ceanothus buckwheat and Mexican Elderberry on Your Farm

By Liliana Usvat    
Blog 352-365

A new study shows that fields bordered by native hedgerows had higher levels of pest-eating insects.

Planting flowers is no vanity. Not only does having a variety of blooms dotting the edges and uncultivated parts of a farm provide forage for bees and other pollinators, but it can reduce the amount of pesticides used on crops.

The reduction of crop pests such as aphids wrought by the predatory insects attracted by the hedgerows reached 200 meters into the fields.

Simply changing what grows along the edge of a field—which can also help control dust, erosion, and other issues—helped provide pest control for the entire crop.

Ceanothus, California buckwheat, and Mexican elderberry—are highly drought-tolerant and can likely survive on rainfall and a small amount of summer irrigation after becoming established. 

Clearing field edges had no food-safety benefit and destroyed habitat for beneficial insects. 

The introduction of native wildlife habitat in the midst of crop plantings has been found to help reduce runoff and curb erosion on corn belt farms.  

Ceanothus concha

Other names Californian Lilac

An evergreen shrub with foliage is glossy green with a resemblance to mint leaves. In spring and summer, large blue panicles of flower emerge that make a striking display.

Soil

A lighter soil type is preferable, that is well drained. Keep well watered for best results but they can withstand dry periods. N.B. quite salt resistant as well.

Diseases

Excess humidity can be a problem but root strain due to high winds will often kill off Ceanothus.

Maintenance

Note these plants can be affected by overly warm or humid conditions and a healthy plant has been known to keel over and die after a warm wet summer. If you keep them sheltered from strong winds and give them lots of sun then they should last a long time.

Comments

The name comes from Greek - sounds like blue

California buckwheat

 

Other Names

Eriogonum fasciculatum foliolosum

A low, spreading generally documented perennial shrub with 2-4 ft. branches. There are four similar subspecies recognized. 

 This variety of California Buckwheat is the common one that grows in most of the populated areas of California and is hardy to 0 F(but a sustained freeze of days can kill it) and very drought tolerant. We've had customers remove rose bushes to plant this one as it has more flowers for longer with less care and watering.

Eriogonum fasciculatum var. foliolosum, California Buckwheat,  has flowers, leaves and seeds that are all used by butterflies and small birds. White flowers come on in late spring, gradually turn pink in summer, then rust colored in fall. The rusty flowers commonly stay on until the next spring. 

The buckwheats are very important butterfly plants and one of the pillars of their communities. California Buckwheat has a whole community of insects living with the flowers. 

 In a small garden you can set a couple feet away from this shrub (or sub-shrub) and watch 50 or maybe 100 insects interact at one time. 

Eriogonum fasciculatum foliolosum tolerates sand and clay.
Eriogonum fasciculatum foliolosum is great for a bird garden and a butterfly garden.
Eriogonum fasciculatum foliolosum's foliage color is green and type is evergreen.
Eriogonum fasciculatum foliolosum's flower color is pink.

Mexican elderberry

Other Names Sambucus mexicana

Mexican elderberry or Tapiro,(Sambucus mexicana) is a deciduous shrub to tree with butter yellow flowers in Apr.-Aug. followed by purple berries in September-October. . 

This elderberry is native to canyons, valleys west of Sierra Nevada form Oregon to Baja and east to West Texas. It likes full sun to part shade, garden water. 

It will take extreme drought after it gets its roots down. There is a twisted old specimen south of Shandon growing out in full sun, the only plant left by cattle for miles in a 7"rainfall area. (It's surviving because its trunk twisted and the cattle rubbed all the bark off but didn't girdle it because of the twisting.) Its bluish-black berries are excellent in jelly, fair in pie. Pruning keeps the tree attractive.

Sambucus mexicana 

• tolerates clay and seasonal flooding
• is great for a bird garden
• foliage color is green and type is deciduous
• flower color is yellow
• fruit is edible. 

Best Reforestations Techniques

By Liliana Usvat    
Blog 351-365

“A society grows great when old people plant trees, knowing that they will never sit in the shade of those trees.”  Based on an Ancient Greek proverb.

Reforestation on a grand scale is desperately needed in many places all around the world.  


Reforestation projects can create new patches of indigenous vegetation and/or increase the size of existing remnant patches of vegetation, and provide a buffer around them, as well as create linking corridors (particularly important for the dispersal of wildlife) between vegetation patches.

Usually only indigenous plants are used in reforestation .

Ideally, propagation materials are collected from within a few kilometres, but in practice seeds, cuttings, etc. are collected from within the same catchment, or within about 15 kilometres (a largely abitrary figure, although honeyeaters will travel around 15 kilometres, dispersing pollen in the process, Lindenmayer 2012). In the USA, propagation material is collected from up to 80 kilometres away (also an abritary figure?), which provides much more flexibility . 

In some places, the nearest remnant vegetation may be further away than that, so propagation material will have to come from the nearest practical source, and perhaps a few sources to provide sufficient biodiversity, and a wide gene pool. Some suggest that as a strategy or insurance against possible climate change, seeds could be sourced from both north and south of the area.

Degraded soils

Deep ripping of compacted degraded soils, or subsoil, can be helpful (using a tractor and ripper, or draft animals). Sometimes the soil is degraded as well as weed infested, in which case some of the species and techniques used in mixed improved fallows may be appropriate to improve the soil, shade out weeds, and kick start reforestation – see the “Fallows, Green Manure, Succession” page (click on the button at the top of this page), and the AID article on the “Articles” page. Livestock can also be used to partially control weeds and improve degraded soils.

Planting Trees

Nearly all reforestation projects involve planting mainly trees, grown in small square plastic tubes called tube stock (see photos below), into larger hand-dug holes (or an auger may be used), which are then watered in, usually with a little or no fertilizer added, and then mulched with “council” or “municipal” mulch (a composted mix of chipped wood and leaves, sourced from local government pruning of street trees, which has been at least partially composted, and which closely matches natural mulch/leaf litter in a natural forest).

 The mulch would normally be about 5 cm or more thick (2″ or more thick), and arranged in a circle around the plant, without touching the stem, about a metre/yard in diameter, or preferably the whole area is mulched. 


Direct seeding – utilizing livestock for reforestation/re vegetation


“Seeds and fruits are the chief, sometimes the only, food of many forest-inhabiting rodents.

Livestock and/or wildlife can be used to disperse seeds, providing a “work smart not hard” reforestation method for large areas, with treatments repeated over time. Livestock can also be used to restore degraded soils, or enhance the fertility and structure of average soils, through their manuring and urination.

Seeds can also be broadcast by hand or machine (but this is more labour and energy intensive), and then trodden into the soil by the animals, to enhance the germination and establishment of many plant species.

The Canopy Project

As part of its mission to protect natural lands and preserve the environment for all people, Earth Day Network developed The Canopy Project. Rather than focusing on large scale forestry, The Canopy Project plants trees that help communities - especially the world's impoverished communities - sustain themselves and their local economies. Trees reverse the impacts of land degradation and provide food, energy and income, helping communities to achieve long-term economic and environmental sustainability. Trees also filter the air and help stave off the effects of climate change.  

- See more at: http://www.earthday.org/campaign/canopy-project?gclid=CMKR5LjmyccCFQ6raQodVwQG-g#sthash.UWQ1L1lR.dpuf

Permaculture Reforestation

A forest plays an important role in ecological stability by serving as a natural water reservoir as well as a habitat of our wildlife and the indigenous tribes there within. Since our forests are mostly degraded, rehabilitating them is a lifetime activity. 


Regenerating a natural forest (Philippine Mahogany, Apitong, Lauan, Molave Narrra, Dao, and other indigenous species etc.) is usually done through seeds and wildlings, along with the knowledge of the local people. 

The development program follows something called the framework species concept, wherein the forest is planted with a select number of starting species which encourage the return of birds, animals, insects and provide the ecosystems services which set the stage for the natural regeneration of a truly diverse and healthy forest. 

A forest planted in this way can start with 30 varieties and see over 150 varieties of trees growing in less than 10 years. Our focus is not on the success of the trees themselves, but on the forest in general.


Logging

Stopping logging companies to destroy in a planned way the forests would be another help to the environment and climate change.