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CHEROKEE HERBOLOGY -
Agrimony (Agrimonia Gyposepala) Drink tea of burs to
check bowels, and for fevers; root tea to build up blood.
Alder, red/smooth/tag (Alnus Serrulata) For pains realted
to birth, ingredient in tea for menstrual period - acts as an emetic and a true
purgative.
Alder, white (Clethra Acuminata) Decoction of bark and
wild cherry is drunk to break a high fever.
Aloe, false Aloe (Agave Virginica) Chew root for obsitant
problems with diarrhea. Also good for treating animals for worms.
Alum-root, American Sanicle (Heuchera Americana) Root is
an astringent; root tea for bowel complaints or dysentery (usually made with
honey to improve the taste).
Angelica (Angelica Atropurpurea) Root tonic for fevers
and colds; Gargle for sore throats and mouth pains/cold sores.
Bastard Toadflax (Comandra Umbellataa) Steep with roots
of pink lady's slipper for kidneys; put juice on open cuts or sores.
Beardtongue, hairy (Penstemon Laevigatus) Tea for cramps.
Birch, cherry/mountain/red/river/sweet (Betula Lenta)
chew leaves or drink tea for dysentery; tea for colds.
Bittersweet (Celastrus Scandens) Bark tea to settle
stomach; strong tea combined with red raspberry leaves for pains of childbirth.
Blood leather/rock tripe (Gyrophora Dillenii) Stop
bleeding from open wounds.
Bluebells\lungwort\virginia cowslip (Mertensia Virginica)
for whooping cough; consumption.
Bluest (Houstonia Caerulea) Tea to stop bedwetting.
Branch lettuce/saxifrage (Saxifrage Pensylvanica) Root
poultice for Sore swollen muscles.
Buckeye, red (Aesculus Pavia) Pounded nuts are poultice
for swelling, sprains and infected wounds. bark tea drank for facilitating
woman's delivery in childbirth.
Buffalo nut/oilnut (Pyrularia Pubera) Salve for old
sores.
Butterfly weed/Witch weed (Asclepias Tuberose) Seeds or
root are a gentle laxative; boil seeds in new milk for diarrhea; also for
pleurisy, pains in breast, stomache and lungs.
Cinnamon tree (Cinnamomum Zeylanicum) Bark tea for flu.
Comfrey (Symphytum Officinale) roots in water for
gonorrhea.
Coneflower/Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia Fulgida) Root ooze
for earache. wash for snakebites and swelling caused by worms.
Fern, bracken (Pteridium Aquilinum) Root tonic used as
antiseptic.
Fern, rattlesnake (Botrychium Virginianum) boil root down
to syrup and rub on snake bites.
Feverfew (Chrysanthemum Parthenium) Bathe swollen feet in
a tea.
Geranium, wild (Geranium Maculatum) used for open wounds;
astringent.
Goosegrass (Galium Aparine) Tea to move bowels.
Indian Pipe/Fit root/ice plant (Monotropa Uniflora) root
pulverized and given for epilepsy and convulsions.
Laurel, Mountain (Kalmia Latifola) Ingredient in
liniments.
New jersey tea/Red root (Ceanothus Americanus) hold root
tea on an aching tooth; hot root tea for bowel complaints.
Bibliography
Cobb, B. 1963 : Field guide to The Ferns. Boston.
Houghton-Mifflin Co.
Fernald, M.L. : Gray's Manual of Botany. NY
Hamel, Paul : Plants of The Cherokees. 1974.
Plowden, C.C. : Manual of Plant Names. NY 1970.
Sharp, J.E. : The Cherokees Past and Present. 1970.
Cherokee Press.
Note: This is not meant to be a complete monograph on the
subject of the Cherokee plant lore, just a sampling of the available
information.
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