… the primal human related to everything in his environment as himself, as within himself. He was the rocks, the land, the plants, the animals, the others in the tribal grouping, and the gods and demons. And they were him. Because of this, he took responsibility for them, could communicate with them, could effect change in them. He saw the animals he killed for food as parts of the same body as he was. In this context, killing and eating was circulation of transforming forms within the environmental body.
Frank Moore, Cherotic Magic Revised
Amidst all the fun and failed attempts at identifying plants, taking lots of photos, sharing bug spray, eating our sandwiches & sharing homemade cookies and stories, there were moments when we sat in silence looking over the lake. Here, a sense of deep pleasure and peace fills you.
In these quiet moments, the soft wind against your skin, looking across the water and through the trees, you imagine yourself living in the land, as one of a tribe … using the plants for medicine, the wood for shelter and tools, eating the berries, hunting and fishing for food. It is a romantic vision, but within the fantasy is a desire not only for a different and more elemental way of living, but also for opening a door of perception to the real living interconnectedness that we often only experience as a blurry reproduction behind the buffers and layers that modern society has constructed.
As you wade through the shallows of the lake, out to a small rocky island, knee deep and feet sinking into the slimy cool silt, you can appreciate that you are not in control. You bring your devices to try and capture the moment, but they are like funny broken toys from another world left behind. Our ancestors brought pens or brushes and paper to try and hold on to this feeling in words and paint. This probably came closer to the heart of their experience but still could not capture it. Is it this interconnectedness we are feeling in the small moments, a sense of being at one with the world around us, the thing we can not express very well but can definitely feel?
Some people experience this reality in moments of surrender and intimacy with other human beings, others in deep surrender to the natural world, or within the love of animals. Herbalism, among many other traditional practices, comes out of this reality — what our teacher called “deep love”.
This experiencing the other as yourself is what is meant by deep love. This is not an abstraction. When the buffalo was killed off, the Indian, who was in magical relationship with the buffalo, also in a very real sense died. This is not because the buffalo was the food source, but because the Indian was the buffalo. Kill off the plants, the land, the tribe, or the reality of gods and demons, and you kill off the primal person, his personal context of being. This concept of deep love is very hard to grasp in our reality of helping, sharing with, learning from, conquering, making love with, leaving, coming together with, etc., another as two separate, isolated entities.
Frank Moore, Cherotic Magic Revised
Our teacher, a shaman and performance artist, put his definition of “Deep Love” onto a banner which we had displayed behind him at all the interactive and improvised performances he conducted in the last years of his life. This was really at the root of all of his work, and of our lives together. And perhaps to really practice herbalism or any of these ancient traditional healing practices, it helps to remember that they come out of this reality.
Deep love can be defined with: treat the other as yourself, love the other as yourself, because the other is in fact yourself, is part of your body. So what you do to/with/for the other, you are doing to yourself within the point of action of now. Deep love goes back to the pre-shamanistic personal awareness of the land, the plants and animals, the others in the tribe, and in fact the whole physical existence as parts of the personal body, and hence within personal responsibility.
Frank Moore, Cherotic Magic Revised
There were more than 30 medicinal herbs we encountered on our way up to and down to the lake. Some of them are covered in Blue Lake, Pt. 1. Here are the rest. The descriptions attached to each one are not meant to be comprehensive, but hopefully they give a good picture of the plant’s personality and energy. It is true that for most people, most of the time, you will never use most of these herbs. But it is so much fun to learn to identify plants, and more than this, it reminds us that the world is very much alive, with another kind of intelligence … the kind that comes to us in dreams and visions, or in the mouths and paws of wild animals. It also reminds us that really not all that long ago, people knew about and used all of these amazing plants around us to help themselves and others heal and thrive.
But some of these are herbs you will have used. If you haven’t become acquainted with Yarrow and Goldenrod, these are indispensable herbs … and how about Valerian? Serviceberries and currants for food? And Elephant’s Head Pedicularis is a very powerful remedy for sore backs that have gone into spasm.
Here is a table of contents:
Goldenrod Forking Larkspur
Yarrow Rydberg's Penstemon
Broadleaf Lupine Jeffrey's Shooting Star
Sticky Cinquefoil Saskatoon Serviceberry
Penstemon Alpine Fleabane
Dwarf Phlox Yellow Columbine
Wild Alpine Buckwheat Golden Currant
Narrow-leaved Fleabane Low Jacob's-Ladder
False Hellebore Lewis' Monkeyflower
Fireweed (Willow Herb) Tassel Rue
Cusick's Fumewort (Corydalis) Sitka Valerian
Towering Lousewort Rose Meadowsweet
Elephant's Head Pedicularis American Bistort
Western Coneflower
Goldenrod - Solidago canadensis
There is much to say about Goldenrod … we found this plant and Yarrow in more abundance on the drive up the mountain to Blue Lake, but not when we got there. They thrive in a somewhat dryer environment. They were lined up along the roadside, tempting us to stop and visit with them and their friends.
We were given this remedy years ago for build-up of mucus in the nose/throat - “upper respiratory catarrh”, allergies, inflammation of mucus membranes. We have taken Goldenrod when we have had these type of symptoms over the years, with positive results!
The name Solidago comes from Solidare, “to make whole”, and as one part of its long history as a medicinal herb it was used as a wound remedy. Because it is both an aromatic stimulant, and contains cooling flavonoids, it can be very beneficial for infected wounds, which need both the pungent stimulation & cooling at the same time. The Chippewa used it in this way, applying a poultice of the root to boils or poultice of flowers to ulcers & burns. Goldenrod’s carminative effect has also been used for stomach ailments, and its aromatic qualities lend to its usage for respiratory issues such as allergies or lingering bronchial infections.
Perhaps its most powerful usage is for ailments of the kidney and related expressions of low kidney function, perhaps as a result of other illnesses affecting the kidneys. “The grand keynote of this remedy lies in the condition and the action of the kidneys and the quality of their secretions, ” - Dr. John H. Clark, homeopath (1903). These conditions are often associated with skin conditions of the lower body — edema, dry and scaly legs, for which Goldenrod is also a remedy.
Maria Treben, the Austrian herbalist whose face you may have seen on bottles of Swedish Bitters and herbal tinctures in health food stores, associated Goldenrod with both emotional and physical exhaustion, especially of the kidneys. The kidneys help us work out our emotions.
“Golden Rod proves its worth as a medicinal plant which influences the human emotions most favourably. It should therefore be drunk without delay in cases of disappointments and emotional stress. We feel the soothing effect of this plant almost like a calming and caressing hand in severe emotional stress. Even the sight of the Golden Rod in nature has a quieting effect on us. We should be thankful that there grows a plant around us which can bring us such comfort.”
Yarrow - Achillea millefolium
For many years when we were living in Berkeley, California, we cared for our elderly neighbor Betty. By the time we were caring for her, she was much more than a neighbor. When our teacher first moved onto the block, she came right over and knocked on their door, holding a plate of fresh baked cookies, introducing herself and generally chatting them up! She was an instant friend. Over the years, we got closer and closer with her and Joe, her partner. They would sit together in their tiny apartment, side by side recliners facing the TV, Joe a somewhat serious Korean war veteran, but always with a twinkle in his eye, and Betty, full of life, a regular church goer, who nonetheless was eager to watch the latest recording of our naked extended-time improvisatory audience-participation performances!
After Joe died, we became more and more involved in her everyday life. Erika would eat dinner with Betty every night. Alexi would cook her meals. Corey would make sure she was taking all of her pills, and help her get her compression socks on each morning on his way to work.
One night, we got a call from the fire dept.. Betty had pushed the emergency button she wore around her neck, and we were the first contact since we lived right down the street. We arrived to find her on the floor, face covered in blood! She told us, “I fell down and hit the ceiling!” The fire dept. was on their way, but in the meantime we ran and grabbed some yarrow from our teacher’s yard and chewed it up for a massive spit poultice, which we applied to the large gash across her forehead.
We followed the paramedics to the local hospital. When we found Betty again inside, she was laughing and flirting with the doctors. They asked us about the green paste they had found smeared over her wound. They said it had all but completely stopped the bleeding. “Yarrow!” we told them.
Here is a really thorough treatment on Yarrow by herbalist Matthew Wood:
https://www.matthewwoodinstituteofherbalism.com/blog/the-indispensable-blood-remedy-yarrow
Lupine (Broadleaf) - Lupinus latifolius
“In 1917 a 'Lupin' banquet was given in Hamburg at a botanical gathering, at which a German Professor, Dr. Thoms, described the multifarious uses to which the Lupin might be put. At a table covered with a tablecloth of Lupin fibre, Lupin soup was served; after the soup came Lupin beefsteak, roasted in Lupin oil and seasoned with Lupin extract, then bread containing 20 per cent of Lupin, Lupin margarine and cheese of Lupin albumen, and finally Lupin liqueur and Lupin coffee. Lupin soap served for washing the hands, while Lupin-fibre paper and envelopes with Lupin adhesive were available for writing.” - A Modern Herbal, by Mrs. Maude Grieve
As you can see from the above quote, Lupine has been used for so many things, back when we still saw the abundance of the natural world around us as a benefit to our lives and livelihoods. A member of the pea family, Lupine has been an agricultural ally for centuries, and some varieties have been grown for their rich oils and proteins. Others host specific butterfly larvae …
“In South America, particularly Peru and Ecuador where Lupinus mutabilis grows naturally, indigenous populations have long consumed roasted seeds after detoxification processes remove harmful alkaloids. The seed flour is valued not just nutritionally but also medicinally for treating ailments like hypertension and gastrointestinal issues.” - Reality Pathing
Medicinally, the lupine seed has been used traditionally as an antispasmodic, a regulator of heart rhythm (the alkaloid “sparteine”), an antioxidant, and for help with high blood sugar and digestion.
As indicated above, many of the Lupines contain alkaloids which can be toxic at certain quantities. Traditionally, the seeds were soaked in order to remove more of the alkaloids.
Cinquefoil (Sticky) - Potentilla glandulosa
There are a great many species of Potentilla in the mountain west, and they are fairly common. They are in the rose family, and the whole plant is used as a reliable astringent, as powerful topically as oak bark, but easier on the insides. According to the late herbalist Michael Moore, drunk as a tea 2-3 times per day for up to a week, Potentilla can be very good for ulcers of the stomach or esophagus.
Potentilla contains some mucilage along with its astringency, so this accounts for its soothing nature, and affinity for the guts. In a medieval monastery in Scotland, famous for its medical cures, archeologists found the drainpipes full of [Potentilla] tormentil mixed with worms. (Matthew Wood - The Earthwise Herbal)
And if you are out in the wild, you can make a sun tea for a “soothing astringent lotion” for abrasions, poison oak, sun and wind burns, etc. “It will help prevent saddle sores on horses, mules or burros. The tea is liberally sloshed over their backs when they are resting after the packs and blankets have been removed. The leaves and flowers placed in shoes will help prevent blistering when hiking.” (Michael Moore - Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West)
Herbalist Juliette de Bairacli Levy used cinqufoil “in epilepsy and hysterical nervous disorders, syringed in to the nostrils for sinus infections, externally on sore mouth and gums, as a gargle for inflamed and ulcerated throats, and on wounds ‘of all kinds’.” She said that it “is not much used, which is a pity, for it is very powerful … I value this herb very much.”
Littleflower Penstemon - Penstemon procerus
From Michael Moore: “The fresh herb should be finely chopped, ground in a hand mill, pureed in a blender or processor, or run through a juicer. The resultant gunk is combined with an equal volume of sweet almond, apricot kernel, or olive oil and placed in a warm place for at least a week, then strained or expressed through a cloth and heated enough to melt an appropriate amount of beeswax or canning wax in it. The whole should be poured into a wide-mouthed jar and stirred at least once before setting. This salve makes an excellent skin dressing for any irritations of the epidermis, anus, lips, and the like, both as a treatment and a preventative.”
This use is mirrored in the usage of the Paiute, Thompson and Navaho tribes. Here, you see it used for burns, swellings, arrow wounds, sores, boils, mosquito & tick bites, chapped and cracked skin. But you also see it brewed into a tea and taken for stomachaches - but brewed carefully, because too strong a decoction then became a purgative!
Dwarf Phlox - Phlox condensata
It is said to be the sweetest smelling of alpine flowers. The decoction or infusion of the root or whole plant was used by the Shoshoni (and other tribes) for stomach disorders, and as an eyewash.
Wild Alpine Buckwheat - Eriogonum pyrolifolium
Other members of this family were used by native American tribes in steam or sweatbaths for rheumatism and other aches and stiffness. And yet other varieties were used externally for rashes and other skin issues.
Narrow-leaved Fleabane - Erigeron linearis
Fleabane has been used as an intense stimulant for centuries in North America. It is a Native American remedy which has been a specific for increasing the action of the kidneys, and contains flavonoids, bitters, tannins & volatile oils. It was used in the 19th and early 20th centuries for all types of diseases of the kidneys, helping to remove “gravelly, earthen deposits”. Herbalist William LeSassier recommended Fleabane for profuse diarrhea resulting from microorganisms. Stimulants “directly oppose these organism by increasing tissue life”, “decreasing the depressed environment”. The volatile oils are often antimicrobial as well. (Matthew Wood - The Earthwise Herbal)
The oil of Fleabane was also used as a hemostatic in slow moving bleeding. Stimulants like Shepherd’s Purse are often used in this way because they stimulate the circulation to carry blood away from the area. One of the Eclectic doctors, Finley Ellingwood, author of the American Materia Medica of 1919, made an effective postpartum preparation from fleabane and cinnamon to stop bleeding after birth. Although Fleabane has some tannins, it mainly serves as a stimulant to carry blood away from the opening, whereas cinnamon acts in both ways, as an astringent and a stimulant.
False Hellebore - Veratrum viride
This plant is quite toxic, but the toxins actually decrease after a frost when it dies back, and animals can eat what remains without problem. Traditionally, it was ingested in very small amounts for pain, and the roots were applied topically to bruises, sprains and fractures. A decoction of the root was used in a formula for chronic cough and constipation, and chewing a small amount of the root helped stomach pain.
Fibers from the stems were pulled out and woven into fabric, and native Americans would also grind the root to use as soap.
Haisla and Hanaksiala shamans would put the root on the tip of an arrow, and shoot it toward the “disease spirits”. They would also burn the roots and use the smoke to drive away evil spirits. The presence of the plant was believed to repel ghosts, illness and evil.
Fireweed (Willow Herb) - Epilobium angustifolium
The Epilobiums are members of the evening primrose family. The common names are willow herb and fireweed. This name comes from the fact that this variety grows best on ground that has been burnt. Interestingly, there were areas along the trail down to Blue Lake that had burned in last summer’s fires around Cascade.
Studies on fireweed have shown it to suppress inflammation more effectively than cortisone and to enhance the action of some drugs.
John Milton Scudder, Dean of the Eclectic Medical Institute in the 1860s and author of The Eclectic Practice of Medicine, used willow herb during the Civil War for "camp fever". He then taught its use to the eclectic profession. "It is especially valuable ... in chronic diarrhea and dysentery; sometimes effecting cures where all other means had failed. Thus, I employed it extensively in the treatment of the chronic diarrhea during the civil war, and with a success not to be obtained from other remedies." It is an astringent and nutritive tonic.
"This agent exerts a specific influence upon the intestinal mucous membrane, relieving irritation, and promoting normal function. It is, therefore, a good remedy in acute diarrhea, dysentery and colic. In chronic diarrhea with large passages of half-digested food it has given excellent results, and in cholera infantum it constitutes an efficient medicament. In the diarrhea of typhoid fever it exerts a controlling influence over the discharges and quiets gastrointestinal irritation" (John William Fyfe, 1909).
In the twentieth century, Maria Treben introduced the use of willow herb (Epilobium parvifolium and other Epilobiums) for swollen prostate. She considered it to be nearly a specific. This usage was supported by herbalist Hilde Hemmes of Australia. "I am not a laboratory scientist, but the simple fact that I have thousands of responses from men (and their wives thanking me for giving them back their husbands) claiming total cure from various stages of prostate disorder tells me the herb must be doing its work". She also recommends it for urinary tract infections, cystitis, and kidney and bladder problems in both men and women.
Cusick’s Fumewort (Corydalis) - Corydalis caseana
Traditionally used for sluggish digestion, slowly energizing the circulation to provide warmth and vitality, opening the skin and kidneys - pungent, bitter, diffusive.
Michael Moore says that it contains at least 10 alkaloids, and that combined with a sedative like skullcap or valerian, it will aid “nervousness or hysteria that is manifest through trembling, shaking, twitching, or tics.” And too much of it can cause the very same symptoms!
Towering Lousewort - Pedicularis bracteosa
New Mexico herbalist Dara Saville gives a beautiful description of pedicularis. We will quote here:
“P. bracteosa is similar to procera in its lip shape, larger stature, and preference for forested habitats but its flowers are creamy white to light yellow instead of the often striped light pink to peach tones of procera. I first met this plant growing in close proximity to P. racemosa on the edge of a very dark and wild looking forest inhabited by Saxifrages, Orchids, and other sensitive plants known to favor undisturbed environments. At once I could feel the synergistic effect of these plants working together to create an ambiance of wild flowing vitality and an entrancing mood of introspection that beckoned me inward; into the forest and into myself. It was almost as if the underground haustoria were penetrating me, drawing me into the vibrational and energetic world of life in this forest, making me one with this landscape, taking me back to the source of knowledge and reconnecting with the continuum of life. It seemed in that moment as if all answers could be found right there in that forest and indeed, many were.
“Pedicularis’ infiltrating personality, ecological importance, and medicinal magic have given it a beloved place in many herbalists’ hearts. This plant’s most profound activity occurs where no one can see, as its’ workings take place underneath the surface of the earth and in the depths of ourselves, releasing us from where we are stuck in our bodies, in our minds, and our hearts. In addition to its well-known muscle relaxant qualities, resent research also suggests a wider role in the prevention and treatment of diseases including diabetes and varied microbial infections. Pedicularis and other hemiparasitic plants can significantly change plant communities by fostering species diversity and floral quality in native plants as it coordinates the collective resources of the community and allocates them for the benefit of the entire system. Although this plant is not endangered in the Western United States, we must be certain to harvest with knowledge about each species’ ecological status and respect for local native plant communities. Pedicularis is not cultivated and increased demand for this herb could cause concern for wild populations, especially those that are more easily accessible. As you wildcraft this plant, take time to identify the species and observe the size, health, and frequency of populations you find. Working with Pedicularis is certain to draw you into new territory within yourself and within your practice. Pedicularis is both medicine and teacher, willing to guide us wherever we are to go.” - Dara Saville, Going Deeper with Pedicularis
Elephant’s Head Pedicularis - Pedicularis groenlandica
We have used Elephant’s Head Pedicularis for years and years as our go-to remedy for muscle spasms in the back, with much success. We would now add to that crampbark in certain situations.
Again, we defer to Dara Saville:
“P. groenlandica has fern-like leaves and magnificent flowering racemes with elephant-shaped flowers, giving it the common name of ‘Elephant Head Betony’. To discover an alpine meadow blanketed by P. groenlandica is like falling in love. As my eyes met this magenta mountain meadow, my first reaction was to dive in head-first, to literally fling myself into it whole-heartedly. I felt a compelling attraction profoundly pulling me into the landscape, like two souls split part and now reunited. Knowing that this plant favors boggy places, I thought better of it and instead gazed drop-jawed at the majestic beauty, walked carefully amongst the little plants, and found a place to sit and soak it all in. I knew that later I would be making deep body healing salve born directly from the landscape, but for now P. groenlandica was nourishing me in the most intangible ways. I will never forget the happiness I felt from head to toe as I laid eyes on this striking scene. Simply knowing that such places exist in the world is comforting medicine for me. P. groenlandica’s mesmerizing inflorescence heals both directly as absorbed by the body and also indirectly as absorbed by the heart. Thriving in open wetter places with a tendency towards stagnancy, think of this species when the release of muscular tension is needed to promote more movement in the musculature, heart, and mind. This plant will help us to let go and move on from problems that may be holding us back.” - Dara Saville, Going Deeper with Pedicularis
Western Coneflower - Rudbeckia occidentalis
We think that this variety is called “Green Wizard”. Michael Moore terms these plants “stimulating diuretics”, including stimulating to the immune system in the same way as their cousins, the Echinaceas. “Unlike Echinacea, lance-leafed Coneflower stimulates secretions, respiration, and the skin and kidneys, thereby helping to excrete the very waste products its immunostimulus help create."
The Cherokee ate the young leaves and stems as a spring green to keep well, but also as a wash for snakebites and to bathe sores.
Forking Larkspur - Consolida regalis
The primary herbal use for Larkspur is to kill body lice. Many native tribes considered the plant to be poisonous. But there was documentation of the Navaho using the flower petals ceremonially and to make blue dye. The Hopis used it as a ceremonial emetic.
Rydberg’s Penstemon - Penstemon rydbergii
This beautiful flower was found in a large field that we passed both walking down to and walking up from Blue Lake. You can read about its properties above, where we talked about Littleflower Penstemon.
As you walk along and turn to the right, you are greeted by this:
Jeffrey’s Shooting Star - Dodecatheon jeffreyi
For the Thompson indians of British Columbia, the flowers were used by women 'to obtain the love of men and to help them control men,' and as a charm 'to obtain wealth & to make people give presents.'
The Blackfoot used an infusion of leaves for eye drops and for cankers in children.
Saskatoon Serviceberry - Amelanchier alnifolia
We found this growing over the large rocks at the lake’s edge. You can see that in early July, the berries at this elevation are still unripe. In the Potawatomi language, it is called Bozakmin, which means “the best of the berries”. The “min” in Bozakmin is the root for “berry”, but it is also the root word for “gift”. This plant is a gift to all creatures, big and small. We are growing it at home.
Food Use
During the summer the ripe serviceberry fruits can be eaten raw, cooked, or dried. The leaves can be dried and used for tea (Kindscher 1987: 28). Many Native North American tribes commonly ate the sweet and juicy ripe serviceberry fruit. For some tribes, like the Blackfoot and the Okanagon, serviceberries were considered a dietary stable food. While the fresh fruits are delicious raw, they are commonly sun dried, either loosely or mashed and pressed into cakes. In order to make pemmican, animal fat and dried meats can also be added to the dried serviceberry cakes. Serviceberries were also mixed with animal fat and stuffed into intestine to make sausages. Other methods of preserving these berries include make them into jams and jellies, freezing them, or fermenting them to make wine. Serviceberries can also be used in muffins, pies, puddings, soups, porridge, and other tasty culinary creations. The berries were not the only part of the plant eaten. The Lakota made a unique beverage by boiling serviceberry petals, leaves, and small stems together. The Cheyenne used the dried leaves to make a red tea (Moerman 1998: 67-69).
Other Uses
Materials from the serviceberry shrub can also be used for medicine, fiber, and other uses. Moerman (1998: 67-69) notes that the parts of the serviceberry fruits and/or shrubs have been used by indigenous peoples as an ear medicine, eye medicine, cathartic, gastronomical aid, laxative, cold remedy, cough medicine, diaphoretic, flu medicine, fever reducer, pulmonary aid, toothache remedy, tonic, contraceptive, pediatric aid, gynecological aid, venereal aid, antidiarrheal, anthelmintic (treatment against worms), blood medicine, disinfectant, and as an emetic. Young serviceberry stems, branches, and wood have been used in basketry, furniture making, rope making, arrow and harpoon making, tool making, and in the construction of popgun pistons. The Blackfoot used the berries in a harvest game.
- American Indian Health and Diet Project
Alpine Fleabane - Erigeron alpinus
See above for the interesting usages of Erigeron. This beautiful purple flower was abundant at Blue Lake.
Yellow Columbine - Aquilegia flavescens
“Modern flower essences containing Aquilegia vulgaris are said to provide insight into one’s true identity and highest purpose. It has also been used to assist the uncertain or those who are bewildered by life’s choices.” - Barbara Seideneck, The Proving of Aquilegia Vulgaris, the Common Columbine
Columbine has a long history of use among the Native American tribes for a variety of health issues, including sore throats, coughs, stomachaches, diarrhea, dizziness. The Paiute mashed the fresh roots and rubbed briskly on aching rheumatic joints. They also chewed the roots or leaves to make a spit poultice for bee stings. The Shoshoni would use a decoction of root to induce vomiting, but also to help with diarrhea.
“Culpepper tells us:
'The leaves of Columbine are successfully used in lotions for sore mouths and throats. . . . The Spaniards used to eat a piece of the root thereof in a morning fasting many days together, to help them when troubled with stone. The seed taken in wine with a little saffron removes obstructions of the liver and is good for the yellow jaundice.'”
“By 1606, over 270 medicinal applications for Columbine were described. They include:
• Astringent juice to heal wounds • Various plant parts to heal gum loss and jaundice • Crushed seeds to facilitate childbirth and to alleviate labor and menstrual pain • Crushed leaves to cure cancer • Spring shoots prepared like asparagus to prevent cancer • Entire plants used to protect young couples from bad magic (impotence and infertility) • Triturated juice of the leaves to heal skin rashes
“A woodland walk, a quest for river-grapes, a mocking rush, a wild rose or rock-living columbine, salve my worst wounds.” - R. W. Emerson
Traditional folk medicine has used the common Columbine as an astringent, depurative, diaphoretic, diuretic, narcotic, and parasiticide. It has been used to treat:
• Inflammations of the pharynx and the throat • Liver (obstructions of openings, jaundice), spleen and gallbladder diseases • Diarrhea • Stomach complaints • Kidney stones • Dropsy • Measles and small pox • Nervousness • Easily angered people (sedative qualities) • Pain during menses and childbirth • Uterine bleeding • Eye diseases • Rheumatic aches and pains • Head lice (repellant) • Ulcers (used in a poultice); sores of mouth and throat”
- Barbara Seideneck, The Proving of Aquilegia Vulgaris, the Common Columbine
Although used in European herbalism for ages, it is no longer used in western herbalism due to its toxicity.
However, homeopathic Columbine is used. We have heard of its use for herpes, but the homeopathic proving in the early 2000s quoted above revealed other uses for mental and emotional states:
Mental Themes
Disconnectedness
Indifference to other’s feelings
Mind-chatter; internal dialogue; intolerable inner thoughts
Mind separated from body; as if possessed by a second personality
Like a witness; spectator to events
Sense of distance; isolation
Desire to be alone; better alone
Irritability
Irritable like PMS, irritable over small things, impatient with people
Easy to anger (driving, throwing things, short fuse)
Alternating States
Exuberant - sluggish
Irritability - good mood
Mind-chatter - serenity
Alert - lack of concentration
Positive States
Exuberant; elated
Energy up; feeling high
Centered; very present
Relaxed; serene; peaceful
Hypersensitivity
Emotionally over-reactive; weeping easily
To odors, heat, music, touch, taste, and noise
Visual acuity
Restlessness
Restless but too weak to move; restless at night
Driven to get things done; need to clean
Mental Clarity
Alert; awake; clear
Aware; focused
Creative; expansive
Difficulty Concentrating
Foggy, groggy, and fuzzy thinking
Slow reading; slow thinking
Absentminded; forgetful
Difficulty making decisions
Spacey; empty headed
Disoriented; no sense of time
Lethargy - Slowness
Sluggish; need to move slowly, slow in responding
As if in slow motion, heavy like lead
“Will vomit if I move fast”
Averse to doing anything; unmotivated
Extreme tiredness, tiredness after rising
Golden Currant - Ribes aureum
This berry also loves the rocks. And unlike the golden currant we found by the Snake River a few months ago, this high altitude relative is not fruiting yet. You can read our short description of it in our chronicle of that trip: Down By The River.
Low Jacob’s-Ladder - Polemonium californicum
This beautiful flower is in the same family as Phlox. The Thompson indians used Jacob’s-Ladder in a compound decoction of several species, and as a wash for the head and hair.
Lewis' Monkeyflower - Erythranthe lewisii
Also known as Great Purple Monkeyflower, or just plain old Purple Monkeyflower, this plant was eaten by native tribes when young and tender as a kind of salad green. The berries were also eaten raw or stewed. But it was also used for hiccups, and in a steambath for chest and back soreness. A poultice of the crushed leaves could also be applied to wounds or rope burns. And a compound decoction of the roots were taken by women for epilepsy.
Tassel Rue - Trautvetteria caroliniensis
Also known as False Bugbane, this amazing plant has huge broad leaves that are very striking. The Cherokee made a root infusion for diarrhea and other gastrointestinal issues, including vomiting. The Iroquois used a decoction of the roots as a wash for sore eyes, but also to treat heart palpitations.
Blackfoot Indian girls used to tie the flower or seed bunches in their hair, as it was considered a great love medicine. Meadow rue was considered a love potion, and was given to a quarreling couple to stop the argument.
The Ojibwa and Potawatomi would secretly place rue seeds in a couple's food to overcome quarreling.
In Canada the roots were used for snake bites, and the leaves as an ingredient in spruce beer.
Sitka Valerian - Valeriana sitchensis
Valerian is known far and wide as a very effective sedative. The root is antispasmodic for the smooth and striated muscle. Valerian will lessen menstrual & muscle pain, bronchial spasms and intestinal cramps. The dried root preparation, taken in too high doses over too long a period, can lead to melancholy and depression. Michael Moore, who says he actually likes the smell of dried Valerian root, which many liken to “dirty socks” (isovaleric acid), says that the whole dried root can last almost indefinitely.
Rose Meadowsweet - Spiraea splendens
Meadowsweet is a bitter astringent in the rose family. Aspirin was named after it, but unlike aspirin, it is soothing and cooling to the stomach, containing flavonol glycosides (rutin, hyperin).
Captain Frank Roberts became a well known British herbalist and naturopath after a life at sea. He wrote about meadowsweet:
"Meadowsweet is a true normalizer of a badly functioning stomach. It regulates acidity and it rectifies alkalinity. This is the remedy which should replace all the alkalis now on the market. Meadowsweet, when made into a strong tea and a small cupful given every two or three hours, will be highly beneficial in all cases of fever, no matter of what kind, and in cases of dyspepsia caused through inflammation of the mucous surfaces and glands of the stomach. It will also be found not only to relieve, but eventually cure all cases of sour belchings, sour eructations, nausea, sickness and vomiting, waterbrash, swellings after meals or vomiting before meals, bile, or bilious attacks."
Meadowsweet has the additional property of driving uric acid deposits from the blood, muscles and joints, drives away fever, and thus helps the action of the liver, kidneys and bladder, generally restoring the powers of all the digestive organs.
American Bistort - Bistorta bistortoides
There was lots of bistort around. Bistort is a pungent and warming astringent, which herbalists of antiquity considered a powerful medicine to resist poison and other conditions related to the depressed tissue condition - snake bite, plague, cholera, typhoid, colitis, bleeding, hemorrhoids. It was combined with Calamus to cure intermittent fever, chills, and sweating.
Michael Moore identifies it as antiseptic as well as a great astringent and drawing agent, good as a first aid poultice, especially when combined with the likes of echinacea, golden seal, osha or yerba mansa. He describes a great use for bistort: “The high-altitude packer that awakes in the morning with a distended or relaxed uvula (usually a mouth breather) will find that chewing on a fresh or dried Bistort root will shrink it and get rid of that half-swallowed slippery-choking sensation.” (Michael Moore - Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West)