American Indian Herbs
by Dr. John R. Christopher
"The dog hunts the fields for his special grass medicine; the bear dresses the wound of her cub or fellow-bear with perhaps as much intelligence as primitive man observes in his empirical practice. Primitive man does not know why his medicine cures; he simply knows that it does cure." (Matilda Coxe Stevenson, Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians)
There are pearls of great price to be gathered from each culture. A pearl of great price from the American Indian culture is that of healing the body through the use of plants. Not only was the American Indian adept at healing certain ailments with plants, but he was also ahead of his time in certain other areas of treatment. Most tribes practiced Crede's method of eliminating the after birth at least a hundred years before this procedure was published in a European medical journal. The Indians ability to heal serious wounds was marveled at by even the most ardent Indian haters among the U.S. Cavalry.
Approximately one hundred and seventy drugs which are, or once were, official in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia or the National Formulary were used by the Indians of North America. Further, hundreds of other plant medicines which have not become accepted in our official books on plant medicines were also used by the American Indian.
How did the Indian medicine man come to his knowledge of the medicinal values of herbs? Experimentation on prisoners. the "doctrine of signatures" (the shape or color of the plant indicated its medicinal value), revelation from God and just plain experimentation were ways in which he acquired his knowledge.
The medicine man is well known for his knowledge of herbal remedies and skills in curing but there were substantial numbers of women amongst the tribes who played a healing role and were as recognized and accepted by Indian tribes as the skills of the medicine men. A study of Indian herbal remedies shows that perhaps one third to one half of the recorded treatments were for problems unique to females, whether menstrual problems or child delivery.
Among the greatest of herb healers, one whose practice was carefully, accurately, and sympathetically studied, was the Cherokee A yun ini, known to the white man as Swimmer. In the 1870's. When the Cherokee nation was exiled to Oklahoma, he fled to the vicinity of Qualla, North Carolina. There he continued to heal, using the plants of the region to help him. He is credited with knowing nearly two hundred plants, their habitats, blooming periods, uses, and legends. A yun ini treated the disease and sick person in a holistic manner--an approach now gaining favor among increasing numbers of practitioners today.
A successful treatment for rheumatism used by an A yun ini was a warm infusion made from the leaves of fetterbush, mountain laurel, and rhododendron, plus the roots of hellebore, and then applied to the painful site. He used ginseng in tea form to treat headaches, cramps, and female troubles. Slippery elm was used to assist in childbirth, to make the birth passage slippery and ease the baby's birth. He also used the willow to treat fevers, which willow we now find contains salicylic acid.
Let us now consider some of the plants and their uses by the American Indian and also our own corresponding uses.
Native to the northern deserts of Mexico and the American southwest, we find a most useful plant: Jojoba. Surviving months of searing desert heat with no water, able to grow in salty soils and with a life span of 200 years or more this plant has long been familiar to the desert tribes of Indians as a source of food (its nuts being eaten as a good source of protein but may be toxic if eaten in huge quantities), and using the oil to heal sores and wounds, to protect skin and hair from the ravages of the desert sun, and to ease childbirth. Now we are finding that this old Indian remedy could save your scalp! Skin specialists are finding that Jojoba oil has a remarkable ability to dissolve those waxy deposits of sebum, the natural secretions of the scalp's sebaceous glands, which sometimes resist even the most determined shampooing. Sebum, if unchecked, tends to build up and harden around the hair follicles, effectively clogging pores and preventing the normal regrowth of hair. Other signs of sebum build-up are dryness, scaliness, and dandruff. Jojoba oil also helps regulate the scalp's natural acidity, lessening the flow of fresh sebum between shampoos. A number of persons have reported successful regrowth of hair after using jojoba based shampoos.
Sage Was Popular
The Western Indians (such as the Navajos) used the Wild Sage (Artemisia tridentata) of the great American Western and Midwestern desert and plains regions for resolving severe body crises such as tumors and cancers. This sage is spread over wide areas of the foothills and plains and shows by its presence that the soil on which it grows is fertile. There are over a hundred species of Artemisia with more than twenty in the Rocky Mountain area.
The Indians had numerous other uses for the sage. It provided a yellow dye, the seeds of the sweet sage were steeped for flavoring, the white sage leaves made a pleasant beverage called "sissop" also used as a wash for the hair, but its greatest value was medicinal. Sage tea was used extensively as a cure for asthma, taken morning and evening for forty days and at night a sage poultice was applied to the chest and back. Sage branches were burned as a fumigant and the baskets and blankets used during the birthing process were held in the smoke to retain the odor.
The Indians believed in the value of sweating in almost all illnesses and so used as a diaphoretic the sage in making a hot tea. A tea from the leaves of the sage bush was adopted from the Indians and became the standard eyewash of the United States Army in the West. One of the remedies for a headache was sage tea or a compress of sage leaves, the leaves being either crushed or boiled. There were almost as many dosages for influenza as there were herbal drugs. The favorites were hot juniper or sage tea and inhaling the fumes from a fire of sage. If one's legs were ailing, weakening, or shaky they were bathed in a hot sage tea, then poulticed with sage leaves. To steady and strengthen mind and nerves, the Indians, as they do today, drank sage tea. Interestingly, over in seventeenth-century England, sage tea was used to help the memory. Sage tea also was used for paralysis, this same remedy was also in use in England in 1699 for "all paralytical affections."
The sage leaves, fresh or dried, were made into a tea for diarrhea, menstrual disorders, and swellings. It had a particularly favorable effect as a tonic after childbirth. Fresh leaves were crushed, strained, and mixed with lukewarm water for stomach distress or were chewed for flatulence or as a tea for indigestion. The powdered herb destroyed worms in children and was so accepted officially in 1840 by the incoming whites. The juice of the herb or its powder was put on moist sores which, with this procedure, were said to dry and heal quickly, as were "green wounds."
For numbness of the feet, a wash of sage was recommended, followed by the application of wax and ground nettles. This same sage and wax remedy was used for all foot injuries by the Aztecs.
Sage is still used as a shampoo to promote the growth of the hair and also used by the women as a solution to blacken their hair, combing it into their tresses daily.
In Taos, Indians say, "It is really good for everything". In 1699 John Evelyn declared that sage retains "all the noble Properties of the other hot Plants, more especially for the Head, Memory, Eyes and all Paralytical affliction." We find a verse translated in 1373 as follows:
Why of seknesse deyeth man
While sawge (sage) in gardeyn
He may hav.
By way of interest the sage as discussed here is Artemis tridentata or wild sage, whereas the common or garden sage found in many gardens is Saivia officinalis. These two sages, though bearing similar popular names, really belong to different botanical families and should be considered therapeutically separate. They both possess, however, decided aromatic, bitter, and astringent properties.
In Dr. Christopher's book "School of Natural Healing" there are over three pages of information concerning our present day usage of sage (Artemisia) for problems such as round worms, dyspepsia, diarrhea, liver difficulty, epilepsy, flatulence, debility, nervous conditions, melancholia, jaundice, nausea, morning sickness, intermittent fevers, gout, rheumatism, swelling, and sprains.
Wound Treatments
Perhaps due to their vigorous life styles the Indian early became quite expert in the treatment of wounds. Many herbs with antiseptic properties were discovered. Dr. Eric Stone, who was impressed with the Indians' ability to withstand serious wounds, wrote:
Suffice it, that all military and medical observers who came in contact with the Indians agree that they recovered more rapidly than the white from most wounds, and many recovered from wounds which would have been fatal to the white man. Bourke reports that cases of two Indians who were discharged from a military that they might die among their people, yet made rapid recoveries as soon as their own medicine-men began their treatment. At a time when gunshot wounds of the bladder were invariably fatal to the white, the Indians seemed to suffer this accident with impunity. Loskiel examined a man whose face had been torn away, his rib cage crushed, limbs ripped and the abdomen disemboweled by a bear, yet had been able to crawl four miles to his village and in six months had completely recovered, except for extensive scarring. Such records could be continued almost indefinitely as all observers were so impressed by this ability to survive terrific wounds-hundreds have been reported.
In their treatment of wounds the Indians were adept, keeping the injured area scrupulously clean, changing the dressings often, and easing the suffering of the patient. Some of the most commonly used herbs for the treatment of wounds are as follows:
Anemone or Wind Flower roots have been found to possess such powerful healing quality that they were also used for lockjaw. This plant was combined with Arnica flowers, two heaping teaspoons to a cup of boiling water, were applied as a cold salve.
Anemone was one of the most highly prized wound medicines of the Omaha and the Ponca tribes. A wash was prepared from the pounded boiled root and applied externally to the point of injury. Anemonin, which is found in many related species of anemone, is clinically asserted to be a potent antiseptic substance.
Two heaping teaspoons of Arnica flowers to a cup of boiling water were steeped and then applied cold as a salve for bruises and wounds.
The large woody alumroot (Heuchera americans) or American sanicle was powdered by the Meskwakis and other tribes and applied to cuts, wounds, and skin sores that would not heal. The dried rhizomes and roots were used for the same purposes by the whites when these plant parts were officially accepted in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia between 1880 and 1882.
Blue Flag (Iris versicolor) was one of the most popular of all American Indian medicines. The Penobscots valued it for treating most ailments, while other tribes assigned more specific roles to this herb. To relieve the swelling and pain associated with sores and bruises, the root was boiled in water and then pounded between stones. The pulped root mass was applied in a wet dressing and the affected part rinsed, with the water in which the root was boiled. The Tadoussac tribe of Quebec combined the whole crushed plant with flour and applied the mixture as a poultice for bodily pain.
Prickly Ash (Zanthoxylum) bark used by the Indians and later by the white medical profession in 1892 was stated to be a powerful stimulant to heal wounds.
Chia seed made into a poultice and applied to a wound was latter considered by mountain men and miners as the finest poultice for gunshot wounds. The blue variety of corn meal was also used as a mush applied hourly to bullet wounds.
Club moss (Lycopodium clavatum), which has no flowers. produces yellow spores which were dusted on wounds or inhaled to stop nosebleed by the Blackfoot and Potawatomi tribes. This plant was official in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia from 1863 to 1947.
The Indians who lived on Great Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron applied the dried, powdered root of the Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) on bleeding blood vessels to promote coagulation. Experiments have shown that it causes an increase in the clotting of blood, due primarily to the tannin contained in geranium. This plant is not to be confused with Ranunculus bulbosus as both have the common name of Crowfoot.
The pulverized fresh roots of the Oregon ash (Fraxinus oregona) were used to treat the wounds suffered as a result of a clash between a bear and an Indian as related in the following story:
One old Indian related a story about a bear fight which he had seen his father, a very powerful man, engage in when he was a boy. His only weapon consisted of a stick of mountain mahogany, about seven feet long, which had a large knob on one end and a sharpened point at the other. He placed the child in a tree for safety. As the enraged bear made a dash at the Indian, he, jumping skillfully to one side, hit the animal a terrible blow on the legs as it passed. Again and again, as the bear dashed forward, it was struck on the legs until it was nearly disabled. when it was speedily dispatched with the sharp end of the club.
The Yokia tribe pulverized the fresh roots of the Oregon Ash as a poultice to cure all serious wounds.
In a nomadic life of hunting and fighting, the stopping of the blood flow from wounds was of vital importance and for centuries the Indians had experimented with possible coagulants. Red Root (Ceanothus americanus) was valuable in stopping excessive bleeding. Tobacco, nettles, willow, plantain and wintergreen were also used. When a cut or wound would not stop bleeding a very effective coagulant that would stop the bleeding almost immediately was the powdered root of Solomon's-seal (Polygonatum commutatum) dusted into the gaping wound. As mentioned in previous newsletters, cayenne (capsicum) is excellent for stopping bleeding. Probably the most generally used herb to stop the blood flow was yarrow, being used for everything from a pricked finger to a spear-torn thigh, the settlers came to call the yarrow by the nickname of "Nosebleed". The Ute tribe, who had a reputation of being some of the best warriors of the plateau-dwelling Indians, called yarrow "wound medicine"; after pulverizing the plant they applied it to cuts, bruises, and other minor injuries. This herb was also used on cuts by the Micmac and Illinois tribes, while the Winnebagos steeped the plant in hot water and used the wash to bathe bruises. The Thompson Indians of British Columbia prepared a powder for dusting on skin sores by roasting the leaves or stems until they were dry enough to be pulverized between stones.
While on the subject of yarrow as an excellent wound medication let's consider some of the other uses to which the Indians would use this valuable herb. For burns, the Zuni Indians ground the entire plant, steeped it in cold water, and used the liquid to bring about a cooling sensation. For earache the Winnebagos steeped the whole yarrow plant and poured the resulting liquid into the ear.
A warm infusion of yarrow was an anti-hysteric and stimulant. A cold infusion of the tops was a tonic especially for convalescents. The warm tea eased chills and fevers, colic, gout and helped the liver to function better. The leaves were boiled and the tea drunk for diarrhea. In New Mexico the Indians chew the leaves, fresh or dry, with a little salt as a stomachic. Dry flowers swallowed with water twice daily were said to dissipate a cough. A tea was used for headache and as a blood builder after childbirth. The root was chewed for colds. and the green leaves were chewed for toothache.
A poultice of the entire plant was put on sprains and broken bones, parts afflicted with rheumatism, burns, rashes, itches and eczema. The strained tea was a good eyewash. Yarrow oil was used as abortive. Yarrow has the ability to keep up a patients strength and act as a blood cleanser and at the same time opening the pores to permit free perspiration to get rid of unwanted waste and relieving the kidneys.
Dr. Christopher has this to say a about yarrow:
Yarrow when administered hot and copiously will raise the heat of the body, equalize the circulation, and produce perspiration. It opens the pores freely with its relaxing action upon the skin, and it purifies the blood of morbid waste material. Yarrow regulates the functions of the liver, and it is especially beneficial in its influence on secretions throughout the entire alimentary canal; it tones the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels, and is healing to the glandular system. Yarrow will never weaken a patient, because of its tonic action.
Other Popular Herbs
A favorite remedy for a stiff neck was a poultice of mashed thistle leaves.
It may have been because of their hard lives, with heavy physical labor, exposure to extremes of weather, and/or the almost certain lack of vitamins over long periods. But whatever the cause, the evidence is that Indian women had considerable difficulty with their monthly periods. There are numerous herb remedies used to induce normal menstruation.
A decoction of parsley was drunk or sage tea. Hot tea from elder bark (Sambucus canadensis) was much favored and endorsed by the white community which stated that it "has special affinity for cramp in the womb during menstruation". To suppress excessive menses, pennyroyal was added to sage tea and drunk. Several tribes employed a tea of the roots of blue cohosh to reduce profuse menstruation. This plant was best known as a parturient and hence its common name of squawroot or papoose root.
Dr. Christopher in his book "School of Natural Healing" has this to say of Blue Cohosh:
This is a very old Indian remedy. They believed it to be the best parturient in nature, and it was the habit of (heir women to drink the tea several weeks before labor. This exceedingly valuable herb is well called "Woman's best friend" for the reason that it is much more reliable and far less dangerous in expediting delivery in those cases where labor is slow, very painful, and does not bring about natural delivery. As you well know, these distressing cases are many, and great exhaustion sometimes results from delay. through debility, fatigue, or lack of uterine nervous energy. Blue cohosh in infusion or decoction taken warm will accomplish a particular easy parturition, if given for some hours just previous to the time. It has excellent nervine and antispasmodic properties which make it very useful for various pulmonary. neural, and muscular affections. Many more persons, male and female, will experience healing wonders, as they believe sufficiently to apply its known, yet hidden, powers as a singular remedy or as a capable synergistic combination with other appropriate aids.
No doubt many plants were experimented with to drive away the ever present mosquito, the little biting gnats and fleas and other assorted insect pests. The Cherokees found that by pounding the root of the Goldenseal with bear fat and the mixture applied to their bodies to be a most effectual insect repellent. Pennyroyal, a mint, was much used, it's oil being rubbed on the body and a tea of the herb was used to bathe mosquito bites to give some relief.
Another remedy for mosquito bites as also other insect stings and poison ivy is the common jewel weed (Impatiens) that grows in damp places in eastern woodlands. The plant is noted by its light, translucent green leaves and stems and the beautiful, fragile orange or yellow flowers. The flowers are often freckled with reddish brown, and their waxy color makes them seem unreal. The Indians crush the stem and leaves, making a poultice that they dab and hold upon the affected part until the sting is alleviated. It is a quick relief for stings, and a manufacturing drug company has manufactured a lotion from the plant for poison ivy.
Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus), a common shrub on dry, rocky slopes of the foothills throughout the Rocky Mountains has been used to repel bedbugs by placing the whole leafy branches under the mattress.
The substance in Pennyroyal that seems to repel insects is terpene pulegone. This same substance is found in the Poleo mint (Mentha arvensis). Some of the common names of this mint are: Brook Mint, Indian Mint, and Horse Mint. This is the only native true mint in the United States. Its scent is a cross between Peppermint and Pennyroyal. An excellent stomach tonic, useful for colic or indigestion, it is also used to repel insects by rubbing the fresh leaves over the bare skin.
The blossoms of Painted Cup or Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja) and Beard tongue (Penstemon) were steeped together in hot water and the resulting liquid was applied to painful centipede bites by the Navajo Indians. The Indian Paintbrush was also used as a blood purifier and as such was a favorite remedy for venereal disease. Small amounts of the solution of the boiled roots were taken daily. If continued over a very long time, it was said to cure the affliction.
Lets consider another plant much used by the Indians: Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum). Dr. Christopher has said that Boneset is one of our great Indian remedies. The valuable medicinal herb was borrowed from the Indians by the white man and was one of the most frequently used home remedies during the last century. A Dr. C. F. Millspaugh in 1887 wrote, "There is probably no plant in American domestic practice that has more extensive or frequent use than boneset". The Indian usage of this herb was widespread. The Menominees used it to reduce fever; the Alabamas, to relieve stomachache; the Creeks, for body pain; the Iroquois and the Mohegans, for fever and colds.
Boneset was a favorite remedy for fever and colds at least one hundred years before it was listed in any American medical text. It was introduced to England for its medical properties in 1699. We find this common plant in wet ground, along streams and near swamps and thickets from Canada to Florida and west to Texas and Nebraska .
Dr. Millspaugh wrote of an experience a physician friend of his had with this valuable Indian remedy:
When he was a young man, he was attacked with intermittent fever, which lasted off and on for three years. Being of a bilious temperament, he grew at length sallow, emaciated, and hardly able to get about. As he sat one day, resting by the side of the road, an old lady of his acquaintance told him to go home and have some boneset "fixed," and it would certainly cure him. (He had been given, during the years he suffered, quinine, cinchonine bark and all its known derivatives, as well as cholagogue, and every other substance then known to the regular practitioner, without effect; the attacks coming on latterly twice a day.) On reaching home, with the aid of the fences and buildings along the way, he received a tablespoonful of a decoction of boneset evaporated until it was about the consistency of syrup, and immediately went to bed. He had hardly lain down when insensibility and stupor came on, passing into deep sleep. On awakening in the morning, he felt decidedly better, and from that moment improved rapidly without further medication, gaining flesh and strength daily. No attack returned for twenty years, when a short one was brought on by lying down in a marsh while hunting.
Dr. Christopher taught that the herb was cleansing to the stomach, liver, bowels, uterus, and skin; and though it manifests great power, it is quite safe and harmless, being useful for all types of fevers, influenza, catarrh, skin diseases, dyspepsia, constipation, night sweats, indigestion bilious conditions, jaundice, muscular rheumatism, bronchitis, sore throat, chills, emesis, and general debility.
The tea was taken cold as a tonic, diuretic and warm as a diaphoretic emetic in large doses.
This has been just a very very brief look at our valuable herbal heritage from the Indians. Certainly they did not have all of the answers but neither do we but by studying their experience with the herb for healing plus our own experience, we have come up with a valuable knowledge of treating the body from Nature's storehouse of remedies.
Bibliography
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1976 School of Natural Healing. Provo, Utah.
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1973 Indian Herbalogy of North America. Garden City Press Limited, London, England.
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1975 A Guide To The Medicinal Plants. Quadrangle, The New York Times Book Co., New York, NY
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A Treasury of American Indian Herbs. Bonanza Books, New York, New York.
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