Medicinal Monday - The Many Uses of Blackberries

Native Americans are renowned for their medicinal plant knowledge worldwide.  Some believe that they began to use certain plants after watching animals eat them, and by trial and error, they discovered what plants they could use to help cure certain illnesses.  Blackberries were used in culinary dishes and for medicinal purposes and were greatly prized.

About Blackberries

The blackberry or bramble is known worldwide with the majority of this plant species and subspecies being found in the Northern hemisphere.  This unusually prickly fruit-bearing plant is related to the rose family, and very closely related to raspberries.

According to botanists, the blackberry is not an actual berry, it is an "aggregate" of drupelets that ripen into black or dark purple berries. The leaves usually feature three to five oval coarsely toothed stalked leaflets and the flowers are white, pink or red.

Worldwide there are more than 375 species of the blackberry plant. This plant tolerates poor soil conditions and some species can be invasive, at one time American colonists considered them a serious weed problem.  The berries on this hardy plant are big, juicy and refreshingly tart and usually ripen in mid. to late summer when they are harvested.

Medicinal and Culinary Uses of Blackberries

Evidence suggests from all over the world that humans have eaten blackberries for thousands of years.  Native Americans used this berry to flavor stews and would eat them fresh off the stalk and make juice and tea from them.

More importantly, their leaves, roots, and berries were used as a medicinal herb by Native Americans. The Cherokee, Kiowa-Apache, Chippewa, Ojibwa, Menominee, Delaware, and Iroquois all make a decoction made from either blackberry roots or leaves to treat diarrhea. The Chippewa make a tea from the roots to treat lung problems.

A  cough medicine was made from honey or maple syrup mixed with blackberry root to heal sore throats and relieve coughing.   Some tribes would gargle with an infusion of blackberry roots and leaves to relieve mouth ulcers.  Some tribes chew blackberry leaves to sooth bleeding gums. The tannins in the plant not only tighten tissue, they also help to control minor bleeding.

Native Americans also constructed piles of the thorny stems of the blackberry plant around their village.  These piles of blackberry stems acted like a barrier that protected the village from predators.  Native Americans also extracted a dull blue dye from the fruit of the blackberry plant and used the dye for decorative purposes.

Did you know

Blackberries were called ‘bramble’ or brymbyl in old English and ‘brombeere’ in German.

The ancient Anglo-Saxons baked brambleberries into primitive pies to celebrate the first fruit feast of Lughnasadh at the beginning of August.

Blackberries are native to Asia, Europe. North America, Australia, Africa and South America and have the most widespread geographic origin of any fruit crop.

Blackberries are very high in antioxidants which are known to protect against inflammation, cancer, neurological diseases and aging.

Blackberries were supposed to give protection against all evil runes if gathered at the right time of the moon.

The Institute for American Indian Studies

Located on 15 woodland acres the IAIS has an outdoor Three Sisters and Healing Plants Gardens as well as a replicated 16th c. Algonkian Village.  Inside the museum, authentic artifacts are displayed in permanent, semi-permanent and temporary exhibits from prehistory to the present that allows visitors a walk through time. The Institute for American Indian Studies is located on 38 Curtis Road in Washington Connecticut and can be reached online or by calling 860-868-0518.

The Institute for American Indian Studies preserves and educates through discovery and creativity the diverse traditions, vitality, and knowledge of Native American cultures. Through archaeology, the IAIS is able to build new understandings of the world and history of Native Americans, the focus is on stewardship and preservation.  This is achieved through workshops, special events, and education for students of all ages.

Medicinal Monday - Astounding Bloodroot!

Many Native Americans are brought up with a rich cultural practice that teaches them that every living thing, plant or animal has a special purpose and a place in the world. Bloodroot has a long and fascinating history and was used by Native Americans in many ways from romantic pursuits to poison.  The Algonquin called bloodroot puccoon or paucon which means "blood red."  This name comes from the Powhatan Indian word, poughkone or pohcoons, which colonists in Virginia recorded as meaning red paint or red dye.

About Bloodroot

Sanguinaria canadensis or bloodroot is a beautiful wildflower that emerges in the spring and usually blooms between April and June in Connecticut. It is native to the Eastern North American woodlands from Nova Scotia through New England and can be found as far south as Florida. It is found in shaded areas surrounded by tall hardwood trees and prefers rich soil.

Bloodroot is a member of the poppy family and like its cousin, it contains opium alkaloids.  Bloodroot has an ephemeral quality because it blooms for only one or two days.  The plant reaches six to nine inches and the blossoms are about three inches across and have eight to twelve pedals making the flower rather large for its relatively small size.  

Medicinal and Decorative Uses

The name bloodroot comes from the fact that red sap is bled from the roots of these wildflowers.  This sap is used by many tribes as a dye for clothing and baskets, as well as for face paint.  The Chippewa dig up the roots in the fall and use the sap to make brilliant red dyes. The Iroquois extracted the rhizomes of the bloodroot plant to make an orange or yellow fabric dye.

In some of the Algonquin villages, bloodroot was associated with romance and men would wear bloodroot paint when they courted women. It was used as a charm by the young men of the Ponca tribe who would put the sap of this plant on their palm and shake hands with the maiden they desired to marry.  If this charm worked, the maiden would marry within five or six days.

Bloodroot was also widely used by Native Americans as a poison, and in small doses as an herbal medicine for treating ringworm, warts, polyps, fungal growths, and skin cancer.

Did you know....

Bloodroot depends on ants to spread its seeds. The ants carry the seeds to their nests and consume part of the plant discarding the seeds in their nest which is the perfect environment for germination.

Bloodroot does not have nectar, however, its large yellow anthers trick insects into transporting its pollen.

In the early years of North American settlement, bloodroot was exported to France and used to dye wool.

Today bloodroot is used in very small doses in herbal remedies to treat severe throat infections and bronchial problems.  An extract is used in some toothpaste to fight plaque.

The FDA considers bloodroot unsafe and discourages the use of this plant in herbal medicine.

The Institute for American Indian Studies

Located on 15 woodland acres the IAIS has an outdoor Three Sisters and Healing Plants Gardens as well as a replicated 16th c. Algonkian Village.  Inside the museum, authentic artifacts are displayed in permanent, semi-permanent and temporary exhibits from prehistory to the present that allows visitors a walk through time. The Institute for American Indian Studies is located on 38 Curtis Road in Washington Connecticut and can be reached online or by calling 860-868-0518.

The Institute for American Indian Studies preserves and educates through discovery and creativity the diverse traditions, vitality, and knowledge of Native American cultures. Through archaeology, the IAIS is able to build new understandings of the world and history of Native Americans, the focus is on stewardship and preservation.  This is achieved through workshops, special events, and education for students of all ages.

Digging the Past - By Land and Lake

The Institute for American Indian Studies is hosting a free event on July 22 and on July 28 on Lake Waramaug at the Warren Town Beach located on North Shore Road off of Rte. 45 on the New Preston and Warren Town line.   From 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. participants will experience the historic legacy of our Native American past by taking a free ride in an authentically made Native American dugout canoe and watching an archeological dig that is taking place in a meadow across the street.

Dugout Canoe Rides

Today cars, cell phones, social media, and the Internet connect us, it is the way most of us share ideas and keep in touch with each other.  For the Eastern Woodland Indians, rivers and waterways served as the high-speed highways that connected tribes as the quickest way to move from place to place. The importance of dugout canoes or mishoon as they are called in Wampanoag and Algonkian languages were like today's digital cables because they connected tribes and spread ideas.  Dugout canoes also facilitated fishing, hunting, and trade during pre and post contact time. 

This free opportunity to paddle in an authentically made dugout canoe is a once in a lifetime experience that gives us a glimpse into Native American's rich cultural history of how indigenous people lived in the Eastern Woodlands.  Jeff Kalin, one of the leading primitive technologists in the country made this dugout canoe using traditional Native American construction methods.

About Native American Dugout Canoes

Making a dugout canoe is a mammoth undertaking and began with taking down a massive tree that was usually located near a river or lake.  To fell a tree for a dugout canoe, Native Americans coated the base of a tree with mud and straw and built a fire that charred the trunk.  As soon as the tree was down, the bark (that would be used to build wigwams) was removed and the ends of the trunk was cut and shaped into a point so that the canoe would move either direction. A small fire was started on top of the stripped tree trunk to burn out the top and bottom surface of the trunk.  Stone hand tools would be used to scrape out and hollow the log and flatten the bottom of the canoe.  The final step was to coat the canoe in bear grease to waterproof the wood.

Archeological Dig - July 22

If you are interested in archeology, this is your chance to dig into the past with The Litchfield Hills Archaeology Club on July 22.  The excavation will take place within walking distance of the dugout canoe launch spot on North Shore Road from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. 

                                     

It is exciting to watch the challenge of finding where and how ancient people once lived in Connecticut where there are so few above ground clues.  Perhaps, in this newly excavated area, an artifact may be found that has not been touched by human hands since it was discarded hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago – artifacts that may shed light on how ancient man lived in Connecticut and in our beautiful Eastern Woodlands.

The Institute for American Indian Studies

Located on 15 woodland acres the IAIS has an outdoor Three Sisters and Healing Plants Gardens as well as a replicated 16th c. Algonkian Village.  Inside the museum, authentic artifacts are displayed in permanent, semi-permanent and temporary exhibits from prehistory to the present that allows visitors a walk through time. The Institute for American Indian Studies is located on 38 Curtis Road in Washington Connecticut and can be reached online or by calling 860-868-0518.

The Institute for American Indian Studies preserves and educates through discovery and creativity the diverse traditions, vitality, and knowledge of Native American cultures. Through archaeology, the IAIS is able to build new understandings of the world and history of Native Americans, the focus is on stewardship and preservation.  This is achieved through workshops, special events, and education for students of all ages.

Medicinal Monday - Gooseberries or Currants?

A flavorful shrub in the currant family produces a flavorful fruit popular with Native Americans called a gooseberry.  The gooseberry is another name for several of the many varieties of currants that grow all over North America. The name gooseberry is a direct translation of the Kiowa, Omaha and Ponca terms for this fruit.

About Gooseberries

Currant bushes are small and grow no more than six feet tall and usually measure about three feet. They have fragrant yellow five petal flowers in May or June and round black, red, or blue color fruit that usually ripens in July and August. Gooseberries usually grow on hillsides or on the border of woods or near swamps and beside rivers and streams.

Cultivated forms of gooseberries are divided into either European or American; the difference is in the size of the fruit and the flavor.  North American gooseberries are said to be smaller and have less flavor than there European counterpart, however, they are more resistant to diseases.

Medicinal and Culinary Uses

Native Americans ate gooseberries raw, they also cooked with them. Gooseberries were also dried or preserved and made into jellies or jams.  The Hidatsa tribe considered gooseberries a desireable wild fruit, while the Hopi, would caution against eating too much of this fruit because it could make you sick to your stomach. The Gitksan of British Columbia put them in thin dry cakes that they ate with oil of eulachon, salmon, groundhog, or bear during the winter months. Many tribes made dried currant cakes and also used them in soup and to flavor stews.  The leaves of the plant were dried for tea and the young leaves were cooked with meat.

The Kiowa used the raw fruit of the gooseberry as a remedy for snakebite because they believed that snakes did not like this berry and kept away from this shrub. A decoction made from the steam of the skunk red current was used to prevent blood clotting after giving birth.  Other parts of this plant were used to treat colds, coughs, diabetes, diarrhea and to prevent miscarriages.

Did You Know...

There are many types of gooseberries or currants including the wax, bear, squaw, buffalo, clove, black, Missouri, golden and flowering currants.

Gooseberries are tart, low in calories, fat and cholesterol free and high in Vitamin C and A.

Gooseberries and currents can be easily distinguished by thorns; gooseberries usually have thorns and currants do not.

In the early 1900s the Federal and State Governments outlawed the growing of currants and gooseberries to prevent the spread of white pine blister rust.  Massachusetts still prohibits the cultivation of this plant.