Medicinal Monday - Tale of the Tamarack Tree

The Tamarack tree is also known as eastern larch, black larch, red larch or American larch is a tree species native to Canada and the northeastern United States. The word tamarack is an Algonquian name for the species and means "wood used for snowshoes".  The Algonquian people and the indigenous peoples of Canada's northwest regions had many practical and medicinal uses for this tree.

About Tamarack
The Larix laricina is a small to medium-sized tree that can grow up to 66 feet tall with a 24-inch trunk in diameter.  The Tamarack is considered a deciduous conifer, which means that it sheds its leaves every season, usually in the fall.  The bark is tight and flakey in appearance and is pinkish in color on the outside, and red underneath.  The male flowers are yellow-green and the female flowers are red. The needle-like leaves are a light blue-green that turn bright yellow before they fall off in the autumn, leaving pale pink shoots bare until the following spring. 

The Tamarack's egg-shaped cones are tiny.  In the first year, the cone is pink, as it matures it turns deep red, and, by the second year it turns a lustrous brown in the fall.  The cone can stay on the branch for up to two years.  The seed cones are small usually less than 3/4 of an inch long and have brown scales.  Tamaracks tolerate the cold well and can usually be found near swamps, bogs, and other lowland areas.  In Connecticut, they can also be found in mixed stands of trees.

Medicinal Uses of the Tamarack

The Abnaki used a decoction of the bark to treat coughs and, the Algonquin, make a cough medicine from the tree's needles and inner bark.  In addition, the Algonquin found many uses for this tree. For example, they made a poultice of inner bark and needles that were used to treat infections. In another treatment, an infusion of young branches was taken as a laxative.  Both the Abnaki and the Algonquin made tea from the needles and roots of this tree.  The Anticosti used a decoction of bark from several trees including the Tamarack tree to treat kidney problems.  The Chippewa made an infusion of the bark and used it to treat anemic conditions.  They also made a dressing of chopped inner bark to treat wounds.

The Cree, Woodlands boiled the inner part of the bark and wood and applied it to frostbite or deep cuts; while a warm poultice of boiled inner bark was applied to help draw out infections.  The Iroquois fermented a decoction of needles and roots that were taken to treat soreness,  rheumatism, and fever.  A fermented compound decoction was also used as a stimulant.  The Malecite used an infusion of bark to treat colds and general tiredness.  The Menominee used the bark to treat inflammation. They also used an infusion of bark as a veterinary aid for their horses.

The Montagnais used an infusion of buds as an expectorant.  The Ojibwa used dried needles as a disinfectant and fumigator; and used the roots and bark as general medicine.  The Ojibwa South boiled and crushed the needles and bark and used it as herbal steam to treat headaches and backaches.  The Potawatomi used a poultice of fresh inner bark to treat wounds and infections; they also prepared shredded inner bark mixed with oats to keep the hide of their horses loose.  

Practical Uses of the Tamarack
The Cree used parts of the Tamarack tree to make toboggans, snowshoes, and canoes. The Cree made a goose hunting decoy from Tamarack twigs. The making of Tamarack twig goose decoys as an aid in hunting has been passed down from generation to generation that continues today as an important part of Cree heritage.

Native Americans also boil and eat the tender spring shoots of Tamarack; they use the bark for tanning, and they grind the inner bark for flour.

Did You Know...

Connecticut's Notable Trees website established by the CT Botanical Society, The CT Urban Forest Council, and the CT College Arboretum lists a notable Tamarack tree in Glastonbury Connecticut that has a circumference of 72 inches and a height of 66 feet with an average spread of 36 feet.  This tree is considered a Connecticut Champion.

This is one of the few conifer trees that is not an evergreen.

The lifespan of this tree is 180 years.

The tamarack can survive very cold temperatures of -65 degrees Celsius/-85 degrees Fahrenheit.

In Alaska sometimes tamarack branches have been used for runners on dog sleds.

The Ojibwa word for Tamarack is muckigwatig meaning swamp tree.

New Exhibition @ The Institute for American Indian Studies The Legend of Lover’s Leap

When visiting Lover's Leap State Park in New Milford, you might wonder how this relatively new State Park founded in 1971 got its name. If you want to know about the legend of Lover's Leap and the fascinating history of this scenic spot then head to the Institute for American Indian Studies located on Curtis Road in Washington Connecticut to see the new exhibition.  The Lover's Leap Exhibition will be on display through July 2019.

The Heart of the Matter

The Legend of Weantinaug tells the story of Lillinoah, daughter of Chief Waramaug who fell in love with a European settler from Stratford.  The elders of her village, Weantiaug, wanted to kill him; she pleaded for his life and saved him.  The young man stayed in the village for several seasons and, consequently, he and Lillinoah became engaged.  Eventually, he told Lillinoah that he had to leave the village so he could tell his family of their engagement.  Lillinoah waited for the young man to return for more than a year, to no avail.  Like any concerned parent, Chief Waramaug told Eagle Feather, one of his bravest warriors to marry his daughter, Linninoah.  Distraught at the thought of marrying someone she did not love, Lillinoah slipped out the night before her wedding and rowed over the falls, just as she did, her lover came upon her and jumped in to join her.  They drowned together giving the bluff that overlooks the Housatonic River the name, Lover's Leap.

The Legend of Weantinaug has become part of the cultural heritage of the Litchfield Hills and is told in this exhibition with interesting historical notes and lavish illustrations.  Ironically, the Institute has identified fifty Lover's Leap stories around the country where lovers are said to actually take the plunge.  Most of the stories identified have at least one Native character, usually, a woman falling in love with a white man or forbidden lovers from two warring tribes.

Visitors to this exhibition will travel from the Pre-European contact life of Native Americans and the legends they left behind for us to ponder to the gilded age of the Hurd Estate.  As the exhibition moves through time it traces the exciting development of the regions industrial heritage and the ways in which the landscape was altered forever as the need for hydroelectric power became increasingly important in the 20th century.

About 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.  Book Connecticut's exciting new attraction, Wigwam Escape 1518 and get into the Museum for half price.

Medicinal Monday - Bitter Dock

Although this unusual plant is not native to New England Bitter Dock or Rumex obtusifolius after it was introduced to New England spread to wetlands, meadows, and fields as well on to the shorelines of rivers and lakes.  Native Americans found several interesting uses for this plant.

About Bitter Dock

This perennial herb is a member of the Polygonaceae family and is easily recognizable by its broad wavy oval leaves that have rounded tips and cordate bases. They are similar to basal leaves. Some of the bottom leaves have red stems.  The flowers bloom in Connecticut from June to October and the seeds ripen from July through October. The flowers cluster in whorls at the top of the plant and each branch has ten to twenty-five flowers that are light green to pink in color. The seeds have sharp spines and pollinate by the wind. Bitter Dock can grow up to three feet tall.  They prefer shady areas with moist soil.

Medicinal Uses

The Chippewa used an infusion of the root as a dermatological aid to treat skin eruptions on children. The Delaware and the Oklahoma had two uses for an infusion of the root as a blood purifier and to treat jaundice. The Iroquois made a compound decoction of the roots and used this to treat blood disorders and, it was also used as a contraceptive. A decoction of the root was given to children to treat whooping cough.

Did you Know...

Young leaves are edible fresh or cooked and get more bitter the older they are.

Because the flowers are wind-pollinated they do not attract insects.  They do attract a number of birds that help spread the seeds to new areas.

In folklore, it is said that touching bitter dock is an antidote to a nettle sting.

In the 1959 Weeds Act, this plant was named one of the five injurious weeds because it proliferated in pasture land.