Medicinal Monday Potentilia Canadensis- Part of a large family

There are over 300 species in the potentilla plant family that can be found all over the world. The Dwarf Cinquefoil, a species of cinquefoil (genus Potentilla) is native to North America. This interesting little plant is in the rose family and has a strawberry-like look. Native Americans have used this plant for centuries in traditional medicine.

About Dwarf Cinquefoil
Similar to Barren strawberry and strawberries, the dwarf cinquefoil spread by an underground system of rhizomes. The stems of this plant are hairy with five-parted oblong leaves that have blade teeth and are rather rounded at the tip in profile. Similar to the strawberry plant, dwarf cinquefoils have runners. Bright yellow flowers bloom on a single stem in June and July. The petals are not fused. The fruit of this plant is dry and has just one seed. The plants can be found in meadows, fields, and along stone walls.

Medicinal Uses
This plant is a natural astringent and was widely used to treat diarrhea, dysentery, and sore throats. The Iroquois would pound the roots and take them to treat diarrhea. A decoction of leaves and stems would be used as a topical solution for inflammation of the body and joints. The Natchez that lived in the Lower Mississippi Valley, near the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi would use this plant to treat someone that was bewitched in order to break the spell.

Did You Know...

The fruit of this plant doesn't split when it is ripe.

This plant is sometimes confused with potentilla angelica.

Dwarf Cinquefoil can be found in all New England states.

Most cinquefoil species have similar yellow or white flowers so identification is based on leaves.

Two Outdoor Events August 29 and 30 @ the Institute for American Indian Studies

Finding the perfect end of the summer outing can be a challenge.  Not to worry, the Institute for American Indian Studies in Washington, Connecticut is offering two good options on August 29 and 30. The special programs planned will get parents and children out in the fresh air and participating in a variety of activities that make the Institute a perfect spot for a late August day trip.  These innovative programs are sure to bring you and your family closer to nature creating the perfect backdrop for a hands-on experience. 

The first program, on Saturday, August 29 takes place from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. If you want to learn more about river ecology and bugs, this program is a must! Families and youngsters will take a half-mile walk to the Shepaug River to look for the creatures that live in and around the water. This interactive program will teach families about the bugs and the animals and fish that live in and near the river. Kids will enjoy the challenge of spotting bugs, frogs, and other creatures. A highlight will be to learn about what these animals tell us about the health of this ecosystem and the steps we can take to help preserve it.  It is suggested that participants wear water shoes so that they can get into the action on the river.

The second outdoor program offered by the Institute will take place on Sunday, August 30th from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and will focus on the natural history of birds, bears, and beavers. Lead by Susan Scherf, museum educator, and former wildlife rehabilitator, attendees will participate in an interesting discussion about the wildlife that can be found in northwest Connecticut. It is fun to learn about the habitat that these wild animals live in. This wildlife experience will bring out the "naturalist" in all participants and give tips on how to spot local wildlife and the steps we can take to protect these beautiful animals.

These two events at the Institute for American Indian Studies are included in the price of admission; $10 adults, $8 seniors, $6 children. Members are free. Due to COVID-19, the Institute is practicing social distancing at all outdoor events. The museum is also open and if visitors want to visit it before or after an event, masks are required. 

About the Insitute for American Indian Studies
Located on 15 acres of woodland acres the Institute For American Indian Studies preserves and educates through archeology, research, exhibitions, and programs. They have the 16^th c. Algonquian Village, Award-Winning Wigwam Escape, and a museum with temporary and permanent displays of authentic artifacts from prehistory to the present that allows visitors to foster a new understanding of the world and the history and culture of Native Americans. The Institute for American Indian Studies is located on 38 Curtis Road, Washington, CT.

Medicinal Monday...Blue for Bluets

Bluets, also known as azure bluets or Quaker ladies are members of the family Rubiaceae and are known for their beautiful blue color. Native Americans found medicinal uses for this tiny and delicate perennial wildflower that is native to the Eastern United States.

About Bluets
Bluets first appear in the spring but can continue to bloom in the summer and fall. The flowers appear on a 2 to 2 and a half inch stalk and have 1/2 wide four-lobed flowers that are pale blue with a yellow center. Each stalk supports just one flower. The flowers are very small but they bloom in mounding clusters and can form large colonies creating a carpet of blooms. The foliage is a basal rosette. Bluets thrive in moist acidic soil in shady areas and grow especially well in the grass. Bluets self-seed and once you see them in one area, you will most likely see them in the same place the following year.

Medicinal Uses
The Cherokee used an infusion of bluets to cure bedwetting. The flowers were also brewed as a tea to strengthen the bladder.

Did You Know...
Bluets are called Quaker ladies because the shape of the flower is similar to hats once worn by women of the Quaker faith.

Bees and other insects visit this flower for nectar.

The flower symbolism of bluets is contentment.

Bluets are also known as Little washerwoman, Venus's pride, Little innocents, and eyebright.

Medicinal Monday...the largest indigenous fruit in America - PawPaw

You might be surprised to find out that the largest fruit native to America could be in your very own backyard. It is called the pawpaw which has a large range that extends from Canada to Florida. Native Americans used this tree for medicinal purposes and encouraged its growth. Its scientific name, Asimina is derived from the Algonquin name for the tree. Native American cultivation of pawpaw is responsible for the tree's range today.  For a video on the Pawpaw produced by the Institute for American Indian Studies click here.

About the Pawpaw
This tree is in the Annonaceae family and is related to African custard apples, soursop, and cherimoya. In the wild, pawpaws are found as understory trees in humus-rich soil, along rivers and stream banks. Pawpaws flower in mid.-May and are purple in color. The unusual upturned appearance of the flowers that resemble trillium blossoms. Their scent, which is often described as "fetid" attracts beetles and blowflies that help with pollination. The fruit that this tree bears is mango shaped and greenish-brown when ripe. In Connecticut, pawpaws ripen from mid-September through mid-October. The fruit can weigh up to a pound and has a taste that is a cross between a mango, banana, and pineapple.

Culinary and Other Uses
The fruit of the pawpaw tree was enjoyed by many Native American tribes in Connecticut and New York, west to Oklahoma and south to Florida. Lewis and Clarke depended on them on their westward trek nearly 300 years ago. Many Native American communities cultivated pawpaws and looked forward to eating them raw and cooked. The Shawnee have a "pawpaw" month dedicated to this fruit in their calendar in August.

One popular way used by many Native American communities is to mash the fruit and dry it into small cakes that could be reconstituted later for cooking. Pawpaws are packed with nutrition. They are very high in vitamin C, B, and potassium, and are high in fat. Native Americans used the tough, fibrous inner bark of the pawpaw tree to make rope, fishing nets, and mats.  Native American communities would also grind the seeds into a powder to deter head lice.

Did You Know...
Insects and deer show a natural aversion to pawpaws. The leaves, bark and unripe fruit contain a natural insecticide called Annonaceous acetogenins that may also be useful in fighting drug-resistant cancer.

Pawpaws do not bear fruit until they are six to eight years old.

Pawpaws were a favorite of Thomas Jefferson and a beautiful pawpaw tree can be found at his home in Monticello.

The largest pawpaw tree in Connecticut is located in the lawn between the Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe houses in Hartford.

The Pawpaw tunnel in Maryland and the Paw Paw Bends of the Potomac River near Paw Paw township in West Virginia are all named after the Pawpaw tree.

The third Sunday in September has been designated as National Pawpaw Day by the National Calendar.

Medicinal Monday...Jack in the Pulpit Pretty and Dangerous

Jack in the Pulpit, also commonly called Indian turnip is a perennial plant in the Arum family that includes its close relatives, like skunk cabbage and arrow arum. It is noted for its hooded flower that blooms in the spring. Although the roots, berries, and foliage are poisonous to humans, Native American communities did find a way to use this spring plant medicinally.

About

The plant’s underground corm (root system) that produces one to two stems that can be up to two feet tall. Each stem has three broad leaflets. A third stem holds a single hooded flower, which emerges in late spring or early summer. The flower looks unusual in the Connecticut woodlands with its maroon stripes and green hood.  The hood of the flower is known as the spathe or the "pulpit" and contains a finger-like center spadix (or spike of flowers),  called the "jack". The flower has a fungal smell that attracts insects to its flower assuring pollination. Jack-in-the-Pulpit produces a mace-like cluster of red berries in the fall that is poisonous to humans but can be eaten by some wildlife.  The plant grows in wet woodlands and thickets. It is native to Eastern North America.

Medicinal Uses and Culinary Uses

No part of this plant can be eaten raw. The plant contains calcium oxalate crystals that cause a powerful burning sensation and will affect breathing. Native Americans harvest the fleshy underground corms of the Jack-in-the-pulpit plant that resemble tubers and would cook and consume them in a manner similar to eating onions or potatoes. Native Americans also dry the corms and then ground them into flour.

Medicinally many Native Americans made a topical ointment to treat skin conditions and soreness. The Iroquois make an infusion of the corms and use it as a contraceptive drink for women. The Choctaw use a decoction of the root as a blood medicine and purifier. Additional medicinal uses include the treatment of sore eyes, snakebite, and rheumatism.

Folklore notes that the Meskwaki would chop the raw corm up and mix it with meat and leave it behind for their enemies to find and eat. The taste of oxalate in the raw corms could not be tasted because of the flavored meat and those eating the meat would die in great pain.

Did You Know

Although the foliage, berries, and roots are poisonous to humans the roots can be eaten if cooked or dried for at least six months. Ingestion of the raw plant can result in choking or blisters. The foliage irritates the skin so be sure to wear gloves when touching it.

Birds and other small animals that eat the berries help to spread the plant after ingestion.

Other names for Jack-in-the-pulpit are Indian turnip, bog onion, and brown dragon.

Sometimes Jack-in-the-pulpit is mistaken for poison ivy because of its three green leaves, but this plant's leaves are generally larger and the plant is generally bigger than poison ivy. Look for the hooded flower and berries to be sure.

Medicinal Monday - Milkweed, Monarchs and Medicine

Milkweed is the key to the life cycle of Monarch Butterflies.  In May and June, these glorious insects lay their eggs on milkweed leaves because it is the only thing that monarch caterpillars will eat. And, by July and August, adult Monarch Butterflies feast on the nectar of the flowers. Milkweed is not only useful to Monarch Butterflies, the Chippewa, Iroquois, and Meskwaki found many interesting uses for this plant ranging from pediatric aids to witchcraft.

About Swamp Milkweed
True to its name the upright Swamp Milkweed is commonly found in sunny openings in swamps, bogs, marshes, fens, and along river banks.  The leaves have a lance-like shape and are smooth and narrow with sharp tips.  Swamp milkweed is a tall herbaceous moisture-loving, perennial plant that, like its common cousin, the milkweed, it exudes a milky juice when broken. Sometimes the edges of the leaf turn upward and are reminiscent of a ship.  According to the USDA, Swamp Milkweeds are found in every state in the U.S. except Arizona, Mississippi, and states with a Pacific Coastline.

Swamp milkweeds produce large showy blossoms that are composed of many small, star-shaped rose-colored florets.  The flowers give off a scent similar to cinnamon and cluster at the top of a graceful, upright stem that can grow up to four feet tall.  Monarch, red admiral, American lady, painted lady, swallowtail, fritillary, and hairstreak butterflies; along with bumblebees, honeybees, and hummingbirds seek the floral nectar.  The blooming season is early to late summer in wild populations.  The stems and leaves contain a milky sap that drips when plants are damaged.

After Swamp Milkweeds blossom they produce elongated brown seed pods that are up to four inches long.  The seed pods split open when ripe releasing brown seeds that are attached to silver-white silky hair that allows them to be carried on the wind.

Medicinal Uses of Swamp Milkweed
The Chippewa and the Iroquois used this plant as a pediatric aid; both used a cold infusion of roots as a strengthening bath; the infusion was used to help heal the navel of a newborn. The Chippewa also used a decoction of this plant as a diuretic. The Iroquois would weave the stem of a swamp milkweed plant into a chord and use it to extract teeth.  They also used this plant in witchcraft, making a decoction that would increase physical strength in order to be strong enough to punish a witch.  The Meskwaki used an infusion of swamp milkweed roots to drive out tapeworms. Several Native American communities applied the milky white sap to the skin in order to remove warts.  The roots were chewed to cure dysentery. The fluffy white floss attached to the milkweed's flat brown seeds were used to stuff quilts and were sometimes carried as tinder to start fires.

Did You Know

Swamp milkweed attracts a profusion of butterflies and is a favorite of the Monarch Butterfly, who actually lays its eggs on the milkweeds.

The leaves of all milkweed species are the only food that caterpillars of the American Monarch butterflies can eat.

Not all Monarch Butterflies are the same. The eastern variety found in Connecticut is slightly larger and lighter colored than their western brethren. Each follows a unique migratory route - Eastern Monarchs fly from Mexico to New England and Southern Canada and Western Monarchs migrate from Southern California up to British Columbia.

If a bird or a small animal eats a Monarch caterpillar full of milkweed toxins, the bird runs the risk of fatal damage to the heart, muscles, and kidneys.

If you plan on growing milkweed for Monarch Butterflies you can get your garden certified by Monarch Watch. You can also get involved in the Monarch Waystation Program this fall that is organized by this organization.

Swamp Milkweed is also known as swamp silkweed, white Indian hemp, and rose milkweed.

The sticky white sap contains a mild poison, its bitter taste warns away many animals and people too.

During World War II, the regular material used to stuff life jackets was in short supply, so milkweed floss was called for as a substitute—it is about six times more buoyant than cork!

The Latin name for this plant is Asclepias incarnata and was named for the Greek God of Medicine, Asklepios. Incarnata, is from the Latin carn, meaning flesh and atus, like, because its hue is sometimes like flesh or dusty rose in color. 

Plant Swamp Milkweed in your garden to provide much-needed habitat and food source for butterflies.  Without milkweeds, Monarch butterflies cannot reproduce.