Medicinal Monday... the Stately Eastern Hemlock

This coniferous tree native to the eastern portion of North America including Connecticut and parts of  Maritime Canada is a slow-growing evergreen that lives a very long time. This tree is the largest native evergreen conifer in the Eastern USA. Native American communities found many uses for this beautiful tree.

About the Eastern Hemlock

Tsuga canadensis or the Eastern Hemlock may take up to 250 to 300 years to reach maturity and may live for 800 years or more. Unlike most conifers, the eastern hemlock has to have shade provided by hardwood trees in order to regenerate. This tree needs moist soil that is well-drained and can grow from sea level to 2,500 feet in elevation. It can be found through the western one-third of Wisconsin, east to Michigan, south-central Ontario, southern Quebec through New Brunswick, and all of Nova Scotia. It is found throughout New England and New York. It extends south through the Appalachian Mountains to northern Alabama. The trunk of this tree is usually straight and monopodial and very rarely forked. The brownish bark is scaly and deeply fissured, especially with age. The twigs are yellow-brown and the buds are small and oval in shape. The slightly toothed delicate leaves are flat and two-ranked. The bottom of the leaves is silvery-white with two broad pores or stomatal bands and the top is shiny green. The seed cones are ovoid in shape. This tree produces both male and female cones on the same branch. It is notable for its fine-textured foliage that droops to the ground and its pyramidal shape. 

Medicinal Uses

Many Native American communities valued the eastern hemlock tree for its medicinal uses because of the tannin in its bark. Many communities brewed tea from the bark and also made ointments to treat burns and sores. The Abnaki made a decoction from the leaves to treat rheumatism and the Algonquin made a decoction of branches which they boiled down into a thick syrup or paste that they used like a poultice for arthritis. The Algonquin also made a decoction of the inner bark and used it to treat skin diseases like eczema, and tea was made of the inner bark to treat coughs and colds. The Cherokee chewed the roots for gastrointestinal issues and made a poultice of the bark to treat skin conditions. The Cherokee and Algonquin used a compound decoction as an aid in childbirth. The Chippewa pulverized the inner bark and applied it to wounds to disinfect them, they also made an infusion of twigs and drank this mixture to treat dysentery. The Delaware made a hot tea of roots and twigs and used it as a steam treatment for stiff and sore joints. The Iroquois made a decoction of leaves and bark and used it as steam for sore joints and as a foot bath. They also made a decoction of smashed needles to treat colds and fevers and to induce sweating. The Malecite made an infusion of the branches of this tree and used it to treat colds and an infusion of young buds and cones was used to treat diarrhea. The Ojibwa made tea from the leaves to flavor medicinal tea, they also used the bark as an antiseptic to treat bleeding wounds. The Potawatomi used an infusion of leaves to cause sweating to break up a cold.

Practical Uses

Among the many uses of the eastern hemlock, many Native American communities used the bark to make a dye, and some communities mixed the bark with rock dust to set the color of the dye. The color of the dye was a rosy tan. The wood was used for kindling and fuel and the inner bark was used to make baskets. Bark strips were used in the construction of wigwams. The bark was also used as a source of tannic acid used in the tanning process.

Did You Know

This tree provides shelter for wildlife in the winter because its branches bow but don't break from the snow providing cover. The oil-rich seeds found in their cones provide food for many species of birds and other wildlife.

Eastern hemlock is susceptible to fire because of its shallow roots and thin bark.

To date, the oldest recorded tree in Tionesta, Pennsylvania, is over 554 years old.

This species is currently threatened by hemlock wooly adelgid, a sap-sucking bug introduced from East Asia to the U.S. in 1924. A research project in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park is being conducted to save the largest and tallest trees remaining in the park.

The tree can be found living in association with many forest mushrooms.

In New England, the Eastern Native Tree Society has measured eastern hemlock trees growing to 138 feet.

It was introduced to British gardens in 1736 and is often used as a hedge.

American pioneers made tea from its branches and also used its branches as brooms.

Medicinal Monday...Cranberries - Packing a Healthy Punch!

 A staple accompaniment to turkey during the holidays, the little cranberry native to northern North America called the Vaccinium oxycoccos was long prized by Native Americans. Cranberries are an important food source and also had many medicinal uses. 

About Cranberries

This genus of cranberry is widespread throughout northern Europe, Asia, and North America. It is a small evergreen shrub with vine-like stems that root at the nodes. The lance-shaped leaves are small and leathery. This plant produces flowers on stalks that arise from axils of leaf-like bracts at the base of new shoots. The flowers are white to pinkish and resemble a lily because of the way the lance-like petals curl back. The slender stalks are hairy and reddish in color. The mature fruit is a shiny dark red round berry that is between 1/4 and 1/2 inch in diameter. The plant flowers in June and July and the fruits ripen in September and October. The cranberry is found in wetlands and bogs and spreads by layering.

Medicinal And Culinary Use

Cranberries are foraged and consumed by Native Americans. The 1999 Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink states: "The Native Americans of New England, who called them sassamensesh or ibimi, long enjoyed cranberries, both raw or sweetened with maple sugar." They were also dried and stored for later use. Berries were added to soups, boiled down into a sauce, and ground into flour that is used for flavoring. Some Inupiat cook cranberries with fish, eggs, and blubber." 

Native Americans use berries, twigs, and bark for medicinal purposes that includes the treatment of bladder ailments and kidney disease. A poultice of cranberries is made to help heal wounds and tumors. This is a good idea because cranberries have properties that fight off common bacteria. The Ojibwa make an infusion of the cranberry plant and use it to treat nausea.

Did You Know...

Cranberry flowers attract native bees, butterflies, and moths.

Cranberry leaves stay green all winter long.

Other names for the Vaccinium oxycoccos include bounce berry, marsh-wort, fen berry, moss berry, northern cranberry, small cranberry

We consume about 400 million pounds of cranberries a year.

English settlers arriving on the coast of New England ate cranberries to ward off scurvy.

Today many studies show that cranberries have high levels of a class of polyphenols that give the berry its red color making it very high in antioxidants. 

Today some people drink cranberry juice to help ward off bladder infections. Cranberries have a compound of properties that prevent common bacteria from attaching to cell walls.

Indigenous Artists & More Holiday Market @ Institute for American Indian Studies November 26 & 27, December 3 & 4, 10 & 11

 Once again this year, the Institute for American Indian Studies located at 38 Curtis Road in Washington is hosting a one-of-a-kind holiday shopping experience that celebrates Native American culture. What makes this Holiday Market unique is that it pays tribute to indigenous people across the United States and provides a spectacular opportunity to see Native American-inspired work that is handmade, artfully displayed, and sold. 

The Holiday Market located in one of the Institute’s impressive exhibition galleries takes place on Saturday, November 26, and Sunday, November 27, and Saturday, December 3, and Sunday, December 4. The final weekend for the holiday market is on Saturday, December 10, and Sunday, December 11. The market is free and open to the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. 

A tour of the museum is an insightful experience that compliments this unique shopping experience. Entrance to the museum is a nominal fee ($12 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $8 for children; members of the museum are free), and includes the newly installed national traveling exhibit, “Nebizun: Water is Life, “curated by Vera Longtoe Sheehan (Elnu Abenaki) of the Abenaki Arts and Education Center. 

The Holiday Market has so many gifts to choose from including Native American jewelry, paintings, photography, and unusual ornaments perfect for Christmas trees to decorative gourds, pottery, rattles, flutes, and more at a variety of price points. The chance to talk with the artists that have created these one-of-a kind objects and to learn about the culture that inspired them makes your gift purchase even more meaningful. 

For music lovers, musicians, and collectors, the magical sounding authentic Woodland Native American flutes handcrafted by Allan Madahbee are truly unique. Madahbee is an Anishnawbe, born on Manitoulin Island, and is a registered Native American in Canada and the United States. In addition to the one-of-a-kind flutes, Madahbee is offering handmade beaded moccasins, woodcarvings, rock sculptures, and original paintings inspired by his ancestors and experiences. 

Another vendor, Kim Lewis from Native Visions will be offering an astounding array of Native American Art from Oklahoma and the Southwest including a fine selection of original paintings and prints, Zuni Fetishes, silver jewelry, pottery by Mel Cornshucker, plus Hopi, and Navajo Kachinas. 

A long-time favorite of the Holiday Market is Primitive Technologies, a nationally known small business that has worked with everyone from filmmakers to museum curators to recreate the material culture of prehistoric Native American life. They offer exquisite wood-fired replica pottery, hand constructed from local river clay, hand-carved flint arrowheads and flint animal necklaces, carved stone art, traditional stone tools, containers made out of natural materials, unusual jewelry, and decorative gourds. 

Jessie Rose, from the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, and owner of Rooted in Alchemy will have an array of herbal mixtures including sage, sweetgrass, cedar, and more. Brandi Sawyer, (BThunder Ah'Hel'Ya) of Cherokee descent, will also be at the holiday market with a wonderful selection of contemporary Native American-inspired art.

The Museum's Gift Shop will be open and brimming with gifts large and small in many price ranges. Highlights of the gift shop include a distinctive collection of Native American jewelry, including wampum jewelry crafted by Annawon Weeden, Mashpee Wampanoag, and Pequot artist Dan Simonds, head of the Wampum Wear Collective. There are decorative gourds and ornaments created by Jeanne Morningstar Kent, a member of the Nulhegan Coosuk-Abenaki of Vermont, and Native American food from Sweet Grass Trading Company from the Cherokee Indian Reservation. 

Let your holiday merriment begin at the Institute’s Holiday Market signature event which offers unusual gift items and an immersive cultural experience that celebrates contemporary and traditional Native American inspired art. 

About The Institute 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 a 16th 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 at 38 Curtis Road, Washington, CT.

Medicinal Monday - Couch Grass

Elymus repens or couch grass is a very common species of grass that was brought to North America from Europe for forage and erosion control. It has become naturalized throughout most of the world and is considered to be an invasive weed because it becomes entangled with the roots of shrubs and perennial plants, slowing down their growth.  Native American communities did find several interesting medicinal uses for this pesty plant.

About Couch Grass

This grass grows by creeping rhizomes that enable it to spread rapidly across grasslands. It is native to Europe, Asia, and Northwest Africa and belongs to the Hordae genera of the Poaceae or grass family. This grass grows up to three feet high and has spikes that bloom from June to August and look like wheat or rye. The leaves are dark green and alternate with sheaths. The blades are long and narrow and the veins are parallel. The smooth pale yellow roots are long and trailing with each joint creating a shoot that becomes grass. It prefers soil with a good water supply and is rich in nitrogen. It can be found in pastures, fields, weedy meadows, edges of yards and gardens, and along roadsides.

Practical and Medicinal Uses

Most often many Native American communities made tea from the roots to treat bladder problems. The Cherokee made a decoction of the root and used it to wash swollen legs, they also took an infusion to treat upset stomachs, continence, and bedwetting. The Iroquois made a decoction of the roots and used it to dispel worms from the body and as a urinary aid. The apache used this grass for hay and ate the seeds for food. The Okanagan-Colville used this plant over and under food when cooking in a pit. The Gosiute used the seeds as a source of food and ate them like cereal. The roots were cooked and are said to be quite sweet.

Did You Know...

Other names for couch grass are dog grass, quick grass, wheat grass, quack grass, twitch grass, and witch grass.

The genus name, Agropyron is from the Greek word agros meaning field and puros meaning wheat.

In America, it is considered a weed but in some regions of Europe and Asia it is used as fodder for livestock.

It has been used as a natural remedy to treat kidney stones.

Medicinal Monday...Northern Maidenhair Fern

Maidenhead Fern is one of the most attractive ferns that grow in the Eastern woodlands. This lovely fern has many medical uses, both internally and externally. The leaves as well as the toots were used by many Native American communities. In addition to its Native American history, Maidenhair fern also played a minor role in the Appalachian folklore that states..."If a maiden handles the stem and the leaves don't flicker, her virtue is assured."

About Maidenhead Fern

Adiantum pedatum or Northern Maidenhead fern is found in the humus-rich, moist eastern deciduous forests throughout New England and eastern North America. Like other ferns in this genus, it can be identified by its straight slender, wiry, smooth, shiny stem that is red-black, dark brown, dark purple, or black. The fronds or leaves are flat and arranged in a horseshoe pattern and can grow up to 16 inches in length and 10 inches wide. The leaflets are divided into groups of two to nine and are located on the outer curve of the rachis. Each leaflet is bluish-green. The sub-leaflets are numerous, fan-shaped, and alternately arranged. They have membranes and the leaflets are incised on their upper edge. Spores or fruit dots are located on the underside of the sub-leaflets that form white, yellow-green, or grey-brown indusium (a flap of tissue) that protect the sori (spores) of this fern. The spores are black and microscopic and are produced from July through September. Its slender rhizomes branch out horizontally. The roots are fibrous and found near the growing end of the rhizomes.

Medicinal Uses

The most common use of this fern by many Native American communities was to treat rheumatism by making a decoction of the roots and applying it to the affected area. Some communities made a tea of the roots and took it to treat rheumatism. There were many other medicinal uses for the Northern Maidenhair Fern. For example, the  Cherokee make a decoction of the entire plant and used it as an emetic in cases of fever. They also smoked powdered leaves for heart trouble and sniffed them for asthma. The Costanoan made a decoction of the entire plant and drank it to treat stomach trouble. The Hesquiat chewed the green fronds for shortness of breath. They also made an infusion of the ashes of the dried fronds with other herbs and took it to increase endurance. This infusion was often used by dancers in the winter who would take nothing but this infusion on the day that they were dancing to make them light on their feet. The Iroquois made a compound decoction of the entire plant and gave it to children for cramps.  They also made an infusion of this fern to induce vomiting as a remedy for love medicine. The Iroquois also used a poultice of wet, smashed fronds to treat snakebites. The Iroquois and Menominee made a decoction of roots and gave it to women as a gynecological aid.

Cultural Uses 

The Potawatomi used the black stems of this fern as a hunting charm to bring about good luck. The Pomo would insert a stem in a pierced earlobe to prevent the piercing from closing. The Makah and  Kwakiutl use the stems for black color in making baskets. The Maidu used stalks as a decorative overlay twine when making baskets. The Kwakiutl use fronds to line baskets and other containers. The Karok use stems to decorate Jump Dresses. 

Did You Know

The generic name, Adiantum, is Greek for “unwettable”, “unwetted”, or “without wetting”, which refers to the foliage repelling or shedding raindrops and not getting wet. The specific epithet, pedatum, is Greek for “foot-like.” This refers to the branching pattern of the fern’s fronds. 

The common name, Northern Maidenhair, probably refers to the fine, delicate root hairs. 

Other common names are American Maidenhair, Canada Maidenhair, Common Maidenhair, Five-fingered Fern, Five-fingered Maidenhair, Hair Fern, Lockhair Fern, Maiden Fern, Northern Maidenhair Fern, Rock Fern, and Sweet Fern.