Medicinal Monday - Viper's Bugloss

This plant certainly has an intimidating moniker - Viper's Bugloss...and for a very good reason...every part of the plant is poisonous! The toxic effects of the alkaloids of ingesting this plant are cumulative and lead to liver failure after several months of ingestion. And, even, contact with the foliage of this plant can cause skin irritations. It is hard to believe that Native American communities found a medicinal use for this plant... but they did!

About Viper's Bugloss

Echlum vulgare also known as Viper's Bugloss is in the borage family that originated in Europe and western and central Asia and was introduced to northeastern North America as well as southwestern South America and New Zealand's North and South Islands. This plant is an upright annual characterized by dense cylindrical spikes of bell-shaped vibrant violet-blue flowers that have protruding red stamens that look like the forked tongue of a snake. The red-flecked stalk that resembles the skin of a snake rises from a basal clump of lance-shaped leaves that have bristly hairs. They bloom from late spring through early fall. The flowers turn into seed pods that resemble viper heads before the plant dies. Viper's Bugloss spreads by self-seeding. This plant is drought resistant and prefers poor soil.

Medicinal Uses

Many Native American communities used an infusion of the roots of this plant as a diuretic. Another common use was to use the juice of the whole plant for bites and wounds. As its name implies, it was also used to treat snakebites. Specifically, the Cherokee made a compound of this plant and took it as a urinary diuretic aid. They also use the seeds as beads when making jewelry. The Iroquois made a compound infusion of the roots to help expel the placenta after giving birth. The Mohegans made an infusion of the root and took it as a diuretic and in the treatment of fevers. A red dye was also obtained from the roots of this plant.

Did You Know...

In the language of flowers, Viper's Bugloss symbolizes falsehood which is thought to relate to its snake-like nature.

Other names for Viper's Bugloss are Adderwort, Blue Devil, Blue Thistle, Cat's Tail, North American Blueweed, Snake Flower, Viper's Grass, and Viper's Herb.

This plant is toxic to horses. 

Viper's Bugloss is one of the best honey bee plants in the world because of the copious amounts of nectar and pollen it produces over several months. Viper's Bugloss may produce up to 300 to 1000 pounds of honey per acre!

Medicinal Monday - Spinulose Wood Fern

In the warm months, it seems that ferns grow prolifically. Spinulose woodfern is a bright green fern that grows in moist woodlands and is part of the Dryopteris family. It is a beautiful fern that has lacy fronds and grows in a classic vase shape. The leaves of this fern are more intricate than most ferns because of their complex structure and toothed margins. It can be found in Connecticut and is named because its leaves have tiny spines on their tips. Interestingly, this fern is native to both North America and Europe. It was used by many indigenous peoples although few records exist on exactly how this fern was used. 

About Dryopteris carthusiana 

This perennial fern is native to New England and the mid-West states of the United States. It has spread across Canada and can be found in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. and as far north as Alaska. In the northern part of their range, they are deciduous and in the southern part of their range, they are evergreen.  It grows naturally in swamps and wet woods in clumps and tolerates both full and partial shade. It typically consists of 5 ascending oblong-shaped lanceolate toothed leaflets. The leaves are composed of multiple separate parts that are divided into leaflets. Basically, each frond has primary leaflets that are composed of secondary leaflets that are sometimes composed of a third series of leaflets, making these ferns tripinnate. An important identifying characteristic is that the bottom leaflets are usually longer than their second or third subleaflets.

The bottom of the leaflets has mounds of yellow-brown sori (spore-bearing structure) which is the reproductive area of this fern. Once they become dark and the membranes open, a black powder is released. The spores are usually released by the wind during late summer or fall. As the cold weather approaches, the leaves become less erect and tend to sprawl on the ground. The root system is fibrous and rhizomatous.

Medicinal Uses 

Many Native Americans baked the roots of this fern in pits and pounded them to make a poultice to put on cuts and wounds. Some soaked the leaves and used them to wash their hair. Most commonly the root was used to treat internal parasites such as roundworms and tapeworms. In Alaska, many indigenous people roasted the stalks and ate the inner portion, they also boiled the young curled fronds. The Bella Coola ate the root as an antidote for poison from eating shellfish.

Did You Know

Another name for this fern is the Tootheed Wood Fern. 

The name of this fern, Dryopteris is from Greek, dryas, meaning oak, and pteris meaning fern because some of these ferns were found in woodland areas populated by oak trees. 

The Spinulose Wood Fern was identified in 1777 by Johann Fredrich Cartheuser, a physician and naturalist.

In the United Kingdom, this fern is known as narrow buckler fern.

White-tail deer and ruffled grouse sometimes eat their leaves in the winter when other food sources are scarce. 

Paddle Into the Past - Dugout Canoe Rides on Lake Waramaug With the Institute for American Indian Studies

Have you ever wanted to paddle into the past? On Sunday, August 27, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Warren Town Beach (26D) North Shore Road in New Preston on beautiful Lake Waramaug, you can try your paddling skills in an authentically recreated dugout canoe with the Institute for American Indian Studies. 

Canoes have been used for transportation, fishing, and recreation by indigenous peoples worldwide for centuries. In the Eastern Woodlands, dugout canoes were the major form of transportation for Native Americans for thousands of years. If you have ever wondered how a burned-out log could float on water and what it would feel like to ride in a traditional Native American canoe, don’t miss the “Can You Canoe” event! 

Traditional Native American canoes were constructed out of a single log using a scorch and strip technique in which the builder used controlled burning and stone chiseling tools to carve out the center of the log. In Eastern North America, most dugout canoes were made from a single log of chestnut or pine. They were often small, light, and fast and used for hunting and transportation. Many of the canoes recovered in the northeast United States date back 5,000-plus years! However, archeologists believe that they were most likely constructed and used thousands of years earlier. Interestingly, all of the canoes discovered in New England were found submerged which helped to preserve them. 

The canoe that will be used during this event belongs to the Institute for American Indian Studies and is reconstructed using traditional techniques by Jeff Kalin. Because they have been made within the last few years, they can be safely taken out for a ride on occasion. The highlight of this event is to experience how differently a traditional Native American canoe glides through the water as compared to modern canoes that are often feather-light and made of fiberglass. Each participant that takes a ride will receive a commemorative sticker for paddling into the past. 

Pre-registration is required and can be made at http://www.iaismuseum.org or by calling 860-868-0518 or emailing events@iaismuseum.org. Please reserve a time slot when registering online. The cost is $10 for members of the museum and $15 for non-members. If you are attending on the day of the event, only cash or a check will be accepted. 

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 allow 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 - Rue Anemone

This delicate spring ephemeral flower is one of the most attractive wildflowers in the deciduous woodlands in the early spring. Its delicate looks are deceiving because this delicate flower can withstand hard spring frosts! This flower is in the Buttercup (Ranunculaceae) family. Many plants in this family are known for their combination of poison and medicine. Although much of this plant is mildly toxic, Indigenous people found several uses for this flower. 

About Rue Anemone

This woodland perennial is native to eastern North America including Connecticut. It is considered to be a true springtime ephemeral that blooms from mid.-April through June. It grows up to 9" high and has white to pinkish flowers, with five to ten petal-like sepals and numerous yellow-green stamens. The flowers grow in clusters above whorls of three-lobed leaves. The upper leaf is greenish purple and hairless and the lower surface is pale green. One identifying characteristic is that each flower has its own reddish-brown stem. The flowers are replaced by a cluster of achenes that contain a single seed. This flower reproduces by reseeding itself. The root system is fibrous near the base of the plant. The flowers grow on wooded slopes and ridges and prefer dappled sunlight. It becomes dormant in the summer.

Medicinal Uses

All parts of this plant are mildly toxic and contact with the sap can cause inflammation and blistering of the skin. However, the toxin is destroyed by heat, making the tuberous root edible after cooking. Many Native American communities made tea from the roots of this plant and consumed it for the treatment of diarrhea and vomiting. There are documented uses of an infusion of the roots being used by the Cherokee for diarrhea and vomiting.

Did You Know...

There are 25 different types of anemone that grow in the United States. 

The genus name, Thalictrum thalictroides comes from the Greek word thaliktron which was a name used by Dioscorides to describe the plant genus. It refers to the plant's three-lobed dark green leaves that resemble meadow rue.

The word anemone or anemonella in Greek means small wildflower.

The flower offers pollen to bees including cuckoo, mason, carpenter, Halictid, and Andrenid bees.

The foliage is toxic and is usually ignored by mammals.

This plant is often confused with false rue anemone. One difference is that false-rue anemone grows in large colonies in moist areas while rue anemone can be found on wooded slopes and grows singly.

Medicinal Monday - Devil's Club

Devil's Club is a common shrub growing in western North American forests. It was a respected and important medicinal plant to Indigenous people living in western North America that was widely and consistently used by many for a multitude of purposes.  It is thought by many experts to be the most important spiritual and medicinal plant to most indigenous peoples living in this area. It is used by over 38 linguistic groups in over 34 different ways to treat different ailments. Because it is sensitive to overharvesting and still important culturally to indigenous peoples from Alaska to British Columbia and Oregon, commercialization raises many concerns culturally and environmentally.

About Devil's Club

The Latin name for this plant is Oplopanax horridus and it is a member of the family Araliaceae which also contains members of the ginsengs. It is a common understory deciduous shrub growing in moist forests from coastal Alaska southward to central Oregon and eastward to the Canadian Rockies, Idaho, and Montana. The maple-shaped leaves are large and grow on upright stems that can reach a height of twenty feet. The stems, petioles, and leaf veins are covered with a dense armor of yellowish needle-like spines that can cause skin irritation. The flowers bloom from May through July and are white and grow in pyramidal clusters. They ripen into flattened bright red berries. Devil's Club reproduces by forming colonial colonies by means of rhizomes.

Medicinal Uses

The most common type of preparation of this plant is an infusion or decoction of the stem and inner bark. The Nlaka'pamux, Secqepemc, and Squamish make an infusion from the inner bark and use it to stimulate the appetite. One of the most widespread ways this plant is used is to treat arthritis and rheumatism. An infusion or decoction of the inner bark and pounded leaves were used in a steam bath, or the bark was combined with crushed roots and used as a poultice, or whole stems were used to beat rheumatic limbs as a counter-irritant. Another common use was to make a poultice of inner bark, the roots, pitch or burnt ash, salmonberries, and dog feces and apply this mixture to sores, swellings, cuts, boils, burns, and external infections. A decoction or infusion of the inner bark prepared in water or seal oil was chewed and sometimes swallowed by many area indigenous communities as an emetic or purgative.

The Metis used a decoction of the roots for birth control and the Carrier and Nlaka'pamux used a decoction of the inner bark as a blood purifier. The Alutilq and Gitxsan and Haida used a decoction of the inner bark to treat broken bones and the Alutiq, Carrier, Hanaksiala, Lushootseed, Makah, Secwepemc and Tlingit made a decoction of the mashed inner bark and took it to help with childbirth and menstruation. An infusion of the inner bark was also used to treat diabetes, diphtheria, fever, flu, gallstones, infections, measles, coughs, colds, and respiratory ailments. The Comox and Hanaksiala used an infusion of the inner bark and berries to treat blood disorders. The Haida and Oweekeno pounded the berries and rubbed the mixture on their hair to get rid of lice and dandruff. The Alutiiq treated dropsy with the ash of the inner bark and the Gitxsan, Haida, Hanaksiala, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nlaka'pamux, Nuxalk, Squamish, Tanaina and Tlingit made a paste from the berries and took it to aid ulcers and stomach pains. To treat blindness and vision problems the Haida, Hanaksiala, Tsimshian, and Tlingit took an infusion of the inner bark internally and applied a poultice of inner bark and pitch to reverse the effects of cataracts. The Nlaka'pamux made an infusion of de-spined stems and took it for weight loss.

Spiritual Uses

There are many documented sources of the spiritual use of Devil's Club. It was used in purification and cleansing ceremonies, as protection against evil entities, epidemics, and evil spirits. It was used to combat witchcraft and used in rituals by shamans to attain supernatural powers. Charcoal from this shrub was used as a ceremonial paint for the face and the Ditidaht considered it to be sacred along with red ochre paint as the link between the ordinary and spiritual worlds.  One of the most common ways it is used spiritually is by bathing in a solution of Devil's Club. Another way it was used, for personal protection was to wear an amulet made from spiny stems. The inner bark was burned as a fumigant to purify a house, it was also placed in a pouch under pillows for purification.

Did You Know...

The wood, which is lightweight and soft was used for fishing lures and is valued because they were able to spin through the water attracting the attention of fish.

The first record of Devil's Club dates to 1842 when a chief physician for the Russian American Company reported the use of Devil's Club ash as a treatment for sores among the Tlingit.

Photochemical research has indicated that this plant has antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial, and antimycobacterial properties.

It is sometimes illegally marketed in the United States under the names of Alaskan ginseng, or Pacific ginseng.

Devil's Club is related to American ginseng but is a different genus.

A sub-species of Devel's Club grows in Japan.

For more information click here.