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.

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