Medicinal Monday - Field Garlic - A Cool Temperature Perennial

Regardless of what you call it - wild garlic or field garlic, this pungent plant emerges in the spring and grows in clumps. It tends to grow faster than grass and left alone it will grow up to 18 inches tall. Field Garlic was introduced in colonial times and Native Americans found many medicinal and culinary uses for this flavorful and useful herb. Field Garlic is in the Lily family and can be found in Connecticut.

photo credit Jay Strumer

About Field Garlic

Field Garlic is a native of Europe that has been naturalized in America. It is a common lawn weed that spreads by seeds, aerial bulbils, and bulbs that plant themselves in the ground. It prefers the cool weather and its scape appears in the early spring and is comprised of bulbs and pink flowers with six stamens and a pistil that forms three fused carpels. The aerial bulbs grow amid the flowers and are usually tipped with a long slender leaf. After it blooms in the early summer, this plant goes dormant until the fall. The seeds are egg-shaped, dull black, and wrinkled.  It looks a lot like grass with long thin leaves that are hollow and resemble chives. They can be identified by their onion-like odor. 

Medicinal & Culinary Uses

Many Native American communities used the bulbs and flowers to flavor food. The leaves, bulbs, and flowers can be eaten cooked or raw.

The most common use of the whole plant by Native American communities is as a carminative, cathartic, diuretic, blood purifier, and expectorant. The Cherokee also used this plant as an ear medicine to remove deafness. They also made a tincture and gave it to children to prevent worms and to treat colic.  The Mahuna would rub this plant all over their bodies to prevent insect and poisonous snake bites. The Rappahannock chewed the blubs to treat high blood pressure and to relieve shortness of breath.

photo credit Doug McGrady

Did You Know...

When cows eat this plant, their milk takes on a disagreeable flavor.

Field Garlic can also contaminate wheat by altering its flavor to a mild garlic taste.

Other common names for this plant are wild garlic, scallions, crow garlic, and stag's garlic.

In the U.S. it is considered a weed.

This plant is poisonous to dogs and other mammals when eaten in large quantities.

Field Garlic contains sulfur compounds (which give them their onion flavor) that help reduce cholesterol levels.

The juice of this plant has been used as a moth repellent.

There is one look alike to field garlic and that is the Star of Bethlehem.

The Power of Storytelling Darlene Kascak, Schaghticoke Tribal Nation Wins Prestigious Spencer Shaw Award

 In the age of our impersonal, worldwide, sprawling electronic communication networks, telling and listening to stories, in person, remains a powerful communication tool that is intrinsic to humanity. Telling stories, especially those that are passed down through generations is one of the best ways to build connections and relationships with one another and, with the world around us.

photo credit L.E. Agnelli

Award-winning Storyteller, Darlene Kascak, of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation understands and cherishes the importance of telling stories as a way to keep knowledge and traditions alive. “As a storyteller in Native communities, I bear a profound responsibility. I am entrusted with the task of preserving, protecting, and passing down oral stories that are hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. This role is not just a duty, but also a deep-rooted passion that I hold dear. I am driven by the urgency to keep this tradition alive so that future generations can experience the beauty of learning through storytelling. It is a commitment that I take very seriously.”

 

In April, Kascak won the prestigious Spencer Shaw Award for Nurturing Education through Professional Storytelling & Storytellers in Connecticut Classrooms & Afterschool Programs for Connecticut Children, from the Connecticut Storytelling Center. This award, named after a famous storyteller, is given to one person annually for their exceptional contributions to storytelling and education. For Kascak, an educator at the Institute for American Indian Studies winning the award was a humbling and gratifying experience because it stands as a testament to the profound significance and value of storytelling in our society. “I am deeply connected to the Connecticut Storytelling Center, not just as a recipient of this prestigious award but also as a member who actively contributes to the organization's mission of promoting storytelling and cultural exchange. I encourage people to learn the history and stories of their own cultures and share them with their families. It helps them to understand who they are and where they came from, instilling a sense of pride in their ancestors.”

 

Kasack’s role as an educator at the Institute for American Indian Studies allows her to educate thousands of children about the history of Connecticut’s Indigenous Peoples through their student field trips and outreach programs. Telling the stories not only keeps them alive, they also imparts valuable life lessons to the next generation. “I enjoy telling children’s stories the most because of the lessons they contain within them. “ How Rabbit Got His Long Long Ears,” teaches children how to be kind to those who are different from them. “The Maker of All Things” teaches the consequences of being selfish and demanding and how that affects others. “Why Canines Sniff Each Other’s Tails” and “Turtle Learns to Fly,” teach that everyone is unique and different; we have something special that we are supposed to share with the world. For that gift to come out, we need to be true to ourselves and not try to act like someone we are not. These stories, with their universal themes and engaging narratives, are not just entertaining but also serve as powerful tools for character development and moral education. “

photo credit L.E. Agnelli

Inspired as a child by her mother’s cousin, Trudie Lamb Richmond, Kascak learned about the beauty of her culture and how to act respectfully with the world. “I heard the stories of the survival of my ancestors who endured rough times and still held onto their beliefs. I watched as she stood up for our people by fighting for causes important to us. I am proud of her work, which included advocating for the inclusion of our history in the Connecticut Education Curriculum. These stories and experiences helped to shape who I am today—a strong, compassionate, and proud Schaghticoke woman.”

 

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 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 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, in Washington, Connecticut.

Medicinal Monday - Cheers for Wild Black Cherries

Wild black cherries are not only delicious, they are good for you. Even though they are smaller than cultivated sweet cherries, they still have the same sweet taste. Some folks think of black cherries as chokeberries' sweeter cousins! Native Americans found many medicinal uses for wild black cherries as well as culinary uses.

About Wild Cherry Trees

The Latin name for this plant is Prunus Serotina. Its Latin name serotine means late and refers to the fact that it flowers and fruits later than other cherry tree species. The name Prunus refers to the fact that it is a host for two species of Prunus butterflies, among others. The black cherry tree is a tall stately tree that can reach up to 100 feet. The trees can be found growing from Eastern Canada to Florida and as far west as Texas. Wild Black Cherry trees can be identified by their emerald green leaves which have finely serrated edges. When wilted, the leaves are poisonous.  The rough bark grows in overlapping plates and is reddish-brown.  The blossoms are beautiful and appear in dense clusters at the end of the slender branches usually in the late spring or early summer.  The flowers are about 1/3 of an inch across and have five white round petals, a reddish-orange center surrounded by yellow-tipped stamens. The slender twigs that the flowers grow on are reddish brown and smooth.  After blooming, each flower is replaced by a small berry that turns from green to red and eventually to a purple-black cherry about the size of a marble when ripe. The cherries are usually harvested in the fall. This is a long-lived tree that can thrive in the forest for more than 120 years. In the autumn the leaves of the wild black cherry tree turn golden yellow.

Culinary and Practical  Uses

The tree's fruits have a slightly sweet and acidic taste and can be eaten raw.  Native Americans consume them as fresh fruit.  The Iroquois use them in bread or cake and the Ojibwa (Moerman) dry the cherries and use them to flavor soup.  Black cherries are also used for rum earning the name "rum cherry" and for flavoring in soft drinks and in jams and jellies. Dried black cherries are an essential ingredient in pemmican, a high-energy food made of fat and protein. Specifically, the Chippewa and the Iroquois among other Native American communities cooked the berries and made little cakes out of them, then dried the cakes and stored them for winter use. The Ojibwa and the Potawatomi used the ripe cherries to make whiskey and wine.

The Cherokee prized the wood of the black cherry tree and used it to make furniture. They also used the wood for carvings.

Medicinal Uses

Medicinally the black cherry tree is very important to Native Americans.  A tea or infusion is made from the dried inner bark to treat a variety of symptoms including colds, fever, and labor pains. It is also used as a general pain reliever. The roots were used to treat intestinal worms, cold sores, burns, and other skin eruptions. The fruit is used to make cough syrup.  As a matter of fact,  a form of wild cherry bark can be found today in some cough syrups, cough drops, and lozenges.  

Historically, the Mohegan tribe allowed the ripe wild black cherry to ferment naturally in a jar for about a year and then drank the juice to cure dysentery.  The Meskwaki tribe made tea out of the bark of the roots of the wild cherry tree and used it as a sedative. The Cherokee made an astringent wash from the bark and used it on sores, cuts, and ulcers. They also made a warm infusion of the bark and gave it to women to ease labor pains during childbirth.  The Chippewa would make a powder from the roots and apply it to burns, cuts, and ulcers. The Delaware made a decoction of the bark and drank it to treat diarrhea. The Iroquois made a poultice of the bark and applied it to the neck and forehead to ease the pain of a headache. They also used the bark as a steam bath for babies with coughs and colds. The Malecite made an infusion of bark, beaver castor, and gin and took it to treat coughs and colds.  The Mohegans and Narraganset made an infusion of buds and leaves mixed in some sugar and took this as a treatment for colds. The Shinnecock put the cherries in a bottle and allowed it to stand for a few days and then took it to treat stomach trouble. 

Did You Know

A quick way to identify a wild cherry tree is to look for a fungus called black knot that creates a burl on the tree. 

The roots, bark, leaves, and twigs can be highly toxic to wildlife due to the presence of cyanogenic compounds. 

Other names for the wild black cherry are rum cherry and mountain black cherry.

Wild Black Cherry trees are said to support more than 400 species of moths and butterflies.

It is a highly prized hardwood for furniture and cabinetry.

Understanding Indian Rights @ Institute for American Indian Studies

 The relationship between the United States Federal Government and Native American Tribes is complicated. It has been burdened by a variety of factors from removal to resettlement, treaties made and broken, and, most recently, allotment and assimilation. Today, complications proliferate with Native Americans being sovereign within their territory but having no say in other matters.

 These complex issues will be discussed on Saturday, May 18 at 1 p.m. with Professor Stephen Prevar, who will be unraveling the intricacies of this topic. The discussion will highlight his groundbreaking book, now in its 5^th edition, The Rights of Indian Tribes. This is both an in-person lecture at the Institute For American Indian Studies on 38 Curtis Road in Washington and a virtual program.

 

Stephen Pevar, retired Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU and current professor of Advanced Federal Indian Law at Yale Law School, will take participants through seven key Supreme Court decisions that have shaped this complex legal landscape in a lecture called “Indian Rights: 7 Game-Changing Decisions.” It will be an enlightening discussion, and participants will leave with a better understanding of the complex nature of these issues. After this lecture, there will be time for questions and answers and a book signing for those wishing to purchase a copy of Pevar’s book.

This special lecture is the first in a series commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the Indian Citizen Act passed on June 2, 1924, that granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S. This lecture series strives to navigate this complex history and current legal status of Native American citizenship and rights.

 

If attending in person, preregistration is requested by clicking here. If attendance is virtual, visit http://www.iaismuseum.org or https://iaismuseum.charityproud.org/EventRegistration/Index/16177 to register and receive a Zoom link. The price of attending this lecture, in person or virtually is $5 for Non-Members and free for Members of the Institute.

Medicinal Monday...Yellow Pine

The yellow pine tree is not only an important tree for timber in the deep South, but many Native American tribes found medicinal uses for this evergreen tree that can grow up to 100 feet tall. The wood of this tree is pale yellow, finely grained, and contains less resin than other pine trees. The wood is used for a variety of purposes today including lumber, plywood, and wood pulp used in making paper.

About Yellow Pine

The Yellow Pine is found in the Southeastern United States. This evergreen tree has scaly dark bark when it is young and as it matures the bark develops flat scales that have a yellow tinge to them, which is how it got one of its most common names. The blue-green needles of this tree are slender and flexible, grow in clusters of two or three, and are up to five inches in length. The tree produces a male pale purple cone and a pale pink female cone.

Medicinal and Practical Uses

Many Native American communities used the wood of this tree for lumber. They also used the wood for carving and to make long canoes of up to forty feet. 

Medicinally the most common traditional use was to use the resin as a rub and steam bath in the treatment of sore muscles and swellings. A tea was made from the buds to induce vomiting and the pitch from the trunk was used as a laxative. The Choctaw made a cold infusion of the buds and drank the mixture to treat worms. The Nanticoke used the resin pellets as a poultice to treat sore muscles. The Rappahannock made a decoction from the upper branches of the tree and used it as a wash to treat sore muscles and swellings, they also grated the bark and made tea from it to induce vomiting. One of the more unusual uses of this tree was to feed a compound of dried bark to make dogs with distemper vomit.

photo credit  David J. Stang

Did You Know...

Other common names for this tree are old field pine, rosemary pine, and short-leaf pine,

Oleoresins are extracted to make turpentine.

This species of pine tree supports Imperial Moths.

Squirrels and other small mammals eat the seeds.

The genus name Pinus comes from Latin and is the name for pines. Echinata means spiny and refers to the prickle-tipped scales on the outsides of the cones that it produces.

If the top of the tree catches on fire, the lower trunk sends up new shoots, making it somewhat fire-resistant. 

Medicinal Monday - Crinkleroot

Crinkleroot or Cardamine diphylla is an attractive wildflower that can be found in the forests of Connecticut and in much of New England. It is a spring perennial herb in the Brassicaceae family that has been used by many indigenous people of North America for food and medicine for centuries.

photo Doug McGrady

About Crinkleroot

This perennial grows up to one foot tall and is a hermaphrodite because it has both male and female organs. It is native to much of the U.S. and Eastern Canada and typically grows in moist woodland environments, although it cannot grow in deep shade. It spreads via rhizomes and is in the mustard family. The leaves are coarsely toothed and the stem has two leaf stalks that grow opposite of each other giving the plant its moniker of "two-leaved." The flowers that appear in late April or early May are white or pink. The blooms mature into pods about five weeks after the flowers die off. Mature pods release seeds. The seeds take up to four years before they bloom. Although similar to Cut-leaved toothwort, it is different because its leaves don't grow in a whorl.

Medicinal Uses

Many Native American communities made a poultice from the roots to treat headaches, colds, and fevers and to relieve stomach problems and venereal disease. Traditionally, the Cherokee and the Malecite chewed the roots to soothe sore throats and to treat colds and fevers. The Deleware used the roots as a stomach medicine and to treat venereal disease. The Iroquois chewed raw roots for stomach gas and made a poultice of the roots to bring down swellings. They also made tea from the roots and took it as a love medicine. The Malecite made an infusion of the roots and gave it to children as a tonic. The Micmac made tea from the roots and drank it as a sedative. The Iroquois believed that the roots had magical powers and used them to counteract all types of poison. They also used smashed roots to find someone who practiced witchcraft.

Laval University

Many Native American communities used the roots of this plant for food. They would eat it raw or cooked. It was prized for its peppery taste. Specifically, the Abnaki used the roots as a condiment and put it in sauces and relishes. The Algonquin ground the root and mixed it with vinegar for use as a relish. The Cherokee boiled the leaves and stems and ate them like a vegetable, they also used the leaves in salads. The Iroquois ate salted roots raw. The Ojibwa ground the roots and mixed them with salt, sugar, and vinegar and used it as a relish.

Did You Know...

The name Cardamine is derived from the Greek word Kardamon and refers to its association with the mustard family. 

The species name, diphylla is also Greek and refers to another name for this plant, "two-leaved." 

The West Virginia butterfly uses the plant to lay its eggs.

Special bees known as Andrena arabis collect pollen from Cardamines.

In folklore, the root was used to treat toothaches.

This plant was discovered by Andre Michaux, a French botanist who went on many expeditions in the U.S. to collect plants.