Bailey’s Yucca

2021-06-17T20:12:35+00:00

Bailey’s Yucca (Yucca baileyi) has many, many uses and belongs to a group of plants, all referred to as yuccas.  All yuccas have a multiplicity of functions for humans including colored dye, fiber for baskets and sandals, edible fruits and treatment for arthritis.

Many tribal names refer to the ability of the roots, when pounded, to release soapy substances called saponins. Indigenous names like soapweed or soaproot refer to the most common use for yucca roots from Mexico to Canada as solvents mixed with water for body wash soap, shampoo or cleaners for tools and ceremonial objects. Indigenous knowledge recognized subtle differences in species. One species may work well as a shampoo while another will irritate the scalp. Some treat dandruff, others do not. Some have flower petals and fruits that are edible, while others have been reported to cause vomiting.

In modern veterinary medicine granulated yucca roots are used to treat arthritis in domestic animals such as sheep and goats. Humans also claim relief from arthritis pain with yucca root and the lineament is applied to aching joints, sore muscles and sprains.

80 million tons of yucca were harvested during WWI to make burlap!

The small species resemble a large pin cushion, 16 inches tall with all the pins pointing out. The larger species look like spiky tress with thick branches.

Bailey’s Yucca2021-06-17T20:12:35+00:00

Saltbush

2020-08-05T22:17:02+00:00

Saltbush, aka four-winged saltbush, (Atriplex canescens) (and related species) is a very interesting plant.

It is a food (only in a very broad sense) and a medicine (also in a very broad sense).

Although seeds of saltbush are edible, they are small and only used to mix with other staple seed crops. It’s importance in the food category has been as a salt and leavening for bread. As a medicine, it’s leaves were used to treat acid venoms of ants, bees, wasps and hornets.

The active ingredients are the same in both cases. This plant can grow in the harshest conditions of the salt-scrub desert. It has adapted to grow in soils that are so dry and salty that most plants can not survive. It does so by concentrating the salts of sodium, calcium, potassium and magnesium in its leaves. In return this allows the plant to retain water accumulated during rains and snow melt thus sustaining it through the times of drought.

These salts are alkaline substances that neutralize the acid venoms of insects almost instantly.

And . . . as a salty taste for food seasoning, these salts also happen to be hard to come by in other foods but are essential for human health.

The ashes of the burned leaves convert sodium carbonate into sodium bicarbonate, which is baking soda, used as leavening for their bread.

These same ashes were also used to fix the colors of red, yellow and blue derived from plant dyes. A thoroughly useful plant!

Saltbush2020-08-05T22:17:02+00:00

Datura Legend

2020-04-28T19:21:48+00:00

Datura (aka sacred datura, jimsonweed, devil’s weed, thorn-apple, stramonium) (Potato family – Solanaceae) (Datura stramonium)

A very large poisonous plant that looks like it belongs in a tropical rain forest. Datura rises 2 or 3 feet from the barren desert floor with gigantic leaves sometimes a foot long that are dark green and noxious smelling, accompanied by gorgeous light purple, broadly flaring, 5 petaled trumpet flowers that smell heavenly! The fruit is a brown sphere the size of a golf ball covered with threateningly sharp spines.

The toxic alkaloids in the entire plant can kill you, but you will go crazy first. So . . . this is one you never take internally.

Traditionally it was used as a poultice for arthritic pain or muscle soreness and smudged or smoked to alleviate bronchial spasms of asthma and make breathing easier, or to treat a runny nose.

Holy men and women used this plant in very strict ritualistic procedures along with other plants to achieve altered states. Some in the counterculture have tried it to get high – only to get sick and disoriented. It doesn’t work that way!

Note: The alternate name ‘Jimsonweed’ derives from ‘Jamestown weed’, the name given to a species of Datura boiled by soldiers during Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 in Jamestown, Virginia. The men were said to be in a “frantic condition” for several days.

Datura Legend2020-04-28T19:21:48+00:00

Rubber Rabbitbrush

2020-08-05T22:18:47+00:00

Rubber Rabbitbrush (aka chamiso) (Chrysothamnus nauseosus, recently renamed Ericameria nauseosa) (Asteraceae, sunflower family)

This plant has three traditional uses.

The bright yellow flowers, which lure in a myriad of pollinator bugs in the fall, were used to make a yellow dye for clothing and crafts.

Boiled in water, the dried leaves and flowers were used by some tribes to soak arthritic joints to relieve pain and swelling.

Ceremonially, this species is considered potent medicine to treat someone who has been attacked or possessed by an unwanted spirit. Shoshone tradition uses it in this way to treat nightmares.

Note: many tribal members familiar with its ceremonial use will not speak of rabbitbrush to white people. Apparently, it can backfire and make things worse if used improperly.

Rubber Rabbitbrush2020-08-05T22:18:47+00:00

Juniper

2020-08-05T22:31:16+00:00

The many species of junipers fall into two major categories: the tree junipers and the low growing or creeping junipers. They are all similar in the way they are used. Tree junipers can grow up to 30 feet tall and create huge juniper forests, especially in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada. Creeping (aka ground) junipers generally stay below 2 to 3 feet and spread out horizontally at higher elevations under mountain pine and fir forests. They all produce succulent berry-like cones that turn from green to blue as they mature. They are dioecious plants meaning males and females are on different plants and only females produce ‘berries’.

It is widely known that types of juniper are used by indigenous people for ceremonial purposes all over North American, to purify body, mind and spirit. It is less well known that juniper (often incorrectly, but commonly, called cedar) is also used as an important medicinal plant. A tea made from the berries is used primarily to treat urinary tract (kidneys, bladder, urethra, etc. ) infections, it is also given to the sick and elderly to promote appetite. The ‘berries’ are known to stimulate hydrochloric acid and peptic enzymes when chewed just before eating, which makes you hungry. In ancient times they were used as a contraceptive.

One species (one-seeded juniper) was an important food, the seed inside the berry being high in protein. The berries of creeping juniper were used as a spice on meat, and today people use them to make gin. 

Juniper2020-08-05T22:31:16+00:00

Ceremonial Juniper

2020-08-05T22:29:36+00:00

Ceremonially, several juniper species are used to purify and protect. Rocky Mountain juniper (j. scopulorum) is the preferred species to smudge people before ceremonies or handling sacred objects. The smoke from a smoldering branch is wafted or rubbed all over the body to purify and protect a person from unseen negative energies or entities. A twig or branch is often placed above a door or window to keep away bad spirits.

A spiritual leader will often stand on a mat of creeping juniper while performing ceremonies, such as the Crow pipe ceremony, as a protective layer between his feet and the ground.

There are many relatives of these junipers throughout the world. It is interesting that wherever they occur, indigenous people use them in a similar way. In Asia, Europe, or Africa, as in the Americas, they are considered sacred, associated with purification, protection and longevity.

Ceremonial Juniper2020-08-05T22:29:36+00:00

Globemallow

2020-08-05T22:32:47+00:00

A strikingly pretty flower with 5 bright orange petals, globemallows occur commonly in arid lowlands from deserts to sagebrush steppes and even into the foothills of the mountains. There are 10 or 12 common species. Some are small herbs with 2 or 3 flowers on a plant, while others are bushy, 3 feet tall and 3 feet across with 20 to 40 flowers on a plant. The flowers all look the same and the plants are all used in the same manner as a healing medicine.

From Mexico to Canada native people used the leaves, stems and flowers for healing salves to sooth and speed up healing of abrasions, punctures and burns including sunburn.  When crushed in hot water the gooey polysaccharides in the leaf and stem tissues cause the collagen in skin to heal quickly and also triggers an immune response to clean up the wound and prevent infections.

It is also used to make a tea, which was taken internally to stimulate healing of mucous membranes of the intestines, stomach, lungs and kidneys. It is still used today as a sore throat medicine and bronchial decongestant. 

Notes: Hollyhock, a close European relative of golbemallow, now grown as a garden flower, was imported into this country as a medicinal plant for the same medical uses.

Globemallow2020-08-05T22:32:47+00:00

Datura

2020-08-05T22:34:13+00:00

Datura (aka sacred datura, jimsonweed, devil’s weed, thorn-apple, stramonium) (Potato family – Solanaceae) (Datura stramonium)

A very large poisonous plant that looks like it belongs in a tropical rain forest. Datura rises 2 or 3 feet from the barren desert floor with gigantic leaves sometimes a foot long that are dark green and noxious smelling, accompanied by gorgeous light purple, broadly flaring, 5 petaled trumpet flowers that smell heavenly! The fruit is a brown sphere the size of a golf ball covered with threateningly sharp spines.

The toxic alkaloids in the entire plant can kill you, but you will go crazy first. So . . . this is one you never take internally.

Traditionally it was used as a poultice for arthritic pain or muscle soreness and smudged or smoked to alleviate bronchial spasms of asthma and make breathing easier, or to treat a runny nose.

Holy men and women used this plant in very strict ritualistic procedures along with other plants to achieve altered states. Some in the counterculture have tried it to get high – only to get sick and disoriented. It doesn’t work that way!

Note: The alternate name ‘Jimsonweed’ derives from ‘Jamestown weed’, the name given to a species of Datura boiled by soldiers during Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 in Jamestown, Virginia. The men were said to be in a “frantic condition” for several days.

Datura2020-08-05T22:34:13+00:00

Gumweed

2025-01-23T22:15:34+00:00

(a.k.a. rosinweed, resinweed, curlycup, curlycup gumweed, grindelia)

Often considered a roadside weed; gumweed is highly prized for its medicinal effects.  It has two primary avenues of healing:

  1. It is used to treat affections of the skin such as rashes, itches, and sores from poison ivy, insect bites, stings, and spider bites as well as allergic reactions and skin infections.  For this, the flower heads are used either directly applied to injuries or as a poultice in warm water.
  2. The leaves and roots are used as a tea or inhaled as a smudge to open the airways as a bronchial dilator in cases of asthma, allergies, pneumonia, and the common cold.

The widespread use of this plant by western tribes resulted in the listing of this plant in the U.S. Pharmacopeia (the compendium of officially recognized medicines in the United States) as a bronchodilator for bronchitis, asthma, and pneumonia.

The tea was also consumed for general health and strength as well as urinary infections.

The Crow’s (Apsaalooke) used the gumweed resin to stiffen their distinctive pompadours.

Gumweed is a selenium concentrator plant capable of concentrating the mineral selenium 500 times the soil concentration making small quantities of the leaves poisonous when growing in certain sedimentary soils.

Side note:  This plant can cause selenium poisoning when used indiscriminately.

Side note:  Like any plant in the sunflower family (Asteraceae) some people may be allergic to it.

In this next video, John Mionczynski and Melanie Smokey (Western Shoshone/Washoe) discuss more about the scientific basis for gumweed’s use as an immunity enhancer and as a treatment for bronchial congestion.

Gumweed2025-01-23T22:15:34+00:00

Pineappleweed

2019-09-23T15:14:00+00:00

Pineappleweed (a.k.a. mayweed) makes a pleasant tasting tea any time of day. It is especially useful as a sleep aid at bedtime. The tea is a relaxing, calming drink safe enough to help babies go to sleep. Shoshoni cradleboards had special ties along the sides for small bundles of this sweet smelling herb.  Called Nuwa nadega (Indian perfume) by Shoshonis, it was braided into women’s hair and generally used as a fragrance.

A poultice of this herb pulls up foreign materials like splinters and metal fragments from under the skin.

Today, Chamomile, a close European relative, botanically and chemically, is widely used as a pleasant relaxing tea (Sleepy Time Tea’s primary ingredient).

Pineappleweed grows in the most heavily trodden ground, where other plants are absent such as parking lots, cracks in sidewalks, and horse trails, hence another Indian name “under the horses hoof”.

Side note: like any plant in the sunflower family (Asteraceae) some people may be allergic to it.

In this second video, John Mionczynski shows pineappleweed in the field. This tiny plant is related to its European counterpart German chamomile and commonly used as a relaxing tea.

Pineappleweed2019-09-23T15:14:00+00:00
Copyright 2019 Native Memory Project
Go to Top