Yarrow
As medicine
English
Flowering Plants
Wormwood
As medicine
The wormwood plant is used to treat a congested chest and to clear a stuffy head or stuffy nose. The plant is very aromatic. For steaming purposes, the whole above ground wormwood plant is crushed and put into a pot of water to boil. Once the water starts to steam the pot is taken off the stove and set aside to cool. Ruth said,
English
Wintergreen
As medicine
Ruth Welsh’s mother taught her to use wintergreen or large-flowered wintergreen for pain. The leaves of this plant can be used all winter. Ruth said,
...you know where [the wintergreen] patches are and you dig the snow away, brush the last of the snow away from the plants, and you can still pick the leaves.
English
Silverweed
As medicine
The silverweed plant is used to heal cuts or sores. It is a coagulant like the yarrow plant. Ruth said,
It thickens the blood and it's a coagulant...therefore when you're bleeding pretty good, you drink the tea from this, or if you suspect internal bleeding and you don't have the yarrow...
The whole plant including the roots are washed thoroughly and made into a tea.
English
Rhubarb, wild
As food
The picking time for this plant lasts only about two weeks. The rhubarb plant is ready to eat in mid-June when it is about 20 to 25 centimeters tall (eight to 10 inches). When the plant is young it can be eaten raw, after first removing the leaves and seedy tops from the plant, and peeling off the outer skin. It is very crunchy and juicy. Once the plant has gone to seed or has many white flowers, the plant is too dry to eat.
English
Plantain
As medicine
The leaves of the plantain plant are made into a poultice as a painkiller for cuts and bruises and the above ground part of the plant is made into a tea to soothe burns. A leaf that is large enough to cover a cut is used. Fresh leaves are preferred because Ruth said,
When you dry them in the winter, they will [turn to] powder. But you can also make a poultice out of that and do the same thing.
Ruth added,
English
Larkspur
As medicine
The whole larkspur plant, purple in color, is used to make a tea for washing people's hair when they have lice. The whole plant from the ground up is chopped and made into a tea.
Source: Andre, Alestine, Nan t'aih nakwits'inahtsìh (The Land Gives Us Strength) (2006)
English
Fireweed - tall
As food
The pink flowers of the fireweed plant are edible and can be mixed in with jello and salads. In the spring, the new shoots can be cooked like asparagus, chopped and eaten as greens, or mixed in with salads.
As medicine
The whole plant can be boiled and the liquid rubbed on the skin for rashes. A poultice is made from the leaves and applied to burns, bee stings, aches and swelling caused by arthritis.
English
Fireweed - dwarf
As medicine
The leaves of the tall fireweed and dwarf fireweed are chewed and applied to bee stings and bites.
Source: Andre, Alestine, Nan t'aih nakwits'inahtsìh (The Land Gives Us Strength) (2006)
English
Dock
As medicine
The leaves or the roots of the dock plant are used to make a tea to wash skin ailments. Ruth Welsh said,
Dock is…used for making...a poultice...out of the root and [applied]...on sores that won't heal.
Ruth Welsh said Mrs. Annie Henry from the Yukon would make a tea out of the roots of this plant to bathe rashes or open sores.
Source: Andre, Alestine, Nan t'aih nakwits'inahtsìh (The Land Gives Us Strength) (2006)
English
Pages
