Indigenous Medicinal Plant Padlet by Sarah Ward

What is the plant's historical use as a traditional medicine?

sw9927 — 2024-09-13 01:02:31 UTC

The Devil's Club has been used to treat many different things in the past like rheumatism, arthritis, stomach and digestive tract ailments, colds, coughs, influenza, bronchitis, tuberculosis, and ulcers which is sores on your stomach lining or small intestine. For external use it would be applied to wounds, broken bones, burns, and infections.

What parts of the plant are used as medicine?

sw9927 — 2024-09-13 03:22:04 UTC

The few parts of the Devil's Club that is used as medicine is the inner bark of the root and the stem.

How is the plant prepared to be used as medicine?

sw9927 — 2024-09-13 03:24:19 UTC

It was mostly prepared as a simmered tea and taken internally as a panacea which is said to be a remedy for all of one's difficulties and diseases. The oils from the inner bark of the plant that seep is the medicine. For its external use, a poultice was used which is a soft and heated mass on a cloth that is medicated.

What Indigenous People used the plant?

sw9927 — 2024-09-13 03:27:49 UTC

Indigenous people have been using the plant for centuries like the people of the Pacific Coast. The Tlingit of southeast Alaska have also used there bark and roots for medicine. They have used it the most but it is widely used by many other Indigenous groups.

Where does the plant grow?

sw9927 — 2024-09-13 03:28:57 UTC

It can be found in rainforests in the Pacific Northwest. They thrive moist wooded areas and/or along streams.

When/how is it harvested to be used as medicine?

sw9927 — 2024-09-13 03:30:04 UTC

This plant is considered one of the most important medicines in the eyes of many Indigenous Peoples of Western Canada. It is very prickly and difficult to harvest. You first have to shave off the prickly layer of the bark. Then the inner bark is ready to be used. The best times you can go out and harvest the plant is in the spring and into the earlier parts of summer when you will get the first sprouts of green growth.

What is the plant used for today?

sw9927 — 2024-09-13 03:30:45 UTC

Today, it has been used to treat diabetes and cancer. People consider it to be a very spiritual plant. It is used to bring luck and protects against negative influences. Some people will also put the plant at there front door step to use as a protector and barrier.