Indigenous Medicinal Plant Research by Rita Ye

ry2793 — 2024-09-11 15:51:25 UTC

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

ry2793 — 2024-09-16 15:35:40 UTC

The ripe yellow fruit can be eaten in small quantities and sometimes made into jelly, although it is somewhat sour. The leaves and roots are poisonous. The leaves and stems are used as a pot herb.It was said the five percent of the dried rhizome and root consist of a resin called podophyllin that was used as purgatory by Native North American tribes.

What is the plant used for today?

ry2793 — 2024-09-16 15:39:40 UTC

It is still being collected in the wild and supplies are being bought by Abbott Laboratories in North Chicago, where about 300,000 pounds are needed annually. Abbott Laboratory research scientists believed that is would be desirable to cultivate Mayapple on a commercial scale.

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

ry2793 — 2024-09-16 15:45:56 UTC

Mayapple has been used by American Indigenous as an emetic, cathartic, and anthelmintic agent. Mayapple also can be used topically ascan easharotic in removing warts.

What part(s) of the plant are used as medicine?

ry2793 — 2024-09-16 15:48:56 UTC

The rhizome of the mayapple has been used for a variety of medicine purposes.

How is the plant prepared to be used as medicine?

ry2793 — 2024-09-16 15:53:41 UTC

Root consist of a resin called podophyllin that was used as purgative by Native North American tribes. The resin was prepared by percolation of the fresh root in alcohol , which is then evaporated until it turns syrupy. The tribes then added cold water with agitation and allowed it to stand for twenty for hours to precipitate the resin. The mixture is decanted and the precipitate is collected by straining and then dried at 80 degrees F. Its approximated yield is around eighty-four pounds of resin per ton of root.

What Indigenous People(s) used this plant?

ry2793 — 2024-09-16 15:57:30 UTC

Hurons, Iroquois, Cherokee and Penobscot.

Where does the plant grow?

ry2793 — 2024-09-16 15:59:54 UTC

That grows in gregarious groups in the oak-hickory forests all over the eastern United States and Southern Canada.