Campbell, Holly

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15 USe.  1.>f  T>ees  tf)  Tro.d;t'iOf)Cd. Jq,tjv~  Med ie Ilie... "·r'·  ., ';' :  ~ .  -; ~·.~~~  .. }.~:~~.~~c..}~~~~~~~~(jj::~~~·:4~.~~4~~  ..  ,.  ':4.;.  ~. Hal'l' CQ""pbell 16 Use of  Trees in Traditional Native Medicine Holly Campbell, SBO 11. 96.04.14 Introduction North American native peoples generaUy have made extensive use of the nature surrounding them. There exists hundreds of different tribes across the continent, a reflection of the various geographic settings they chose to live in. I will take a elose look at a tribe from western Canada (USA) caUed the Thompson Indians and explain the trees found in their territory and how they made use of these trees for medicinal purposes. Background: The Thomspon People and Their Environment Southern British Columbia emerged from the latest ice age 11500 years ago and the earliest archeological traces of inhabitance are dated to 9000 BP, at the western edge of present territory and traces of pit houses, permanent winter dwellings from around 4000 BP. Up until150 years ago, the Thompson people, caUed in their own tongue, the Ntlakyapamuk, had not been influenced by the white man. They lived in traditional ways, with aU of their food, clothing, household items etc. coming from that which grew around them. This particular tribe is a part of the Salish people, who inhabited the inland in the Pacific North West. They were very sedentary folk, fishing for the main part out of salmon fiUed rivers, hunting and gathering. The landscape being very dry, they tended to gather foodstuffs rather than growing crops (this trend reversed itself with the coming of the white man and irrigation). However they relied for a large part, some studies even say 60%  of their caloric intake, on gathering (Keely et al., 1982). This area of  North America, Figure x., has great diversity in its ecosystems and plant species. I should say that it was not always so diverse, following the last ice age the landscape was more boreal in nature, but an ever-warming climate has favored many species. Recorded are over 350 indigenous and 40 introduced plant species in the Thompson people's territory.  Another indicator of the high degree of natural variation, both in climate and vegetation, is the occurance of six of British Columbia'  s 14 biogeoclimatic zones in their territory. One can travel from low elevation points  in valley and canyon bottoms that are dry and desertlike, too dry for trees, into Ponderosa Pine- Bunchgrass zone, Interior Douglas Fir, Coastal western hemlock, Subalpine mountain hemlock, Engelmann Spruce, Subalpine Fir, and finally Alpine Tundra zones by going on a days hike up a mountain. Rugged mountains, benchiands and rolling hills, upiand valleys and forest plus many steep and rocky canyonsand hills  ides are all included in this area. See Table l for more detailed information on these zones. The Place of  Medicine in Thompson Society It is very hard to isolate medicines from foods and mythological beliefs, just as it is to separate trees from the total ecosystem. There is a danger in only describing the use of particular trees for medicine, however fascinating it may sound, it gives a narrower perspective of the cyclic and complete use these people made of the ecosystems around them. Keep in mind that this is only a tiny sliver of the Thompson people' s natural existence. The Thompson people,like most North American tribes, were generally quite healthy, their medicines comprised mainly of poultices, slaves or washes for wounds, intections, bums and sores (96 medicines). Digestive aids (57 medicines) and respiratory treatments (49)  plus many unspecified medicines made up the main part of medicines, many infusions and tonics were taken regularly on a preventitive basis, as weU as certain foods eaten of  ten for their beneficiai effects. Medicines for more serious cases; circulatory system, kidney and urinary troubles and "cancer" were fewer in proportion to the many simple remedies. 17 Major Tree Species Used By the Thompson Tree species the Thompson people used for medicines include: True firs, Black hawthorn, Common and Rocky mountainjunipers, Western larch, Lodgepole and Ponderosa pines, Black cottonwood, Trembling aspen, Choke cherry, Douglas-fir, Cascara, Sitka and Western mountain ash, and willows. •  True firs: Grand fir, Pacific Silver fir, Subalpine fir (not differentiated from each other by the Thompson people) (Abies amabilis (Dougl. ex Loud.), grandis (Dougl. ex D. Don), lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.) *Inner bark eaten to combat tuberculosis, made the patient very sick. One account states, "I was aching all over, just as if I had the flu .... but af  ter that I got better  ... "(Mabel Joe Shulus). *Pitch bixed with buttercup roots (Ranunculus spp.) for an externai tuberculosis poultice *Sweet and aromatic boughs used for washes, purfumes, bear repellent (rub clothes and face with boughs before going to sleep at night). *Pitch from resin blisters under bark mixed with animal fat and later vaseline in a poultice for sores and cuts. *Bark boiled and drunk as a decoction to help heal bruises and sprains and clear up a persistent cough or stornach troubles, sore eyes, a little in the corner of each eye every night. *Bark and resin combined in a strong decoetion, against gonorrhea. •  Black hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii Lindi.) *Fruits a "health" food for diarrhorea or general sickness. *Bark made into a tea for diarrhorea and dysentery. Taken from east side of the tree, that facing the rising sun. *Sap, wood, bark and roots boiled for a stornach medicine. *Cambium made into a decoction drunk for pains, specifically chest pains. *Spines as needles to puncture boils or ulcers. •  Common juniper (Juniperus communis L.) *Boughs made into a tea, drunk as a stornach tonic, "for leakage of the heart". *Infusion of branches drunk for aching muscles, kidney ailments and colds. *Twig infusion for washing sore eyes. *Decoction as a body wash for hunters, warriors and widowers and for purification. *Used as a medicine for high blood pressure, set several branches  in a pot of boiling water and taken out when the liquid cooled, then drunk. *Boughs from a plant growing isolated from others gave effective power for a tuberculosis medicine. •  Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum Sarg.) *Fresh berries (small amounts) eaten for kidney disease, also as a diuretic or bladder medicine. *Branches and berries in a decoction drunk for colds, tuberucosis, heart trouble, for muscular relaxation before childbirth. *Decoction of berries as an externai wash for bites and stings, rheumatism and stornach ailments. *Boughs in decoction drunk for "black measles" and chicken pox or applied to kill ticks on horses. *Disinfectant protection from sickness and death, "It's like Lysol"  ... (Mabel Joe Shulus). Branches set in a little dish on a stove and the scent could permeate the room. Generally a plant to proteet one vulnerable, a widow or sick one from bad luck. Western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.) *Dried branches kept in households for diverse medicinal use. Examples: dry coughs, to heal broken bones,  one special account of breast cancer case cured by larch medicine. "An old man went on horseback to the mountains to look for  (a larch tree) /caqw-els. He go there, and chopped two potato-sacksful of the tops, and small pieces of the branhes in another sack. Then he went home, He got in the house and boiled it, boiled the chopped ones- that's for to drink. He boils the other one- thats's really strong, to was h it. The lady, she uses that the whole year and she got better. And she walks around just as good as before". Medicine supposedly stimulates the appetite and "makes you eat, makes you fat" (Hiida Austin). 18 *Branches and bark chopped off with an axe, cut into small pieces and boiled, good for ulcers, to drink af  ter childbirth and even for birth control. •  Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud. var latifolia Engelm.) p.l02 * Resin from cones and bark boiled and with melted deer fat for a poultice for rheumatism, sore muscles and joints, congestion relief, cough, cold, sore throats. Of  ten applied after sweatbathing or in front of a hot fire. *Twigs  boiled in a pot of water drunk for influenza •  Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl.)p.104 *Boiled resin and bear grease cooked slowy in a pan and stirred until weil mixed then applied hot as  an ointment for sores, boils, aches, cuts and inflamed eyes. Most effective ointment came from white pitch. •  Black cottonwood, "poplar" (Populus balsamifera L. ssp. trichocarpa(T.&G. ex Hook) Brayshaw) p.276 *Buds mashed and combined with pitch to a poultice for ringworm *Four strips of inner bark used for an afterbirth infusion for women, for sores and itchy areas •  Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) *Stems and branches made into decoction and drunk for syphilis, then same recipe applied as a cold bath for many hours. "Branches of very young trees were boiled about fort  y hours. When cool, the patient sits in it for several hours at a time, washes his body with it. He also drinks several cupfuls of the fresh liquid each day."( Steedman, p.464). Bathing continued 2-4 days whereas the patient continued with the drink mu ch longer. *Wood ashes or powder from the bark rubbed on skin to prevent hair growth: underarms, face, etc. •  Choke cherry (Prunus virginiana L.) p.266 *bark decoction drunk as tonic, for strength af  ter giving birth -also made use of bitter cherry (Prunus emarg inata). *Twigs broken and boiled in a tea for colds and coughs, influenza, diarrhoea and as a laxative. •  Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) p.107 *Boiled twigs and needles into a tonic ad diuretic tea. *Top of young tree peeled and chewed was a mouthwash. *Purification through scrubbing oneslf with boughs: hunters so that the animals wouldn't smell them, widows to wipe out the smell of death, girIs at puberty to have a disease free life. One account (Bernadette Antoine) tells: "And the real old-timers, they talk to that branch before they break it off and tell it what they're going to do .. And then they bathe, and that's what they use to scrub themsleves with  ... makes you feel fresh and c1ean. That way you don't smell, don't have any body odour  ...  " *First flush shoots set inside moccasins to prevent sweat and athlete's foot. *Douglas-fir branches, ash or coals applied hot and with a sweat bath to stiff and sore body parts. *Hot branches applied for colic, stornach or bowel cramps. *Pitch used as a poultice for injured or dislocated bones, cuts, boils and other skin problems. *Leading shoot boiled in a tea for colds. •  Cascara (Rhamnus purshiana DC.) p.253 *Bark or wood decoction used  as a physic and laxative. *Four bark strips in a pot of water  used as a wash for sciatica. *Cascara bark and red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) infusion drunk for liver diseases. *Cascara bark and flowering dogwood (Cornus nuttallii) bark, two strips each,  drunk for ulcers. •  Sitka and Western mountain-ash (Sorbus sitchensis Roemer, S. scopulina Greene)p.274 *Heated stick inserted into the ear for an ear-ache. *Infusion of branches drunk to improve bladder contreI. 19 •  Willow (Salix spp.) p.279 Willow is an original source of the active ingredient in aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid. *Bark from large willow species (Salix lasiandra Benth.) boiled, decoction used to bathe injuries. Boiled bark itself often tied onto the injury as a poultice. *Fresh bark rubbed on bruises and skin eruptions. *Dwarf willow species used as a hot wash for sore feet, pain and swelIing reduction. *Bark chewed for a toothache. •  Western yew (Taxus brevij'olia Nutt.) Taxol is an extract from this tree much sought after by today's western pharmaceuticals for cancer treatment. *"Bark collected in the morning from the sunrise side of the tree was boiled and the decoction drunk for "any iIlness" "(Annie York) . Discussion Total use of these tree species was for food, structural implements, medicines and religious/superstitious purposes. Gathering was mainly a task for women, while the men concentrated their efforts on fishing and hunting. In the case of  some medicines, the plant Itree must have been growing in the right topographic location, be the right age, have the right appearance, and meet many specifications in order to have the potential potency required for the medicine.  Many of these remedies were multi-purpose and even multiple tree species were used to concoct medicines for the same medicinal complaint. As for the pharmeceutical reliability of Thompson medicines, very little research has been carried out to verify one way or the other. Taking a close look at a few examples, we see that they have made use of western yew and salix, among other plants with known value in western medicine. Other tribes in North America made use of plants to the same extent, the Thompson people provide a specific and in depth example of how trees were rooted in native culture. Tree species composition varies widely over the continent, so that different tribes naturally had different medicines, depending on naturally occuring plants. References Keely, P.B. 1980. Nutrient Composition of Seleeted Important Plant Foods of the Pre-constact Diet of the Northwest Native American Peoples. p.586. Krajina, 1965. Biogeoclimatic zones and biogeocoenoses of British Columbia. Ecology of Western North America. Vancouver 1965. Steedman, E.V. 1930. The Ethnology of the Thompson Indians of B.C. Based on field notes of James A. Teit. Bureau of Oral American Ethnology 30th Annual Report. Washington D.C  ..  1908-1909. p.33-102. Thompson, M. Terry, Laurence C., Turner, Nancy J.  1990. Thompson Ethnobotany. Royal British Columbia Museum Memoir No. 3. Internai Oral References: Bernadette Antoine. p.  110. Hilda Austin. p.99.  Mabel Joe Shulus.p. 95, 97. Annie York. p.  112. // /  ''\ "::'"  1·. / / / / ):  ... J  ....  ~  .... :;  -'" J  ' • ... \  \ :?'  I :~  , I I } I / / / / / / / / / 20 .'  .'  .-,.-'. ::  '. "'j .' f "; :  .... { \: { / . \  13l?J'"  .  \  ~lS/f COL(j J1113L1 o I  I  I Miles ,  I  t I  j  J  j 500 I  ..... •  •  ••••.  O ,  ......  Kilometres  800 ".  ". '" .. /  ............... . ! ! l. Thompson 2. Lillooet 3. Shuswap .  .....  , ..... 4. Okanagan - Colville 5. Columbian 6. Kalispel 7. Coeur d'Alene ,  . ""'....-..  : --'  C./!J\,  :  ---_  -nlvADA  ! V  ----~---.  :  ,S.A. i  -~----.,.  ,  : :  :  .  :  :  )  .  \ Map  showing  Interior  Salish  Indian  Grotips  of British  Columbia  and neighbotlring  Washington.  (Gerald  Luxton) ...... N Table One Biogeoclimatic Zones within Thompson Indian Territory (Information af  ter Krajina, 1961:3-41) Abbreviations:  elev.  - elevation;  ppt.  - precipiration;  ann.  - annual;  terr.  - terrirory;  n  - nonh;  e  •  easi; w  - west;  S  - south;  111.  - 111ompson Zone Interior Douglas-lir Coasral western hemlock Subalpine mounrain hemlock Ponderosa pine -bunchgrass Subalpine Enge1mann spruce -subalpine  lir Alpine tundra Location lower  elev.,  n  &  e  Lower 111.  terr.;  middle  elev.  Upper 111.  terr. lower  elev.,  s  &  w  Lower 111.  terr. higher  elev.,  w  side  of Lower 111.  terr. lower  elev.,  Upper 111.  terr. higher elev.,  e  side of Lower Th.  terr.,  &  mms.  throughout Upper  Th.  terr. highest  mm.  peaks  in  Coast range Climatic notes summers  warm;  winters  cool;  ann. toral  ppt.  36-56  cm rel.  mild  winters;  humid  tO  rainy;  ann. ppt.  165-665  cm heavy  winter  snow cover  over  un-frozen  ground;  relatively  moderate winters;  ann.  toral  ppt.  178-432  cm. hot,  dry  summers,  cold  winters;  ann. roral  ppt.  19-36  cm moderate snow cover  over  (mostly) frozen  ground;  severe  winters;  toral ann.  ppt.  41-183  cm. snow cover  and  ppt. variable  (70-280 cm);  severe  wimers;  very  shon grow-ing  season Vegetation descrlption Forested:  Interior  Douglas-lir  (some  ponderosa  pine  in drier subzone),  grand  lir,  white  pine,  lodgepole  pine,  w. red  cedar,  aspen,  black  cottonwood,  birch,  Rocky  Mtn. maple heavily  forested:  w.  hemlock,  Douglas-lir,  w.  red  cedar, some white  pine,  grand  lir,  amabilis  lir,  red  alder, bigleaf  maple,  vine  maple,  black  cottonwood,  bitter cherry c10sed  forests  10  c1umped  srands  imerspersed  with  tree-less  meadows,  or parklands.  Main  species:  mounrain hemlock,  amabilis  lir,  yellow  cedar open woods or treeless  sagebrush  or grassland;  few  rall trees:  mainly  ponderosa  pine,  some  imerior  Douglas-lir, Rocky  Mtn.  maple;  cedar,  coltonwood,  willows  only  along watercourses c\osed  forests  to  parklands;  main  trees:  Engelmann spruce,  subalpine  lir,  lodgepole  pine,  white-bark  pine,  al-pine  larch,  mountain  alder tree  growrh  none,  or very  stumed 

Use of trees in traditional native medicine

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Use of trees in traditional native medicine

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