Mountain Folk Remedies: The Foxfire Americana Library (9) (4 page)

Numerous Marcus stated, “I’ve got some goldenseal planted up there above the barn. I ordered it. There is some of it in this country around here, but it’s a very scattered plant. You find it mostly back in North Carolina. It just grows in little patches around here. You can make a tea out of the roots of goldenseal. Take a little wad of the roots and put them down in a quart or a half gallon of liquor and let that set a while. Drink
a little of that at a time. You don’t want to drink too much of that ’cause it’ll make you tired as the dickens. I never make too much of it at a time, because I’ve got friends who come in to see me that like it too!”

“Take the powder out of goldenseal flowers. It’s good for cuts, keeps down infection. You just break [the blossoms] off, put ’em over paper, and let ’em drop. Sift that to get all the crumbs out of it to where it’ll just be pure stuff, the powder out of the blossoms,” Gertrude Mull added.

Charles Thurmond said, “A true yellowroot is goldenseal. [It] has a very toxic effect if you overdose on it. [It] is good for colds and the croup.”

I
LLUSTRATION 10
Hemlock tree

Hemlock
(Tsuga canadensis)
grows well in moist earth and is a common sight in the mountainous areas. This tree has short needles and small cones. The needles were brewed to make a tea for coughs and colds.

I
LLUSTRATION 11
Horseradish

Horseradish
(Cochleria armoracia)
enjoys rich soil and can reach heights of over two feet. (For a drawing of it, see
Foxfire 2
, page 77.) It is gathered and used for the root, which has a burning taste. As a blood builder, use the red part of the roots of the horseradish plant and drink as a tea. It was used to aid digestion.

Indian Root
(Aralia racemosa)
is gathered in the fall for the root. The stems have many branches and can be six feet tall with very large leaves. Flowers appear in late summer to early fall and are produced in clusters. It likes moist, rich soil.

Marie Mellinger said,
“Aralia racemosa
, called spignet, false-sarsaparilla, spiceberry, shot-bush, or Indian root, is a tall, dramatic plant with huge dried leaves and a very showy panicle of fragrant flowers. Later the
Aralia
bears an abundance of juicy, garnet-red berries. The strong-smelling roots are dug in autumn.
Aralia
is a ‘cure all.’ Sarsaparilla compound has been sold as ‘Nature’s
best tonic of certain organic hormones.’ With ginseng it ‘eases ills of old age and prolongs life,’ but only for men, giving it such names as ‘life-of-man’ and ‘old man’s roots.’ The cooked roots have an agreeable aromatic smell and flavor and are sometimes used as food.”

I
LLUSTRATION 12
Ironweed

Ironweed
(Vernonia or Verbena hastata)
likes moist, open places and is gathered for using the entire herb. The stem is rough, straight, and covered with fine hairs. It can stand seven feet tall and branches out above the leaves, which are broad, toothy, and lance-shaped. This herb produces small blue flowers in clustered spikes that can be six inches long.

Charles Thurmond told us, “Ironweed is very gentle. You don’t really realize it’s working. You make a concoction and use it on the surface of the skin for skin diseases and things like that.”

Jack-in-the-Pulpit
(Arisaema)
grows well in shady, moist, wooded areas. It has smooth leaves that can be six inches long and three inches wide. The flower, which appears from April to early July, is shaped much like a calla lily and is green or green with eggplant-colored stripes. Fall brings a cluster of shiny deep red berries. The root (or corm) is turnip-shaped and has a strong burning taste. This plant is gathered in the summer for the root. The root is cut crosswise and dried to lessen the strong taste. Native Americans used the dried root for colds and coughs and to build the blood. Dried root poultices were used externally for rheumatism, boils, and swelling from snakebites.

Jerusalem Oak Seed
(Chenopodium anthelminticum)
is a naturalized, strongly-odored weed that grows in open places and is gathered for using either the entire plant or the fruit only. It is a common plant. It has a stem of two to three feet with many branches and several lance-shaped leaves. The lower leaves are much larger than the upper leaves. In summer, flower spikes mixed with leaves appear. These are followed
by small round berries that contain a small black seed. The strong odor comes from the potent oil contained in the plant. This oil is distilled from the berries alone or from the entire plant.

Gertrude Mull told a story about using this plant. “One time, my brother got sick. Just looked like he had the nervous croup [not real croup, but the symptoms are similar]. We called the doctor, and the doctor gave him shots for the nervous croup, but [it turned out] he didn’t have it. There was an old neighbor woman come, and she said, ‘I believe he’s wormy.’ So she went out and got some peach tree bark and leaves and poured boiling water over that and made a poultice. She put that right across his belly. ‘Now,’ she says, ‘go to the store and bring some of this Jerusalem oak seed medicine, and we’ll try that on him.’

“The doctor said he was too weak to do that. He said, ‘Maybe you’d better wait.’

“That woman said, ‘I’m gonna put this poultice on him, and I’m going to the store and bring a bottle of worm medicine up here to give him.’ She went up there [and got the medicine]. She give him a dose of that and told my mother, “Tomorrow, you give him another’un. And you give him some castor oil after that and see.”

“So she did, and they got sixty-some big round worms out of that little-bitty boy. He was only about three or four years old. And that boy got well. He always was a little ol’ weaselly-looking thing, and he seemed like he come out then [started growing].

“From then on, she always give us kids that medicine about twice a year. She got worms from some of ’em but never did get none from me. I’d take it, but boy! I’d go through that stuff. Nobody knows. [Mama would make us] candy out of syrup and that Jerusalem oak seed. Boil the syrup, put a little sodie in it, and stir it. Cook it just like candy. Twist it just like tobacco. Then she’d break that all up in big pieces and pass it around for us to eat. We’d eat it that a-way. And you can feed that to your chickens or anything that’d get worms.”

Jewelweed
(Impatiens capensis)
grows well in wet places where shade is abundant. Stems are brown, can reach two feet tall, and hold variably sized, soft-green leaves. Charles Thurmond said, “Jewelweed grows all around the Foxfire office in Mountain City. The juice inside the jewel-weed is a natural cortisone that is good for bee stings, poison oak, and poison ivy.”

I
LLUSTRATION 13
Joe-Pye Weed

Joe-Pye Weed
(Eupatorium maculatum)
may grow as tall as six feet. Its cluster of several small pink flowers is slightly fragrant. Although there are several stories as to who Joe Pye really was, there is a general consensus
that he was an Abenaki Indian medicine man who lived in colonial New England. He earned his fame by “curing” typhoid fever and several other diseases by using concoctions made from this plant. In the Southern Appalachian Mountains, this plant is called queen of the meadow, a fitting name for this stately herb. It blooms August through September.

Native Americans had several uses for this plant. The one we found most interesting: a brave who was courting a young woman was assured of success if he stuck a wad of this plant in his mouth before he went visiting.

Charles Thurmond described his experience with this plant by saying, “Joe-Pye weed is very close to boneset, and because of this, it can be used for fevers and such. I have found that a tablespoon for a child and two tablespoons for an adult is usually enough. Once, my grandmother saved one of my older uncles’ lives by breaking his fever.”

I
LLUSTRATION 14
Lily-of-the-Valley

Lily-of-the-Valley
(Convallaria majalis)
grows in clumps in wooded, damp places. Now rare, this plant was used for headaches—you could sniff it or put it on the back of your neck. It has two green leaves with a white stalk of bell-shaped flowers. The flowers are very fragrant. This plant is dangerous and should not be used internally.

Linden Tree
(Tilia americana)
enjoys rich forestland in the mountains. It can grow to 125 feet tall, with a trunk diameter of 5 feet. Leathery leaves are pointed, toothy, and have one- or two-inch stems. Spring brings abundant flowers, which are yellowish in color, clustered, and fragrant. Collected from this tree are the bark and the flowers, which should be dried in the shade.

As a remedy for “risings” [boils], use the inside surface of the bark to draw them to a head. A tea made from the flowers is used as a remedy for a stomachache.

Liverwort
(Hepatica americana)
likes wooded areas and blooms in early spring. Its flowers, which arrive in April, stand on stems four to six inches tall. There are no petals, only five to nine sepals that protect the reproductive parts of the plant. The sepals of the
Hepatica
are delicate and usually pink, white, or lilac. Hairy, soft stalks of the plant spread along the ground. The leaves are leathery, thick, and round or kidney-shaped.