Guide to Indigenous herbs of North America

Summary: Before European immigration to North America and for some time afterwards, the Indigenous peoples maintained an extensive stock of herbal medicines that they gathered from the forests, plains and mountains of their environment. This well-illustrated handbook describes 52 of the best-known herbs used by the First Peoples of North America. Each plant is identified by locale, sketch and photograph, and the uses to which each was put are briefly described. Tonics, inhalants, poultices, laxatives, diuretics, sedatives - there was a plant for every need. Some of these tribal remedies passed - often in more sophisticated form - into the repertoire of the medical profession; many others have a secure place in the annals of folk medicine. More than 200 medicinal plants indigenous to the Americas have been official in the United States Pharmacopoeia since the first edition was published in 1820. In addition to these, perhaps another 300 herbs known to Indigenous healers have been used by doctors, and a considerable number of these have been investigated by pharmaceutical firms and brought out under various names in the form of extracts or compounds or in synthetic forms.

Record details

ISBN: 9780888390776 (softcover)
Physical Description: print
iv, 57 pages : color illustrations ; 22 cm
Publisher: Surrey, B.C. : Hancock House, [1981]
Copyright: ©1981

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references.

Formatted Contents Note:

Introduction -- Glossary -- Woods Valerian Valeriana dioica -- Arborvitae Thuja occidentalis -- Arrowhead Sagittaria latifolia -- Balsam Fir Abies balsamea -- Balsam Poplar Populus balsamifera -- Black Cohosh Actaea racemosa -- Black Nightshade Solanum nigrum -- Burdock Arctium lappa -- Black Walnut Juglans nigra -- Canada Elder Sambucus nigra -- Canadian Fleabane Erigeron canadensis -- Canadian Hemp Apocynum cannabinum -- Cascara Rhamnus purshiana -- Cattail Typha latifolia -- Common Camass Camassia quamash -- Cow-Parsnip Heracleum lanatum -- Culver's Root Veronicastrum virginicum -- Dandelion Taraxacum officinale -- Devil's Club Oplopanax horridus -- Dogwoods Cornus florida -- False Solomon's Seal Maianthemum racemosum -- Ginseng Panax quinquefolius -- Gold Thread Coptis trifolia -- Highbush Cranberry Viburnum opulus -- Indian Turnip Jack-In-The-Pulpit Arisaema triphyllum -- Juniper Juniperus communis -- Magnolia Magnolia virginiana (Var.) -- Mayapple Podophyllum peltatum -- Mullein Verbascum thapsus -- Pearly Everlasting Anaphalis margarltacea -- American False Pennyroyal Hedeoma pulegioides -- Pipsissewa Chimaphila umbellata -- Poke Or Pokeweed Phytolacca americana -- Pulsatilla Anemone patens (Var.) -- Purple Boneset Eupatorium purpureum -- Red Clover Trifolium pratense -- Rose Rosa Species -- Sassafras Sassafras albidum -- Blue Skullcap Scutellaria lateriflora -- Senega Polygala senega -- Skunk Cabbage Symplocarpus foetidus -- Slippery Elm Ulmus rubra -- Smooth Sumac Rhus glabra -- Spikenard Aralla racemosa -- Sunflower Helianthus species -- Sweet Flag Acorus calamus -- Wild Cherry Prunus serotina -- Canadian Wild Ginger Asarum canadense -- Wild Lettuce Lactuca Virosa And Other Species -- Wintergreen Gaultheria procumbens -- Yellow Parilla Menispermum canadense -- Further reading.