It’s so easy now to run to the pharmacy and pick-up treatments for most ailments that most of us don’t really give much thought as to where the active compounds were derived. But it wasn’t that long ago that the Cherokee and early settlers in our area looked to the forests for their cures.
Ethnologist James Mooney states that, “the Cherokee have always been an agricultural people” and in general “held that the plant world is friendly to the human species, and constantly at the willing service of the doctors to counteract the jealous hostilities of the animals.”
Culver Root was used in “love conjurations,” while the juice of the Starry Campion “was held to be a sovereign remedy for snake bites.” Cocklebur and Jimsonweed were believed to improve memory. Infants that seemed “to pine or grow thin” were bathed in an extract made from an orchid known as Putty Root or Adam and Eve.
From the perineal herb Devil’s Shoestring the Cherokee formulated a shampoo favored by the women as well as a balm believed to strengthen the limbs of athletes. Poisonous Wild Parsnip was used in steam baths, its smell held to drive away disease spirits.
The Foxfire Book details many remedies practiced by the early settlers to our area, the lack of available doctors leading to a “staggering body of lore” some of which certainly worked, while other remedies were more dubious – especially the ones that relied on quantities of distilled spirits!
As shared by interviewee Molly Green, “it was a chancy business” and “if it hit, it hit; and if it missed, it missed.”
Boiled Chestnut leaves were put on burns. The leaves of the Boneset plant were steeped into a tea to fight colds, as were teas made from ground Ginger roots. A tea made from Sampson’s Snakeroot cured colic, while binding wilted Wild Beet leaves to one’s forehead soothed headaches.
Drops of the juice from Sweetshrub eased earaches, while a balm made from Poke Root helped with inflammation. Bloodroot was used for respiratory issues.
Many of these compounds are still used today with homeopathic remedies, and some have been “discovered” by the pharmaceutical industry and formulated into prescription medicines.
But the next time you take a hike and are amazed by the variety of wildflowers and plants, remember how generations of our ancestors saw this bounty as not only beautiful, but also essential for their health.
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