Medicinal Plants: Medicine Growing Wild
“When it would be
too wet weather [and people] couldn’t work they would hit the hills and
seng. They would get a great big bunch of seng, half a pound, dry
it out, take it up there and [trade for] a pretty good wagonload of
meal and flour, salt bacon.”
--- Leonard
Eversole, interviewed in Our Appalachia, 1988.
Until railroads
breached the mountains in the late nineteenth century, bartering and
subsistence farming were a way of life in Appalachia. Only small
trade goods of high value were worth transporting into the outside
world to sell for cash money --- items like moonshine and dried ginseng
(aka “seng”) roots.
Gathering
medicinal herbs has continued to be an Appalachian source of revenue
through the present day with dried ginseng roots now selling for as
much as $600 per pound. Most ginseng roots are eventually
exported to China where they are considered a panacea, serving as an
aphrodisiac, cure for diabetes and sexual dysfunction, and generally
ensuring a long life. Although ginseng is now hard to find in
these hills due to overcollecting, the Americorps Trail is a good spot
to observe several other medicinal plant species including Black and
Blue Cohosh, Goldenseal, and Twinleaf.
With the possible exception of Twinleaf, all of these species were much
prized by the Native Americans, who used them to cure illnesses ranging
from menstrual cramps to cancer. The English name “cohosh”, in
fact, is derived from an Algonquin Indian word referring to the gnarly
roots, suggesting that both Black and Blue Cohosh roots were used
medicinally long before European settlement of the Americas.
Once Europeans
entered the Appalachian region, use of medicinal herbs kicked into high
gear. By the early nineteenth century, Goldenseal was prized as a
healing herb in both Europe and America. A century later, 100 to
200 tons of goldenseal were being dug every year, with about a tenth of
that being exported to Europe.
Overharvesting
combined with habitat loss have since depleted the populations of most
of our medicinal plant species and many are now listed as rare or
endangered. Goldenseal and ginseng are currently cultivated to
supplement the dwindling native plants found in our rich
woodlands. To preserve these unique plants for our children and
grandchildren, please refrain from collecting plants within Sugar Hill.
“The
good Lord has put these yerbs here for man to make hisself well
with. They is a yerb, could we but find it, to cure every
illness.”
---
An east Tennessee mountain woman quoted in Price, 1960.
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