User:CarrieBerg/The Uses of Healing Plants in My Jim

Intro
To clear up any confusion, before I begin, I'd like to list the common names used for the plants mentioned in My Jim. This is because the same plants are often mentioned multiple times in the book, but by different names. So, here is a list of all the plants used for healing in the order they were first mentioned in My Jim:

List of Plants used in My Jim by Order of Mention
Tobacco

Burdock = Burr seed

Linseed = Flax

Five Finger = Cinquefoil

Dandelion

Indian Ginger = Canadian Snakeroot (not to be confused with black snakeroot!!!) = Wild Ginger

River Ash

Bloodroot = Tetterwort (name used only in America)

Soapweed = Yucca glauca

Burning Bush = Wahoo = Spindle Tree

Sassafras

Milkweed = Butterfly Weed = Pleurisy Root

Wintergreen = Spiceberry

Sycamore

Blue Iris

Black Snakeroot = Black Sanicle = American Sanicle

or Black Snakeroot = Black Cohosh

''Note: To hell with choosing one or the other, I'm going to use both. I decided this because, while they both have remarkably similar cures, Sanicle was also known as a blood purifier and was used in treating wounds, and Black Cohosh dealt with "feminine problems" and would more likely be used as an abortifacient. So either could be used in most places, but there is one time when Santicle seems more correct, and one time when Black Cohosh seems most right. Since they are tied, and I lack sufficient evidence otherwise, I will use both.''

Blackberry

Hemp

Mint

Wild Geranium = Alumroot (in older herbals)

Chicory = Wild Succory

Garlic

Foxglove

Pokeberry

Black Walnut

Columbine

Clove

Analysis of Herbs
The most important plant mentioned in the entire book of My Jim is also the first herb mentioned. This plant is tobacco. Time and time again it is mentioned. Not only is it the most important because of what it can heal, but also because of it's role in the lives of slaves. Slaves worked on tobacco plantations. This herb was part of almost every waking moment of their lives. And so it is the most important herb mentioned in the book.

Sadie says it best on page thirty-nine, "tobacco leaf good for everything. Dressing wounds.  Soothing tired eyes.  Frostbite." The question is, does tobacco cure everything? According to the Nechi Training Research and Health Promotions Institute, January 2007, "The leaves of the plant [tobacco] itself were used as a wound, or irritation healing ointment." So tobacco was traditionally used for dressing wounds. Was it was used for frostbite? That information is harder to find. And tobacco does not cure everything.

As an interesting side note, among some Native American tribes, tobacco was carried only by experienced shamans or medicine men. Which ties in nicely with Sadie being a healer, or at least one knowledgeable about herbs.

There are certain times throughout the book in which particular plants are mentioned in regard to what they are healing. The first time plants are mentioned for healing is on page thirty-two. Sadie is given a poultice of burdock leaves to help heal her burns. According to Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs, "Herbalists have made poultices of the [burdock] leaves that were used on bruises, burns and knee swellings."

Later, on page forty-six burdock is used to remove pox scars. This exactly what burdock was traditionally used for: "as a topical remedy for skin problems such as acne, eczema, rosacea and psoriasis" according to the Wikipedia article on Burdock.

Also on on page thirty-two, Sadie was given dough with lard and linseed oil to put on her burns. Linseed oil, according to A Modern Herbal, "heats and moistens, helps pains of the breast, coming cold and pleuries, old aches, and stitches, and softens hard swellings." So linseed oil would remove aches and pains, as well as deal with the painful swellings that come with bad burns.

On page thirty-three, Sadie makes Jim "tea of dandelion root and Indian Ginger" when he has ague. She also gives him "syrup from the bark of a river ash." According to the Revised Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, wild ginger was drunk as a tea for stomach pains and to settle the stomach. It is known to have antibacterial properties. According to the Wikipedia article on Asarum canadense, the scientific name for wild ginger, it also was used to treat scarlet fever, coughs and colds. So it is not surprising that Sadie would make such a tea to heal Jim.

Dandelion is an interesting plant. It seems that there are many different opinions on what dandelion can or can't do. According to the Revised Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, dandelion roots, when dried and ground, are used as a coffee substitute. Dandelion is also a diuretic.

According to Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs dandelion is still prescribed by European Herbalists "as a mild laxative, as an aid in digestion, and as an apatite stimulant." However, the book also says that there is little scientific evidence to place dandelion as a medicinal herb. Very old herbals, such as The Complete Herbal by Nicolas Culpepper, from 1652, say that dandelion is good for inducing sleep or rest in patients that have the ague. I'm guessing this would be the reason Sadie gave it to Jim.

Syrup made from river ash bark would also be helpful in treating ague. According to Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs ash is used to treat "sore throats, fevers, and headaches as well as arthritis and rheumatism." So the syrup would be good for dealing with the fevers that come with ague.

Sometimes common healing plants are just listed, with no healing properties. This happens on page thirty-six when Sadie lists burr, soapweed, bloodroot, burning bush, and sassafras. Soapweed and sassafras are never mentioned again. However burr is often mentioned for healing. In fact, it is the first plant used for healing in the book. Bloodroot also appears frequently. And burning bush appears again a few pages later.

Then Sadie gives a second list of herbs, this time with what they are supposed to do. "Tea from the milkweed for consumption. Wintergreen keep the babies from coming.  Sweet sap from the sycamore help with dressing wounds.  Fall root of the blue iris for poison.  Butterfly weed for pleurisy.  Five finger for all kind of things." from page thirty-six to thirty-seven in My Jim. For the most part, Sadie is completely correct.

Butterfly weed is also known as Pleurisy root, so it comes as no surprise that it is used to cure pleurisy. Likewise, butterfly weed, or milkweed, also treats consumption. In fact, it treats most lung problems. Wintergreen does not prevent pregnancy. I have to admit, that one really confuses me. I can find no reason why anyone would believe wintergreen prevents pregnancy. Sycamore sap was used for dressing wounds. Blue iris root poisonous. Five fingers is indeed "good for all kinds of things." In old herbals five fingers does cure many things - from the "falling sickness" to mouth sores to ague to inflammations, there is very little that five fingers can't cure.

Mas's friend has dropsy, so Mas takes Sadie and her mother to heal him. Sadie helps her mother by crushing snakeroot on page thirty-seven. The main question here is what type of snakeroot is Sadie crushing? There are far too many plants that go by the name "snakeroot" in old, and even modern, herbals. Wild ginger, or Canada snakeroot, was said to cure dropsy, so that is a possibility. But Sadie usually uses the name Indian Ginger, and not snakeroot, for that plant. Then there is black snakeroot, which is used more often throughout the book. So, there is a good possibility that this is black snakeroot, even though I have yet to find specific reference saying that black snakeroot treats dropsy.

The use of black snakeroot on page thirty-nine to cure malaria is also correct. Both types of black snakeroot was traditionally used for a number of reasons, one of which was to cure malaria. Another was to treat fevers, especially malarial fevers. Tea from the bark of the burning bush was also used by Sadie's mother, as well as oil from hemp seeds, blackberry roots and leaves and tobacco water. Burning bush was traditionally used for in folk medicine, but it is extremely dangerous. The dried bark was used as a stimulant or a laxative. Hemp seed oil is as good as burning bush bark is bad. Hemp seed oil is extremely good to eat. And an incredibly wise choice to have not only when sick, but to stay healthy. Hemp seed oil also has anti-inflammatory properties.

Blackberry root is used as anti-diarrhea medicine, while the leaves are used as mouthwash, according to an informative plaque at the Olympic Sculpture Park. According to The Complete Herbal by Nicolas Culpepper, "The distilled water of the branches, leaves, and flowers, or of the fruit, is very pleasant in taste, and very effectual in fevers and hot distempers of the body, head, eyes, and other parts." So blackberry was also used to treat fevers.

It comes as no surprise that Sadie would put mint on Mas Steven's chest, as mentioned on page fifty-one. According to the Wikipedia article on Mentha, "Mint was originally used as a medicinal herb to treat stomach ache and chest pains." Mint aides breathing, which is why it is also commonly used as a decongestant.

To heal Mas Steven Sadie makes a "salve with snakeroot to help bring the skin back together" from page fifty-three. A few pages later Sadie mixes snakeroot, mint, sycamore bark, whiskey and blood together and soaks towels in it to put on the wound. She also mixes geranium powder and burr seed leaves into a poultice to put on him. Finally, she gives him snakeroot tea.

It is entirely plausible that the mixture Sadie makes would be used to staunch the bleeding. Either snakeroot could be used as an anti-inflammatory. Santicle in particular would be used to close the wound and promote healthy flow of blood. Sycamore bark would be the binding agent. The poultice she uses would also help bind the wound. As for wild geranium, according to Herbal Medicine Past and Present, "they claim it is good when everything else fails to stop bleeding, inside and outside, too." And burr leaves would have been used to take away the burning sensation as well as lower the inflammation of the wound.

To prevent children Sadie's mother drinks snakeroot tea and rubs her body with spiceberry oil. As stated previously, wintergreen does not prevent children. However, snakeroot tea actually could work. Black Cohosh was used as an abortifacient, and increases bloodflow to the pelvis, which could induce menses.

Later Sadie drinks powdered bloodroot and dandelion tea, and also rubs herself with spiceberry oil to try and prevent her first child. Dandelion tea would not cause a miscarriage but bloodroot might. Bloodroot is not exactly safe to use. It is toxic to drink. And drinking it could be the reason Sadie could keep nothing down. Bloodroot was traditionally used as an emetic, though now it is not considered safe to ingest. In small doses bloodroot is soothing, in moderate an emetic. It is recommended that bloodroot is not ingested when pregnant.

On page sixty-nine, Sadie makes a syrup from butterfly weed and pepper to cure measles. I have found no evidence claiming that either pepper or butterfly week cures or even was used to cure measles. It is still possible that butterfly weed and pepper were used as such, but they are not known for curing either in any of the herbals I have read.

On page seventy-seven Sadie uses chicory to settle her stomach. Chicory is often used to settle stomach complaints and to stimulate appetite. As Herbal Medicine Past and Present states, chicory is "said to increase the appetite and aid digestion."

On page eighty-two Sadie treats Lizbeth's scarlet fever by giving her "butterfly weed and garlic and five finger root and burr seed." Five fingers takes down fever and garlic is a wonder herb. Garlic helps cure fevers, among many other problems. Garlic is also a strong antibiotic.

Sadie is brilliant when she has her children eat the bloodroot seeds on page 101. Each seed has an elaiosome, a fleshy structure that is rich in lipids and proteins. Such seeds would be full of tasty nutrients.

"Foxglove spiceberry pokeberry. Blue iris root." The poisons Sadie collects on page 112. These are some serious poisons. All, except wintergreen, kill. Again, I'm not sure where the idea that wintergreen is a poison comes from. Then Sadie give the cure to these poisons on page 113, "dandelion root and five finger root and root of columbine." It's possible, that since several of the plants used in the cure are diuretics, that they would cure the person by having the toxins removed that way. Otherwise, I do not see how those plants could counter the poisons she used.

On page 122, Sadie goes to get clove for Jonnie's toothache. Clove not only removes toothache, but it treats inflammation of the mouth as well. A very good choice to Sadie to give to her son with his rotted teeth. Black walnut bark was briefly mentioned in that Jonnie prefers clove over black walnut bark. This implies that black walnut was more commonly used to treat tooth problems. Black walnut is anti-inflammatory, and is still used to treat mouth sores. However, black walnut bark is much more bitter than clove, which could be why Jonnie dislikes it.

One of the books I used to compare the uses of herbs in My Jim is The Complete Herbalist by Dr. O. Phelps Brown. This book was written in 1878. I believe that using this older book on herbal healing to compare the uses of herbs in My Jim gives a better idea of what Sadie would have believed - had she really lived at the time. Using modern books is also useful - for they are able to show that some of those past herbal beliefs were wrong. But, as far as uses of healing herbs in My Jim goes, the author was correct is the uses of herbs at the time, even if some of those uses did not actually work.

Miscellaneous Notes
First, a huge thanks to Google Books for making it possible for me to do research fast and without leaving my computer... sadly, the herbs that appear in the latter part of the alphabet are usually cut since the previews for books stop at some point...

And then a rant... why can't herbals ever contain ALL the herbs? Seriously! Is it that hard? Why leave out only certain plants? If you're already writing a huge "encyclopedic" book, why omit one or two herbs? Were they not good enough? Does the author have a grudge against them? Argh!!!

If you are wondering why I bothered to use a book from 1653, well, there were so many other herbals that referenced Culpepper's The Complete Herbal that I figured I might as well go to the source of their information. Seriously, it must be one of the most referenced herbal books out there!

Wow, is it difficult to find information about Sanicle! Or Wild Geranium (which became easier once I found it was also called alumroot in the older herbals). If only herbs went by one name apiece, instead of their many names, several of which often refer to more than one plant (curse you snakeroot!)... but it does make for a very exciting treasure hunt!

Black snakeroot - anti-inflammatory, used traditionally to treat malaria, sedative, lowers blood-pressure, heart tonic.

"It has been used to treat malaria, to stimulate the appetite, to increase perspiration, and to cure a host of other maladies." According to Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs edited by Claire Kowalchik & William H. Hylton.

Burning bush - "It is tonic, laxative, alterative, diuretic, and expectorant. It is serviceable in dyspepsia, torpid liver, constipation, dropsy, and pulmonary diseases. In intermittents it serves a good purpose." According to The Complete Herbalist by Dr. O. Phelps Brown.

Butterfly weed - also known as pleurisy root. Aptly named. "promoting perspiration and expectoration in diseases of the respiratory organs, especially pleurisy, inflammation of the lungs, catarrhal affections, consumption, etc." According to The Complete Herbalist by Dr. O. Phelps Brown.

Clove - removes toothache, common cold, treats inflammation of the mouth, treats cough

"The mild anesthetic property of cloves has been known for a long time. A home-style, temporary toothache anesthetic of some effectiveness is whole bruised cloves held in the mouth.  Dentists to this day sometimes use clove oil mixed with zinc oxide for temporary fillings.

Dentists also sometimes use it to disinfect disturbed root canals, since cloves have moderately strong germicidal properties. Some people use powdered cloves or the oil as an ingredient in mouthwash or sore throat gargles." According to Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs edited by Claire Kowalchik & William H. Hylton.

Five fingers - "It is tonic and astringent. A decoction is useful in fevers, bowel complaints, night-sweats, menorrhagia, and other hemorrhages. It makes an excellent gargle for spongy, bleeding gums, and ulcerated mouth and throat." According to The Complete Herbalist by Dr. O. Phelps Brown.

Garlic - "Modern herbalists recommend garlic (as well as other allium vegetables) for colds, coughs, flu, fever, bronchitis, ringworm, intestinal worms and cardiovascular disease." The New Healing Herbs by Micheal Castleman.

Linseed - "heats and moistens, helps pains of the breast, coming cold and pleuries, old aches, and stitches, and softens hard swellings." According to A Modern Herbal by Mrs. M. Grieve.

Poke berry - "Poke is emetic, cathartic, alternative, and slightly narcotic. The root excites the whole glandular system, and is very useful in syphilitic, scrofulous, rheumatic, and cutaneous diseases. It is an excellent remedy for the removal of mercurio syphilitic affections." According to The Complete Herbalist by Dr. O. Phelps Brown.