The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Medicinal Trees, Serviceberry and Devils Walking Stick

Episode Date: February 1, 2024

Today, I tell you about the medicinal uses of two very interesting trees, Amelanchier (Serviceberry) and Aralia Spinosa (Devil’s Walking Stick).The Spring Foraging Cook Book is available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRP63R54Or you can buy the eBook as a .pdf directly from the author (me), for $9.99:https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-spring-foraging-cookbook.htmlYou can read about the Medicinal Trees book here https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2021/06/paypal-safer-easier-way-to-pay-online.html or buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1005082936PS. New in the woodcraft Shop: Judson Carroll Woodcraft | SubstackRead about my new books:Medicinal Weeds and Grasses of the American Southeast, an Herbalist's Guidehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/05/medicinal-weeds-and-grasses-of-american.htmlAvailable in paperback on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47LHTTHandConfirmation, an Autobiography of Faithhttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/05/confirmation-autobiography-of-faith.htmlAvailable in paperback on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNKVisit my Substack and sign up for my free newsletter: https://judsoncarroll.substack.com/Read about my new other books:Medicinal Ferns and Fern Allies, an Herbalist's Guide https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/11/medicinal-ferns-and-fern-allies.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMSZSJPSThe Omnivore’s Guide to Home Cooking for Preppers, Homesteaders, Permaculture People and Everyone Else: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-omnivores-guide-to-home-cooking-for.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BGKX37Q2Medicinal Shrubs and Woody Vines of The American Southeast an Herbalist's Guidehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/06/medicinal-shrubs-and-woody-vines-of.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2T4Y5L6andGrowing Your Survival Herb Garden for Preppers, Homesteaders and Everyone Elsehttps://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/04/growing-your-survival-herb-garden-for.htmlhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B09X4LYV9RThe Encyclopedia of Medicinal Bitter Herbs: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-encyclopedia-of-bitter-medicina.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5MYJ35RandChristian Medicine, History and Practice: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/01/christian-herbal-medicine-history-and.htmlAvailable for purchase on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B09P7RNCTBHerbal Medicine for Preppers, Homesteaders and Permaculture People: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2021/10/herbal-medicine-for-preppers.htmlAlso available on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B09HMWXL25Podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/southern-appalachian-herbsBlog: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/Free Video Lessons: https://rumble.com/c/c-618325

Hey y'all, welcome to this week's show. We're continuing our series on the medicinal uses of trees. And this is all from my book, The Herbalist's Guide to Medicinal Trees of the American Southeast. It's a long title, Look Up, The Herbalist's Guide to the Medicinal Trees of the American Southeast, Mid-Atlantic region actually. The title will be in the show notes, don't worry about that. As I always have to make clear, I live in an incredibly diverse region. You go down to the coast and it's tropical like you would find from coastal South Carolina, Georgia to the Gulf, even northern Florida. You go up to the mountains where I live, similar climate to upstate New York, almost identical actually to upstate New York. You go to the middle of the state and you find sand hills and even desert type regions. You have

dense hardwood forests, which is typical of most of the United States, and pine forests and swamps. And so if it's growing in my region, and that's just North Carolina, I mean, I actually wrote the book for the whole region, which does include points further north and further south and everything. If the trees are growing in my area, they're probably growing in your area. There are very few things that don't grow here.

So no matter where you live, the book should be applicable to you. Grab a copy off Amazon if you want a hard copy, or you can buy the e-book directly from me. And like I said, it's in the show notes. Today we're going to get into a much underutilized tree. And it is known as serviceberry. Now, the official name is amelanchier. That's A-M-E-L-A-N-C-h-i-e-r not many people grow this tree anymore and kind of a shame

i mean george washington grew them for fruit he was particularly fond of the tree now you've mainly found wild if you're planning for a survival situation i would definitely plant a few of these they grow somewhat sparsely in my region. Heading up, last time I went up to Blacksburg, Virginia, about the time I got to the state line, I just started seeing them everywhere, just covered in fruit. I could not believe how many serviceberry trees just loaded with fruit there were around that area. I would absolutely be out harvesting if I were up that way. I find them, you know, every now and then. There are four actually that grow in my region. That's common serviceberry, Canadian serviceberry, Allegheny serviceberry, and roundleaf serviceberry.

And considering where I was going up there, I'm assuming that was the Allegheny serviceberry and round leaf serviceberry and considering where I was going up there I'm assuming that was the Allegheny serviceberry that I was seeing a lot of there a few varieties of serviceberry that grow outside of North America but it is predominantly a New World plant and a lot of what we know about it comes from Native American use. You may have also heard of it called Saskatoon. Saskatoon was more of a native name for the plant, and that's more what it was called in colonial times, early America. Plants for the Future says Saskatoon was widely employed as a medicinal herb by the North American Indians who used it to treat a wide range of minor complaints.

It is little used in modern herbalism. An infusion of the inner bark is used as a treatment for snow blindness. It's very interesting. You live where I do in the mountains, we get a lot of snow. You've experienced snow blindness before if you've gone out at any length of time. If you're a skier, I'm sure you have. I'm not a skier, but I am often out on the trails and such. I haven't run a trap line in a long time, but that's one of those things you have to consider. The glare off the snow can be very hard on the eyes. A decoction of the fruit juice is mildly laxative.

It has been used in the treatment of upset stomachs to restore the appetite in children. It is also applied externally as ear and eye drops. A decoction of the roots has been used in the treatment of colds. It has also been used in treatment for too frequent menstruation. A decoction of the stems combined with the stems of snowberry. That's, let me see if I can, I'll just spell this one for you. It's a tough name. S-Y-M-P-H-O-R-I-C-A-R-P-O-S. So symphoricarpos, that's snowberry. So a decoction of the stems combined with the stems of snowberry is diaphoretic, meaning it helps break a fever or helps resolve a fever as people say these days. It has been used to induce sweating in the treatment of fevers.

That's actually what it means. It makes you sweat which helps you break a fever. I had a terrible fever about three nights ago. I've had some kind of flu the past week. Anyway, I took some aspirin before I went to bed because I had such aches and chills. Aspirin wore off about, you know, four in the morning and I awoke. My fever was breaking and it literally looked like somebody poured a bucket of water over me. My shirt was soaked. My pajamas absolutely soaked i mean i was like in a pool of water so that's when a plant says it's diaphoretic it helps you resolve a fever by bringing that fever uh by inducing

sweating and helping to break the fever when that happens you actually have a a lymph a lymph a lymphatic purge and that's why afterwards you often feel exhausted but you feel a lot better so that's you know there are several herbs we use for that purpose you can also do that by you know just taking a really hot bath if you add some ginger to the bath water that'll help you can make a tea of ginger and cinnamon black pepper you can make a tea of ginger and cinnamon black pepper cloves those warming heating or spices actually and just wrap up in a lot of blankets and that'll usually help resolve fever it just kind of brings your body temperature up you hit the right spot you start to sweat profusely and the fever breaks breaks. And that's actually very, very good for you.

It's a lot better for you than taking aspirin to reduce a fever. Except in extreme cases, and we're talking very small children, fevers can be dangerous for them. People in very weakened states, like very elderly or very sick, fevers can be dangerous. But for an average healthy person, the fever is actually part of the body's way of healing it. Because the virus can only survive certain temperatures. And your body raises its temperature in order to kill off that virus or bacteria or whatever it is your immune system is fighting.

So sometimes we want to help that along rather than suppress it. So used to induce sweating and the treatment of fevers, flus, etc. Also used to the treatment of chest pains and lung infections. Let's see. Strong decoction of the bark was taken

immediately after childbirth to hasten the dropping of the placenta. It was said to help clean out and heal the woman's insides and also stop her menstrual periods after the birth. A tea made from the root of the bark mixed with other unspecified herbs was used as a tonic in the treatment of excess menstrual bleeding and also to treat diarrhea. A bath of the bark of the tea was used on children with worms. An infusion of the root was used to prevent miscarriage after an injury. A compound concoction of the inner bark was used as

a disinfectant wash. A compound infusion of the plant, and this was specifically the downy serviceberry, has been used as an anthelmintic, meaning it helps get rid of intestinal parasites, in the treatment of diarrhea and as a spring tonic. An infusion of the bark has been used in the treatment of gonorrhea. George Washington is said to have planted serviceberry at Mount Vernon, but we can only assume his reason for doing so was the fruit. Overall, serviceberry is a much underutilized native fruit, and this is really why I think this one is most important. Recent research has shown that it may have antiviral properties

that could be useful in combating such viruses as COVID-19. So, you know, recently they've been warning this new strain of COVID-19 is going to come around and kill us all. Good time to get out and start looking for the serviceberry plants. Amelanchier. If you don't find any in your region, good time to plant some along with elderberry and other of these trees and herbs like the chinese skullcap or russian skullcap kind of comes from that region in between china and russia that the root is strongly antiviral of course have your garlic and your onions on hand and you know ginger and uh oh so many other plants i've done a whole program on herbal antivirals, so go back and pull that one up. Yeah, so good plants to have on hand. Well, if that mess comes around again,

I hope it does not. I did not enjoy it the first time. So, Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Medicinal Plants tells us, the Chippewa used root bark tea with other herbs as a tonic for excessive menstrual bleeding a female tonic and to treat diarrhea Cherokee used the herb combinations as a digestive tonic bath of the bark tea was used on children with worms and that really does wrap up amelanchier so I'm going to move on to another one, which is a really fascinating plant. And this one is one I always look for in the woods. It is technically a tree, but it's in the Aurelia family. It's Aurelia spinosa, known as Devil's Walking Stick.

Now, if you find this plant, you will recognize it very quickly. It is covered in thorns. It may be called Hercules Club or Prickly Ash or Prickly Elder, which confuses people. It's actually in the Aurelia family, like Spikenard. It is about as big as a large walking stick or a staff, and it is covered in some of the most gnarly thorns you will ever encounter, and if you rub up against it, it's going to tear tear you up it's in the same family as ginseng it has long been used medicinally early settlers found the berries useful for toothache the plant has analgesic properties meaning it reduces pain

and the fresh bark is said to be a medic impergative meaning it will help you throw up if you if you need to throw up the bark is stimulating alternative meaning it gradually help you throw up if you if you need to throw up. The bark is stimulating, alternative, meaning it gradually brings you back to health. Diaphoretic again helps resolve fever. The effects of the dried bark put in the category of other arelias and ginsengs as a mild adaptogen. That means it helps the body recover from stress. Ms. Grieve and her Modern Herbal referred to it as Angelica Tree. Odd name, but she said the fresh bark caused vomiting and purging, but dried with stimulant and alternative, which we just mentioned. Tincture made for the fresh bark used for rheumatism, skin diseases, and syphilis.

The berries and tincture form low pain in decayed teeth, meaning it helps with rotten teeth, toothache from bad teeth, and in other parts of the body. It's good for violent colic and rheumatism, useful in cholera and cathartic. It is required in, well, she gives a compound. We don't really need to get into that. We don't use these measurements anymore. These are old, you know, drachms and such that, you know, a pharmacist may have a reference for, but we don't normally have

in our home. You know, if you need this exact recipe, you can get it in my book, or you can actually pull up her work online. It's called Maud Grieve, A Modern Herbal, but you're going to have to do a lot of references to get the right formula. Let's see. It's valuable in diseases where mouth and throat get dry. Known as a silagogue, it increases saliva. Relieves difficult breathing and produces moisture if given in very small doses of powder. Root, bark, and berries can all be utilized.

The Aurelias are somewhat interchangeable so basically anything you might use Aurelia hispida spikenard you're going to be kind of similar even sarsaparilla which is sort of a legendary adaptogen, American spikenard, etc. In the early, let's see, around this time of the Civil War, it was actually known as toothache bush. So, I mean, you know, people had bad teeth, and they were using it to dull the pain in the mouth. Resources of the Southern Field and Forest, which was a fantastic book that the Confederacy

commissioned to give substitutes for all the things we needed in the South when the Yankees blockaded the South and wouldn't allow any imports, so no medicine, no, you know, much anything, you know, basically starved the South out and burned everything down, committing heinous war crimes. You know, that's what the saintly Abraham Lincoln did was purposely kill women and children supposedly to free slaves after stating many times that black people were inferior and the slaves should never be freed he then turned around when it became politically useful and the North wanted to take all the South's wealth so

that's my controversial statement for the day. I think Abraham Lincoln was a genocidal dictator who destroyed the American constitutional system that my ancestors built. Yes, I have an ancestor who signed the Declaration of Independence, and we didn't want a strong federal government. We didn't want the states to be ruled by Washington, D.C., and that's what Abraham Lincoln gave us on the excuse of freeing the slaves. Yeah, we'll get into that another day. The resource Southern Fields of Forests mentioned said it was diaphoretic. The resource Southern Fields of Forests mentioned said it was diaphoretic. So basically what's happening in Texas right now, you know, where they want to secure their own borders and Biden's threatening to invade and nationalize their National Guard. Well, most of us say Texas is in the right and wish that, you know, would say the federal government's in the wrong.

Well, when the federal government invades Texas, probably no one's going to step up and save them. Most of the Southerners fought because the federal government invaded the South. There wasn't a single casualty in South Carolina when secession began. The casualties began when the North invaded the South to force us to be part of the Union. Only two generations after, my ancestors seceded from England and thought they had retained that right in the signing of the Constitution. But anyway, let me focus here. Diaphoretic properties um again

breaking fevers a medic means you know if you need to throw up it's like a epic heck uh the bark root of the bark of the root is used in chronic rheumatism and cutaneous eruptions that means That means skin sores and such. A spirituous infusion of the berries is remarkable in their power in relieving rheumatic pains. Well, all that means is the tincture made of the berries is good for arthritis. Used in Virginia for violent colics. That's, you know, they're really talking severe intestinal pain and yeah I talk a lot more about how doctors were prescribing it for rheumatism or arthritis King's American dispensatory of 1898 says the fresh bark will produce vomiting and purging but when dried it is stimulating and

alternative. We discussed that. It gradually brings one back to help. The tincture has been used in syphilitic and rheumatic affections and in some diseases of the skin. The warm infusion, especially when strong, is apt to induce vomiting. The berries and tincture have been found useful in lowering the pain from a decayed tooth, also in various painful affectations of other parts. The bark was made use of by physicians in Cincinnati during the cholera epidemic of 1849 through 1850. I think we pretty much covered yes we have covered the use of devil's walking stick or aurelia spinosa now as I said this is an incredibly easy plant to identify it has it's covered in thorns like a locust tree would be, but it grows kind of upright like a walking stick.

Sometimes it can be kind of knobby and gnarly. It has leaves more like a ginseng plant. I mean, if you look it up, and if you ever spot one in the woods, you'll never forget it, especially if you bump into it. It's just, it just a unique plant it's probably among if I had to say of the five easiest plants to identify that would be one of them now that said it's not that common but keep an eye out for it I run across one every now and then they're pretty large and really one's about all you need unless you're going to harvest

some to sell and it probably is a pretty good market actually for any of the aurelia species just be careful don't over harvest them they're a rare plant they're not one you're going to see every day and if you wipe them out they're not coming back so y'all have a good one i will talk to you next time the information this podcast is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. Nothing I say or write has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I'm not a doctor. The U.S. government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine, and there is no governing body regulating herbalists.

Therefore, I'm really just a guy who studies herbs. I'm not offering any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write or say is accurate or true. Thank you. recommends you are treating yourself. You take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals and no two are identical. What works for me may not work for you. You may have an allergy, a sensitivity, an underlying condition that no one else even shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. By continuing to listen to my podcast or read my blog, you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices choices and not to blame me for anything ever