Ethnobotany

Notes from the 5th class of the Botany Conservation Course
by Course Volunteer Phyllis Daniels & Course Coordinator Mary Kiesau

Rosalee de la Forêt, an herbalist, and her husband Xavier, the creator of the Sustainable Living Project, were the speakers for the fifth class in the Methow Conservancy's 2014 Methow Conservation Course “Botany: The Basics & Beyond.”

Ethnobotany is the study of the relationship of plants and people.  Xavier pointed out two myths about people and nature.  Myth one:  humans are above nature and therefore can do what they will - it all belongs to them.  Myth two: humans are below nature and don’t belong to it and should leave it alone.  He suggests a third possibility; to have a mutually respectful relationship with nature; to partake of it and have a positive impact on the earth.  Myth #2 that humans are not natural to the ecosystem can cause us to make abstract categories: that there is a domesticated realm (garden is ours to do with what we want) and that there was pristine wilderness.  These assumptions don’t incorporate the fact that for 10,000 years Native people harvested native plants and by doing so many different plants increased their productivity.

Roselee said getting to know plants is like getting to know people.  You get to know them bit by bit.  You learn their name, what family they come from, and then you get to know them more specifically and intimately, like what they do or in the case of plants, what they can do for us.

Lily Family - First, we went over important root crops.  These plants have evolved to expect us to dig them up, aerate the soil and spread their bulblets.  Wait until the plants have gone to seed to harvest so that the seeds can sow when you dig. You can increase the number of plants by a factor of 5 or more for every one you harvest.  There are numerous edible plants in the lily family, but some lilies, like Meadow Death Camas, should not be eaten, so take care to know your plants well.  These plants grow from corms, technically not bulbs though they look like a bulb.  We’ll use the words interchangeably here, but when we write bulb we mean corm.

• Yellow Bells - edible corms, tasty, good texture, starchy. 

  

  Yellow Bell Corms

  Grow deep in ground 6-8” to survive  in the cold winter and our dry summers.  The corm is covered with little bulblets or propagules - wipe those off and spread them in the hole you’ve dug to make new plants. Can eat raw or cooked.
• Chocolate Lily - is also a “rice root” bulb with many small bulblets covering the one main bulb.  These are typically cooked or dried before eaten as they are slightly bitter.
• Tiger Lily - bulbs look more like garlic cloves; strong bitter taste; best mixed with other foods.
• Glacier Lily - sprout in the snow and flower as snow is receding; bulb is elongated, sweet and crisp.
• Mariposa Lily- there are two types here though the Cat’s Ear or Lyall’s is far more abundant.  It has a smaller bulb; both have a sweet nutty flavor and can be eaten raw or cooked..
• Hooker's Onion - the leaves alone can look like yellow bells or death camas when there is no flower. Use it like any onion - the bulb and green tops are like scallions.

Orchid Family - many orchids have been over-harvested by people simply picking the pretty flowers.  We do not recommend harvesting orchids in general.

Striped Coralroot

• Coralroot - there are several types of coralroots (spotted, striped and western here). They are used for fever, cold and flu, and to calm children.  Pull up whole plant, cut into pieces, and replant parts.
• Mountain Lady’s Slipper - blooms late may and early June.  It is a tasty bulb but is also a relaxing nervine (plant remedy that has a beneficial effect upon the nervous system in some way), and relieves stress.  This plant has been over harvested and cannot survive without underground fungi so it cannot be transplanted.
• Fairy Slipper or Calypso - This orchid has also been over-harvested and depends upon a symbiotic relationship with a soil-dwelling fungus. The corm was used for food.

Daisy Family - This family gives us both native and non-native plants for food and medicine.

• Arrowleaf Balsamroot - important food and medicine.  Early in the spring, look for dead leaves from last years plant and you’ll see new sprouts coming up.  Dig down to get the fresh shoots, but don’t take more than half of them.  The young stalks, leaves and flowers are edible and have incredibly pleasing resin flavor.  Peel off the hairy outer layer and munch on the pithy center.  Later in the spring, when the flower heads are dried, you can gather sunflower seeds.  As medicine, resin from fall roots is an expectorant, is anti-microbial, and works well as a poultice for wounds, fevers and upper respiratory infections.
• Arnica - in low doses, arnica is great for injuries (too much of it is poisonous).  It stimulates capillaries to dilate and stimulate blood flow. Use it externally (salve or oil) for post surgery, postpartum, bruises, sprains.  To make a cream, you can use the whole plant or just the flower.
• Yarrow - name means ‘many flowers’ and it’s known as the Master of Blood because it can stop bleeding as well as help move blood in body (bruises and clots) if taken internally.  It is an antiseptic, is used to heal wounds, and combined with mint and elder flowers can shorten the duration of the flu.  It helps with lung function, bile secretion, and breaks down fat. It is a bit bitter and is therefore good for digestion.  If Rosalee could only take one plant to a deserted island it would be yarrow. 
• Big Sagebrush - is antimicrobial and cleans pathogens out of the body (and spirit when used as a smudge); prevents bacterial infections and fungal infections.
• Dandelion -

  

  Making Dandelion Wine

  every part of this “weed” can be used for food and medicine yet Americans pour 90 million gallons of herbicide a year to kill this plant.  People from Europe brought it here because they couldn’t live without it.  Leaves offer Vitamin A, Phosphorus, & Potassium. Leaf and root combined effectively treat acne, PMS and eczema.  Combined with burdock it is a cure for cancer.  The milky sap can be used for warts.  The root roasted makes a great coffee flavored tea.  Buds can be pickled or used in salads or stir fried.  Harvest when open and fry.
• Pineapple Weed -  another common weed around here - found in compacted soil.  Use as a camomile substitute; it promotes sleep and is used for anxiety relief.
• Salsify - a weed here, in Europe it grows wild and is cultivated as a vegetable crop.  It has a carrot-type long tap root.  Green buds (before going to seed) can be used in stir frys.

Parsley Family - Some are edible and some are deadly so be careful and know your plants.

• Chocolate Tips - (a lomatium) is sometimes called ‘big medicine’ has strong dramatic resinous flavor.  The whole plant can be used but root is used most commonly. Has strong anti-viral qualities and is used for herpes, HIV, and Epstein Barr.
• Biscuitroot - another lomatium with a carrot-like root was a popular Native American food.  It was boiled and eaten or dried and pounded into flour.
• Indian Celery or Bare-Stem Lomatium - entire plant tastes like celery and can be eaten raw or put into soups and dishes.
• Cow Parsnip - big plant with big maple like leaves.  Causes sun sensitivity and blistering when brushed up against.  The stalk can be eaten after peeling the hairy outer layer; steam it or batter up and fry.  In small amounts (2 seeds per soup pot) seeds can be used as flavoring.  As medicine the root and seed are used; seeds numb toothache pain.
  

L to R: Springbeauty corms, Biscuitroot roots, Burdock root (sliced) and Bitterroot roots

Purslane Family

• Bitterroot - was the #1 root that Native Americans gathered here.  In bud stage is the perfect time to dig roots with a digging stick from the loose rocks in which it grows.  The root looks like legs with “pants” (an outer red sheath or thin bark) that need to be peeled off or will be extremely bitter.  Split the crouch of the pants open and pull out the tiny red “heart” or seed embryo and plant it back in the ground you just dug.  Can be eaten raw, boiled or dried as flour.
• Spring Beauty - other important purslane family plant, the whole plant can be eaten.  The root (corm) is starchy and potato-like.  The thicker the flower stem or the larger the clump of flowers the bigger the bulb. Take the large bulb and let the smaller ones grow.  The above ground part is great in salads.

Conifers

• Ponderosa Pine - high in vitamin C, has a citrus taste; the needles make a great tea (steep the needles for 10-15 minutes).
• Douglas Fir- can also be used for tea; is high in antimicrobials (what the plant uses for protection we use for medicine).  Draws out boils, deep splinters, etc.
• Spruce - flexible bark for baskets.  Take bark off living tree, doesn’t kill it as long as you only take small sections (1/3 or less of the diameter) and you don’t knick the wood underneath the bark.

Figwort Family

• Elephants Head - lousewort used for relaxing stress and anxiety and in structural medicine - externally - to relax muscles.  Used as a smoking herb (aerial portions).
• Mullen - common weed around here, it pulls up nutrients with deep taproot to reinvigorate the soil.  Oil is used for earaches, fuzzy leaves for lung strengthening and asthma.  Nutrient dense with a mild taste of vanilla. Dry stalks are used for friction fires and the tall seedpods on stalks for torches.

Heath Family

• Uva-ursi or Kinnikinnick (longest palindrome ), also known as Bearberry - is an important food for bears. The berries are mealy not juicy but you can fry in oil to improve.  Medicinally, the berries are used to treat bladder and kidney disorders, and the smoked leaves are good for persistent cough.
• Huckleberries or blueberries - of course, we all know how edible and easy to gather these are.

Rose Family

• Wild Rose (there are several species) - easy to harvest the petals and hips and both are used for many things.  Cover the petals in honey, to make rose honey to eat or in mead.  Cover in oil for use in creams as an astringent to tighten and tone.  Used to heal the Heart both spiritually and physically.  Rose hips have Vitamin C; mixed with apple cider vinegar then strain off to make rose hip compote.
• Saskatoon or Serviceberry - best berry in the valley and grows all over the place.  Is very sweet so it was usually crushed or mashed to form a patty like fruit leather or mixed with more bitter berries to lessen the sweetness.



Chokecherries

• Chokecherry - ripe in late summer, early fall. Not the best tasting but the highest content of all the antioxidants (free radical for heart health damage).  Good for jelly and the bark is a cough suppressant.
• Hawthorn - #1 herb for Heart - good for high blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and lipids (lipids are fats, their primary purpose in the body is energy storage). Leaves, flowers, and berries are used.  Thornes can be used for fishhooks or toothpicks. Hawthorn can help improve the amount of blood pumped out of the heart during contractions, widen the blood vessels, and increase the transmission of nerve signals.  Hawthorn also seems to have blood pressure-lowering properties, according to early research. It seems to relax the blood vessels farther from the heart due to a component in hawthorn called proanthocyanidin.  Research suggests that hawthorn can lower cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad cholesterol”), and triglycerides (fats in the blood). It seems to lower accumulation of fats in the liver and the aorta. Hawthorn fruit extract may lower cholesterol by increasing the excretion of bile, reducing the formation of cholesterol, and enhancing the receptors for LDLs. It also seems to have antioxidant activity.
• Bitterbrush - used for digestive purposes as a laxative and to rid the body of parasites.  Sip slowly!

Other Odds & Ends

• Fireweed - used to make a great tasting tea, and medicinally as an astringent.  Harvest flowers before full bloom.Marsh Violet (any violet probably) - tastes good raw (salads); is used for lymphatic breast lumps or any lumps or skin disorders.
• Elderberry - flowers used for upper respiratory with fever as

  

  Blue Elderberries are collected in Fall

  well as in creams for the skin. Gentle enough for children.  Berries known to cure 8 different influenza viruses - take it early on and regularly and in two days your well. Also good for herpes if used at onset (the flavonoids inhibit reproduction of the virus). Used to make wine and used as a dye. Flowers are quite edible too.
• Common Mallow - although often considered a weed, this plant is often consumed as a food.  This is especially true of the seeds, which contain 21% protein and 15.2% fat.  Mallow has been used in traditional Austrian medicine internally as tea or externally as baths for treatment of disorders of the skin, gastrointestinal tract and respiratory tract.
• Shepherd's Purse - stops hemorrhaging
• Valerian - induces sleep, relaxes tense muscles; is an antispasmodic for flu and coughs.
• Cottonwood - great smelling buds are very resinous and are antimicrobial and used as a pain reliever.  Salves and tinctures are commonly made.  Here's a "how to."
• Oregon Grape - “ ..it could save the world” Is antimicrobial; kills digestive parasites and can even kill the super bugs like MARSA; also good for teeth and liver function.
• St. John’s Wort - has gotten a bad name because it’s dangerous for cows to eat, and although it is best known as an antidepressant, it is really only good for specific types.  It is actually better for herpes, epstein barr, nerve pain and sciatica.
• Knapweed - once it was said “only virtue is it’s abundant nectar for honeybees” but it has also been proven to be a powerful antioxidant for soil - it gives alkaline soils iron and fixes nitrogen and iron to be used by other plants.
• Milk thistle seed - is used for mushroom poisoning.

“We are all here to awaken from  the illusion of our separateness “
Thich Naht Hann

Eating local in the Methow