Haudenosaunee ethnobotany

The Haudenosaunee use a wide variety of medicinal plants, including quinine, chamomile, ipecac, and a form of penicillin.[1]

Amaryllidaceae

  • Allium tricoccum, decoction is used to treat worms in children, and they also use the decoction as a spring tonic to "clean you out".[2] Also eaten as a part of traditional cuisine.[3]

Asteraceae (Aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family)

  • Cichorium intybus, decoction of the roots is used as a wash and applied as a poultice to chancres and fever sores.[4]
  • Solidago rugosa, whole plant used for biliousness and as liver medicine, and decoction of its flowers and leaves for dizziness, weakness or sunstroke.[5]
  • Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, is used in a decoction for weak skin, use a decoction of the roots and leaves for fevers, use the plant as a "love medicine",[6] and use an infusion of whole plant and rhizomes from another plant to treat mothers with intestinal fevers.[7]: p.65 

Brassicaceae (Mustards, Crucifers, or Cabbage family)

  • Cardamine diphylla, infusion of the whole plant taken to strengthen the breasts.[8] The Haudenosaunee also chew the raw root for stomach gas, apply a poultice of roots to swellings, take a cold infusion of the plant for fever and for "summer complaint, drink a cold infusion of the roots for "when love is too strong", and use an infusion of the roots when "heart jumps and the head goes wrong."[9] They also use a compound for chest pains.[10] They also take an infusion of the plant at the beginning of tuberculosis.[8] They also eat the roots raw with salt or boiled.[11]

Cyperaceae (Sedge family)

Ericaceae (Heath or Heather family)

  • Epigaea repens, a compound is used for labor pains in parturition, compound decoction used for rheumatism, decoction of the leaves taken for indigestion, and a decoction of the whole plant or roots, stalks and leaves taken for the kidneys.[13]

Fabaceae (Legume, pea, or bean family)

Grossulariaceae

  • Ribes triste, fruit mashed, made them into small cakes, and stored them for future use. They later soak the fruit cakes in warm water and cook them a sauce or mix them with corn bread. They also sun dry or fire dry the raw or cooked fruit for future use and take the dried fruit with them as a hunting food.[16]

Lamiaceae (Mint, deadnettle, or sage family)

Onoclea (Sensitive Fern)

  • Onoclea sensibilis, used in both oral and topical forms, a decoction extensively applied for women's issues (to initiate menses, fertility, pain and strength after childbirth and stimulating milk flow), for early tuberculosis, treating baldness, as a gastrointestinal aid for swelling and cramps, for arthritis and infection.[18][19][20] A poultice of the top leaves was used for deep cuts and infection.[18] A cold compound infusion of the entire fern plant was washed on sores and taken for venereal disease, e.g. gonorrhea.[21]

Osmundaceae (Royal fern family)

Papaveraceae (Poppy family)

Pinaceae

  • Abies balsamea (Seneca: sohgo:döh, Cayuga: otsgóˀdaˀ)[24][25], steam from a decoction of branches used as a bath for rheumatism and parturition, and ingest a decoction of the plant for rheumatism. They take a compound decoction for colds and coughs, sometimes mixing it with alcohol. They apply a compound decoction of the plant for cuts, sprains, bruises and sores, and use steam.[26] They apply a poultice of the gum and dried beaver kidneys for cancer.[27] They also take a compound decoction in the early stages of tuberculosis, and they use the plant for bedwetting and gonorrhea.[28]
  • Pinus rigida, pitch used to treat rheumatism, burns, cuts, and boils. Pitch also used as a laxative. A pitch pine poultice used to open boils and to treat abscesses.[29]

Ranunculaceae (Buttercup or crowfoot family)

  • Ranunculus acris, poultice of the smashed plant to the chest for pains and for colds, infusion taken of the roots for diarrhea,[30] and apply a poultice of plant fragments with another plant to the skin for excess water in the blood.[31]

Rosaceae (Rose family)

References

  1. ↑ Brascoupé, Simon; Etmanskie, Jenny (2006). Birx, James (ed.). Iroquois. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. p. 1329.
  2. ↑ Herrick, James William 1977 Iroquois Medical Botany. State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis (p. 281)
  3. ↑ Waugh, F. W. 1916 Iroquis Foods and Food Preparation. Ottawa. Canada Department of Mines (p. 118)
  4. ↑ Herrick, James William 1977 Iroquois Medical Botany. State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis (p. 426)
  5. ↑ Herrick, James William, 1977, Iroquois Medical Botany, State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis, page 461
  6. ↑ Herrick, James William 1977 Iroquois Medical Botany. State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis (p. 493)
  7. 1 2 Rousseau, Jacques 1945 Le Folklore Botanique De Caughnawaga. Contributions de l'Institut Botanique de l'Université de Montréal 55:7–72
  8. 1 2 Rousseau, Jacques 1945 Le Folklore Botanique De Caughnawaga. Contributions de l'Institut Botanique de l'Université de Montréal 55:7-72 (p. 45)
  9. ↑ Herrick, James William 1977 Iroquois Medical Botany. State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis (p. 341)
  10. ↑ Herrick, p.341
  11. ↑ Waugh, F. W. 1916 Iroquois Foods and Food Preparation. Ottawa. Canada Department of Mines (p. 120)
  12. ↑ Herrick, James William, 1977, Iroquois Medical Botany, State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis, page 275
  13. ↑ Herrick, James William 1977 Iroquois Medical Botany. State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis (p. 410)
  14. ↑ Beardsley, Gretchen (1939). "The Groundnut as used by the Indians of Eastern North America". Papers of the Michigan Academy of Sciences Arts and Letters. 25: 507–525.
  15. ↑ Herrick, James William, 1977, Iroquois Medical Botany, State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis, page 362
  16. ↑ Waugh, F. W. (1916). Iroquis Foods and Food Preparation. Ottawa: Canada Department of Mines. p. 128.
  17. ↑ Herrick, James William, 1977, Iroquois Medical Botany, State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis, page 422
  18. 1 2 Moerman, D. (1998). Native American Ethnobotany. Oregon: Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-453-9.
  19. ↑ Herrick, James William (1977). Iroquois Medical Botany, PhD Thesis, p254–6. Albany, New York: State University of New York. Retrieved 27 November 2021. Source: Native American Ethnobotany (naeb.brit.org)
  20. ↑ "Onoclea sensibilis - L." pfaf.org. Plants For A Future. 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  21. ↑ Rousseau, Jacques (1945). "Le Folklore Botanique De Caughnawaga". Contributions de l'Institut Botanique de l'Université de Montréal. 55: 34. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  22. ↑ Chafe, Wallace. "English-Seneca Dictionary" (PDF). p. 88. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  23. ↑ Univ. Mich.-Dearborn College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters: Native American Ethnobotany: Osmunda species Archived 2020-02-16 at the Wayback Machine (scroll for O. claytoniana) . accessed 12.1.2011
  24. ↑ Chafe, Wallace. "English-Seneca Dictionary" (PDF). p. 14. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  25. ↑ Dyck, Carrie, Froman, Frances, Keye, Alfred & Keye, Lottie. 2024. A grammar and dictionary of Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ (Cayuga). (Studies of Amerindian Linguistics). Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10473483. Pg 672
  26. ↑ Herrick, James William, 1977, Iroquois Medical Botany, State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis, page 269
  27. ↑ Rousseau, Jacques, 1945, Le Folklore Botanique De Caughnawaga, Contributions de l'Institut Botanique de l'Université de Montréal 55:7-72, page 37
  28. ↑ Herrick, James William, 1977, Iroquois Medical Botany, State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis, page 270
  29. ↑ "North American Native Trees". Retrieved 2017-05-01.
  30. ↑ Herrick, James William 1977 Iroquois Medical Botany. State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis (p. 320)
  31. ↑ Rousseau, Jacques 1945 Le Folklore Botanique De Caughnawaga. Contributions de l'Institut Botanique de l'Université de Montréal 55:7-72 (p. 42)
  32. ↑ Chafe, Wallace. "English-Seneca Dictionary" (PDF). p. 7. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  33. ↑ James W. Herrick; Dean R. Snow (1997). Iroquois Medical Botany. Syracuse University Press. p. 161. ISBN 0-8156-0464-5.
  34. ↑ Herrick, James William, 1977, Iroquois Medical Botany, State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis, page 353.
  35. ↑ Herrick, James William, 1977, Iroquois Medical Botany, State University of New York, Albany, PhD Thesis, page 352
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