ear medicine Archives - The Cargo Cult Café

Basil Balm: Edible & Medicinal

March 4, 2016 by Mike Leave a Comment

Basil Balm, Monarda clinopodia, and other Bee Balms were used by the American colonists, as a substitute for the imported tea, after the Boston Tea Party. Leaves and flowerhead’s can be steeped in hot water to make a nice minty tea. Medicinally, it was used by American Indians as a cold remedy, sweet inducer, sedative, kidney aid, for headaches, fevers and as a ghost remedy.

Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry.

Basil Balm Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software.Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Felter, Harvey Wickes, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D. King’s American Dispensatory, Vol. 2. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 1274-1275

Fernald, Merritt Lyndon & Alfred Charles Kinsey. Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1996. Print. pg. 330

Herrick, James William. Iroquois Medical Botany. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: State University of New York, Albany 1977. Print. pg. 208

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 348

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 92-93

Peterson, Lee Allen. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants; Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. Print. pg. 118-119

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.

Common Plantain: Edible, Medicinal & Other Uses

September 17, 2015 by Mike Leave a Comment

Common Plantain, Plantago Major, this is the plant that started this project. It was the first plant that I was taught how to use and I am dedicating this post to Val the woman who taught me. Val, wherever you are out there I hope you come across this. Meeting you, even for that brief encounter, has had a great influence on me. Even if I wanted to tell the story I would have to write it as though it was fiction knowing the vast majority of people wouldn’t understand or believe it.

Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry!

Common Plantain Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software. Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Brill, Steve. Wild Edibles Plus. Computer Software. WinterRoot LLC. Version 1.5. 2012. Web. Feb. 15, 2014.

Felter, Harvey Wickes, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D. King’s American Dispensatory, Vol. 2. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 1514-1516

Foster, Steven and James A. Duke. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. 2nd. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Print. pg. 83-85

Hamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey. Cherokee Plants and Their Uses- A 400 Year History. North Carolina: Herald Publishing. 1975. Print. pg. 50

Herrick, James William. Iroquois Medical Botany. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: State University of New York, Albany 1977. Print. pg. 210-211

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 416-417

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 398-399

Peterson, Lee Allen. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants; Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. Print. pg. 46-47

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.

Mayapple: Poison, Edible, Medicinal & Other Uses

February 6, 2015 by Mike Leave a Comment

Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum, is a plant that can both help and hurt you. The fruit is only edible when ripe otherwise it can rip your stomach to pieces. Most of the plant is considered poisonous with a few reported cases of fatalities. Medicinally, it has been used to expel worms, as a purgative meaning strong laxative, for rheumatism, as an emetic and finally it was used as an insecticide.

Mayapple Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software.Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Brill, Steve. Wild Edibles Plus. Computer Software. WinterRoot LLC. Version 1.5. 2012. Web. Feb. 15, 2014.

Culpeper, M.D., Nicholas. Culpeper Color Herbal. Ed. David Potterton. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 1983. Print. pg. 119

Felter, Harvey Wickes, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D. King’s American Dispensatory, Vol. 2. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 1528-1532

Hamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey. Cherokee Plants and Their Uses- A 400 Year History. North Carolina: Herald Publishing. 1975. Print. pg. 44

Herrick, James William. Iroquois Medical Botany. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: State University of New York, Albany 1977. Print. pg. 93, 126-127

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 420

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 354-355

Peterson, Lee Allen. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants; Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. Print. pg. 20-21

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.