ponca Archives - The Cargo Cult Café

Butterfly Weed: Poison, Medicinal & Other Uses

December 17, 2015 by Mike Leave a Comment

Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tuberosa, also known as Pleurisy Root for its use as a pulmonary aid. The plant is potentially toxic in large doses but it has a slew of medicinal uses. The plant acts as a laxative, expectorant, tonic, to induce urination, cause sweating and relieve gas. It was used for flatulence, headaches, stomach trouble, catarrh, bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia and for a bunch of other ailments. The fibers were used to make belts.

Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry!

Butterfly Weed 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. 1. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 288-291

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. 154

Hamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey. Cherokee Plants and Their Uses- A 400 Year History. North Carolina: Herald Publishing. 1975. Print. pg. 27

Herrick, James William. Iroquois Medical Botany. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: State University of New York, Albany 1977. Print. pg. 200

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 109

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 188-189

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. 92-93

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

Common Milkweed: Edible, Medicinal, Cautions & Other Uses

December 15, 2015 by Mike Leave a Comment

Common Milkweed, Asclepius syriaca, is an extremely useful plant to know. Besides being edible and used for its medicinal properties it has a slew of other uses such as making cordage, bowstrings, fishing line, and thread. The dry down in the seedpods can be used for insulation and it makes a great tinder bundle for starting a fire. As for its edibility you can eat the young shoots and flowers but you’ll have to prepare them first to get rid of their bitter and toxic properties. Medicinally, it has been used to induce urination, start menstrual flow, cause vomiting, kills parasitic worms and acts like a laxative.

Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry.

Common Milkweed 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. 1. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 291-292

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. 199-200

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 108-109

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 264-265

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. 112-113

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

Wescott, David. Primitive Technology; A Book of Earth Skills, Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1999. pg. 35

Cup Plant: Medicinal

April 20, 2015 by Mike 1 Comment

Cup Plant, Silphium perfoliatum, a medicinal plant of late summer. It has been used for lung hemorrhage, back and chest pain, paralysis, rheumatism and to prevent children from seeing ghosts. It was used by the Iroquois, Meskwaki, Ojibwa, Omaha, Ponca and Winnebago Indians.

Cup Plant 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. 1755-1756

Herrick, James William. Iroquois Medical Botany. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: State University of New York, Albany 1977. Print. pg. 236

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 531

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 392-393

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