Herba Cana - Northeastern Illinois University

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© 2004 by CRC Press 496 Florida Ethnobotany advanced, being near eighteen inches in height, and the Beans planted at the Corn-hills were above ground.’’ Sturtevant (1955) found the southern Florida Seminoles growing what the Miccosukee called sala: lkitíscî (red bean), sala:lláknî (yellow bean), and sala: llákno:cî (small yellow bean). The beans were Phaseolus vulgaris. Fernald et al. (1958) indicate that P. polystachios is edible, and Freytag and Debouck (2002) concur. Both books, however, point out that there are few seeds borne on the plants and that they are small. Both Uphof (1968) and Hocking (1997), on the other hand, write that the seeds are a popular food, being dried and cooked. Uphof (1968) wrote they were ‘‘highly prized by North American Indians.’’ Since Moerman (1998) did not list the species I wonder where Uphof got his information. However, our expert on Phaseolus, Lawrence Kaplan, wrote me (Apr. 2003), ‘‘When I was trying crosses ... [i]t produced well in the greenhouse, certainly enough to warrant gathering.’’ Beans have been so important to Europeans and other settlers in the New World that expressions have grown up around them. Generally they have a good reputation, and that led to the saying that someone is ‘‘full of beans.’’ That phrase means that the person is in an energetic, cheerful mood (Davidson 1999). The expression in Portuguese is cheio de feijão. There is an impolite rhyme dealing with the difficulties humans have digesting the proteins in Phaseolus. This incomplete digestion results in an unusually large amount of methane, and subsequently flatulence. As an ancient saying goes: Beans, beans, the wonderful fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot. The more you toot, the better you feel. That’s why I eat beans at every meal! Phlebodium (Greek phlebodes, full of veins; John Smith moved Robert Brown’s section Phlebodium to generic level) Phlebodium aureum (golden, in reference to the rhizome scales) ( /Polypodium aureum) avenca dourada (golden fern, Brazil) cabbage palm fern (Florida) calaguala [calahuala] (Cuba, Veracruz, Honduras, Panama) istimá:ha imanâ (este, person, im, his, aha, tuber, em, its, mahe, height, Creek); yá:tcáyhimá:hî (yá:tcáyh, tall person, im, his, á:hî, tuber, Phlebodium aureum. Drawn by P.N. Honychurch. Mikasuki); yaatchayhen taapente (tall person’s fern, Mikasuki) mano de léon (lion’s paw, Totonac, Veracruz) ni 23 za 3 (Chinantec, Oaxaca) [golden] serpent fern (Florida, Bahamas) Linnaeus ([1753] 1957) called this fern Polypodium aureum, following Charles Plumier’s Polypodium majus aureum (big red fern) of 1693. Many people still agree with him, but others segregate this and two to four other species into Phelbodium following John Smith (1798 /1888) and Nauman (1993). The name calaguala is widespread in Latin America for ferns famous as medicines (Duke and Vásquez 1994, Gupta 1995a). While that name subsumes several species, the most famous has been Polypodium calaguala, a South American species. However, people from Cuba through Veracruz, Mexico, and south through Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama mostly use P. aureum (Gupta 1995a). Cubans consider the rhizome of P. aureum good to treat wounds, falls, and external sores (Roig 1945). They also consider P. aureum anthelmintic and sudorific, and use it to treat rheumatism, heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma, and colic. Totonacs in Veracruz use P. aureum to treat coughs, internal bruises, and the kidneys, and in medicinal baths (Vásquez and Jácome 1997). In northern South America, Duke and Vásquez (1994) comment that calaguala is the first plant mentioned when medicinal plants, particularly treatments for cancer, are discussed. Florida is the northern limit of this fern. A primary use of the fern among the Seminoles is for chronic sickness that had not responded to other treatments (Sturtevant 1955). Typically, the mixture for chronic sickness is a combination of many plants called ayikctanahkó:cí (small gathered medicine, Mikasuki) or atilo:kocí (vetelokv, gathered, oce, small, Creek). Phlebodium aureum is one of four ferns that might be included. Another mixture is given for
© 2004 by CRC Press The Ethnobotany 497 ‘‘insanity,’’ any kind of confusion or odd behavior (Sturtevant 1955). Still another use is during childbirth. Gupta (1995a) reported that an ethanolic extact of cabbage palm fern showed activity against certain viruses. It has not been confirmed that the species has the same activity as others called calaguala. Phoradendron (Thomas Nuttall named this with Greek phoros, bearing, dendron, tree) Phoradendron leucosperma. From Britton and Brown 1896. Viscum album (although European mistletoe is placed in a genus distinct from the American plants, they differ in technical details; people familiar with the plants in Europe would have had no trouble recognizing the eastern North American species) druidh lus (druidh, Druid, lus, herb, Gaelic); gui (French); guis (sticky, Irish) mistletoe (a word from Old English in use by A.D. 1100; from mistle, dung, and tan, twig; akin to Old High German mistil, mistletoe, and zein, twig; the name came into existence because people believed that the mistle thrush, Turdus viscivorous, excreted the seeds on limbs; it actually scrapes them off its bill; see Austin 1998a); Mistel (German); misteltein (Norwegian); oak mistletoe (USA) muérdango (Spanish) uil’-ioc (all-heal, Gaelic) vischio (from Latin viscos, sticky, Italian); visco (Portuguese) Vogel-liem [Vogellym] (birdlime; cf. Turner [1548] 1965) Phoradendron leucocarpum (white-fruited) ( /P. flavescens, misapplied) a:tilhiciksó imitto (a:tilhiciksó, elf, im, his, ittó,tree, Koasati) antcka’ nûta’wayi’ (Biloxi) fani shapha (fani, squirrel, shapha, flag, Choctaw); fanishapha’ (fani’, squirrel, im, its, shapha’, flag, Chickasaw); ipɬ iäsapha (squirrel’s flag, from ipɬ o, squirrel, im /sapha, its flag, Alabama) fani’ hasimbish (fani’, squirrel, hasimbish, tail, probably is this plant, Chickasaw) gui (mistletoe in French, Houma, Louisiana) hinɬ ímásókcî [hinrímásókcî, henle ’mashokche] (squirrel tea, Mikasuki) ’to eleko [ito-iliko, toiliko, tuhiligu, eto-eleko, tóhelleko, tohiríkko, tohiɬ ikko, toheleko] (eto, tree, eleko, feet, Creek, Muskogee) uda’li (it is married, Cherokee) Mistletoe has a long association with native people throughout the eastern United States, much as it has among the Europeans. The Cherokee, for example, used it to treat headache, epilepsy, in ‘‘medicine for pregnant women,’’ to lower high blood pressure, and to cure vomiting (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). Among the Muskogean people, the Chickasaw made a remedy from it to treat ‘‘Red Squirrel Sickness’’ (toothache, swollen jaw, and sometimes nosebleed) (Swanton 1928a,b). The Houma made a decoction of the plant to aid debility and paralytic weakness, considering it something of a panacea (Speck 1941). The Yuchi use it to treat ‘‘Raccoon Sickness’’ (diarrhea, usually in babies) (Howard 1984). The Creeks made medicine from leaves and branches for lung troubles, including consumption (Swanton 1928a). The Florida Seminoles use it to treat ‘‘Deer Sickness’’ (numbness, painful limbs and joints), as an emetic during ceremonies, and as a medicine for chronically ill babies (Sturtevant 1955). The Oklahoma Seminoles make an infusion of leaves and berries for ringworm sores and to treat hemorrhoids, and give it to children for whooping cough (Howard 1984). Modern Florida Seminoles include it as part of the ‘‘Death Medicine’’ (Snow and Stans 2001). Phragmites (From Greek phragma, hedge, fence, or screen, plus /ites, resembling; the word was used by Pliny, A.D. 23 /79, for a reed) Phragmites australis (southern) abo’djigun (something turned out or over, Ojibwa) act (Atakapa)
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