Herba Cana - Northeastern Illinois University

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© 2004 by CRC Press 538 Florida Ethnobotany species in his country. In doing that he moved a species Linnaeus called Polypodium lonchitis into his new genus. That species is now known to range from Europe to western North America, with isolated localities around the Great Lakes, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia. Later, André Michaux discovered the most common species in eastern North America in 1803, and they were given their modern name in 1834. Unlike some ferns, these have a comparatively rich history of uses. Hamel and Chiltosky (1975) confirm that the Cherokee ate the fiddleheads. We question that because neither Hedrick (1919) nor Fernald et al. (1958) list the plants. The more common application of the plants was as medicine. The Cherokee used the plants as an emetic, and to treat rheumatism, chills, fever, stomachache, bowel problems, and toothache (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). The Iroquois treated cramps, convulsions, diarrhea, fever, and rheumatism, used it as a blood purifier, and as an emetic for dyspepsia; it was taken before and after birth to clean the womb. The Malecite and Micmac chewed roots to relieve hoarseness (Moerman 1998). Pontederia (With this name, Linnaeus commemorated Italian physician Guilio Pontedera, 1688 /1757, professor at Padua and also the prefect of the Botanical Garden of Padua from 1719 to 1757) Pontederia cordata (heart-shaped, the leaves) hicaknâ:blo:cî [hitcakanablotci] (hicakna, feraltaro, a:bi, replica, lo:ci, black, Mikasuki; see Sagittaria for more on etymology); hikacha nabe (hicakna, feral-taro, a:bi, replica, Mikasuki) hishi shafuha (hesse, leaf, cofokne, pointed, Creek) pickerel [pike]-weed (USA) wampee (it is white, Shawnee); wómpí (Massachusetts) Linnaeus ([1753] 1957) knew this species from publications by several previous authors before he studied the living plants at the Hortus Cliffortianus.He knew only one, but there are now five American species in Pontederia (Mabberley 1997). Although Sturtevant (1955) was told this herb was useless, seeds may be eaten directly from the plant, boiled as cereal, or dried for future use (Fernald et al. 1958). Dried seeds were ground and made into flour for making bread (Morton 1968b). Farther north, the Malechite, Micmac, and Montagnais people used the plants for medicine. The Pontederia cordata. a. Habit. b. Flower. c. Revolute-coiled perianth after flowering. Drawn by Vivian Frazier. From Correll and Correll 1972. Malechite of New Brunswick and Micmac of Nova Scotia used Pontederia as a contraceptive (Moerman 1998). The Montagnais of eastern Quebec and Labrador made a treatment for ‘‘illness in general’’ from the herbs. Populus (Classical Latin name for the genus, maybe referring to people; or perhaps from Greek paipaloo, shutter, or paipapalloomai, tremble, vibrate) Populus deltoides. From Sargent 1905.
© 2004 by CRC Press The Ethnobotany 539 álamo (based on ala, wing, in both Spanish and Portuguese; presumably from a resemblance of the fluttering leaves to wings on birds) amocholhe (Delaware) crintheann (trembling, Gaelic) eadha (Gaelic) poplar (from Latin populus, spelled ‘‘popler’’ by Turner [1548] 1965); chopo (from Latin populus, Spanish); choupo (Portuguese); Pappel (German); pappel [popel] (Dutch); peuple (French); pioppo (Italian); poppel (Norwegian, Swedish) squejóna (Onondaga) Populus deltoides (deltoid or triangular, from the outline of the leaf) álamo (cottonwood, Texas); alamo cottonwood (a redundant name) ashumbala [shumbala] (Choctaw); hashoomala [hasho’mala, hashoomala’, ashomala, ashoomala, ashoomala’] (questionably from hasha, leaf, im, its, ala /?, Chickasaw) ba’-k’a hi (a sacred tree, used in rites, Osage); chan ya’hu (chan, tree, ya’hu, peel off, in reference to their use of the bark as food for horses, Dakota); maa zhon (maa, cotton, zhon, tree, Omaha- Ponca); wága chan (wága, take off, chan, tree, Dakota) [eastern, southern, yellow] cottonwood (‘‘cotton,’’ originally the wool surrounding the seeds of Gossypium, brought into English about A.D. 1300 from French coton, which in turn came from Arabic al-qoton, with the deletion of the article. Lewis and Clark called the trees ‘‘Cotton Timber’’ at their winter quarters with the Mandan in 1804. Although the OED 1971 says that ‘‘cotton’’ was combined with ‘‘wood’’ about 1823 to indicate the cottony fluff around the seeds of these trees, ‘‘cottonwood’’ was also used in the Lewis and Clark journal of 1804.) ete hesha kaklahashe (noisy leaf tree; from ete, tree, hissi, leaf, chashahachi, rattle, Choctaw) hecélwv [hecelwv] (‘‘poplar,’’ Muskogee; apparently not cognate with Creek tvɬ tahkv) itti’ tohbi’ (itti’, tree, tohbi’, white, Chickasaw) laird (from lier, to bind, related to Latin ligare; some books specifically mention fascicles or bundles, perhaps of wood, Quebec) natakaaru (Pawnee) peuplier (from Old French peuple, still in use by some country people, from Latin populus, dated ca. 1170, Quebec) [Carolina-, necklace-, water-] poplar pû’titu kayudi’ (Ofo) tai [tay] (Atakapa) tvɬ tahkv [tarrahkv, tartahkv, tvrtakhv, taɬ tahkv, taɬ tv’hkv, taɬɬahkv] (Creek); taɬ tahká [taɬ ahká] (Koasati) ya-hee-hwai [ä’hi’ñ, ä-heeñ] (ä-heeñ, principal, hwai, tree, Kiowa) Populus heterophylla (variable leaves) [black, swamp] cottonwood downy poplar According to Greek legend, Hercules was wearing a crown of poplar twigs when he returned from Hades after vanquishing Cerberus, the guardian hell-hound (Baumann 1993). The Greek tree forming his crown was the white poplar (Populus alba), and the twocolored leaves symbolized respect for the Chthonian deities. The dark side of the leaf represented the Underworld, and the light side the living. This tree became the arbor populi (tree of the people) to the Romans, and it was used to decorate public places such as the Piazza Poppolo in Rome (Hocking 1997). Just how much that Greek association with the Underworld affected different cultures is partly indicated by the dominance of their word in languages throughout Western Europe. The species is now cultivated as far north as Norway and Sweden where it is known as sølvpoppel (silver poplar). In a parallel view, people of the Missouri River region also held the cottonwood as sacred but surely for different reasons. The Sacred Pole of the Omaha was made from cottonwood, and the bark was used as fuel for roasting the clays to make paints for heraldic and symbolic paintings on their bodies (Gilmore 1919). Many people throughout the range of Populus in North America have eaten the inner bark (Moerman 1998). The Cheyenne, Blackfoot, and Dakota ate the inner bark and sap, particularly in the spring (Gilmore 1919, Moerman 1998). Other people eating various parts of P. deltoides include the Coeur d’Alene, Flathead, Kutenai, Montana, Ojibwa, Omaha, Pawnee, Pima, and Ponca (King 1984, Moerman 1998). In the southwestern United States, many people ate P. deltoides ssp. wislizeni (Moerman 1998). At least four dye colors were obtained from P. deltoides. The Cheyenne used the buds to make green, brown, and red dyes, although the methods are not given (Moerman 1998). Missouri River people also used the buds to make yellow dyes (Gilmore 1919). Tull (1999) indicates that yellow may be obtained with alum, tin, or chrome as mordants. Green results from copper or iron mordants. Wood from Populus was an important resource throughout its range. Swanton (1946) found the
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Herba Cana - Northeastern Illinois University

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