Herba Cana - Northeastern Illinois University

© 2004 by CRC Press
The Ethnobotany 541
laitue blanc (white lettuce, Quebec); weisser Lattich
(white lettuce, German); white lettuce
[ivy, joy] leaf
lion’s foot (used for a Helleborus, Ranunculaceae,
by Turner in 1538; and for Alchemilla, Rosaceae,
by 1610; later applied to other plants); ped d’leon
(lion’s foot, French)
milkweed (usually applied to Asclepias, but also to
others with white latex)
Two of the Prenanthes that Linnaeus ([1753] 1957)
knew were from the New World, and the other five
were from Europe and Siberia. However, it was not
until 1814, when Frederick Pursh published his Flora
America Septentrionale, that P. serpentaria was added
to the list. Now there are 30 species known from the
north temperate region, and the European plants have
been reduced to a single species (Mabberley 1997).
This was one of the many plants used by the
indigenous tribes to relieve the bites of snakes and
other venomous animals. There are many more
poisonous snake species in eastern North America
than in Europe, and the settlers were quick to rely on
the local remedies for these problems. Accounts are
common in the literature of the time of a person being
bitten by a reptile and recovering after chewing,
ingesting, and/or applying a poultice of some plant.
Writing in 1728, William Byrd gave a typical
account of the time. Not only were his observations
dubious, but he also clearly had no regard for the
safety of his dogs. He wrote: ‘‘The rattle-snake, has an
utter antipathy to this plant, insomuch that if you
smear your hands with they juice of it, you may handle
the viper safely. Thus much I can say of my own
experience, that once in July, when these snakes are in
their greatest vigor, I besmear’d a dog’s nose with the
powder of this root, and made him trample on a large
snake several times, which, however, was so far from
biting him, that it perfectly sicken’d at the dog’s
approach, and turn’d its head away from him with
the utmost aversion’’ (Coffey 1993).
James Adair listed several snakebite plants, including
P. serpentaria, in a book about his trading
among the Creeks along the Mississippi River in 1775.
Prince Maximilian listed as a remedy a plant called
‘‘lion’s heart’’ among the Delaware in the 1830s (Vogel
1970).
In the eastern states, several tribes used Prenanthes
as a snakebite remedy. At least P. alba, P. altissima, P.
aspera, P. serpentaria, andP. trifoliata were utilized
(Moreman 1998). These all went under the name
‘‘snakeroot,’’ ‘‘lion’s foot,’’ or ‘‘gall of the earth.’’
Northeastern tribes certainly applied P. alba, and
there are records of both the Iroquois and Ojibwa
using it on snakebite (Densmore 1928, Moerman
1998). The Iroquois also used P. altissima and P.
trifoliata (Moerman 1998).
However, indigenous people did not confine the
plant to those uses. In the south, the Choctaw used P.
virgata (reported as Nabalus asper, and P. aspera,
corrected by Joanne Birch) as an anodyne and as a
diuretic, and for other problems (Campbell 1951). The
Cherokee used both P. serpentaria and P. trifoliata
roots in stomachache medicine (Hamel and Chiltoskey
1975). The Cherokee also cooked and ate the leaves of
these two herbs.
Porcher (1863) did not say much about Prenanthes.
He wrote simply of P. alba, ‘‘The root is excessively
bitter; it is used in domestic practice in this state as a
tonic. I would invite further examination.’’
Millspaugh (1892), on the other hand, had a lot to
say about the plants. First, he complained, ‘‘This
botanically difficult species ... includes in itself what
were once considered to be 17 distinct species and
varieties; and affords an interminable field of work for
a botanist of Rafinesquian tendencies.’’ He continued,
‘‘As Gall of the Earth, it has been known in domestic
practice from an early date, and is said to be an
excellent antidote to the bite of the rattlesnake and
other poisonous serpents*/one who searches through
the domestic literature of medicinal plants, wonders
why the bite of snakes ever has a chance to prove
fatal.’’ He recommended the species for relieving
dysentery, anemic diarrhea, and as a stomach tonic.
Hocking (1997) added that the plants were used as a
bitter tonic, an astringent, and ‘‘to relieve hypertension
in Negroes.’’ The genus is not listed by Bremness
(1994), Bown (1995), or Duke et al. (2002).
Millspaugh (1892) recorded that chemical studies
of the plants had found resins, tannins, gums, and
waxes. Hocking (1997) agreed that they contained
tannin, and that it was known as Herba Nabali
serpentariae among the homeopathics. The Latin
pharmaceutical name was based on the old generic
name Nabalus. There were no papers listed on the
genus in either PubMed or AGRICOLA in January
2003.
Prunus
(Classical Latin name of the plum, P. /domestica;
Greek proumne)
Prunus americana (of America)
ciruela (Mexico)
kande (kande-hi, plum tree, Omaha-Ponca); kante
(kante-hu, plum tree, Dakota); kon’-dse xo-dse
(kon’-dse, plum, xo-dse, gray, Osage); kantsh
(kantsh-hu, plum tree, Winnebago)