Ethnobotanical Plants of North
America
Biol 454L
11/9/2010
Luis Alvarez
Ashling Gabig
Jazmin Graff
Daniel Ma
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
Bearberry
Ashling Gabig
BIOL 454
11/09/2010
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
• Also known as the Bearberry “Bear’s Grape”
– Kingdom Plantae
– Angiosperm
– Not necessarily eaten by bears
• Common to North America in the following areas:
– From Alaska to Southern California, and from the
Pacific coast to the Rocky Mountains. Found in
Appalachians as well
• Also found in:
– Asia and parts of Europe
• Endangered in some parts of the world
Physical Attributes
• Perennial small, woody
groundcover shrub (530 cm high)
– Evergreen leaves and
small red berries
– Leaves are shiny and stiff
– Blooms white or pink
flowers in the Spring
Current Uses
• Active Compound: glycoside
arbutin
– Current research has shown it to
be a possible Carcinogen
• Used ecologically
– Ornamental plant
– Prevents ground erosion
• Used medicinally:
– antimicrobial properties
– mild diuretic
– UTI, including cystitis (bladder
inflammation) and urolithiasis
(bladder stones) An infusion may
be made by soaking the leaves in
ethanol and then diluting with
water
– Including in topical
pharmaceuticals as a skin lightener
Traditional Uses
• Native Americans used
bearberry, or kinnikinnick,
in their ceremonial pipe
in place of tobacco. They
mixed tobacco with
bearberry dried leaves
and the dried inner bark
of red dogwood which
would make a milder
smoke.
• An infusion is made by
boiling the leaves in water
and ingesting the liquid
Acorus americanus
Daniel Ma
Biol 454L
Acorus americanus
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Acorus is derived from the word 'coreon', meaning 'pupil',
because it was used in traditional medicine to treat
inflammation of the eye
Common Name: Sweet flag, Calamus Root, Rat Root, or
Wikis. Also known as Acorus calamus var. americanus
Angiosperm, Monocots
Grow at edges of ponds, marshes, and shallow waters
Sweet, spicy-scented leaves.
Spadix like flowers appear in June and July, followed by dark
berries.
Found at water's edge from Nova Scotia to Virginia to
Washington to Alaska.
Great for stabilizing pond edges or filling a boggy area.
Traditional Uses
• Used by many different groups of American Indians
• and was traded as a commodity
• Rhizomes:
– Used as a substitute for ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg
– Dried and eaten
– Essential Oil
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Foliage: Citrus like spicy aromatic quality, used to flavor beer
Young stem can be eaten raw and young leaves can be eaten cooked
Mature leaves are insect repellant
Lower stem: used to scent clothes, cupboards
Iroquois Indians: Use this plant for the detection of bewitchment.
Mentioned in the Bible as an ingredient of holy oil
Medicinal Uses
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Mostly commonly used to treat stomach and respiratory ailments.
Other benefits: anti-inflammatory, anti bacterial, anti-spasmodic, carminative and
anthelmintic. Used to treat epilepsy, mental ailments, chronic diarrhea, dysentery,
bronchial infections, fevers, tumors, liver problems, eczema, and insecticide.
– Blackfoot: Analgesic rootstock ground, mixed with tobacco, and smoked
inhaled for headaches
Use as rejuvenation tonic: The Cree say that they can take the root and “travel
great distances without touching the ground”
Native American Indians would simply eat roots that were the diameter of a pencil
in 1-inch sections as a medicinal, in 2-inch sections as an anti-fatigue, and in 6inch sections as a visionary tool (Hallucinogenic)
Ceremonial use: The leaves are used in secret rites “Wakan wacipi” of the
Winnebago, Ponca, Omaha and Dakota tribes and symbolizes resurrection
Active Compound
• Active compound: Alpha asarone
– Found in the extracted oil and the root
– Precursor to psychedelic phenethylamine TMA-2
– Banned in the U.S. as food additives
– Listed as a tumorgen, mutagen, with reproductive
effects.
CA $55.00/g
Betula nigra
Taxonomy, Distribution and Ecology
• It’s commonly known as River Birch or Water
Birch
• It’s a tree that belongs to the Betulaceae family
• It lives in flood plains and swamps
• It grows up to 25 m.
• It is monoecious
Medical Uses
• Betulin is the active compound. It is located in
the bark and can be converted to betulinic acid
• Betulinic acid has anti-retroviral, anti-malarial,
and anti-inflammatory properties
• The birch leaves have been used for urinary
infections as well as for flushing the kidney and
bladder
Traditional Uses
• Native Americans used the boiled sap as a
sweetener
• It was used to treat dysentery and colds
• Natives used birch to build canoes, bowl, and
wigwams
• The bark was soaked in water to make a cast for
broken arms
Trivia/Other Uses
• It’s an ornamental tree used in landscaping
• It’s New Hampshire’s state tree
• The leaves can be used to make dyes
• The leaves are used to make diuretic tea
• Birch twigs were used for corporal punishment
EQUISETUM SP.
Name: Equisetum, from the Latin
equus: "horse“
seta: "bristle, animal hair“
• Family: Equisetaceae
– a family of vascular plantss that reproduce by
spores rather than seeds
Active Substances: Silica, flavoglucosides, saponins,
alkaloids (nicotine, palustrine), manganese,
magnesium, potassium, tannin.
History: Equisetum is the sole surviving genus of a
complex group of primitive plants which covered
the planet more than 300 million years ago.
Common names: horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass
snake grass
equisetum fluviatile
woodland horsetail
WOOD HORSETAIL
Equisetum giganteum
HORSETAIL
DESCRIPTION:
The leaves are greatly reduced and usually
non-photosynthetic. They contain a single,
non-branching vascular trace
They mostly grow 0.2-1.5 m tall, though the
"giant horsetails" are recorded to grow as high
as 2.5 m (northern giant horsetail), 5 m
(southern giant horsetail) or 8 m (Mexican
giant horsetail), and allegedly even more[3
The Mexican Giant Horsetail (Equisetum
myriochaetum) is the largest species of
horsetail, commonly reaching 15 feet, and with
the largest recorded specimen having a height
of 24 feet (7.3 m). It is native to Nicaragua,
Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru
and Mexico
DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION:
• Wet sandy soils, though some are semi-aquatic and
others are adapted to wet clay soils
• Is near-cosmopolitan being absent only from Antartica.
HABITAT:
• Equisetum occurs in moist places such as riverbanks,
lakeshores, roadsides, ditches, seepage areas,
meadows, marshes, and wet woodlands.
Fire:
• Fire kills above ground growth, but most species
survive due to the deep and extensive rhizomes.
Medicinal uses
-Antioxidant
-Coagulant
-Diuretic
-Hyperlipemia
-UTI
-Digestion
-Wound Treatment
-Osteoporosis
•The young fertile stems bearing strobili are cooked and eaten in
Japan (similar to asparagus) and is called tsukushi.
•In ancient Rome would also eat in this manner, but they also used it
to make tea as well as a thickening powder.
•The leaves are used as a dye.
•Often used by Indians to polish wooden tools.
•Often used to analyze gold concentrations in an area due to their
voracious ability to take up the metal when it is in a solution.
CAUTION: If eaten in large quantities, is POISONOUS to grazing
animals, including horses.
Group References
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Wikipedia. Accessed 11/2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctostaphylos_uva-ursi
USDA. Accessed 11/2010. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ARUV
A Modern Herbal. Accessed 11/2010.
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/bearbe22.html
Great Vista Chemicals. Accessed 11/2010. http://www.greatvistachemicals.com/proteins-sugarsnucleotides/arbutin.html
http://www.entheology.org/edoto/anmviewer.asp?a=261&z=5
http://www.shamansgarden.com/c-24-calamus-root.aspx
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/betula/nigra.htm
http://www.medicinenet.com/birch_leaf_betula_sp-oral/article.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum
http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/ferns/equisetum-WIP.html
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/horsetail-000257.htm
http://www.livestrong.com/article/201429-horsetail-equisetum-hyemale-medicinal-uses/
http://www.nutritiondynamics.com/cgi-bin/process.asp?product=Equisetum+arvense