Cecilia Garcia and James Adams: Healing With Medicinal Plants
of the West, Abedus Press
Chumash people had several medicines used against
pain such as willow (S.lasiolepis), momoy (D.wrightii) and black sage (pictured-Salvia mellifera).
Soaking in a handful of crushed black sage leaves and stems in a warm bath relieves pain in the feet
and lower legs. -Cecilia Garcia
The late Cecilia Garcia taught Chumash traditional spirit healing with prayers, laughter, dreaming,
herbal medicines and aromatherapy, leading to mending the body’s physical processes.
In early October 2011, a group gathered at Quail Springs Learning Oasis and Permaculture Farm to
study with Chumash medicine woman Cecilia Garcia and USC professor of pharmcology James D.
Adams Jr. Quail Springs is set in the Cuyama Valley, surrounded by the Los Padres National Forest,
backcountry to Santa Barbara and Ventura. Nearby are the Chumash sacred Mt. Pinos and the
enchanted Lockwood Valley.
Renowned Chumash medicine woman Cecilia Garcia departed our human-bond in Ensenada in May
2012. A terrible loss, considering her tireless teaching of healing through native plants, ceremony, and
laughter for the many-too-many overly-serious and botanically-ignorant migrants to her ancestral
South-Central California home. Read a tribute to her on WilderUtopia (link).
Quail Springs focuses on permaculture and human sustainability, a farming and living experiment
emulating ecologic relationships from wild nature. Studying ethnobotany and healing in the Chumash
tradition with a scientific overlay there was a rare and edifying experience.
Spirit Healing, Mind-Body Follows
According to an article published in the Oxford Journals by James Adams, traditional Chumash
healing with prayers, laughter, dreaming, herbal medicines, aromatherapy, and ceremonies have been
employed in south-central California for 13,000 years. Healing the spirit aways comes first, followed
by mending the body’s physical processes. Prayer and fasting, connecting with the land, and breathing
fresh air all help us to communicate with the Creator and life-giving energies. Families and friends too
can fast, pray, laugh and dance together, assisting with a patient’s comfort and reassurance. This runs
contrary to modern modalities focused on healing the organism separate from spirit, family, wild
earth, and ceremony.
White Sage – Salvia apiana – waykway (Chumash)
Possibly the most integral spirit plant is the white sage. The concentrated bundling common to sage
burners is not recommended, allowing the leaves to dry freely, avoiding mold. Use of white sage
purifies the central nervous system and brings calm. In Cecilia’s words “It tickles the spirit” and
promotes protection, equilibrium. White sage can be administered as a drink by putting a leaf in cold
water, used with prayer. This could be consumed every day, one leaf per day, all the water you can
drink. A lukewarm tea is also used. Burning, smudging or smoking sage functions as a blessing,
accompanied with prayer, in order to protect someone. It should not be used as incense and not be tied
with yarn or string. The book lists a number of other uses, modern and traditional.
Eat flowers and seeds, not leaves
Black Sage, make sun tea and soak feet for 20 minutes for pain relief.
Break off end and suck – breath in and out – your medicine, use one leaf at a time.
Mugwort – Artemisia douglasiana – molush
(Chumash) 1 leaf in mug of simmering water -4 days for PMS, until not tasty for menopause
Another important spirit plant is “dream sage” or mugwort. It grows in river valleys in riparian areas
and leaves have a mild sage smell. This herb has usage with people under stress who cannot sleep nor
dream. Lack of sleeping and dreaming leads to depression, overeating, and health debilitation. A
handful of dream sage can be collected and stuffed into a pillow, the aromatherapy calming the
mind, promoting rest, dreaming, and ultimately the spirit. For women and some men, drinking a cup of
mugwort tea at night helps deal with chemical imbalance and feminine problems, but not to be used in
pregnancy.
Put fresh under pillow, put dried leaves into sewn pillow – your medicine – into star pillow size of hand
for kid – Use for poison oak – pee on leaves and rub on wound
Cigar of leaves, light and hold hot end over acupuncture points
California Sagebrush – Artemisia californica – kopsheek (Chumash)
California sagebrush is everpresent in the foothill chaparral with a strong smell used to recall pleasant
memories, burned or carried in a sack. Here shown dried out in fall, during the spring it has feathery
leaves, silver-green, a few inches long. It also can be used as a decoction for muscle, joint or arthritis
pain relief. Stuff sagebrush into a jar, soaked in alcohol, with cracked avocado seeds and one leaf of
white sage added. The tincture is allowed to soak for 3-6 weeks in a dark place and can be used in
addition to standard treatments. Anxiety can be relieved by sagebrush tea mixed with cinnamon.
California Bay (Laurel) - Umbellularia californica – pshakn (Chumash)
One of the most pungent medicinals is the Bay tree, traditionally used in hot spring baths. Growing in
riparian areas near water, an aromatherapy hot soak in bay leaves can comfort joints. Though much
stronger than European bay leaves, it flavors food or makes a tea to strengthen the immune system or
relieve digestion problems. Wrapped in a cloth, deveined leaves relieve migraine headaches or put in
the mouth until the pain subsides.
Yerba Santa – antibiotic used for Pnemonia – boil and use vapor, use any variety (smooth or fuzzy),
use boiled leaves with raw garlic as poultice on bare chest, drink solution for 4 nights then 2 weeks off.
Treatment for TB
Sassafras tea – good stuff…
Momoy (Chumash) - Datura wrightii
Also called California Jimson Weed or in Spanish, toloache, this small bush is common in disturbed
areas and often considered one of the most sacred plants in the Chumash world. According to Cecilia,
Momoy protects and tickles the soul, brings you back to earth. Ingestion of the root mixture
would initiate young boys or girls into adulthood and can induce sacred dreams or hallucinations.
Unfortunately, the dreaming-dose can inhibit breathing, become poisonous, or induce blindness. It can
be dangerous or deadly, and not recommended outside of sacred, not psychedelic, Chumash
ceremonies. In small amounts it can help a patient breathe as aromatherapy mixed with yerba santa
leaves (Eriotdictyon crassifolium) or destress as a foot soak, and can bring luck by sucking on a piece.
Coast Live Oak – Quercus agrifolia
Acorns from the Coast Live Oak along with its valley cousin, the roble (Spanish) or ko (Chumash),
were the most important food source through the winter. Storable for four months, they could be eaten
in a soup, as porridge or baked as a bread. The thin soup was used for almost any disease as good
nutrition. Tannins must be removed, processed through warm water leaching and adding baking soda.
Acorns drop in the fall in two stages. The first tend to become wormy and are shared with the deer and
other animals. The second drop are gathered by humans.
California Everlasting – Gnaphalia californicum
This flower has an everlasting butterscotch (or maple) scent with clustered pearly flowers (in
spring) and is referred to as “women’s tobacco.” It should be drank as a tea at night for four days when
you have a cold and the illness will not persist or progress. It is also used to change people’s attitudes,
smoked with tobacco. Some varieties are considered a tonic for women’s fertility.
Acorn recipe – Valley Oak and Blue Oak are Jim Adams favorites
Collect and freeze for two days
Cut about 40 in half w/ cleaver and remove meat
Put meat in blender with 1 Tbs of baking soda and fill half way with water and blend,
Pour off water and add more, blend and then do it again (three washes)
Microwave for about 4-5 minutes, but I think we can just cook it.
Serve w/ maple syrup
Acorn is 5% protein, 35 Carbs, and 55 fat
Peanut is 50% protein / 50 fat
Korean markets have Acorn powder
1st drop is end of August – leave for deer, take second drop – second week in September and on.
Traditional used stone – see Antap (healer) stone in Thousand Oaks, near Chumash Interpretive Center.
Cuddy Valley near Frazier Park is where the Chumash medical school was – Mt Pinos is center of
universe, end of rainbow bridge from Santa Cruz Island
Tarweed Native Plants, Theodore Payne, and Rancho Santa Ana gardens for plants
Herbs of Mexico for chia et.al.
Chia
seed from sage, make water ½ cup and 1.5 liters water, add water slowly shaking intermittently
Table 1.
California and Chinese plant medicines—a comparison of their uses
California plant
California use
Chinese plant
Chinese use
Major chemical constituents
Achillea millefolium
Pain
Achillea alpina
Abdominal discomfort, antibacterial
Aesculus californica
Toothaches, hemorrhoid
pain
Aesculus chinensis
Pain, digestion, increased strength and
Escins
circulation
Allium
haematochiton
Stings and bites
Allium sativum
Antibacterial, anticancer, stroke and
heart attack
Alliin, Allicin, ajoene
Apocynum
cannabinium
Intestinal and lung
diseases
Apocynum venetum
Liver disease, antihypertensive,
diuretic
Glycosides, flavanols,
cardenolides
Aquilegia formosa
Diarrhea, stomach ache
Aquilegia ecalcarata
Toxin elimination, muscle growth
Flavonoids, alkaloids and
glycosides
Artemisia
douglasiana
Wound cauterization
Artemisia argyi
Moxibustion
Monoterpenoids
Astragalus purshii
Menstrual pain
Astragalus
membranaceus
Diuretic, antidiabetic, immunostimulant
Cycloartane glycosides, flavones,
sitosterol
Baccharis pilularis
Poison oak rash, skin
diseases
Baccharis indica
Skin diseases, stomach ache
Flavones, diterpenoids
Berberis aquifolium
Gonorrhea
Berberis souliena
Antibacterial
Berberine alkaloids
Clematis chinensis
Pain, diuretic, antibacterial
Anemonin saponins
Clematis ligusticifolia Sore throat, pain, colds
Flavonoids
California plant
California use
Chinese plant
Chinese use
Major chemical constituents
Datura wrightii
Anesthesia, pain, asthma Datura metel
Pain, asthma, arthritis
Scopolamine, hyoscyamine
Ephedra californica
Bladder infections, colds,
Ephedra sinica
pain
Asthma, colds, headache, pain
Pseudoephedrine alkaloids
Gnaphalium
californicum
Pain, colds, GI problems
Gnaphalium affine
Antitussive, expectorant, asthma
Flavonoids and diterpenoids
Iris missouriensis
Pain, venereal disease
Iris pallasii
Cancer
Iris quinone
Juniperus californica
Colds, fevers,
constipation, pain
Juniperus chinensis
Digestion, circulation, arthritis
Amentoflavone, hinokiflavone,
cedrol
Lobelia cardinalis
Pain, lung problems
Lobelia chinensis
Diuretic
Lobeline, lobelanine
Oenothera elata
Bladder and yeast
infections
Oenothera odorata
Fevers, colds
Monoterpenes, flavonoids, sterols
Opuntia littoralis
Poultice for wounds, pain Opuntia dillenii
Promotes circulation, diarrhea, burns
Triterpenoids, beta-sitosterol
Paeonia californica
Depression, lung
disease, pain
Paeonia lactiflora
Fever, pain, liver disease
Paeoniflorin, paeonol
Papaver californicum Pain
Papaver somniferum
Pain, diarrhea
Morphine and papaverine
alkaloids
Prunus ilicifolium
Colds, flus, headaches
Prunus armenica
Pain, antitussive
Flavonoids, amygdalin
Quercus lobata
Diarrhea, pain
Quercus acutissima
Diarrhea, hemorrhoids
Starch, tannins
California plant
California use
Chinese plant
Chinese use
Major chemical constituents
Rhamnus californica
Purging, constipation
Rhamnus crenata
Fever, antifungal, constipation
Anthraquinone glycosides
Rhus trilobata
Colds, stomach ache,
sores
Rhus chinensis
Diarrhea, GI infections, skin problems
Flavones, salicylates, tannins
Rosa woodsii
Diarrhea, colds
Rosa laevigata
Diarrhea, astringent
Vitamin C, flavonols, tannins
Salix lasiolepis
Fever, colds, pain,
malaria
Salix babylonica
Goiter, tuberculosis, expectorant
Salicin, saligenin, iodine
Salvia columbariae
Stroke, heart attack
Salvia miltiorrhiza
Stroke, heart attack
Tanshinones, salvianolic acids
Sambucus mexicana Colds, flus
Sambucus chinensis
Arthritis, edema, diarrhea, bronchitis
Flavonoids, sterols, tannins,
alkaloids
Scirpus acutus
Casts
Scirpus dichotoma
Diuretic
Dihydrocyper-aquinone
Solanum douglasii
Anesthesia
Solanum nigrum
Antibacterial, diuretic
Alkaloids, steroids
Stachys bullata
Stomach ache,
inflammation
Stachys baicalensis
Inflammation, bleeding disorders,
diarrhea
Flavonoid glycosides
Suaeda esteroa
Soap
Suaeda glauca
Fever, blood circulation
Triterpenoids, sterols
Urtica dioica
Arthritis pain
Urtica angustifolia
Digestion, pain
Histamine, serotonin, leukotrienes
The data in this table is a compilation of published data (30,37,38). From
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862936/