My slogan click to edit me
Medicinal Uses of Boreal Plants
Long before modern medical practices people were forced to rely on nature to cure their ailments and treat their wounds. To the trained individual nature provides a great bounty of medicinal herbs, many of which are the basis in drugs and treatments used in our society today. From east to west the sheer amount of remedies the Boreal forest provides is astounding and no one knows them better than the native peoples that dwelt in the shade of this magnificent biome for centuries. From the slopes of mountainous British Columbia to the rocky shores of Newfoundland herbal lore has touched countless lives over the ages and has made its mark on the natural history of the world and of this country.
To use plants for medicinal purposes they must be prepared in a specific way, depending on what needs to be treated and what part of the plant is being used. Sometimes a plant might be used to make what is called a poultice which involves mashing and grinding up the plant or plant part and applying it to the affected area. Another way would be to make an extract of the plant by boiling it in water to make either a tea or an herbal bath. Preparation of medicines often involves a cultural or spiritual aspect and may involve prayers, blessings or offerings during the preparation and application of the treatment.
Trees:
Jack Pine, Pinus banksiana: 1, 2, 4
- Found across the country, prefers sandier, well drained soils
- Grows up to 20m tall with flaky red bark and paired needles 2 - 5cm long.
- The Chipewyan people would make a powder from the needles to treat frost sores while other tribes used it for burns and blisters
- The Woods Cree used the soft inner bark to make a poultice to put on deep cuts as well as boiling the bark to make a medicinal tea used to treat colds and flus
- The Mi'kmaq of the east coast also grated the inner bark to use as a general medicine.
Balsam Fir, Abies balsamea: 1, 2, 3
- Range extends across Canada
- Recognized by symmetrical, pyramidal shape, spired top and smooth grey bark
- Grows up to 18m in height with broad, flat needles and resin bubbles in the bark
- The Cree natives used the clear resin to treat insect bites, boils and sores as well as using warmed pitch to treat sore joints from arthritis.
Tamarack, Larix laricina: 1, 3
- Commonly known as Larch, except in Newfoundland where it is often referred to as "Juniper" (not to be confused with the low lying shrub of the same name).
- Grows up to 6 - 15m tall, but has been reported to reach 20m
- Unlike most needle-bearing trees Tamarack loses its needles in the fall and regrows them in the spring
- The Chipewyan used the soft inner bark, known as tamarack fat, as a fresh poultice on burns and boils to draw out poison and speed up healing
- The Cree stripped the inner bark and used it to treat a myriad of medical problems such as hemorrhoids, earaches, jaundice and more.
Trembling Aspen, Populus tremuloides: 1, 2
- Deciduous, range extends from east coast to west
- They grow best in well-drained, loamy soils, but can tolerate moister environments.
- The Woods Cree shredded the inner bark and used it to make a medicinal tea for treating coughs as well as using a powdered form of the bark to stop bleeding.
White Birch, Betula papyrifera: 1, 2
- A well-known and widespread tree across the country, the white birch is easily distinguished by its papery bark and sharply double-toothed leaves
- Growing up to 15m in height these trees were a valuable resource to the Aboriginal peoples of Canada
- The Beothuk people of Newfoundland made great use of this natural resource both medicinally and for other uses.
- The Dene people supposedly used the bark as scrapers to remove cataracts and as well as using it to bandage burns
- Other tribes used the inner bark was used to treat rashes and sores and the leaves were chewed and applied to wasp stings to draw out the venom
Shrubs:
Common Juniper, Juniperus communis: 1, 2, 3
- Not to be confused with the Newfoundland term of ‘juniper’ used to describe tamaracks
- Seen across the country as a low spreading shrub with extremely sharp needles
- The female cones are seen as pale blue berries and the males are cat-kin like
- The Chipewyan used the single cones as a cure-all while the juniper berries were used to help with digestion and increase appetite
- The Woods Cree boiled the bark to make a tea to treat diarrhea and chest pains due to lung infections
- The Mi'kmaq used it to treat bladder infections and as a general tonic
Labrador Tea, Ledum groenlandicum: 1, 2
- A common Boreal shrub found across the country
- Found in open areas with plenty of available sunlight
- Bears thick leaves, slightly curled with distinctive orange undersides
- Many Aboriginal peoples used leaves and twigs of this plant to make a tea or general tonic that can be taken for colds, chills, headaches, kidney problems and the like.
Willow, Salix spp.: 1
- Many species of willows, some found only in the west, some found only in the east and some are found all across the country.
- The use by Aboriginal peoples, however, remains similar
-The outer bark can be used to make a tea that’s supposed to relieve headaches while the inner bark was used to produce a pain-killing poultice.
Herbs:
Wild Sarsaparilla, Aralia nudicaulis: 1, 2
- Very common plant found in the Boreal
- bears long, finely toothed leaves and berries which are edible, but aren’t very tasty to eat
- Tea brewed from the roots was used as a general tonic, to treat weakness and a poultice could be made from the roots to treat earaches and to promote healing in wounds.
Sheep Laurel, Kalmia angustifolia: 1, 2
- This plant is extremely common, found across the country in the dryer open areas of the Boreal
- These shrubs are numerous, particularly in disturbed areas bearing distinctive narrow leaves and pink flowers.
- Aboriginal peoples boiled this plant for stiff limbs, tea from steeped leaves taken for colds, backache, headache, and stomach troubles; sometimes the leaves were crushed and applied as poultice as an alternative treatment for headache.
Pitcher Plant, Sarraceniaceae: 1, 2
- Found in boggy areas of the Boreal
- most famous in the east of the country where it is the provincial flower of Newfoundland
- Very distinctive with its hollow leaves which form the ‘pitcher’ where prey are captured and digested and its single flower atop a long straight stem
- A tea was often made from the leaves of the plant to assist in childbirth and as a general cure-all for things like wounds, rashes, sores, pox etc.
Twinflower, Linnaea borealis: 2
- Twinflower is a long, trailing plant that can be found all over the Boreal
- At the right time of year this plant bears pairs of pendulous flowers which are the basis for its common name
- Aboriginal peoples in eastern Canada used twinflower to treat women who were pregnant, and used it to produce a poultice to treat inflamed limbs headaches.
References:
1) Johnson, D., L. Kershaw, A. MacKinnon and J. Pojar. 1995. Plants of western boreal forest and aspen parkland. Lone Pine Publ., Vancouver, BC
2) http://www.davidsuzuki.org/publications/downloads/2010/conservation-value-of-the-north-american-boreal-forest.pdf
3) Marles, R. J., Clavelle, C., Monteleone, L., Tays, N., Burns, D. 2000. Aboriginal plant use in Canada’s northwestern boreal forest. Canadian Forestry Service.
4) Uprety, Y., Asselin, H., Dhakal, A., Julien, N. 2012. Traditional use of medicinal plants in the boreal forest of Canada: review and perspectives. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 8:7.
All photos unless otherwise stated are credited to Ashley Billard
Disclaimer: This webpage is dedicated to the history of plant usage in the Boreal by Aboriginal peoples gathered through research; it is NOT a survival guide to actual plant use nor does it aim to teach such skills. Ingesting plants or trying to use them as medicines is extremely dangerous and should not be attempted without proper training and instruction.
White Spruce, Picea glauca
Wild Sarsaparilla, Aralia nudicaulis
Bunchberry, Cornus canadensis
BOREAL @ MEMORIAL