MEDICINE & FOOD
Miami Indian Medicine Man Remedies
1) Chills - Snake Root
2) Earache - Tobacco Smoke
3) Jaundice - Wild Fruits
4) Colds - Wild Ginger
5) Sore Eyes - Yellow Root
6) Fever - Wahoo Bark
7) Sore Throat - Elm Bark tea
8) Laxative - Seeds of the Bladder Nut
9) Hiccoughs - Wild Cherry Tea
10) Sluggishness - Any Yellow Flower
11) Broken Bones - Bones Set
12) Snake Bites - Red Elm
13) Boils - Wild Grapes
14) Burns - Oak Bark
15) Warts - Milk Weed
16) Cough - Chestnut
17) Asthma - Mints
18) Bee Stings - Mulkin
19) Tooth Ache - Prickly Ash
20) Blood Remedy - Sassafras
21) Skin Trouble - Black Willows
22) Sore Mouth - Wild Iris
The Indian remedy for asthma was a mixture of raspberry and
blackberry juice in which leaves from the hoarhound and spearmint had
been boiled.
For burns, the remedy was bark from the white oak (Quercus alba)
which had been soaked in water. This would be Tannic Acid and is
actually our accepted remedy for burns. We buy Tannic Acid in powder
from drug stores or get it directly from doctors.
The remedy for stomach disorders was May apples (Mandrake roots).
Dried wild grapes were used for boils and skin disorders. The bark
from the black willow tree (Salix nigra) was also used as a remedy
for skin troubles.
It is common knowledge to most of us that sassafras was used as a
spring tonic and blood thinner.
Spicebush (Lindena benzoin) was also used as a remedy for aches and
sluggishness, much as our vitamin pills at the present time - not
quite as costly, however.
Chestnut leaves were used for coughs, especially whooping cough.
Mulleins leaves were used for bee stings. Leaves of Pickly ash were
used for mosquito bits and infections.
Red elm leaves were crushed and used as a poultice for rattle snake
bites. The medicinal value of this remedy would probably be scoffed
at by most present day doctors. Even they, however, recognize the
psychological effect of such things. Although the Indian didn't know
about out Bible, aren't we reminded of Revelation 22:2 - And the
leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
By Wendell Lamb - Amboy, Indian 1959
Some Of The Food Of The American Indians
*Wild Berries* *Wild Fruits* *Meats* * Fish*
Blackberries Wild Cherries Alligator Sturgeon
Blueberries Wild Grapes Antelope White Fish
Cranberries Wild Plums Bear Salmon
Gooseberries Pawpaws Beaver Trout
Hackberries Persimmons Bison Suckers
Raspberries Maple Sugar Caribou Abalone
Strawberries Chipmunks Clam/Crabs
Black Haws *Vegetables* Deer Crawfish
Red Haws Artichokes Elk Eel
Elderberries Gourds Moose Frogs
Yellow Haws Maize Corn Rabbits Oysters
Melons Jack Rabbit Mussel
*Leaves* Potatoes Goats Salamander
Beech Leaves Pumpkins Sheep Snails
Skunk Cabbage Squash Squirrel Turtles
Water Cress Tomatoes Raccoons
Plant Roots Sun Flower Seeds Opossum
Wild Rice Muskrat
*Nuts* Primrose Seeds
Acorn Pig Weed Seeds *Fowls*
Beechnuts Mushrooms Birds
Butternuts Toadstools Eggs
Coconuts Puff Balls Wild Ducks
Coffee Tree Seed Wild Ginger Wild Geese
Hazelnuts Colamus Wild Turkey
Hickory Nuts Water Cress Partridge
Peanuts Woodcocks
Pinon Nuts
Black Walnuts (White)