Herb Finder
Add Herb Finder to Your Website!
Update Your Account Information
Wild Black Cherry Bark | | Name : | Wild Black Cherry Bark | | Synonyms : | Cherrybark
Wildblack cherry bark
| | Parts Used : | Barks and fruits | | Habitat : | Found in thickets chokecherry can be located in North Carolina, Missouri,Louisiana, Kansas to Canada. Native to North America. | | Description : | A North American wild cherry tree (Prunus virginiana) and its astringentfruit are called chokecherry. This shrub or small fruit tree growsto 20 feet in height. Smaller than the black cherry. Leaves are oval,sharp-toothed, midrib hairless. Flowers white, in the thicker raceme.Blooms April to July. Fruits are reddish. Non-aromatic bark.
Also known as chokecherry (Prunus demissa) and (P. melanocarpa).These were used by Native Americans to make pemmican, mixed with elk,deer meat and fat back; used as traveling rations as well as everydayfood. Paiute name for the chokecherry 'Daw-esha-boi'. | | Constituents : | Hydrocyanic, glycoside, isoamygdaline, organic acids, tannin.
Antitussive, pectoral, astringent, carminative, sedative | | Uses : | Non-aromatic bark, similar to that of blackcherry. Externally, used for wounds.Dried powdered berries once used to stimulateappetite, treat diarrhea,and bloody discharge of bowels.
Chokecherry calms the respiratory nerves and allays coughs, bronchitis,scrofula, fever, and asthma.It also is an outstanding remedy for weakness of the stomach withirritation, such as ulcers, gastritis, colitis,dyspepsia, diarrhea, anddysentery. It is helpfulcombined in digestive tonics with such herbs as licorice, ginseng,cypress, anise and tangerine peel. These herbs are macerated for twoweeks to six months in rice wine. They are then strained and the resultanttincture is taken in teaspoonful doses before meals. The Native Americansemployed the sedative properties of this plant to assist in relievingthe pains of labor and childbirth. The bark, collected in the fall,is one of the best herbs for respiratory complaints and cough. | | Dosage : | Normal dose in hot or cold infusion (boiling destroys the amygdalinthat is the main active constituent). In formulas, 3-9 gms., tincture,10-15 drops. | | Safety : | As with black or wild cherry, chokecherry's seeds, bark, and leavesmay cause cyanide poisoning.
Hydrocyanic acid is toxic in sufficient amounts and this seems especiallytrue of wilted leaves known to poison livestock. The toxicity appearsin all members of the Prunus genus, including almonds, peaches, apricots,and cherries (seeds of each). All contain amygdalin which in waterhydrolizes into hydrocyanic acid. The degree of toxicity depends ona number of factors. Removal of the outer coat of the seed; cookingand combining with sugar or licorice lessens the potential toxic aspects.
This herb is potentially fatal. Could cause death or other seriousconsequences. Its use is not recommended. | | Myths : | Dried native wild fruits, such as the chokecherry and the June berry,were articles of intertribal commerce for Native Americans. The agriculturaltribes prepared some of these for themselves, but being occupied withthe care of their cultivated crops they did not put up such greatquantities of them as did the non-agricultural tribes on the highplains. Consequently, the agricultural tribes traded surplus productsof their crops for the surplus products of the non-agricultural tribes.When the Arikaras traded with the Dakotas, they paid 1 hunansadu (roughlyan arms length) of shelled corn for 1/2 hunansadu of chokecherries.When they bought dried June berries, they paid for them at the samerate as for chokecherries. June berries are harder to gather thanchokecherries, but easier to prepare by drying. The chokecherriesare easy to gather, but the process of pounding them to a pulp, shapingthis pulp into cakes and drying them is laborious; hence they wereequal in price.
Native Americans made a beautiful red dye from the juice. |
|
|
