Indigenous Uses of Flora

Indigenous Uses of Western U.S. Flora

Due to a conversation on Skype I had with Eissy, Ive decided to start this thread.

What I will be doing in this post is outlining how indigenous peoples used these plants and herbs as well as outline their traits. For now, I will just post the more popular and commonly used plants, however, if you would like me to provide the information of a specific plant I will be happy to do so. I will be directly quoting from the field guide Wester Medicinal Plants and Herbs by Steven Foster and Christopher Hobbs as well as providing commentary where I see fit. Any additional replies and commentary are welcome! Note that this book is meant as a field guide for theflora of the western United States (west of the Mississippi river), so some popular herbs will be left out due to their inability to naturally grow in this climate.

For this thread, I will avoid adding the modern interpretations and uses of plants. The purpose of this post is to provide some background for how these plants were historically used and by whom they were used. Using plants and herbs for medicine, daily life and religion is an ancient practice seen in the roots of every culture across the planet. Modern revitalisation of the use of herbs in society as alternative medicines has become especially popular in the last couple of decades (since the 70s) and has made some significant progress in the pharmaceutical industry. As we see it now, stronger restrictions have been made towards the release of new drugs on the market and the endorsement and serious scientific research into the uses of herbs in medicine has dramatically increased since the turn of the century. Now, we see all natural vitamins, supplements and medicines on the counter of nearly every convenience store and chain businesses such as Vitamin Cottage are specifically targeted at a rapidly growing body of natural remedy enthusiasts and health conscious consumers.

However, many have forgotten the long history of using the nature around them in daily life and in remedies. At the core of the numerous ancient societies across the globe is the tradition of animism; the belief that every facet of nature has its own spirit and energy. While animism isnt a universal concept, its an honoured tradition that many First Nation tribes practise here in America. Each plant has properties and life force and these cultures believed that by using them they too could benefit from these properties. Through trial and error, our ancestors figured out the advantages and uses of each plant. Modern herbology is a remnant of this ancient practice, and while not all the recorded uses of these plants are accurate or significantly useful, we should take heed of this time-tested practice.

Unfortunately, the guide does not comment much on their spiritual uses, nor does it provide any historical or cultural information on the indigenous peoples who used them. However, I would appreciate anyone who adds information it would be a fantastic way to round out this thread!

Thank you for starting this! I would love to learn more from this perspective for the simple sake of understanding, even as I won't be applying it to my practice for wanting to avoid cherry picking or simply taking pieces because I want them.