Steven Long
03-22-2011, 03:13 PM
During my recent trip, I was lucky to have an abundance of Eastern Red Cedar around the camp. This was the first time I have been able to work with this tree so once I got home, I decided to do some research on its many uses.
Many different Indian tribes used this tree for multiple uses. One of them being medicinal uses and taken internally. I have found conflicting research on this with one article saying it is the Western Red Cedar which was used internally and not to be confused with the Eastern Red Cedar which are unrelated species. The USDA states that the Eastern species was also taken internally although the oil extracted from both species is toxic if taken internally (oil was obtained from the distilled heartwood and from the wood shavings). I guess more research of the location of certain tribes and what they used the cedar for would answer these questions.
The leaves, twigs, bark, and roots were usually prepared by boiling to make a decoction (method of extraction by boiling), or for making tea (processed and cured using various methods) or an infusion (outcome of steeping plants).
Internal Uses:
-Boiling limbs to make a tuberculosis treatment
-Chewing leaf buds for sore lungs
-Boiling leaves to make a cough remedy
-making a decoction of leaves to treat colds
-chewing leaf buds to relieve toothache pain
-Making an infusion to treat stomach pain and diarrhea
-Chewing the inner bark of a small tree to bring about delayed menstruation
-Making a bark infusion to treat kidney complaints
-Making an infusion of the seeds to treat fever
-Using a weak infusion internally to treat rheumatism and arthritis
External Uses include:
-Washing with an infusion of twigs to treat venereal disease, including the human papilloma virus and other sexually transmitted diseases
-Making a poultice (soft moist mass, often heated and medicated, that is spread on cloth over the skin to treat an aching, inflamed, or painful part of the body) of boughs or oil to treat rheumatism and bronchitis
-Making a poultice or oil from inner bark to treat skin diseases, including topical fungal infections and warts
-Using shredded bark to cauterize and bind wounds
Scientific research has supported some of these traditional uses . Extracts of Red Cedar have been shown to have antibacterial properties against common bacteria. Also, compounds with anti-fungal properties have been found.
*CAUTION* Many people develop asthma and bronchial spasms from exposure to Red Cedar dust!
The wood is very durable and was used for lance shafts, bows, furniture, flutes, and many other items. Cedar boughs were used for bedding. Mats were made from the bark used for temporary roofing, partitions, floor mats, wrappings, and for various purposes in canoes. It is also great for cooking and warmth.
Chippewa Indian uses:
- May have played an important role in ceremonial rituals as it has been found near gravesites
- Employed the wood for babies' cradles
- Bark fiber was used for matting, covering wigwams and other frames, and used the bark to obtain a reddish-brown dye
- Used as a cash crop, trading the wood itself for paper pulp and also by making fence posts they offered for fencing
- Used for easing headaches and rheumatism
Cherokee Indian Uses:
- Carving and making furniture
- Fencing material
- Ease colds and coughs
- Used part of the tree as an agent for sweating
- Remedy for measles, worms, and some skin problems
Blackfeet Indian uses:
- Made a tea from the berries to stop vomiting
- Remedy for arthritis and rheumatism
- Drank a tea made from the Cedar root as a general tonic; mixed with populus (poplar, aspen, cottonwood) leaves , this root tea became a liniment (medicated topical preparation for application to the skin) for stiff backs or backache
Cheyenne Indian uses:
- Steeped the leaves and drank the resulting tea to relieve persistant coughing or a tickling in the throat
- It was also believed to produce sedative effects that were especially useful for calming a hyperactive person
- Women drank the tea to speed delivery during childbirth
- Along with many other tribes, the Cheyenne made a tea from the boughs, branches, and fleshy cones, which they drank for colds, fevers, tonsillitis, and pneumonia
Other Uses:
- As a cure for asthma, whole berries were eaten or pulverized and boiled to make a tea.
- A preparation made from the leaves mixed with the root was applied topically to control bleeding
- The medicinal tea was also used to check diarrhea and stop lung or nasal hemorrhage
- The tea was ingested by tribal women after childbirth for cleansing and healing
- Indians picked the cones for food adding them to savory dishes as flavoring and also valued them as thirst quenchers
- Boughs were placed on tepee poles to ward off lightning
- The wood was used in war dances
- The leaves and cones were used in veterinary medicine in a cough remedy for horses
- Smoke from the burning twigs was recommended by the Pawnees as a sedative to counter nervousness and bad dreams
- Prior to WWI, the wood was used as pencil casings (still used mildly today)
- Trees were used as windbreaks and to control erosion
- Trees were used for Christmas Trees
- Red Cedar oil was used in microscopy (the use of microscopes to view samples and objects that cannot be seen with the unaided eye)
- Insect-proof chests
- Oil was used for abortions
- Cooking
-The outer bark fibers are great for tinder and the small branches and finger sized branches are great for kindling. The wood smoke flavors your food and makes camp smell fresh.
Remedy for arthritis and rheumatism:
1) Boil Red Cedar leaves in water
2) Add 1/2 teaspoon of turpentine
3) When cooled, rub the mixture on affected parts
Locations of Eastern Red Cedar
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/images4.jpg
Identification
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/images5.jpg
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/images3.jpg
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/images2.jpg
Ready to be burned or carved into something sweet
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/IMG_0363-1.jpg
Eastern Red Cedar provides you with everything needed to start and maintain a fire
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/File0039-1.jpg
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/File0058.jpg
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/ArkansasMarch2011039.jpg
I hope all of you enjoy and maybe put some of this to use. I will be carving a spoon and spatula out of the stash I have. Will post some pics later in the week.
Remember to always be careful when using old methods and consult a professional before ingesting or applying topical treatments from any plant.
Many different Indian tribes used this tree for multiple uses. One of them being medicinal uses and taken internally. I have found conflicting research on this with one article saying it is the Western Red Cedar which was used internally and not to be confused with the Eastern Red Cedar which are unrelated species. The USDA states that the Eastern species was also taken internally although the oil extracted from both species is toxic if taken internally (oil was obtained from the distilled heartwood and from the wood shavings). I guess more research of the location of certain tribes and what they used the cedar for would answer these questions.
The leaves, twigs, bark, and roots were usually prepared by boiling to make a decoction (method of extraction by boiling), or for making tea (processed and cured using various methods) or an infusion (outcome of steeping plants).
Internal Uses:
-Boiling limbs to make a tuberculosis treatment
-Chewing leaf buds for sore lungs
-Boiling leaves to make a cough remedy
-making a decoction of leaves to treat colds
-chewing leaf buds to relieve toothache pain
-Making an infusion to treat stomach pain and diarrhea
-Chewing the inner bark of a small tree to bring about delayed menstruation
-Making a bark infusion to treat kidney complaints
-Making an infusion of the seeds to treat fever
-Using a weak infusion internally to treat rheumatism and arthritis
External Uses include:
-Washing with an infusion of twigs to treat venereal disease, including the human papilloma virus and other sexually transmitted diseases
-Making a poultice (soft moist mass, often heated and medicated, that is spread on cloth over the skin to treat an aching, inflamed, or painful part of the body) of boughs or oil to treat rheumatism and bronchitis
-Making a poultice or oil from inner bark to treat skin diseases, including topical fungal infections and warts
-Using shredded bark to cauterize and bind wounds
Scientific research has supported some of these traditional uses . Extracts of Red Cedar have been shown to have antibacterial properties against common bacteria. Also, compounds with anti-fungal properties have been found.
*CAUTION* Many people develop asthma and bronchial spasms from exposure to Red Cedar dust!
The wood is very durable and was used for lance shafts, bows, furniture, flutes, and many other items. Cedar boughs were used for bedding. Mats were made from the bark used for temporary roofing, partitions, floor mats, wrappings, and for various purposes in canoes. It is also great for cooking and warmth.
Chippewa Indian uses:
- May have played an important role in ceremonial rituals as it has been found near gravesites
- Employed the wood for babies' cradles
- Bark fiber was used for matting, covering wigwams and other frames, and used the bark to obtain a reddish-brown dye
- Used as a cash crop, trading the wood itself for paper pulp and also by making fence posts they offered for fencing
- Used for easing headaches and rheumatism
Cherokee Indian Uses:
- Carving and making furniture
- Fencing material
- Ease colds and coughs
- Used part of the tree as an agent for sweating
- Remedy for measles, worms, and some skin problems
Blackfeet Indian uses:
- Made a tea from the berries to stop vomiting
- Remedy for arthritis and rheumatism
- Drank a tea made from the Cedar root as a general tonic; mixed with populus (poplar, aspen, cottonwood) leaves , this root tea became a liniment (medicated topical preparation for application to the skin) for stiff backs or backache
Cheyenne Indian uses:
- Steeped the leaves and drank the resulting tea to relieve persistant coughing or a tickling in the throat
- It was also believed to produce sedative effects that were especially useful for calming a hyperactive person
- Women drank the tea to speed delivery during childbirth
- Along with many other tribes, the Cheyenne made a tea from the boughs, branches, and fleshy cones, which they drank for colds, fevers, tonsillitis, and pneumonia
Other Uses:
- As a cure for asthma, whole berries were eaten or pulverized and boiled to make a tea.
- A preparation made from the leaves mixed with the root was applied topically to control bleeding
- The medicinal tea was also used to check diarrhea and stop lung or nasal hemorrhage
- The tea was ingested by tribal women after childbirth for cleansing and healing
- Indians picked the cones for food adding them to savory dishes as flavoring and also valued them as thirst quenchers
- Boughs were placed on tepee poles to ward off lightning
- The wood was used in war dances
- The leaves and cones were used in veterinary medicine in a cough remedy for horses
- Smoke from the burning twigs was recommended by the Pawnees as a sedative to counter nervousness and bad dreams
- Prior to WWI, the wood was used as pencil casings (still used mildly today)
- Trees were used as windbreaks and to control erosion
- Trees were used for Christmas Trees
- Red Cedar oil was used in microscopy (the use of microscopes to view samples and objects that cannot be seen with the unaided eye)
- Insect-proof chests
- Oil was used for abortions
- Cooking
-The outer bark fibers are great for tinder and the small branches and finger sized branches are great for kindling. The wood smoke flavors your food and makes camp smell fresh.
Remedy for arthritis and rheumatism:
1) Boil Red Cedar leaves in water
2) Add 1/2 teaspoon of turpentine
3) When cooled, rub the mixture on affected parts
Locations of Eastern Red Cedar
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/images4.jpg
Identification
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/images5.jpg
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/images3.jpg
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/images2.jpg
Ready to be burned or carved into something sweet
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/IMG_0363-1.jpg
Eastern Red Cedar provides you with everything needed to start and maintain a fire
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/File0039-1.jpg
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/File0058.jpg
http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m485/steven19831/ArkansasMarch2011039.jpg
I hope all of you enjoy and maybe put some of this to use. I will be carving a spoon and spatula out of the stash I have. Will post some pics later in the week.
Remember to always be careful when using old methods and consult a professional before ingesting or applying topical treatments from any plant.