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General Information
Caprifoliaceae Family—This family also includes the true Honeysuckles and the flowers in this family are said to smell like goats(YUCK!!!!)
This month’s Corner includes a broad look at the Elderberry and how it is used to serve in many medicinal treatments. Nan mentioned this medicinal tree in the second season episode “Family Business” while talking with Asia on one of their strolls. She says that it is good to help relieve a headache if you take the leaves and brew it into a tea.
First, lets discuss what an Elderberry is and how it is classified. It can grow as a bushy shrub only a few feet high or up to 50 feet high. The star-shaped white flowers grow in a compound cyme, otherwise known as flat topped bunches to the everyday observer.
The Elderberry is native to North America where it grows from New Brunswick, Canada southward to Florida and Texas and westward to Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. The blossoms appear in July and the tree fruits in September.
Medicinal Uses
The fruit of this plant has one of the highest concentration of vitamin A, thiamine, calcium, and niacin. It also has 450 calories per pound and 9 grams of protein. This is a huge reason why this plant was largely used by the North American Indians and the settlers of the New World.
The fruit are thought to have a cooling, laxative and urine-increasing properties. A wine made from the fruit is thought to be a cooling lotion that can be washed over the body that is suffering from a fever. If it is taken internally it may promote sweating to reduce fever. The berries when eaten on a regular basis were thought the help arthritis gout, and to enable to cough up of phlegm.
The juice from the berries, when simmered until it becomes thick can be used as a cough syrup. The Choctaws Indians mashed the berries with salt to make a headache poultice. Also, if the juice of the berries was boiled with honey, when put into the ear is supposed to help ease the pain of earaches.
The flowers could be made into a hot tea to promote perspiration in the hope of reducing fever. If this tea were combined with the leaves from the Mentha plant(mint), was used to alleviate stomach problems. If the tea was used in a cold form, it was thought to help increase urine flow.
The flowers and fruit together can also be used in ointments for burns, sores, cuts, swollen and painful joints. The flowers include properties of a mild stimulant.
Earlier, pioneer women mixed elderberry flowers with apple vinegar to make a strong tea for healing and cooling. The flower tea is also used to help with digestion by stopping the formation of gas. If dried flowers were used, it was important for tonisllitis, because it was thought to have a stimulant effect on the mucous membranes. The bleaching of freckles was even a common practice from the use of elderberry flower water, the original use was treating sunburns.
The ointments made from the flowers were completed by mixing the flowers with white lard from warming black bear fat in an open pan and taking the cracklings. The flowers were browned and drained through a filter. After, they were stored in jars to be used as skin creams as well as an insect repellant.
Remarkably, even the bark of the tree has medicinal uses. The bark mixed with bear lard could be used as an ointment for rashes, inflammations, cuts, and many other skin troubles. The bark can even help serve as a laxative. The bark tea could even induce vomiting, acting as an emetic, with just 3 tablespoons. The bark tea has even been used by women for cramps during menstruation and to ease pain during childbirth. The inner bark of the tree is used as a pain killer. An example, the Iroquois Indians boiled the inner bark and put it on cheek where there is a toothache to help with the pain.
Finally, the leaves of the elderberry have some minor uses although they can be poisonous. The crushed leaves may be used as a poultice for headaches. They can also be warmed and placed upon the forehead to relieve the headache.
The elderberry has many uses, and Nan in this episode is precise in her assessment of what to use for a headache, but this column also shows that this plant can have many uses from many different parts of the plant.
Warning
Though the bark, roots, and leaves can be used for some medicinal treatments, they should never be taken internally because they cause cyanide poisoning(TOXIC) and severe diarrhea. The fruits are edible after they are cooked. The flowers are not toxic.
Recipe for Hot Tea For Stomach Problems
Hot Elderberry Flower Tea with Mentha(Mint)
Dry flowers in shade for about 2 weeks
After 2 weeks, break off stems, and still dry flowers until first frost.
Take 1 quart of hot water and pour over 1 cup of dried flowers and 2 teaspoons of dried mint(Mentha).
