photo by Robyn Kunick
Common uses today
*Used to make
jelly, juice, syrup, sauces, wine, marmalade, and butter
*Green sticks are used as skewers to flavor meat while cooking
*The seeds contain cyanide forming compounds that can cause illness and in extreme cases death, so you don't want to eat the seeds
*The
most important wild fruit
to the Indians of the prairie*Green sticks are used as skewers to flavor meat while cooking
*The seeds contain cyanide forming compounds that can cause illness and in extreme cases death, so you don't want to eat the seeds
Medical
history
*The chokecherry
shrub has been used
for fevers, agues, hetic fever, dyspepsia, lumbar abscess, chronic
asthma, hysteria, cough medicine, bronchitis, scrofula, and
heart palitations
Native
American uses
*For most tribes the chokecherries were dried and crushed, mixed with meat and fat to make pemmican
Blackfeet
Sioux
Poncas
Crow
Mesquakies
Arikara
Tribes outside of the prairie
*Drank
chokecherry juice for diarrhea and sore throat
*Made tea from the inner bark and drank it as purge
*Mothers drank the tea to pass the medicinal qualities on to their children through their milk
*The tea was administered to the children as enemas
*Made tea from the inner bark and drank it as purge
*Mothers drank the tea to pass the medicinal qualities on to their children through their milk
*The tea was administered to the children as enemas
Sioux
*Drank
tea from
the bark to treat stomach complaints, diarrhea, and dysentary
*Chewed dried chokecherry roots and placed them in wounds to stop bleeding
*Chewed dried chokecherry roots and placed them in wounds to stop bleeding
Poncas
*Used
the tea
for the same treatment as the Sioux
*Pulverized the dried fruit to make tea specifically for diarrhea
*Pulverized the dried fruit to make tea specifically for diarrhea
Crow
*Used
the bark
to cleanse sores and burns
*Only certain tribal members were allowed to perform medicinal applications
*Only certain tribal members were allowed to perform medicinal applications
Mesquakies
*Used root bark
tea as a sedative for stomach problems and as a treatment for
hemorrhoids
Arikara
*Women
drank
chokecherry juice in cases of postpartum hemorrhage
Tribes outside of the prairie