Mountain Folk Remedies: The Foxfire Americana Library (9) Read Online Free Page B

stomachaches, and lung ailments.
    I LLUSTRATION 16 Partridgeberry
    Partridgeberry
(Mitchella repens)
enjoys damp, cool woods and sandy soil. The small branches produced from a tender underground stem are usually no taller than six inches. Leaves are near the top of the branch and are evergreen and leathery. The partridgeberry blooms May through July. The flowers, which occur in pairs, are followed by berries that are red in the fall and can stay on the plant until the next blooming season. The flowers are united at the base and smell a bit like lilac. After the blossoms wilt, the two flowers fuse together to form one berry.
    This aromatic evergreen is gathered for the entire herb or for the leaves in fall. Cherokee Indian women made a tea from this plant and drank it for weeks before having a baby. It was believed to make childbirth much easier. The tea was also used to treat coughs and colds.
    Pennyroyal
(Hedeoma pulegioides)
is very aromatic and enjoys dry soil. Its height is usually only one foot, and it possesses a slim, hairy stem with several branches. In summer, pale blue flowers among small narrow leaves appear in clusters. The entire plant has a strong minty odor and taste. (For a drawing of pennyroyal, see
Foxfire 3
, page 337.)
    This cultivated herb is gathered in summer for the leaves and flowers. Gertrude Mull said that pennyroyal’s leaves are really good for treating a cold and that it’s prepared in the same way as boneset tea.
    Persimmon
(Diospyros virginiana)
has gray bark and leaves that are ovate and multiveined. Fruits arrive after the flowers and ripen to an orange color. The fruits are generally sweeter after the first frost of the season. (For a drawing of persimmon fruit, see
Foxfire 3
, page 320.)
    Clarence Lusk told us, “Sometimes, persimmon bark’s good for that sore mouth. Just chew it, get the juice out of it. You’ll get it all in your mouth, and it’s just about [as bitter as yellowroot], but not quite.” Minnie Dailey recalled, “Sometimes we’d put a persimmon stick in the fire and let it get hot enough for the sap [or juice] to run out. It looks like soapsuds. We’d catch that in a spoon and pour it in the ear for earaches.”
    Pine
(Pinus)
is abundant throughout the Southern Appalachian region. Most common are the white pine, the yellow pine, and the Virginia pine.
    These evergreen trees are large and have horizontal branches. They can grow to two hundred feet tall and have slender green needles that can be up to five inches long. The white pine has cones that are one inch thick and five inches long. In fall, seeds fall from the mature cones. The Virginia pine has three to five needles in a cluster and can live about fifty years.
    Information was not available concerning the type or types of pine trees that were used for the remedies below. A few people felt that any of these three—white, yellow, and Virginia—could be used, but this has not been confirmed.
    Pine bark—A cough medicine can be concocted using pine bark and wild cherry bark.
    Pine bud—Clarence Lusk said, “Pine bud tea’s what you use for a bad cold. Go around and pick the little buds in the pine bushes that you can reach the tops of. Just pull that little ol’ bud off the top of the little twig. We’d break the little buds out and make a tea out of that for a bad cold.”
    Pine oil—As a remedy for a nail puncture, pour pine oil over the wound.
    Pine needles—As a remedy for colds, boil pine needles to make a strong tea.
    Pine resin—Pine resin can be used as a remedy for cuts and bleeding.
    Pink Lady Slipper
(Cypripedium acaule)
blooms from May through June. It is very rare. This plant was widely used in nineteenth-century America as a sedative for nervous headaches, hysteria, insomnia, and nervous irritability. Because this plant is rare and endangered, readers are asked to refrain from gathering it.
    Poke
(Phytolacca americana)
is dangerous and can be toxic. Pokeweed’s root is poisonous. The