Native America's Pharmacy on the Prairie

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Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii)
Chippewa Indians used a root decoction of big bluestem for stomachaches and gas. Omaha Indians used leaves as an external wash for fevers.

Groundnut, also known as hog peanut (Apios americana)     
The tubers, which contain three times the protein of potatoes, were boiled or eaten raw by American Indians and settlers.

Groundnuts are currently being studied for use as a food plant. Under cultivation, it is reported to produce up to 8 pounds of tubers per plant.  

Butterfly weed, also known as milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Considered an important medicinal plant by several Indian tribes — Omaha Indians chewed the raw root for pulmonary and bronchial troubles. It also was chewed and placed on wounds or pulverized and blown into wounds.

Milkweeds contain cardiac glycosides that are toxic to livestock and humans. One of these, amplexoside, occurs in sand milkweed (Asclepias amplexicaulis) and has been shown to inhibit cell growth in some types of human cancer.

England aster (Aster novae-angliae)
Root tea was used for diarrhea and fever. Asters in general were used for wounds, either burned and placed over a wound or powdered and placed in the wound.  A tea of the whole plant was used for arrow wounds; cotton or other absorbent material was dipped into the tea and pushed into the wound.

*Wild Indigo (Baptisia leucophaea)
American Indians rubbed a mixture of pulverized seed and buffalo fat on the abdomen for colic and intestinal disturbance. Root tea was used to treat scarlet and typhoid fevers. An infusion was used as an astringent for wounds.

B. leucophaea has shown possible immune stimulant activity. Large doses of this plant have been fatal.

Indian paintbrush (Castilleja spp.)
Weak flower tea was used for rheumatism, as a contraceptive and for venereal disease. Flowers and leaves of several varieties of Indian paintbrush were mixed with bear grease to promote hair growth.

New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus)
Leaves were used during the Revolutionary War as a substitute for regular tea. Root tea was used for colds, fever, snakebite, stomachaches and lung ailments, and as a laxative and blood tonic. Current research shows that alkaloids in the root can lower blood pressure.

Purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea)
Roots were chewed for their sweet flavor. Leaves were used as a diarrhea treatment. Mesquakies Indians used a tea from this plant to treat measles.

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