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Native
Americans used the seeds, fruits, roots, leaves, and the bark from trees
to make medicines for a variety of illnesses.
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They boiled
white oak bark to make a liquid that they and Euro-American settlers drank
for the treatment of dysentery (infection of the intestine).
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The Ojibwa
tribe used bur oak leaves as an astringent and for the treatment of wounds.
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The Potawatomi
and the Ojibwa peoples used red oak to treat diarrhea and heart and lung
ailments, respectively.
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The Potawatomi tribe used butternut hickory sap medicinally for a variety of illnesses.
Other plants
commonly processed for medicines were swamp rose tea (for worms), mulberries
(as a laxative), beech tree bark (for poison ivy), hackberry (for sore
throat), and slippery elm inner bark (bleeding gums caused by a lack of
vitamin C).
To read more about medicinal uses of forest plants, see the Illinois Tree Guide entries.
To learn about the diet and health traditions of Illinois Native Americans, see the Health section of the Native American module.
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