Iroquois Herbalism: the Past 100 Years

In this paper herbalism is addressed as one component of a complex of traditional medicine practices persisting among the Seneca despite a general trend toward acculturation. Its place in the fabric of traditional beliefs and practices is discussed in Isaacs, 1970 and 1973.

The contemporary data were gathered in 1971 among Seneca-Iroquois of the Tonawanda. Cattaraugus and Allegany Reservations in Western New York State.

Fenton , 1968: 3-7.

The data utilised in this comparison are representative rather than exhaustive. Important research in Iroquois herbalism was carried out by Waugh in 1916, Fenton in 1939. 1940 and 1949. and Hill in 1956.

The writer is indebted to Mr. Stanley Smith, botanist for the New York State Museum. and to Dr. Richard Zander. Curator of Botany at the Buffalo Museum of Science. for their assistance and expertise in botanical identification. In addition. Dr. Marvin K. Opler's work on social and psychological effects of psychoactive drugs has provided helpful guidance (1969).

These sources are used as measures of therapeutic efficacy of the plants named only with certain qualifications. but it is deemed adequate for the purpose at hand. Research in medicinal chemistry may of course in the future validate the use of Indian remedies. as it has in the past.

Bannerman , 1961 p. 614.

Ibid.

Downs. 1970. p. 24.

Vogel , 1970. p. 5.; Speck , 1917, p. 303.

White , 1968.

Morgan , 1851, p. 123.

Bannerman, Ingall et al. Diabetes and Hyperglycemia in Seneca Indians. Human Heredity, 19: 613-27,1969.

Downs, A.M. : Health Problems on the Cattaraugus Reservation, M. A. Thesis.

Fenton, William N. : A Further Quest for Iroquois Medicines,' Smithsonian Publication 3586: 93-96, 1939. Idem: An Herbarium From the Allegheny Senecas, in Historical Annals of Southwestern N. Y. Doty,

Congson, Thornton (eds.) pp. 389-96, 1940 New York.

Idem: Medicinal Plant Lore of the Iroquois, Bulletin to the Schools , 35 (7), pp. 233-37, 1949. State Department of Education, Albany.

Idem: Introduction to Parker on the Iroquois, pp. 1-47, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, 1968.

Fernald, M.L. : Gray's Manual of Botany, 8th ed; American Book Company, New York, 1950.

Hill, Arleigh : Indian Medicine, Unpublished manuscript, 1956.

House, Homer: Wildflowers of New York State Macmillan, New York. 362 pp, 1961.

Isaacs, Hope: Traditional Healing Among the Seneca Indians of Western New York, M. A. Thesis, 1970.

Jaques, H.E. : The Economic Plants, 174 pp. Wm. C. Brown Company, Dubuque 1958.

Opler. Marvin K. : 'Cross-cultural Uses of Psychoactive Drugs.' in Principles of Psychopharmacology, ed. by W. G. Clark and J. Del Guidice , Academic Press, New York, 1969.

Parker, Arthur Caswell: Iroquois Uses of Maize and Other Food Plants, N. Y. State Museum Bulletin, 144: 119, 1910.

Speck, Frank G. : Medicine Practices of the Northeastern Algonquians,' Proceedings of the 19th International

Congress of Americanists, Washington, pp. 303-321, 1917.

Idem: The Iroquois, A Study in Cultural Evolution Cranbook Institute of Science Bull, 23. 95 pp., 1955.

Vogel, Virgil J. : American Indian Medicine, 583 pp. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman , 1970.

Waugh, F.W. :Iroquois Foods and Food Preparation, Canada Department of Mines, Memoir No. 86, 235 pp. Ottawa, 1916.

White, Marian E. : Iroquois Culture History in the Niagara Frontier Area of New York State, University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, Anthropological Papers, No. 16, Ann Arbor, 155 pp., 1961.

Idem. Settlement Pattern Change and the Development of Horticulture in the New York-Ontario Area, Pennsylvania Archeologist, Vol. 23, Nos. 1-2, pp. 1-12, 1963.

Yarnell, Richard Asa: Aboriginal Relationships Between Culture and Plant Life in the Upper Great Lakes Region ,

University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology Anthropological Papers, No. 23, Ann Arbor, 218 pp., 1964.

Zenkert, Charles A. : The Flora of the Niagara Frontier Region. Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences Bulletin,

Vol. 16, 328 pp., Buffalo,1934.

Gathercoal, E.P. & Wirth, E.H. : Pharmacognosy, E. P. Clauss revision, Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia, 1956.