Woods Journal

While living in Montana, many who travel into the outdoors are often concerned with what they may need to know to survive in the woods. Often the edibility of many plants is something easy to read about. However, identifying the plants that provide other medicinal properties is a hidden art, lost in time to the natives who once lived here. Fortunately, there are several home remedy plants that can help in various circumstances and increase self-reliance. Three sprout in my mind in this area.

First, the collection of any wild plant should only be done under strict leave-no-trace policies. Harvesting something in a way that permanently takes it from the environment should be avoided, and ethical gathering practices are important to follow. Since there are often far more effective modern means of treatment, gathering should be done only as a learning experience, and tempered to maintain the reusability of any natural resource. I had a survival instructor once tell me, “Take one instead of two, or take none instead of few.”

The first local plant is arrowleaf balsamroot, which is a yellow flower found throughout the west. A common parallel plant is its relative the sunflower, and in fact there are several common names of this balsamroot that contain the word sunflower. The plant has been used by Native American tribes for centuries to aid in coughs or breathing difficulties. It can be collected in springtime when it blooms, and the taproot dug up. A single root will go a long way. A tea can be made from the root, or a tincture made from soaking the roots in a strong alcohol for several months. A recipe I like is to heat up honey on the stove and place cut up roots in it. Then bring it to a simmer but avoid boiling, let sit for several minutes and then let it cool. Repeating this process will turn the honey a dark color, thicken it and give it a wonderful fragrance. The concoction can be taken as a cough syrup or placed in a tea.

Willow bark tea has been used by Native Americans for mild pain relief for centuries. The trees contain salicin, which is a similar compound to that found in aspirin and carries the same effects. A tea can be made from the bark of young branches after boiling for a number of minutes and then leaving it to steep for at least a half hour. The salicin contained in willow is by percentage very small, and so a lot is needed to feel the effects. I have heard people say that it can take up to a week to feel the effects, or it can take just one liter to feel the pain subside. In my experience, drinking it as a tea daily can help lower overall pain over time. We used willow tea when we could find it along hiking trails for sore muscles and basic backpacking aches. The bark can be collected and cut into small strips and dried, like cinnamon sticks. These can be used at later dates, especially if an early part of a trail has the tree, a later part may not. The tea is also used to break a fever. I have heard willow used to slow bleeding from wounds and to help clotting. However, in fact it is a blood thinner and slows the clotting effect, which in my mind should achieve the opposite effect. For those familiar with aspirin, it is also used in some cases as a blood thinner.

Yarrow, on the other hand, has been effectively used to slow bleeding. Yarrow is a low ground plant that sprouts a tall stalk topped with a flat-topped cluster or two of small white flowers. Each leaf is feather-like and carries medicinal properties. When the leaves are crushed into a poultice and placed over a wound they carry antiseptic and antibacterial properties. They will also promote clotting. I like to make a tincture with the leaves in a strong vodka to use as bug spray.

Each of these plants are fantastic for homemade remedies of varying types. Even with that knowledge, they are also important pieces of the natural landscape. Arrowleaf is essential in adding structure to dry sunny embankments, and overharvesting can lead to excess erosion. Willow bushes are common in the west and build up and protect natural riverbanks. Taking too many branches will kill a tree, and removal of bark on a live tree is like an open wound on a person. Yarrow is like a weed and grows everywhere. However, eliminating it from an area will increase the presence of biting insects and ticks, which transmit diseases to humans and animals. It is important to me to go into the wilderness with a mind for appreciation and take very little so that there is some left when a person might really need it, and so that others may enjoy the same environment for some time to come.

Reach John Dowd at [email protected].