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Specific
Tribal Use:
Cherokee:
Decoction taken for summer complaint
infusion of berry for rheumatism.
Salve for burns and skin eruptions
also, infusion taken as tonic for
boils. Used as a diuretic, a
cathartic, and an emetic, also taken
for dropsy. Infusion of flowers
taken to sweat out fever. Leaves
used to wash sores to prevent
infection. Decoction taken for
summer complaint infusion of berry for
rheumatism. Given for light
sickness among children.
Chickasaw:
Infusion of branches applied to head
for severe headaches.
Chippewa:
Infusion of roots taken as an emetic.
Choctaw:
Decoction of seeds and roots taken for
liver troubles.
Creek:
Poultice of pounded roots applied to
swollen breasts.
Delaware:
Leaves and stems used as a blood
purifier. Poultice or salve of
bark scrapings applied to wounds,
sores, and swellings.
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Wildlife
Use:
Game
birds, squirrels and other rodents,
and several kinds of browsers also
feed on the fruit or foliage of
elderberry. Bears love to eat
the elderberry fruits while deer, elk,
and moose browse on the stems and
foliage. The elderberries are
important sources of summer food for
many kinds of songbirds. For example,
the western bluebird, indigo bunting,
common house finch, red-shafted
flicker, ash-throated flycatcher,
black-headed grosbeak, scrub jay,
Stellar jay, ruby-crowned kinglet,
mockingbird, red-breasted nuthatch,
Bullock’s oriole, hooded oriole,
song sparrow, white-crowned sparrow,
western tanager, California thrasher,
russet-backed thrush, brown towhee,
Audubon warbler, cedar waxwing, Lewis
and Nuttall's woodpecker, wren-tit,
grouse, pheasant, and pigeons all eat
elderberries. |
