Viburnum prunifolium | |
---|---|
Foliage | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Dipsacales |
Family: | Adoxaceae |
Genus: | Viburnum |
Species: | V. prunifolium |
Binomial name | |
Viburnum prunifolium | |
Natural range |
Viburnum prunifolium (known as blackhaw or black haw, blackhaw viburnum, sweet haw, and stag bush) is a species of Viburnum native to eastern North America, from Connecticut west to eastern Kansas, and south to Alabama and Texas. [2]
It is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 2–9 metres (7–30 ft) tall with a short crooked trunk and stout spreading branches; in the northern parts of its range, it is a shrub, becoming a small tree in the southern parts of its range. The bark is reddish-brown, very rough on old stems. The branchlets are red at first, then green, finally dark brown tinged with red. The winter buds are coated with rusty tomentum. The flower buds ovate, 1 cm long, much larger than the axillary buds. The leaves are simple, arranged oppositely, up to 9 cm long and 6 cm broad, oval, ovate or orbicular, wedge-shaped or rounded at base, serrate, acute, with serrated edges with a grooved and slightly winged red petiole 1.5 cm long; they turn red in fall. The leaves are superficially similar to some species of Prunus (thus "prunifolium"); they come out of the bud involute, shining, green, tinged with red, sometimes smooth, or clothed with rusty tomentum; when full grown dark green and smooth above, pale, smooth or tomentose beneath. [3] [4] [5] [6]
The flowers are creamy white, 9 mm diameter; the calyx is urn-shaped, five-toothed, persistent; the corolla is five-lobed, with rounded lobes, imbricate in bud; the five stamens alternate with the corolla lobes, the filaments slender, the anthers pale yellow, oblong, two-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; the ovary is inferior, one-celled, with a thick, pale green style and a flat stigma and a single ovule. The flowers are borne in flat-topped cymes 10 cm in diameter in mid to late spring. The fruit is a drupe 1 cm long, dark blue-black with glaucous bloom, hangs until winter, becomes edible after being frosted, then eaten by birds; the stone is flat and even, broadly oval. Wherever it lives, black haw prefers sunny woodland with well-drained soil and adequate water. [3] [4] [5] [6]
It is threatened in Connecticut. [7]
It has both value in the pleasure garden, providing good fall color and early winter provender for birds, and medicinal properties.
It has hybridized with Viburnum lentago in cultivation to give the garden hybrid Viburnum × jackii.
The wood is brown tinged with red; heavy, hard, close-grained with a specific gravity of 0.8332. [5]
The Meskwaki eat the fruit raw and also cook them into a jam. [8]
For centuries, black haw has been used for medical purposes, mainly for gynecological conditions. The bark is the part of the plant used in treatments. [4]
The active components include scopoletin, aesculetin, salicin, 1-methyl-2,3 dibutyl hemimellitate, and viburnin. Tannin is another chemical component of black haw. [4]
Native Americans used a decoction of black haw to treat gynecological conditions, including menstrual cramps, aiding recovery after childbirth, and in treating the effects of menopause. [6] As a folk remedy, black haw has been used to treat menstrual pain, and morning sickness. Due to its antispasmodic properties, the plant may also be of use in treating cramps of the digestive tract or the bile ducts. [4]
Black haw's primary use was to prevent miscarriages. [4] The primary use of black haw today is to prevent menstrual cramps. The salicin in black haw may also be of use in pain relief. [6]
The Cherokee have several uses for the plant. They take an infusion of it to prevent recurrent spasms, use the root bark as a diaphoretic and a tonic, and take a compound infusion of it for fever, smallpox and ague. They also use an infusion of the bark as a wash for a sore tongue. [9] The Lenape combine the root bark with leaves of other plants and use it to strengthen female reproductive tract [10] or use the root bark in a tonic alone. [11] The Mi'kmaq take an infusion of the plant before and during parturition. [12]
Like many other plants, including many food plants and those used as culinary herbs, black haw contains salicin, a chemical relative of aspirin. Those who are allergic to that substance should not use black haw. [4] In addition, due to the connection between aspirin and Reye syndrome, young people or people afflicted with a viral disease should not use black haw.
The chemicals in black haw do relax the uterus and therefore probably prevent miscarriage; however, the salicin may be teratogenic. Consequently, pregnant women should not use black haw in the first two trimesters. [6] Although it has been used traditionally to prevent miscarriage. Furthermore, anyone using herbs for medical reasons should only use them under the supervision of a qualified medical professional.
Black haw is not on the "generally recognized as safe list" of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). [13]
Marjoram is a cold-sensitive perennial herb or undershrub with sweet pine and citrus flavours. In some Middle Eastern countries, marjoram is synonymous with oregano, and there the names sweet marjoram and knotted marjoram are used to distinguish it from other plants of the genus Origanum. It is also called pot marjoram, although this name is also used for other cultivated species of Origanum.
Salicylic acid is an organic compound with the formula HOC6H4COOH. A colorless (or, white), bitter-tasting solid, it is a precursor to and a metabolite of aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). It is a plant hormone, and has been listed by the EPA Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory as an experimental teratogen. The name is from Latin salix for willow tree, from which it was initially identified and derived. It is an ingredient in some anti-acne products. Salts and esters of salicylic acid are known as salicylates.
Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus Salix, comprise around 350 species of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions.
Acer saccharinum, commonly known as silver maple, creek maple, silverleaf maple, soft maple, large maple, water maple, swamp maple, or white maple, is a species of maple native to the eastern and central United States and southeastern Canada. It is one of the most common trees in the United States.
Viburnum is a genus of about 150–175 species of flowering plants in the moschatel family, Adoxaceae. Its current classification is based on molecular phylogeny. It was previously included in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae.
Viburnum lentago, the nannyberry, sheepberry, or sweet viburnum, is a species of Viburnum native to North America.
Witch-hazels or witch hazels (Hamamelis) are a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae, with three species in North America, and one each in Japan (H. japonica) and China (H. mollis). The North American species are occasionally called winterbloom.
Abies balsamea or balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada and the northeastern United States.
Salix alba, the white willow, is a species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia. The name derives from the white tone to the undersides of the leaves.
Gaultheria procumbens, also called the eastern teaberry, the checkerberry, the boxberry, or the American wintergreen, is a species of Gaultheria native to northeastern North America from Newfoundland west to southeastern Manitoba, and south to Alabama. It is a member of the Ericaceae.
The Meskwaki, also known by the European exonyms Fox Indians or the Fox, are a Native American people. They have been closely linked to the Sauk people of the same language family. In the Meskwaki language, the Meskwaki call themselves Meshkwahkihaki, which means "the Red-Earths", related to their creation story.
Viburnum opulus, the guelder-rose or guelder rose is a species of flowering plant in the family Adoxaceae native to Europe, northern Africa and central Asia.
Viburnum trilobum is a species of Viburnum native to northern North America, from Newfoundland west to British Columbia, south to Washington state and east to northern Virginia. It is very closely related to the European and Asian Viburnum opulus, and is often treated as a variety of it, as Viburnum opulus L. var. americanum Ait., or as a subspecies, Viburnum opulus subsp. trilobum (Marshall) Clausen.
The Mohegan are an Algonquian Native American tribe historically based in present-day Connecticut. Today the majority of the people are associated with the Mohegan Indian Tribe, a federally recognized tribe living on a reservation in the eastern upper Thames River valley of south-central Connecticut. It is one of two federally recognized tribes in the state, the other being the Mashantucket Pequot, whose reservation is in Ledyard, Connecticut. There are also three state-recognized tribes: the Schaghticoke, Paugusett, and Eastern Pequot.
Viburnum elatum is a species of woody plant in the family Adoxaceae. It is endemic to eastern Mexico.
Viburnum nudum is a deciduous shrub in the genus Viburnum within the muskroot family, Adoxaceae.
Viburnum rufidulum, also known as the rusty blackhaw, blue haw, rusty nanny-berry, or southern black haw, is a flowering species of shrub or small tree that is common in parts of the Eastern and Central United States. It produces attractive flowers and fall foliage, as well as fruits that are popular with some species of bird.
This is a list of plants used by the indigenous people of North America. For lists pertaining specifically to the Cherokee, Iroquois, Navajo, and Zuni, see Cherokee ethnobotany, Iroquois ethnobotany, Navajo ethnobotany, and Zuni ethnobotany.
See also Zuni ethnobotany, and Native American ethnobotany.
This is a list of plants documented to have been traditionally used by the Cherokee, and how they are used.
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