IndusTREEMedicine and Food from Trees

Herbal Medicines

•“The use of plants to heal is a practice going back thousands of years… Our Western tradition of herbal medicine is largely derived from Greek and Roman practice.” Penelope Ody, Essential Guide to Natural Home Remedies.•Among the many plants used for herbal remedies are

trees. •The willow tree is one example of trees used for

medicines.

The Willow Tree

The leaf and bark of the willow tree have provided humans with a natural remedy for pain for hundreds of years. Native Americans used the bark of the tree to treat headaches, fever and rheumatism to name just a few. Early settlers from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and parts of Europe brought with them their own herbal traditions, which included the use of the bark of the willow tree to relieve pain.

Willow tree, photograph by Patricia L. Sanders, May 2020.

Willow Tree - Bark and Leaves

The bark and leaves of the tree were harvested and dried to be used in tinctures, teas, and powder. The herbalist would use either a tincture or tea or powder depending on the person’s ailments. Later chemists would isolate a component of the bark’s chemical structure which was synthetically produced into aspirin.

”It was one of the first herbs to be scientifically investigated, and in the 19th century, a French chemist, Leroux, extracted the active constituent and named it “salicine.” By 1852 this chemical was being produced synthetically, and by 1899 a less irritant and unpleasant-tasting variant of the substance (acetylsalicylic acid) was manufactured and marketed as aspirin, the first of the modern generation of plant-derived drugs.” Penelope Ody, The Complete Herbal Medicinal. Page 94.North American Willow bark. Plants of

Massachusetts-Salix Alba-Vicinity of Concord. United States National Museum. Image #03418602. Smithsonian free images.

A brief depiction of the parts used from the willow tree to make herbal medicine.

Sketch by Patricia L. Sanders. Images were hand drawn from various sources. June 2020.

Herbalist and Druggist

•Herbalists over the centuries developed a compilation of medicinal plants known as “materia medica”. •Druggists were formally trained and kept recipes of their potions, tinctures and powders, which were found in a pharmacopoeia. The foundation of this pharmacopoeia was the herbalist’s materia medica.

Spaulding Druggist, Ballston Spa, New York. Photo in the collection of Brookside Museum. 1984.063.0001

Herbal Recipes

Farmers and homemakers were most likely informally trained by observation and handed down recipes. Sometimes these were kept in household booklets.

Taylor papers, Recipe for medicine, #: 1968.020.2158

The Final Product: Salves and Tincture Remedies

Artifact

Homeopathic kit for natural home remedies. Brookside Museum

collection. #1996.023. c. 1987.

Gold colored cardboard box holding a round 2” diameter tin of salve. Brookside Museum Collection. #1978.057.

Trees Bearing Fruit

Apple and pear trees have been domesticated for over 6,000 years beginning in China and Asia. Apples, along with pears, peaches, plums and cherries, are members of the rose family of plants. Studies suggest that the apple and pear migrated over the Silk Roads to Europe and from there, over many centuries, were further domesticated. Seedlings of the apple and pear trees were brought over from Europe with the early settlers and many varieties were propagated prolifically throughout North America.

The Apple Tree

Artist: Winslow Homer, American, 1836-1910Description: “Horizontal view of a woman in a dark dress, standing at center under a gloriously blooming apple tree. . .”Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Charles Savage Homer, Jr.Object number: 1918-20-7Type: Painting, Madirn, Mountainville, NY, USAIn the collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.Smithsonian Open Access: www.si.edu

The Pear Tree

Title: The Pear Tree with poemArtist: Electa Mann (b. 1801- d.1883)Object: paintingDate: 1874Catalogue Number: 1977.003.0008In the Collection of Saratoga County Historical Society, Brookside Museum.

Familiar Apple Varieties

Photographs by Patricia L. Sanders

Golden DeliciousTaste: Sweet and mellow.

Can be eaten fresh, in pies, sauce, canning and freezing.

Granny SmithTaste: Tart and slightly sweet.

Can be eaten fresh, in pies, sauce, canning and freezing.

Red DeliciousTaste: Sweet.

Can be eaten fresh

Nutritional Value of ApplesDoes eating an apple every day really keep the doctor away?•Apples, according to Harvard School of Public Health (The

Nutrition Source-Apples by T.H. Chan), provide fiber, vitamin C and phytochemicals which assist in maintaining good health.

• In the Farm to Health Series from Ohio State University, the apple is one of the fruits that provide high level of vitamin C and fiber. One serving provides about 10% of the daily value for vitamin C. An apple or pear contains about 20% of the daily value for fiber for adults.

•While the apple brings a great value in nutrition to our diet, studies have not confirmed the old adage.

Preserving the Fruit of the Tree

• The apple is preserved in a variety of ways. Centuries old techniques were making cider in a press to obtain the juice of the apple and air drying the apple.

• The technology for making cider, known for centuries in Europe and the Mediterranean areas, was brought over by immigrants

Title: Cider PressObject: Wood-frame cider press (traces of red-brown paint remain): two parallel crosspieces on two vertical uprights mounted on a base; geared wheel mounted on top crosspiece; a separate 27 x 25 x 1.5 inch base with a circular groove worn in. Wood, iron. Originally , probably had a handle and additional apparatus.Use: These tools were used by the Frank Weed family on their farm.Catalogue number: 1969.015.0012Dimensions: H-49 L-33 D-23 inch baseIn the Collection of Saratoga County Historical Society at Brookside Museum.

Early Cider Press

Preserving Techniques

Air/Sun drying or dehydration: Drying food in the sun is one of the oldest methods of preserving food and was used in prehistoric times. Many cultures around the world have used this technique. The early 1900s saw a new technique in preserving fruits, vegetables and herbs. A natural draft dehydrator was created using a heat source underneath the unit to heat the air sending it up through the drying racks and over the food to be preserved.

The New York Tribune, September 10, 1922, from http://www.fultonhistory.com. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

The Sugar Maple TreeAcer Saccharum or more commonly

known as “Hard Maple” or ”Rock Maple”

The sugar maple tree is a hard wood. It is a native of the northeast region of USA. The Suger Maple was adopted as the State tree for New York in 1956. It is also known for making quality furniture, wood floors and for making a great warming fire in the stove. In early spring the sap from the tree is harvested and boiled down into maple syrup! A knowledge passed on from the Native Americans to the early settlers of North America.Sugar Maple Tree. Located in Galway

NY. Photograph by Patricia L. Sanders

Making Maple Syrup

The sugar maple trees are tapped in early spring. Sap from the trees is boiled down to make maple syrup. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, it takes 30 to 50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.

Title: Tapping maple tree, Quebec Object: Lantern slideDate: ca. 1900Photographer: Jesse Sumner WooleyCatalogue No.: 2000.500.1114In the collection of Saratoga County Historical Society

Medicine and Food from the Tree

•The Tree has provided medicine and food for us for many hundreds of years. Trees are a rich source of medicine once you learn about the tree species. Trees also provide us with a variety of foods: apples, pears, peaches, plums, apricots, and nuts.

•There is much more that the Tree provides for us. Please check out our other exhibit topics: Communications, Shelter, and Harvesting to Sustainability.

BibliographyMedicine

Foster, Steven & Duke, James A., “A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants, Eastern/Central North America”, published by Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston & NY. 1990, page 294.

Hutchens, Alma R., “Indian Herbalogy of North America”, published by Shambhala Publications, Boston & London, 1973 & 1991. page 302. Note: With the advice and encouragement from Native Americans, the author has researched extensively on their use of indigenous plants for medicinal purposes; identifying many of the plants’ constituents, botanical descriptions and their application and use.

Little, Elbert L. (Former Chief Dendrologist U.S. Forest Service), “National Audubon Society’s Field Guide to North American Trees, Eastern Region”. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1980. page. 327.

Ody, Penelope, “The Complete Medicinal Herbal-A practical guide to the healing properties of herbs, with more than 250 remedies for common ailments.” Published by Dorling Kindersely, London, New York, & Stuttgart, 1993, page 94. Penelope Ody is a trained herbalist practicing in the United Kingdom.

On-line sources:

www.collections.countway.harvard.edu. Center for the History of Medicine at Countway Library. On View: Digital Collections & Exhibits.

http://theherbalacademy.com. “Herbalism: A History- How Herbalists of the past paved the way for today. Posted by Heather Saba, April 12, 2018.

www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov. The United States Pharmacopoeia: its origins and revisions in the 19th Century. John S. Haller, Jr. Ph.D., Professor of History, California State University, Long Beach, California. Page 480-492. Bull. N.Y. Acad.Med. Vol. 58. No. 5, June 1982.

BibliographyFood

History: Little, Elbert L., former Chief Dendrologist, U.S. Forest Service, “National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees”, published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1980, pages, 579, 258, 374 and 592

Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. “A Curious Tale: The Apple in North America”. By Tim Hensley, June 5, 2005. http://www.bbg.org:

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. “Exploring the origins of the apple”. Science Daily. 27 May 2019. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190527094118.htm.

American Scientist. “The Mysterious Origin of the Sweet Apple”. By Barrie Juniper. American Scientist, January-February, 2007, Vol. 95, Number 1, page 44. http://www.americanscientist.org.

“Sugar Maple.” Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., Date Published: 22 October 2019, URL: https://www.Britannica.com/plant/suger-maple. Access date: June 18, 2020.

“New York State Tree-Sugar Maple”. New York State Library. Http://www.nysed.gov.

Nutritional Value:

The Nutrition Source., a publication of Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health. “Apples”. http://www.hsph.Harvard.edu.

Farm to Health Series, Maximize your nutrients from: Apples, Peaches, Pears, Plums and Apricots. A publication of the Ohio State University. http://localfoods.osu.edu/aximizenutrients.

BibliographyFood

Preservation:“Food Preservation is as Old as Mankind”. Being able to preserve food to use at a later time has allowed humans to form communities. By Linda Huyck, Michigan State University Extension-June 11, 2012. http://www.extension.msu.edu.

“Apples: Safe Methods to store, preserve, and Enjoy”, by Linda J. Harris, Food Safety and Applied Microbiology Specialist, Department of Food Science and Technology, UC Davis; Syliva Yada, Scientist, Department of Food Science and Technology, UC Davis; and Elizabeth Mitcham, Postharvest Extension Specialist, Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis. University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu.

“Apple Cider, Apple Butter, Perry, and Vinegar, A. Apple”. Article produced by http://www.drinkfocus.com/apple-cider/index.php. As published on the website: http://nationalapplemuseum.com/appleciderandmore.htm. National Apple Museum, owned and operated by the Biglerville Historical & Preservation Society, Biglerville, PA 17307. retrieved article 6/15/2020.

“Dehydration”. Article title: Dehydration, Website: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., Date Pubished: 19 May 2014, URL: https://www.Britannica.com/topic/dehydration-food-preservation. Access date: June 15, 2020.