Chokecherry
Parts Usually Used
Barks and fruits
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
A North American wild cherry tree (Prunus virginiana) and its astringent fruit are called chokecherry. This shrub or small fruit tree grows to 20 feet in height. Smaller than the black cherry. Leaves are oval, sharp-toothed, midrib hairless. Flowers white, in the thicker raceme. Blooms April to July. Fruits are reddish. Non-aromatic bark. Also known as chokecherry (Prunus demissa) and (P.
melanocarpa). These were used by Native Americans to make pemmican, mixed with elk, deer meat and fat back; used as traveling rations as well as everyday food. Paiute name for the chokecherry “Daw-esha-boi”.
Where Found
Found in thickets chokecherry can be located in North Carolina, Missouri, Louisiana, Kansas to Canada. Native to North America.
Medicinal Properties
Antitussive, pectoral, astringent, carminative, sedative
Biochemical Information
Hydrocyanic, glycoside, isoamygdaline, organic acids, tannin.
Legends, Myths and Stories
Dried native wild fruits, such as the chokecherry and the June berry, were articles of intertribal commerce for Native Americans. The agricultural tribes prepared some of these for themselves, but being occupied with the care of their cultivated crops they did not put up such great quantities of them as did the non-agricultural tribes on the high plains. Consequently, the agricultural tribes traded surplus products of their crops for the surplus products of the non-agricultural tribes.
When the Arikaras traded with the Dakotas, they paid 1 hunansadu (roughly an arms length) of shelled corn for 1/2 hunansadu of chokecherries. When they bought dried June berries, they paid for them at the same rate as for chokecherries. June berries are harder to gather than chokecherries, but easier to prepare by drying. The chokecherries are easy to gather, but the process of pounding them to a pulp, shaping this pulp into cakes and drying them is laborious; hence they were equal in price.
Native Americans made a beautiful red dye from the juice.
Uses
Historically, herbalists applied the non-aromatic bark externally to wounds. The dried, powdered berries were once administered to stimulate the appetite and to address diarrhea and bowel complaints. In traditional practice, chokecherry was believed to calm the respiratory system, with the autumn-collected bark being recommended for coughs, bronchitis, fever, and asthma. Practitioners also regarded it as a remedy for stomach weakness accompanied by irritation, including conditions such as ulcers, gastritis, colitis, dyspepsia, and dysentery.
Additionally, herbal traditions sometimes combined it into digestive tonics alongside botanicals such as licorice, ginseng, cypress, anise, and tangerine peel macerated in rice wine.
Warning
As with black or wild cherry, chokecherry’s seeds, bark, and leaves may cause cyanide poisoning. Hydrocyanic acid is toxic in sufficient amounts and this seems especially true of wilted leaves known to poison livestock. The toxicity appears in all members of the Prunus genus, including almonds, peaches, apricots, and cherries (seeds of each). All contain amygdalin which in water hydrolizes into hydrocyanic acid.
The degree of toxicity depends on a number of factors. Removal of the outer coat of the seed; cooking and combining with sugar or licorice lessens the potential toxic aspects. This herb is potentially fatal. Could cause death or other serious consequences. Its use is not recommended.
Bibliography
, Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. , Copyright 1988, published 1992 Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000 Indian Herbalogy of North America , by Alma R. , Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973 Indian Uses of Native Plants , by Edith Van Allen Murphey, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1958, print 1990 Prairie Smoke , by Melvin R.
Gilmore, Minnesota Historical Society Press, St. Paul, Minnesota 55101, copyright 1987. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023