| Reference Source | Reference Type | Archival Data | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lamb, E.W., Shultz, L.W. 1964 | Related Info |
"Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) was also used as a remedy for aches and sluggishness much as our vitamin pills at the present time--not quite so costly, however". |
|
| Gatschet, A.S. ca. 1895 | Description |
"winaxkátwi spicebush, known in the south west as spicewood, a shrub with yellow flowers, tree is four feet high". |
|
| Gatschet, A.S. ca. 1895 | Use - Medicinal |
The stems of spicebush were used to make tea. "The Indians cut the stems into sticks or small pieces pour hot water over them and drink the infusion as spicewood tea". |
|
| Rafert, S. 1989 | Use - Medicinal/Food |
Used in tea as a tonic. "My mother used to use it, besides making spicebush tea, she used it to parboil older game like an old 'coon or an old woodchuck. To parboil 'em in it, it tenderized 'em. Or at least we thought it did." |
|
| Olds, J., Olds, D. and D. Tippman 1999 | Use - Medicinal |
Spicebush root tea was used "for everything you know". |
|
| Rafert, S. 1989 | Description |
"Spicebush is a small bush that grows about six feet tall . . . It has a red berry on it in the fall of the year and in the spring it has a small yellow-clustered bloom. It’s a blackish-looking plant--shrub--and it has an aromic smell to it. You break off a piece of it and chew on it, or just smell it, it has a real spicy smell to it. Decidedly spice". |
|
| Gonella, M.P 2003-2006 | Use - Medicinal/Food |
Fruits were gathered and dried for seasonsing. Young leaves used for tea. |
|
| Gonella, M.P 2003-2006 | Horticultural Info |
Pick berries when they are red in fall. |
|
| Rafert, S. 1989 | Use - Food |
"They [the Myaamia] took to coffee like a duck to water when it became introduced to them. But in their earlier days, their primitive days, they didn't know coffee. The only drink they had of that type would have been sassafras or spicebush". |
|
| Dunn, J.P. ca. 1900 | Use - Medicinal |
Tea was made using spicebush. |
| Reference Source | Reference Type | Data | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gleason, H.A. and Cronquist, A. 1991 | Habitat | Occurs in moist, rich woods in eastern and western Myaamia lands. |