- Region
- North America
- Origin
- Coastal forests, bogs and banks along the west coast of North America, from Alaska to northern California
- Traditions
- Kwakwaka'wakw medicine
North America · Herb · № 974
Malus fusca
Herb · North America
Pacific crabapple
Malus fusca
A small apple tree with small, sour, oval apples and very tough wood. The bark contains tannins.
Safety notes
As in all apples, the pips contain cyanogenic substances; do not chew them in large amounts. Traditional use is no proof of effect; consult a doctor or pharmacist if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, take medication or have a medical condition.
Cautions by tradition (1)
- Kwakwaka'wakw medicine: Coughing up blood: see a doctor at once.
Preparation
Tea or decoction of the bark or the fruit; the fruit as food.
Use in traditions
The fruit was gathered all along the coast. From the bark and the fruit people made remedies for stomach complaints, skin and eye infections and pain. Among the Kwakwaka'wakw the tree had a role for someone who was coughing up blood: what he spat out was folded into copper and pushed into a split trunk, with the prayer that the tree would hold the illness.
Applications
Use by tradition
How different herbal traditions describe this herb. Amounts are traditional guidelines checked for obvious errors; they are not medical advice. For poisonous plants no dosage is given on purpose.
Kwakwaka'wakw medicine
Attributed effects
A ritual for coughing up blood: the tree holds the illness.
Preparation and amount
Keep what someone spits out in cedar bark, fold it into four pieces of copper and push them into the split trunk of a thick crabapple tree, with a prayer.
Caution: Coughing up blood: see a doctor at once.
- Ways to prepare herbs
- Tea (infusion)Decoction