Prickly Ash:
Before describing the Indians uses for the prickly ash species, Michael A. Weiner includes Dr. Millspaugh's observations concerning the use of prickly ash bark as a remedy for toothache:
From personal experience one day in the woods while botanizing, I found that, upon chewing the bark for relief of toothache, speedy mitigation of the pain followed, though the sensation of the acrid bark was nearly or fully as unpleasant as the ache, and so painful finally in itself that I abandoned its use, only to have the toothache return when the irritation of the bark had left the mucous membranes.
The Houma Indians employed and pulverized roots and bark for toothache, while the Alabama tribe used only the roots for this complaint.Usage of this species is reported among many tribes-the Ojibwas, Menominees, Meskwakis, and Comanches all utilized the plant in various ways.
Several species were employed in domestic American medicine for toothache, in rheumatism, and as an external counterirritant. The southern variety was once known as toothache tree. Both the dried bark and berries have been official in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia.
The genus name, Zanthoxylum, is derived from two Greek words which refer to the yellow color of the roots. The specific name for southern prickly ash, Clave-Herculis, means "club of Hercules," which refers to the large corky excrescences growing on the bark.
Both species are indigenous to the United States and belong to the rue family. The southern variety seldom grows above four to five feet in height and is sometimes only a shrub. The trunk shows gray bark with sharp spines or prickles, a characteristic of this species. Numerous small greenish white flowers appear about June. These are followed by black berries, which contain wrinkled seeds.
The northern variety (Z. americanum), which is covered with sharp, scattered prickles, grows from about four to twenty-five feet in height. The flowers are small and green and are found near the origin of the new shoots. It has alternate, pinnate leaves, each one consisting of four or five leaflets in pairs. Oval capsules appear which are greenish red in color. It can be found in damp woods and other damp, and shady areas from Quebec to Virginia and west to Ontario, South Dakota, through Kanas and Nebraska. The odor of the leaves resembles that of lemon oil. The flowers appear before the foilage, in the early spring.
Many other plants were utilized in Indian medicine to alleviate toothache; those which follow are easy to recognize. The Minok tribe of California chewed the stalks of the gold-back fern, while the Pimas heated the tips of branches of the creosote bush and dipped the sap into the offending cavity. The Alabamas inserted a small piece of goldenrod root into cavities.
Plain tribes were said to have chewed the root-stalk of sweet flag, while the Meskwakis applied root hairs or rootlets of skunk cabbage to affected teeth. Finally, we come to see another application of that much-used plant the common geranium. The Meskwaki Indians, originally of the Wisconsin region, boiled the roots and rinsed their mouths with the solution for toothache, sore gums, and pyorrhea.
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