Dogwood
Cornus florida
Direction
East
The flowering dogwood's bloom in the early spring triggered the time for "spring ceremony and early planting season." It is one of the most beautiful and distinctive small trees found in the mountains of North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Kentucky. The white bracts that look like petals in the summer also carry bright red foliage in the autumn. I always look forward to the flowers in April and May and the fruits in September, and the turning color of the leaves in October.
The hard wood of the dogwood was used for ceremonial purposes, as was hickory. The fresh or dried bark of dogwood is used as a tonic, a stimulant, and an astringent due to its tannins. A bark tea was used for attending to female pain and backaches. Formulas often included dogwood for general pain relief. The flowering dogwood is a member of the Dogwood family and the official North Carolina state flower.
Direction
South
Flowering dogwood bark was used with the bark of the birch tree, or wintergreen, for treating muscle aches and pains. A member of the Dogwood family, it was used for cleansing wounds and sores in earlier years. Dogwood was used in the old formulas as an astringent, a poultice, and as "a reed tube on a person with rheumatism pain." An elder said, "A bark tea and poultice was used for sore hands from using the shuttles and looms, which were also made of dogwood." A bath of dogwood and hophornbeam was also used for sore muscles and aches.
Direction
West
The flowering dogwood, of ka nah si ta, with its unique cream white flowers with notched petals, is a very distinctive tree. It was used by the Cherokee as an appetite stimulant, particularly for the elderly. The inner bark was used for reducing fevers. Uncle Grady remembered dogwood being used for making weaving shuttles and mallet heads by settlers in the mountians. A red dye was used from the roots.
Direction
North
The root and inner bark of ka nah si di, or flowering dogwood, are used to treat pain and aching muscles and headaches related to colds. It is also used in a formula as a wash for mouth sores, along with wild cherry and spicewood. Dogwood is a member of the Dogwood family. Its beautiful white flowers "are a sign of early spring with early planting of corn in the mountains."
The Cherokee Herbal
Native Plant Medicine from the Four Directions
J. T. Garrett
ISBN 187918196-7
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