In the Weeds Again

As I said last week, the weeds in the Pry Garden have really exploded lately and I have been working hard to cut them back and keep them at bay. I have to thank Karen Dammann, the wife of the Chairman of our Board of Directors, for spending many hours weeding over the past weekend. Much is left to do, but it is really starting to look pretty again, thanks in large part to Karen's work!

I wrote before that many of the plants that we usually consider common weeds were important medicinal plants in the Civil War Era. When most people find them in their garden they pull them out, but I begin to nurture and cultivate them instead.


Dandelions are such a common yard weed and everyone is so familiar with them that I don't waste any space with them in the garden. Nevertheless, they were used as medicine during the Civil War, both on the home front and in Confederate armies. It was principally used as a diuretic (promoting urination) and also as a mild laxative and a tonic to improve digestion. Modern herbal medicine still uses dandelion root and leaves in each of these capacities, especially as a diuretic. Victorians also used dandelion to treat an array of liver, kidney, and bladder conditions, though its efficacy is dubious. The Confederate Medical Department paid citizens by the pound for collected and dried dandelion root.




Another weed that is sometimes used as a medicine is Common or Great Mullein. It has been used as a medicine since ancient times in Europe, from where the plant originates. Mullein's chief use is in treating pulmonary complaints, like chronic cough, asthma, bronchitis, consumption (tuberculosis), and chest congestion. It might be taken as an herbal tea or inhaled as smoke. Mullein is still popular in modern herbal treatments for cough, asthma, etc. The leaves and/or root could be applied topically in a poultice to treat a variety of conditions including ulcers, skin infections, boils and abscesses, and even tumors. I was surprised when a quick search of current research seemed to indicate that there may be some validity to these topical applications, including the treatment of tumors.

 



The main plant I planned to talk about this week is Jimsonweed or Jamestown Weed, Datura stramonium. Jimsonweed is a very common agricultural weed in this area and it would grow all over the garden if I didn't control it. It grows to be quite large and I find it somewhat ugly. When broken or pulled out of the ground it has a strong, unpleasant odor, not unlike that of the noxious Ailanthus tree. It blooms during the summer in large purple-white flowers that open at night. Jimsonweed produces golfball-sized seedpods which pop open in the fall. The seedpods are covered in small, sharp spikes giving Jimsonweed the alternative name of "thorn apple."

Jimsonweed is native to the US but has spread throughout most of the temperate world. I have allowed it to flourish in one bed of the garden because it was heavily used as a medicine throughout history, including in the Civil War.

 



Jimsonweed growing in the Pry Garden



In 1863, Confederate Surgeon Francis Peyre Porcher wrote that Datura is,

... a well-known narcotic and antispasmodic, employed in mania, epilepsy, chorea, tetanus, and palsy... [a doctor] frequently saw maniacs restored to perfect saneness of mind, which they never afterwards lost, by the continued use of the extract of our common stramonium; and by the same means he effectively cured the delirium so often attendant upon childbirth, where every other remedy had proved abortive.
                    - Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests, 1863

One of its chief applications was the treatment of asthma by inhalation of smoke, which temporarily paralyzed spasming pulmonary branches of the lungs. As Porcher noted, it was also employed in many conditions involving temporary insanity, muscle spasms, and involuntary movements; it was the drug of choice in treating epilepsy. Datura was also used in the treatment of acute and chronic internal pain, as might result from rheumatism or venereal diseases. Certain compounds found in Jimsonweed are used today to combat symptoms of Parkinson's Disease and other neurological conditions, including drug and alcohol withdrawal. It was also employed in early ophthalmology, as Procher wrote;

Preparations of stramonium applied to the eye, it is well known, diminish sensibility and dilate the pupil. I have seen the extract employed to a large extent in the New York Eye Infirmary, in which institution it has entirely taken the place of belladonna [nightshade] as an application for dilating the pupil.

Jimsonweed is a very powerful but dangerous psychoactive drug. Native American tribes from the Atlantic to the Pacific utilized the plant, especially the seeds, to create visions which might span days and to communicate with deities or the spirit world. When used improperly, the drug can cause hallucinations, delirium, amnesia, rapid heart rate, hyperthermia, and death.

This goes for just about all of the medical subjects I write about on this blog, but especially in this case,

Do Not Try This!

Chicory and Other Weeds

My blog has been on a bit of an unplanned hiatus for the past month or so, but I am returning to posting this week. We have seen a great increase of visitation here at the Pry House lately, and that has kept us quite busy! I am glad to also say that I survived 10 days in Gettysburg for the 150th anniversary of the battle earlier this month! It was a memorable experience, but one I am glad I will not have to repeat for a while!

Gettysburg's Lutheran Theological Seminary opened Schmucker Hall as a new museum on July 1st, the 150th anniversary of its appropriation as a field hospital. It's exhibits feature several artifacts on long term loan from the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.

If you did not hear it already, while I was at Gettysburg I was a guest on one of my favorite public radio programs, The World, produced by the BBC and PRI. I talked about how Gettysburg was an important moment in the history of emergency medicine and explained how there is a direct link between the battle and the Boston Marathon bombings 150 years later. Check it out here:

Kyle's Interview for The World

The fictitious portrayal of a field hospital in the Gettysburg Cyclorama

Since I was away all that time though, the garden has been filled with weeds! It has been a lot of work just trying to catch up with all of those weeds and get the garden back into some semblance of a presentable appearance. It doesn't help that it has been very hot and humid here lately.

One weed that we are all seeing a lot of right now is Chicory. If you don't know what chicory is, you are undoubtedly already very familiar with it, but just didn't know what it was called. At this time of year we see it growing everywhere from the side of rural farm roads and highways to vacant urban lots. It blooms in distinctive powder blue flowers, sometimes called a Blue Daisy or Blue Dandelion. Many people seem to find it an eyesore, but I have always thought that, at least while in bloom, it's quite pretty.

Common Chicory is actually native to Europe, but has been so common in the United States for two hundred years or more that many people think of it as a native wildflower. Its most iconic use during the Civil War was as a coffee substitute for the Confederacy, which was starved of the genuine article by the Yankee blockade. For such use, the root was harvested, baked, ground and used like coffee grounds. However, while chicory has become the iconic form of Southern ersatz coffee, rye, wheat, corn, and other grains were actually far more popular coffee substitutes within the Confederates. Chicory as a coffee substitute was actually much more common in Europe during the Second World War. People have also used chicory as an animal fodder and as a human food, eating the leafy greens,which are fairly bitter.

What interests me more about chicory is its traditional medicinal use, including during the Civil War. Most substantial, I think, is its quality as an anthelmintic, meaning that it will kill and expel worms and other parasites from the body. Volatile oils in the plant make it a highly effective anti-parasite medicine and for this reason it is still a popular additive to livestock feed.

Chicory was also used to treat a variety of liver and gall bladder ailments, such as jaundice and gall stones; it was believed to stimulate a healthy production of bile. Chicory was also employed as a diuretic (promoting urination) and a laxative. It was included in digestive tonics, under the belief that it stimulates the appetite and helps to cure gastritis and other digestive ailments. It would appear that practitioners of herbal medicine still advocate the use chicory in these capacities today.





I can't say that I have ever experimented with chicory in any of these ways. Nevertheless, I think it changes our understanding and appreciating of those scrubby weeds on the side of the road when we remember how useful and valuable they have been to people not so long ago.

Mustard: Not Just for Your Hot Dog

This week I am going to talk a little bit about a truly versatile plant that grows in the Pry Garden, Mustard. It has an important place in both the garden's medicinal and kitchen aspects as a spice and a green vegetable.

Mustard has been grown by man since ancient times. It figures prominently in a famous parable of the Gospels:

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. - Matthew 13: 31-32

Most people are familiar with yellow or brown mustard as a condiment on their hot dogs and sandwiches, or an ingredient in their cooking.

This comes for grinding the tiny mustard seeds into powder and mixing it with water, salt, and other ingredients to form the many varieties of condiments available in the store. Mustard was as common and popular during the Civil War as it is today.

Less popular today, mustard greens were once a staple vegetable in the United States, especially in the South. They can be eaten raw or cooked up like collard greens, turnip greens, kale, and other leafy vegetables.

I am normally a big fan of cooked greens, but I was sorely disappointed upon trying these mustard greens to find that I could not abide them. To be fair, I have never really liked mustard in my food and these leaves do taste surprisingly strong of raw mustard. I am sure that some other people around the museum might find them a bit tastier.















 In his definitive 1863 text, Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests, Francis Porcher writes, "The demand for the production of this plant as a local irritant, should induce every planter and farmer to grow it. Enormous quantities are required to supply the armies; besides that, it is largely consumed in every household." Porcher continues to explain that mustard is useful in cooking as well as in its capacity to produce mustard oil, which was valuable in industry, agriculture (feeding livestock), and domestic use (cooking and burning for light). Mustard is very closely related to the canola or rapeseed plant, which was used in the 19th century, just as it is today, to produce canola oil for cooking and industrial applications.

Commercially available mustard plasters from 1906

Almost unheard of in the 21st century, mustard was considered a powerful and commonplace medicine in the 1800's. It's most common household application was in mustard plasters. Mustard seed was ground to a powder, mixed with flour and water or egg, and the paste was applied to a cloth. This was then employed as a poultice on the exposed chest or back as a common treatment for colds, bronchitis, or other lingering respiratory problems. It might also be used as a treatment for rheumatism, a general term for chronic pain and problems with joints and connective tissues. The belief was that mustard would help to stimulate what we today the immune system, as well as alleviate pain.

Commercially available mustard plasters from the early 20th century

For a great illustrated explanation of how mustard plasters were (and apparently still are) applied, check out this blog.



In Dr. Joseph Carson's Materia Medica of 1851, mustard is listed as an important medicine, primarily as a rubefacient, which is a substance that causes redness of the skin by dilating blood vessels and increasing circulation when applied topically. Carson's reasoning seems to be that such application would help to reduce pain and inflammation by improving circulation in the nearby skin, but the correlation is not fully explained. Perhaps this is something of a holdover from the heroic era of medicine, which was based on the humors of the body and included such practices as bleeding and cupping. Carson also lists mustard seed as an effective laxative.

During the Civil War, the Confederate Medial Department listed mustard as an important medicinal plant for which it would pay 75 cents per pound of seeds.

New Plants and Planting in the Rain

Last Friday was one of the days that I look forward to all year. Along with April Deitrich and Judy Candela, my coworkers here at the museum, I went to the annual Landis Valley Herb and Garden Faire in Lancaster County, PA. It's a long drive, but the incredible volume and variety of plants for sale at the Landis Valley Museum every Mothers Day Weekend makes it worth the trip.

Though it is so easy to be distracted by all of the beautiful and unusual plants, I was on a mission to acquire new medicinal plants for the Pry Garden. I made a two-page wish list and both April and Judy got their own copy. I was hoping to scratch a few more items off the list than I did, but I came home with a good haul and we all had a great time. It all seemed to be over too quickly!

Here are some pictures from the trip:

heirloom tomatoes and other vegetables

April and Judy!

Plant Sitting! The museum would babysit your plants while you kept shopping!

Even though I did not get as many different plants as I wanted, I still had a lot to plant.

I also had to plant the the seedlings that I have been growing at home since winter.

Tomatoes from seed!

Saturday was our scheduled planting day, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. We had rain throughout most of Friday night and Saturday. That kept most of our volunteers away and made the garden paths very muddy. Luckily a few dedicated volunteers did come out to help and we had a two-hour stretch without and rain, and even a little blue sky!

Standing in the mud!

Refreshments for volunteers

For a brief time, it was a beautiful day!

 Thanks to those who came out and helped! It really made an ambitious day possible!

Despite the thick mud, it's not looking too bad!

Snow and Seedlings

It is formally spring this week, but the weather outside doesn't seem to have heard! We had one of the heaviest snowfalls of the year yesterday, covering the garden a thick, fluffy layer of white. I hope that won't hurt the seeds I planted last week, but if it does I will just replant. I am hoping this is the end of cold!

White it has been snowing outside, seedlings inside are coming along!

 Fenugreek (in the foreground) was the first to germinate and is doing the best. I tried growing fenugreek last year, but it did not work out. I am hoping that this year I will have some better luck. I think that I just have to work a little harder to give them the right conditions of light, soil, and moisture in the garden.

Fenugreek has been under cultivation for thousands of years and no one is really certain of when or where it originated. It probably comes from the Middle East, but is found throughout the ancient world. While its popularity has waned in recent times, fenugreek is a versatile plant, useful as an herb, spice, vegetable, and medicine. It remains popular in Indian and other Asian cuisines. It has been used in ancient times, the 19th century, and even today as a supplement to increase lactation in nursing women.

All five varieties of tomato are coming along. Some are bigger than others, but I think I will have some plants of each type to put in the garden in May. Friends are clamoring for some tasty and unusual tomatoes, so I am hoping that the tomato crop won't meet with disaster like last year! There is nothing like a fresh garden tomato right off the vine!

Valerian is just beginning to poke its head above ground. It's too soon to tell how well it will do, but I am hoping that, like fenugreek, I will have more success with it this year.

Also like fenugreek, Valerian is an ancient medicinal plant. As I have written before, Valerian has been used to promote relaxation and relieve insomnia and anxiety for more than two thousand years. Both Hippocrates and Galen specifically mention Valerian in their writings.

 I'll be out in the garden later this week. It's time to plant more seeds in the garden. Hopefully I will see some lettuce germinating while I am out there!

Seed-Starting Time Again.

I did not post this blog yesterday because I was away in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It was my great privilege to take a private tour of their current exhibit, "The Civil War and American Art," with the museum's senior curator of painting and sculpture, Eleanor Jones Harvey. Because I had been involved with our recent exhibit, "Bringing the Story of War to Our Doorsteps," based around "The Dead of Antietam" photography of Alexander Gardner, I was asked to meet Dr. Harvey and take an intimate look at their wonderful exhibit at the Smithsonian. If you have an opportunity, please do stop in at the Smithsonian American Art Museum to see their Civil War exhibit. It is much more than just a collection of Civil War paintings; rather, it takes a wider view of art during the period and how the war impacted the creation and reception of artwork.

Outside of stuffy museum galleries, it really feels like spring! As temperatures rise and the Sun stays out longer, people's spirits seem brighter and the garden is beginning to wake up. I enjoyed the wonderful weather over the weekend and got out in the garden to finish preparing it for some new tenants. On some of the perennial plants, I cut back the last of the winter die-off and pruned for fresh spring growth.

I also started planting my first indoor seedlings on Saturday. Last year I started some seeds a few weeks earlier, but I am growing some different plants this season, so it wasn't quite as important to start so early.

On this first round, I sowed five varieties of tomatoes, each of which will look a little different than your modern kitchen-variety tomato if and when they come to fruit this summer. One unusual variety, the poma amoris minora lutea or lesser yellow love apple, is a small variety of yellow tomato that has been cultivated since at least the 16th century.

I have also sown six different medicinal plants, none of which I have successfully grown in the garden before. Some of them may be a bit too tricky and temperamental to survive in the Pry Garden, but I am going to give everything a chance and hope for the best.

One plant that I am particularly unsure about is the Blue Flag Iris. This was a popular medicinal plant during the Civil War, and it was listed on numerous drug supply tables by the Confederate States Medical Department. I have never tried to grow an iris from seed before, so I am curious whether it will work out. I worry about growing it in the garden because the Blue Flag Iris likes a very wet environment, which will be difficult to provide.

I have planted each in small biodegradable pots that will make it easier to transplant seedlings into the garden in the spring. I used these last year on just a few plants with great success. Even though they are biodegradable, I don't just plant the whole pot in the ground; I usually tear off the sides and throw those in the compost because they don't really break down that quickly.

My indoor growing set up is similar to last year. I have a small table set up near a window. I don't really get enough light through that window though, so I have added two desk lamps with compact florescent bulbs. I keep my home fairly warm and I use a spray bottle to make sure the little pots stay moist, but not too wet. I am hoping that many of these seeds will germinate into healthy plants that will live well in the Pry Garden.