A Sampling of Oklahoma Seminole Medicinal Plants

A Sampling of Oklahoma Seminole Medicinal Plants

Adapted from Oklahoma Seminoles: Medicine, Magic, and Religion

Tawá l-akko, smooth sumac (Rhus glabra). An infusion of the outer skin of the root relieves menstrual backache in women and headache in either sex.

‘mpvkpvki holati tihvs hlakita, spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis). Sap from the stem, when rubbed on the penis, is said to cause the organ to swell to a large size.

Opaga, passionflower, maypop, apricot vine (Passiflora incarnata). A tea made from the stem and leaves is taken to cleanse the system.

Adakhla ho.ma, white sage, western mugwort, cudweed (Artemisia ludoviciana). The leaves are crushed and their aroma inhaled for headache.

Hvtki kafka, Ozark milkweed (Asclepias viridis). The root is boiled and the tea drunk for kidney trouble.

Pasa, button snakeroot (Eryngium yuccifolium). The most important Seminole medicine, used as a men’s drink in the Green Corn festival. In general, regarded as a strong masculine stimulant, used before battle in earlier times.

Ahá lvb´vkca, cat’s-foot, fragrant cudweed, sweet everlasting, rabbit’s tobacco (Gnaphalium obtusifolium). Mixed with cedar and burned as a fumigant against illness and bad medicine.

Tadalaka l-akko, nettle or bull nettle (Cirsium altissimum). An infusion is applied to sore joints or a sore back, or taken internally for upset stomach.

Hoyvnijv, small pussy willow, gray willow (Salix humilis). Known as red root; generally regarded as the second most important medicinal herb after button snakeroot. Pounded roots are soaked in water and the infusion drunk at the Green Corn festival. Like button snakeroot, its ingestion is followed by ritual vomiting, though the plant itself doesn’t induce nausea.

H’l’s hvtki, black nightshade (Solanum nigrum). Called Indian ginseng, it is used as a substitute for Panax quinquefolium, and is somewhat poisonous.

A passing of tradition

Johnson Harjo, also known as George W. Harjo, among other similar names, was born in the Seminole Nation in 1905 or 1906. His father, Joseph Wesley Harjo (also known as Ahiasa), was a medicine man, as were both his grandfathers. Johnson was ordained as a Baptist minister at the age of twenty-three but continued to practice traditional med­­icine throughout his life.

His wife, Cora, was an important partner in his practice. Patients coming for help to their home near Sasa­kwa (twenty-some miles south of Wewoka) would describe their symptoms to her, and she would convey them to her husband. This was partly because her English was more fluent (Harjo treated whites and blacks as well as Seminoles), but also because traditional healers maintain an aloofness where their medicine is concerned. Being a medicine man requires strict purity: no drinking, disciplined behavior.