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Sky Blue Remedies by Julie Gomez Among the lower Cascade Foothills, small, blue berries begging to be picked, hang in bunches like grapes along the roadside. They are the fruit of the blue elderberry (Sambucus cerulea) a small, native, shrub or tree up to twenty-five feet tall that belongs to the Honeysuckle Family, and whose name means “sky blue.”Blue elderberry has coarse bark and sprawling, gnarled limbs. Leaves are pinnate (five to nine inches long) and grow opposite having seven to nine (sometimes eleven) leaflets with pointed tips and sharp-toothed margins. Flowers bloom April to June. Creamy-white and numerous, they appear in flat-topped clusters up to six inches in diameter, and emit a disagreeable odor. Their nectar attracts hummingbirds, bumblebees, and butterflies. Fruit ripens August to September. It has a waxy bloom that gives it its “sky blue” color; rub away the bloom, and the fruit turns bluish-black. Fruit contains three to five stones each harboring a single seed. As food: Flowers (despite their odor) have a pleasant flavor. Fresh or steamed, they can be deep fried for fritters or dried for tea. Fruit (fresh, dried or cooked) is sweet and juicy, and can be used for making wines, preserves, syrups, and pies. As medicine: Root bark tea has been used for treating headaches, congestion, kidney ailments, lymphatic, and to induce labor. Inner bark is a strong emetic (when mixed with root bark) it makes a strong diuretic and laxative. Inner bark tea (in small doses) has been used for treating heart conditions, epilepsy, rheumatism, and diarrhea—as a wash, it treats eczema, skin ulcers, and dermatitis. Inner bark poultice can be used for cuts, sore and swollen joints, and toothaches. Leaf bud tea is a strong purgative. A leaf poultice can be applied to bruises and cuts to stop bleeding. Flower tea can be taken for headaches, fevers, colic, inflammation, and blood purifier. (When drunk warm, the tea induces sweating; when cold, it becomes a diuretic.) Elderflower vinegar remedies a sore throat. Flowers and leaf tea provide an antiseptic wash. Fruit is emetic, diuretic, and laxative; juice treats rheumatism and syphilis; as syrup, it is laxative; as an ointment, it treats burns. Fruit (dried) the tea remedies cholera and diarrhea. Elderberry wine rids the body of impurities, and relieves sore throats, congestion, coughs, and asthma. Warning! Fresh bark, green fruit, leaves and stems contain harmful cyanide-producing glycosides, which are destroyed when fully cooked. Fresh berries can cause nausea. Look for blue elderberry along roadsides, streams and open slopes. Happy foraging! Julie Gomez's books "Collecting Wild Herbs," "Medicinal Fruits & Berries," and "Deadly Herbs" are available at amazon.com.  |
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