Black Fern and Elk Clover: Karuk Woman Identifies and Describes Traditional Uses of Two Native Plants
One of the beauties of the internet is a chance to learn from people in their own voice.
Ira Hardy, a member of the Alaska Management Team on the McCash Fire in Siskiyou County filmed Kathy McCovey, a Karuk Tribal Member and Cultural Resource Specialist on the #McCashFire, identifying and harvesting black fern and elk clover.
In this less than three minute video, McCovey talks about the role of fire in the ecosystem. As the blurb with the video states, “She describes how black fern is used by the Karuk in their baskets, how elk clover is used as medicine for arthritis, and the role of fire in the local ecosystem.”
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This story is interesting. One could spend a lifetime learning all about the medicinal value of plants in the local flora. Maybe one day the we’ll all “regress” to a less technological culture (culture as opposed to “civilization”), and have to re-discover all of this craft and lore. That’s the kind stuff John Zerzan goes on at length about in his writings. Oh, Theodore Kaczynski does in his writings too, but, well, Ted Kaczynski, heh-heh . . .
they wouldn’t even let Ted get the lawyer of his choice. Tony Serra.
I hope not. Plant medicines are not nearly as effective as today’s pharmacology.
Modern pharmacology is mostly chemically derived compounds that mimic the alkaloids in medicinal plants.
There are more than a few modern drugs derived from plants and bacteria and such. But unless you want to raid entire forests for something, the compounds have to be learned, then lab developed to mass produce. And of course the synthetics have a large share of the pharma market.
https://clinicalgate.com/importance-of-plants-in-modern-pharmacy-and-medicine/
“Inexhaustible array of molecular entities”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3560124/
Major comprehensive review released:
https://news.emory.edu/stories/2020/11/esc_plants_drug_discovery_quave/campus.html
Thank you for the interesting video.