Fine Art By Isabella Rosalie
Arrowleaf Balsamroot
Color Pencil
10" x 14" Image Size
16" x 20" Matted & Framed
$420.00
Traditionally Native Americans utilized all parts of Arrowleaf balsamroot. Young leaves and shoots were peeled and eaten raw, boiled or steamed. The peeled roots, although very bitter in its raw state, becomes edible when cooked for several days. The small, sunflower-like seeds were dried or roasted and either eaten in their current state or pounded into a powder & mixed with other ingredients to make cakes, pemmican, and other foods.
Medicinally a poultice of leaves are soothing & healing to burns, where as boiling of the roots and the water in which it was steeped make an excellent salve for wounds, cuts and bruises. I have also heard that a tincture can be made from the root and used for stomach ailments, although I have not done so myself.
To utilize the expectorant properties of the botanical tea can be made from the roots and sipped several times a day as a treatment for tuberculosis and whooping cough.
Personally, I make infused oil with the roots and my family & I use it throughout the year for burns, & minor scrapes and cuts. Also, I always keep a jar of dried leaves for poultices in case we are in need of a solution that does not contain oil, like in the case of severe burns, rashes, & teas. (The tea by the way is an excellent immune enhancer.)
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