Project 57 Week 47: Devil's club

The plant Devil’s Club (Oplopananx Horridium) “is widely used by many Indigenous peoples as it has been used for centuries to treat a wide range of ailments” as an “anti-viral” ... “anti-inflammatory” and “a pain killing medicine” and much more (Kw’umut Lelum). Devil’s Club "has medicinal, practical, ceremonial and spiritual uses in Coastal First Nation groups” which “vary among cultural groups, though most traditional medicines utilize the roots, and green inner bark of the branch or stalk” (Kw’umut Lelum). Spiritually, according to Kw’umut Lelum, Devil’s club “is used to purify and bring good luck”, the plant “ward[s] off negative energy” and can be hung in the home, "hollowed out and cut into beads” that later are worn, or burned into charcoal which then “is used to make protective face paints for dancers within ceremony” (Kw’umut Lelum). 

Moreover, SFU Indigenous Studies student Austyn Johnson explains in their winning essay, “Medicinal, Cultural, and Spiritual Relationships between British Columbia First Nations and Oplopanax horridus” that medicinal uses varied by community. For the Tlingit peoples, uses ranged from “salves” to “cancer treatment”, for the Haida, Devil’s club uses ranged from “a topical” for “wounds” and to “ease pain” to a hair strengthening treatment which utilized the berries (Johnson, 2019, p.2-4). As detailed by Johnson, Devil’s club’s medicinal uses are many, and there were even uses beyond that, such as for “beading” as beads were made from the stalks or “as a good-luck charm for gambling” (Johnson, 2019, p.2-4).  

For more information on traditional medicines, please consider the following resources:  

• Indigenous North American healing. (2021). R. McCormick. In The Routledge International Handbook of Race, Culture and Mental Health (pp. 485–495).
• The science of the sacred: bridging global indigenous medicine systems and modern scientific principles. (2019).  N. Redvers.  
• Medicines to help us : traditional Métis plant use : study prints & resource guide (2007). C. Belcourt, R. Flamand, O. Whitford, L. Burnouf, and R. Richardson.
• Luschiim's plants : traditional Indigenous foods, materials and medicines. (2021). L.A. Charlie.  
• Massey, A., & Kirk, R. (2015). Bridging Indigenous and Western Sciences: Research Methodologies for Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine Systems. (2015). A. Massey and R. Kirk. SAGE Open, 5(3).