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Toothache Tree

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  • Toothache Tree

    The park behind our house (Painshill Park in fact) was constructed in the 1700s by an eccentric guy called Charles Hamilton:

    Click image for larger version  Name:	Charles Hamilton.jpg Views:	0 Size:	53.6 KB ID:	459170

    Many of the trees and shrubs planted by Hamilton were obtained from exotic sources abroad and so the park contains many specimen trees you wouldn’t expect to see in England, including this one which we discovered during one of our walks:

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    It’s Zanthoxylum americanum, otherwise known as the Northern prickly-ash or “toothache tree”. Maybe it’s familiar to those of you living in the Central and Eastern parts of the US or Canada but it’s a rarity over here… particularly large, mature specimens like this.

    It was almost certainly sent to him as seed or sapling from Philadelphia (this won’t be first-generation since it’s a colony-forming tree) by the early American botanist and explorer John Bartram, with whom Hamilton had numerous communications about obtaining unusual trees and shrubs:


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    Bartram learned that the natives chewed on the leaves, bark, or twigs of this tree because they released a natural analgesic that numbed the mouth, tongue, teeth and gums. As such it was used to alleviate toothache and prior to pulling out infected teeth. Early settlers adopted it for the same purposes. There are numerous ethnographic records, including:

    Alabama Indians: Pounded inner bark put into cavity and packed around the tooth for toothaches.
    Comanche Tribes: Root bark held against tooth for toothache; roots pulverized and used for toothache.
    Iroquois People: Bark smoked for toothaches or neuralgia; bark smoked, chewed or placed into the tooth for toothaches.
    Meskwaki Indians: Powdered inner bark used for toothache.

    Note the large tooth-shaped thorns… and there are folklore beliefs in several cultures that nature provides clues for medicinal usefulness of plants by appropriate shaping. That doesn’t hold much water since there are even more references for the related Zanthoxylum clava-herculis which, despite a more limited distribution in the SE United States, has documented ethnographic use among even more tribes for everything from tuberculosis to gonorrhea.
    Last edited by painshill; 06-05-2020, 08:38 AM.
    I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.

  • #2
    Interesting, though I must say I've never seen one before.
    "The education of a man is never completed until he dies." Robert E. Lee

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    • #3
      Good post..
      Floridaboy.

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      • #4
        Interesting painshill.....thanks for sharing
        Benny / Western Highland Rim / Tennessee

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        • #5
          Good to know there's more than one tree that can alleviate the pain of a bad tooth.
          Most folks are probably more familiar with the medicinal properties of the Willow..

          "(acetylsalicylic acid). Native Americans chewed or boiled a tea from the willow's leaves or inner bark to relieve fever or other minor pain like toothaches, headaches, or arthritis. The willow is often given the nickname "toothache tree".

          Native American Technology & Art: a topically organized educational web site emphasizing the Eastern Woodlands region, organized into categories of Beadwork, Birds & Feathers, Clay & Pottery, Leather & Clothes, Metalwork, Plants & Trees, Porcupine Quills, Stonework & Tools, Weaving & Cordage, Games & Toys and Food & Recipes. Find simple instructional information about how these materials are used by Natives, and detailed background on the history and development of these kinds of Native technologies, showing both the change and continuity from pre-contact times to the present. NativeTech is dedicated to disconnecting the term 'primitive' from peoples' perceptions of Native American technology and art.


          If the women don\'t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

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          • Cecilia
            Cecilia commented
            Editing a comment
            The very basis of aspirin! (Just look on bottle!)

        • #6
          Great subject Roger I sometimes plant Acmella oleracea sometimes called Spilanthes in my container gardens. This plant in not a NA native but it is referred to as the Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_6517.PNG
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ID:	461054 Toothache plant and I can testify that it works.
          N.C. from the mountains to the sea

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          • #7
            Visited Bartram Gardens property last summer and interestingly there are NA artifacts on display in the historic house found on the property. Therefore my eyes were a little less on the trees and more on the ground as we wandered the wooded paths. If I get back I'll definately look for a tree like that.
            New Jersey

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