Befriending The Boreal: Introducing our cherished elder, known to some as Mashkiigwaatig or 'The Medicine Woman', known others as, the Larch
This post invites you to get to know another prominent member of the Boreal Family, our sister Tamarack
Tamarack (or Larch) is known as “The Medicine Woman” tree to some, she is the protector and purifier of our sacred waters, the medicine provider, the golden glowing one and the soft and delicate one.
The way her soft needles reach out in all directions absorbing the sunlight and then turning her needles the bright color of the golden sun in the autumn, the way she grows along the lake shores, in the peat pogs and beside the babbling brook and the alpine flower fields reminds me of our connection to the celestial beings above (known as “stars”) and our connection the water that breaths life into these bodies we inhabit.
This ancient medicine woman protects the mountain sides, the lake shores, the peat bogs and the arctic tundra. She is resilient and provides many gifts to those who take the time to pay attention and respectfully receive the gifts she shares.
First up, is an excerpt from Arboretum Borealis: A Lifeline of the Planet
The following is an excerpt from Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask : Anishinaabe Botanical Teachings
Next an excerpt from The Healing Trees : The edible and herbal qualities of Northeastern Woodland Trees
by Robbie Anderman
Next up an excerpt from A Cree Healer and His Medicine Bundle : Revelations of Indigenous Wisdom--Healing Plants, Practices, and Stories
By David Young, Robert Rogers and Russell Willier
Next an excerpt from THE BOREAL HERBAL : Wild Food and Medicine Plants of the North by Beverley Gray
Additional information on Larch (aka “Tamarack”) :
Latin name: Larix laricina, and known as “Mashkiigwaatig”” to the first nation Ojibwe people of the great lakes area), tamarack is common in low, damp areas, treed bogs (especially fens) and shore banks.
It is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and also south into the upper northeastern United States from Minnesota to Cranesville Swamp, West Virginia; there is also an isolated population in central Alaska. The word “akemantak” is an Algonquian name for the species and means "wood used for snowshoes".
Tamarack trees grow to be about 20 metres tall. Its bark starts out smooth and gray when the tree is young, and turns reddish brown and scaly as the tree grows. Its needles grow in tufts of 10 to 20 (sometimes many more) and are 2 to 3 centimetres long. Most conifer trees keep their needles year round but tamaracks are deciduous conifers — their needles fall off in the autumn and new ones grow in the spring. They are soft and flexible bluish green except in the fall when they turn yellow before falling off. The tamarack’s seeds grow inside light brown cones which are 1 to 2 centimetres long. Trees don't produce seeds until they are 10 years old.
Tamarack habitats are used by a variety of wildlife species. It provides cover from summer heat for bear, deer and moose, but is browsed by relatively few species. Snowshoe hares feed on twigs and bark, and porcupines feed on the inner bark. Spruce grouse and sharp-tailed grouse eat the needles and buds. Ospreys nest in the dead trees. Red squirrels cut and store the cones. Mice and voles eat large numbers of the seeds off the ground.
Edible parts of Tamarack: Tender young shoots can be cooked as a vegetable. And like most trees, the inner bark can be dried and ground for flour. And like most conifers, you can use the fresh needles for a tea. And like most conifers, it may be an acquired taste! A tea is made from the roots. Tamarack gum tastes like candy. The sap contains a natural sugar with a flavor like bitter honey, called galactan.
The dried, powdered gum can be used as baking powder.
Other uses of the tree: Resin is extracted by tapping the trunk. It is obtained from near the centre of the trunk, one properly made borehole can be used for 20 - 30 years. The resin has a wide range of uses including wood preservatives, medicinal etc. The hole is made in the spring and the resin extracted in the autumn. The roots have been used as a sewing material in canoes and to make durable bags. The bark contains tannin. Wood - very strong, heavy, hard, durable even in water. It weighs 39lb per cubic foot and is used for telegraph poles, fence posts etc. The roots are often curved and are used by builders of small ships.
The wood is tough and durable, but also flexible in thin strips, and was used by the Algonquian people for making snowshoes and other products where toughness was required. The natural crooks located in the stumps and roots are also preferred for creating knees in wooden boats.
Medicinal use of Tamarack: Tamarack was employed medicinally by a number of native North American indigenous tribes who used it to treat a variety of complaints. It is little used in modern herbalism. A tea made from the bark is said to be an alterative, diuretic, laxative and tonic. It is used in the treatment of jaundice, anaemia, rheumatism, colds and skin ailments. It is gargled in the treatment of sore throats and applied as a poultice to sores, swellings and burns. A tea made from the leaves is astringent. It is used in the treatment of piles, diarrhoea etc. An infusion of the buds and bark is used as an expectorant. The needles and inner bark are disinfectant and laxative. A tea is used in the treatment of coughs. A poultice made from the warm, boiled inner bark is applied to wounds to draw out infections, to burns, frostbite and deep cuts. The resin is chewed as a cure for indigestion. It has also been used in the treatment of kidney and lung disorders, and as a dressing for ulcers and burns.
Propagation of Tamarack: Seed - sow late winter in pots in a cold frame. One months cold stratification helps germination. It is best to give the seedlings light shade for the first year. As soon as they are large enough to handle, prick out the seedlings into individual pots. Although only a few centimeters tall, they can be planted out into their permanent positions in the summer providing you give them an effective weed-excluding mulch and preferably some winter protection for their first year. Otherwise grow them on in the cold frame for their first winter and plant them out in early summer of the following year. The seed remains viable for 3 years If you are growing larger quantities of plants, you can sow the seed in an outdoor seedbed in late winter. Grow on the seedlings in the seedbed for a couple of years until they are ready to go into their permanent positions then plant them out during the winter.
I hope you enjoyed getting to know our sister Larch and that you will share this post so that others can get to know another one of our Boreal Kin that offers so many blessings in our lives when we interact with her respectfully.
Let us join our hearts and minds as one now to give thanks to our generous, adaptive and beautiful sister Larch for all the many gifts she shares with our Human Family.
While she is resilient and adaptable in the waterlogged peat bogs, around the alpine lakes surrounded in steep mountain slopes and arctic terrain of the harsh climates of the North she is fragile in the face of human greed. She cleanses and protects one of the most precious substances in existence, the living waters of the Earth. Let us now honor her by refusing to support industries that destroy her habitat and help others to see the many gifts she shares with us.
May we draw inspiration from her resilience as well as very vulnerability as we dig deep to wear our hearts on our sleeves and make choices that embody love for our Mother and respect for our fellow beings. So it is and so it shall be.
This is a wonderfully descriptive dive into this beautiful tree! Funnily enough, my mom and I were just discussing larch today, as she was telling me she was taking larch capsules as an immune enhancing supplement. Thank you for the great read!
Thank you for bringing this delightful book to my attention. The authoress has a clear love for the subject and a poetic flare that I find delicious. Also, I do love a good forage. Miigwech.