Native American, Pressed Navajo Medicinal Botanical Specimen Board, #856 Sold Out

Native American

Pressed Navajo Medicinal Botanical Specimens

856. Description: Tribe/Region of Origin: Navajo, Type of Item: Pressed Navajo Medicinal Botanical Specimen Lot with rug sampler, Material/Media/Medium: Plant samples including red onion skin, single flower actinea, Gambel, oak bark, brown onion skin, rubber plant, corn husk, white onion skin, holly berries, wood lichen, Navajo tea, glove mallow, cliff rose, sage brush and red juniper bark.

Dimensions: 17.5" x 21.5" x .75", Weight: Approximately 3 lbs

Condition: Excellent for its age.

Some background on Navajo use of Herbs:

Navajo Indians utilize approximately 450 species for medicinal purposes, the most plant species of any native tribe. Herbs for healing ceremonies are collected by a medicine man accompanied by an apprentice. Patients can also collect these plants for treatment of minor illnesses.

Once all necessary wild plants are collected, an herbal tea is made for the patient, accompanied by a short prayer. In some ceremonies, the herbal mixture causes patient vomiting to ensure bodily cleanliness. Purging can also require the patient to immerse themselves in a yucca root sud bath. Any distribution of medicinal herbs to a patient is accompanied by spiritual chanting.

The Navajo people recognize the need for botanical conservation when gathering desired healing herbs. When a medicinal plant is taken, the neighboring plants of the same species receive a prayer in respect. Despite this fact, the collection of medicinal herbs has been more difficult in recent years as the result of migrating plant spores.

Popular plants included in Navajo herbal medicine include Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.), Wild Buckwheats (Eriogonum spp.), Puccoon (Lithospermum multiflorum), Cedar Bark (Cedrus deodara), Sage (Salvia spp.), Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja spp.), Juniper Ash (Juniperus spp.), and Larkspur (Delphinium spp.).[3]( Source: Wickipedia