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December 7, 2025 39 mins
Today, I tell you about the medicinal use of Yellow root, or Xanthorhiza, and the medicinal, culinary and fiber properties of Yucca. These are both very useful plants!

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Tune of the week:

Miss The Mississippi And You on guitar
I show you how to play my version of Jimmie Rodgers' "Miss the Mississippi and You" with a fingerstyle break. This is a challenging country blues that likely originated in vaudeville tune and has some unique chord changes. It is a particularly beautiful song and was unique in his repertoire.
https://youtu.be/E-v2USWAGJY

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Medicinal Weeds and Grasses of the American Southeast, an Herbalist's Guide
https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/05/medicinal-weeds-and-grasses-of-american.html

Available in paperback on Amazon:
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and

Confirmation, an Autobiography of Faith
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Medicinal Ferns and Fern Allies, an Herbalist's Guide https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/11/medicinal-ferns-and-fern-allies.html

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The Omnivore’s Guide to Home Cooking for Preppers, Homesteaders, Permaculture People and Everyone Else: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-omnivores-guide-to-home-cooking-for.html

Available for purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/
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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The name down to the clan, the clan to the.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Hey, y'all, welcome this week's show. I hope everybody had
a wonderful Thanksgiving, and now that we're getting ready for
the Christmas season, it is time for me to remind
you that my books make excellent Christmas gifts. So you
can get print copies from Amazon. Go to Amazon. They
do the fastest shipping I am aware of. Go ahead

(01:50):
and orham now for your friend's family, your loved ones.
For yourself. Remember, if you need a last minute Christmas gift,
they'll get it to you, probably faster than anyone else.
You know, I'm not the biggest Amazon fan, but I
can't argue with the results. And remember, if you really
need a last Christmas gift, you can order an ebook
directly from me PDFs and if you buy one for

(02:14):
a friend or as a gift, I'll send you a
free one for yourself. Just let me know, send me
an email and tell me you're ordering a book, and
go to really the easiest way to do with Southern
Appalachian Erbs dot blogspot dot com. You can click on
e of my books, click buy an ebook, and then
we'll go through PayPal and I'll get a notification, but

(02:35):
just follow up and tell me what book you'd also
like to have if that's something you need to do.
And of course you could do that Christmas morning if
you've forgotten somebody. And you know, I've read about sixteen
books now, actually just finished another one this past week,
so I'm really excited about that. I should be able
to announce it, you know, at least by January. But
right now there's books on herbal medicine, oh, Christian topics, cookbooks,

(03:00):
origing you ought to find something that gardening, I mean,
you'll find something somebody on your list would like in
my books, and of course I appreciate it very much.
Now let's get into this week's show, and we're gonna
probably talk about two plants this week. The first is zanthriza,

(03:20):
also known as yellow root. This is an interesting one.
It is native to my region. It is an American plant.
Native Americans were using it before the settlers ever got here,
and the Cherokee used in a formula use yellow root
in a formula for childbirth, not exactly sure how, but

(03:41):
they also used it to bathe the eyes, using the
bark to cocture, the bark to relieve eyeretus. So you
could also make a poltice by wrapping the bark in
flannel and moistening it until wet. For a sore mouth,
chew the root or use an infusion as a mouthwash.
Yellow root is an ingredient in which is mixing it

(04:05):
to tallow to use as a saw a salve for sores.
So Cherokee made a pretty broad use of it. Root
tea was drunk for cramps. The root was also used
as a dye material the yellow color, and it was
combined with a sorum candidates wild ginger, good yeurie of

(04:26):
pubiss all in a cerrolata and Prunas serotina as a
blood tonic. They said take several swallows before a meal
to build appetite. And the tea was said to be
good for nerves or you know, to soothe the nerves.
Let's see King's Medical Dispensatory of eighteen ninety eight said

(04:47):
the plant can be found on river banks from Pennsylvania
to Florida, being chiefly combined in the mountains SA. And yes,
it's fairly common where I live. They get into the
chemical compositions and all that. I'm not gonna worry about that.
They said yellowroot is a pure bitter tonic, considered by
the late Professor Barton to be superior to columba. To columba,

(05:12):
I think that's why you pronounce that c a l
u mba. It may be used for all purposes in
which other simple tonics are of bitter tonics are of
applicable of xanthuriza. Professor Lloyd, in the Drugs and Medicine
North America, Volume one, very justly remarks that although we

(05:34):
find xanthuriza most favorably introduced by the leaders of medicine
in the early part of the century, and although it
has been official to the Pharmacopeia since its first issue
in eighteen twenty, it was discarded in eighteen eighty, it
has failed to obtain a foothold. It has never been
a favorite with either botanic or eclectic physicians, and is

(05:55):
hardly recognized by them. In this connection, we must revert
to the fact that all although known to the eclectics
and possessing Berberon, that's what gives yellow root. It's yellow
hue Berberan, same Boerberon. You're going to find an organ
great golden seal coptus, etc. And nearly as great a
proportion as hydrastis. It's a golden seal. They persistently refused

(06:18):
in the place of that drug, asserting that its action
was not at all similar. The investigations of Professors Bartholomew
Satler and Shoemaker and others now show that these conclusions
were rational. Is at least one of the very active
principles of hydrastis is entirely absence from xanth theuriza, yeah,

(06:41):
he said, but still says it's a bitter and forms
an excellent tonic, so good for digestion, the liver and
all that. Medicinal plants of Southern apple Achian says that
yellow root was used for the by the Cherokee to
treat jaundice, hepatitis, chronic liver problems, and heel persistent ulcers,
and was also used as a dye for baskets and
so unfolk medicine. Yellow root was considered a gentle tonic

(07:04):
to improve overall health and a remedy for indigestion, ultus,
and heartburn. The root was decocted to make a wash
use treat styes, thought thrush gum disease toothaches, and skin rashes.
Now would be can be the berberin It's going to
help with that. It's very has strong disinfected properties. Plans
for a future said. The root is a stringent and

(07:26):
a blood tonic. A tea made from the roots is
used to treat mouth aults or stomach ultures, colds, jaundice,
et cetera. Infusion of the root has been used to
treat piles its hemrhoids, though the report does not specify
if used internally or externally. Some cautions advise the use
of this plant. The root contains the alcohaloid berberine, which
is used for its tonic properties and for digestive disorders.

(07:49):
Berberine is anti inflammatory, astringent, hemostatic, anti spasmodic, immunostimulate, a
uterine tonic, and anti microbial. It stimulates the secretion of
biole and billy ruben, and may be helpful in correcting
high tyramine levels in people with liver cirrhosis. Peterson Field

(08:09):
Guide to Eastern cinsul Medicinal Plants tells US American Indians
used the root tea for stomach cultures, colds, jaundice, cramps,
sore mouth, or throat menstul disorders as a blood tonic
as stringent externally for piles. So we got that use cancer.
A ful g remedy used in the South for diabetes
and hypertension contains berberans, anti inflammatory, stringent, hemistatic, antimicrobial, anticonvulsant, immunostimulant,

(08:36):
uterotonic also produces a transient drop in blood pressure. Berberin
stimulates the secretion of bio and billy ruben. We are
recovered that yellow root was formerly used as an adult
or substitute for golden seal through the nineteenth century. Physicians
believe its medicinal action was quite different than golden seal.

(08:57):
Warning it is have a potential toxicity and large noses. Now,
the next plant that we're gonna talk about today is
really common. I'm always kind of amazed when people tell me, oh,
yuka doesn't grow here. Yaka grows most everywhere. Yuku grows
from the coast to the mountains. Yuka grows from Florida

(09:17):
up into a least in New York. Yuka grows in deserts.
Yucku grows in the temperate rainforest where I live. There's
probably yuka growing somewhere near you. Believe it or not,
you just probably haven't seen it. Oftentimes it is planted ornamentally,

(09:39):
so many different ones of Spanish bayonet, yucca, al looifolo, aliofola,
something like that, very commonly used or for ornamental plantings.
My grandfather had some, and I can tell you for
a fact you can find that plant real easy if

(09:59):
you're out, you know, cutting the grass and not paying
attention to what you bump into because it has very
very sharp points. Also known as Spanish dagger, Spanish bayonet.
There's a twisted leaf yucca which is very pretty. I've
seen that one before. Mahave Yuca, actually a Joshua tree,
is a member of the yucca family. So yeah, I

(10:22):
think you can find these kind of odd when someone
says they're no yuck is growing in my area, because
I know they probably are. So I'm not saying they
grow absolutely everywhere, but they grow with a lot of places, Okay,
And you do need to differentiate. This is not the
yucca root that you buy in the grocery store. This

(10:43):
is not the yucca root that's used in I guess
mostly Argentinian cooking. That's actually a completely different plant. I
believe it's in the cassava family, and it's absolutely delicious.
I mean fries up like potatoes. I mean, I'd rather
have fries made from yucca root the potato any day.
They're just absolutely delicious. And of course they make flowers

(11:05):
a flower out of them. It's used as a starch,
many many properties of that. If you look at the spelling,
it is slightly different. That's why you see a, whereas
the yucca we're talking about is why you see c A.
Four varieties are native to my region. That's a Spanish
bandet or alliol Folia whatever, filamentosa that's adams seen or

(11:29):
bear grass, and Yucca flacida and gloriosis I think as well.
Weak leaf yuka is what that's usually called Adams needle,
bear grass, weeklyaf. But the Spanish bandet is by far
the most common. Now, the yucca root you buy the
growth store, as I said, completely different plant. The root

(11:51):
of the true yuka, the one we're talking about, has
completely different use. It's not edible. It contain sapnance. If
you take the root of a true yuka, cut off
a chunk of it and grate it finely and then
mix it in water, it will I guess froth would

(12:13):
be the right word. Foam or froth like soap and water.
That's what it's like. And for that reason, it's been
used as a substitute for soap and water. But as
I think we'll mention here in a few minutes, the
Native Americans used it for that purpose for one reason,
but also as a fish poison. The sapinans interfere with

(12:35):
the fish's ability to absorb oxygen through the gills. So
you can use it I think, I guess in a
slow moving river, but it's really more useful in ponds
and such, where you mix up a bunch of it,
dump a bucket of it in the water, and the
fish just float the surface, kind of knocked out, and
you can just scoop them up. Now, that is completely totally,

(12:57):
entirely illegal. I am absolutely not recommending you do that.
It's not considered an ethical way of fishing. You're going
to take a lot of non target species. You're going
to take fish to all sizes. You may, you know,
disturb the population, leaving not enough fish for the next
person that comes along behind you. But if you are

(13:18):
in a survival situation, I'm not going to judge you.
If you do that, it's still illegal. If the game
Orden catches you, you're going to pay a hefty fine. You
may even do a little jail time, depending on where
you are and what the regulations are in your area
and who owns that water and such as that. But

(13:40):
in a you know, specific situation, yucker root, black wallnut,
there's several plants that can be used in that way,
so good thing to know. Other wonderful properties of yucca, well,
the stems in the spring, when they stems for the

(14:01):
flowers just start to come up and they're pink. They're
fairly good wild edible. When they're tender, the flowers are
a creamy white. They're also a decent wild edible to me.
They stems and the flowers both taste a little soapy.
They have a little bit of that like bitter, you know,
can soap type quality the sapinins in them. But you know,

(14:25):
a couple of flowers in a salad, it's okay. The
shoots are actually a little better than the flowers. They
can be cooked as a vegetable like you would asparagus. Basically,
got to get them when they're really small and tender. Now,
I know there are people out there listening to this
howling at the moon right now. Because I said that
it's okay to eat a plant that has some sapinins

(14:46):
in it. I have been taken to tasks many times
over this. First of all, the human body does not
process sapinans very well. They pretty much pass through. This
is them unabsorbed by the liver. That's for the most
part true for most people. So throughout history, human beings

(15:10):
have eaten plants with low levels of sapinans without any contraindication,
without any harm whatsoever. Cattle and such do not have
the ability to eat sappinans without experience toxicity. Recently, I
was talking about a Japanese honeysuckle. Someone was very upset

(15:31):
that I recommend the medicial use of Japanese honeysuckle and
even culinary use of the flowers. That plant contains sapinance
caappinons will kill you. This is dangerous. You're a horrible person.
And they gave me their their state website information, and
their state absolutely did say that honeysuckle's toxic. Having eaten

(15:52):
it all my life and knowing people that even make
syrup and moonshine out of the flowers that uses a
flavoring in liquor. I know for a fact that normal
consumption of small amounts has never proven in any way
toxic to me or anybody I know. But cattle and

(16:12):
sheep and such, if they eat it, it will poison them.
People are not cattle. Hopefully hopefully we're I mean, I
always say the public education system is designed for two purposes.
Teaching you to be slopped like hogs and herded like cattle.
It teaches you to live by a schedule. That and

(16:35):
to follow orders so you could be a good factory worker.
The public education system was designed by the robber barons
of the day, I mean Fords and Carnegie, and I'm
not specifically pointing them out, there's several of them. They
actually purposely said, we do not want a public education
system that teaches people to be entrepreneurs or free thinkers

(16:58):
or creative. We don't want that. That is the absolute
opposite goal of the public education system. The public education
system is designed to make you learn to follow a clock,
to follow orders, to do exactly as you're told, and
to eat low quality on healthy food and be grateful
for it, and you're supposed to be feel like you're

(17:19):
privileged to take part in that. You think about everything
you experienced in school, I mean, what was the point
of most of your pe classes. Someone ordering you around
and humiliating you if you couldn't climb a roape or
something right, or dodgeballs, hitting you in a face. Yeah,
sometimes it was fun. Sometimes it's fun to do, you know,

(17:41):
menial labor. Actually, I've worked some pretty lousy jobs. I've
worked a lot of blue collar and lower jobs, manual labor.
And you get in there with a bunch of guys,
you start making jokes, and you all pull together and work,
and you actually have a pretty good time. You should
never looked down on factory work or farm work. Digging ditches,

(18:09):
I mean, hauling trash. I mean trying to think of
the things I've done, putting in fences, you know, landscaping work.
You know I had to work growing up. First job was,
let me see the official job. I've been working on
my entire life, basically, you know, growing up in a
farm and everything. But fifteen or sixteen fifteen, maybe flipping burgers.

(18:32):
Horrible job, absolutely horrible job. But I enjoyed it at times.
At times I hated it. You know, I didn't last
there more than about a year. But it was very
very hard work. Anyone who's worked food service would know this.
But I like to cook, so when they would put
me on the grill, I was happy, you know, I
was happy cooking burgers and fish and chicken and everything.

(18:56):
Where I had an issue was what I was on
the the line, the sandwich making part of the line.
And this was a very very popular, sort of a
predecessor to five Guys or cookout or one of the nicer,
you know, burger joids. It was very popular, and we
would serve twelve hundred and fourteen hundred people in the

(19:20):
noon hour. And I'm not kidding. We had the drive
through going, and we had dine in service, and it
was from you know, ten thirty eleven o'clock to about
two thirty in the afternoon. It was brutal. I mean,
you were just working so fast and so hard with
a team of about six other people that you didn't

(19:41):
even know what you were doing. And as soon as
that would stop, I'd get like a ten minute break,
and then they had to go clean the bathrooms or
scrub down, you know, some part of the kitchen. It
was a lot of work. It was a lot of work,
and just about everybody that worked there burned out very quickly.
It was like, you know, I've worked in restaurants and

(20:02):
catering and different things, very different. This was really and
and the boss was like a drill sergeant. I mean,
you did not stop for a second. You were lucky
if you've got to go to the bathroom once in
about five hours, you know, and then you know, you
had a lunch break. But they actually just gave you
like a ten percent discount. You had to pay for
your own food, and the pay was horrible. And I

(20:24):
mean I remember, like the first week I worked there,
a big tub of mayonnaise fell on me and it
was all in my boots and I couldn't eat mayonnaise
for a couple of years after that because I didn't
even have time to clean up. I mean literally, it
was just keep your you know, get the stuff off
your shoes so you don't slip down and fall, mop
up the floor, wash up, get straight back to work.
And I worked all day just covered in mayonnaise, and

(20:46):
it smelled and it was nasty and yeah, I mean
it was just it was awful. But as I said,
sometimes we had a lot of fun. We'd be just
working so hard, just like crazy. I mean, you've ever
worked a job like that. Your body is moving faster
than your mind can keep up. And someone starts cracking
jokes and everybody's laughing, and it's like, you know, what

(21:10):
are the they say in the military when when you're
going through hell, keep going, you know, you embrace the
suck as they call it. Yeah, I mean there is
something to be said for even the most grueling and
I've done, you know, work on the farm and such
that would probably kill a person, you know, And I'm

(21:30):
even sure I could do it now in my forties
what I used to do in my twenties. I mean,
I remember I was talking with the neighbor the other day.
His first job was putting on roofs, and like, you know,
sixteen years old, went to work for a roofing company,
and you know, first day they're tearing off shingles and
he's got blisters all over his hands from doing that.
The next day it's bringing up, you know, palettes full

(21:53):
of shingles and slamming them down on the roof, and
I mean it's it's hard work. I've done that too, Gosh.
I remember I worked for as a kid carrying sheet rock.
If you've never done that, sheet rock is incredibly heavy
and you get up, you know, so many panels off

(22:14):
the truck. You another guy turn it sideways, carry it in.
No one tells you beforehand you're gonna need gloves because
the sheet rock will literally just tear the skin off
your hands, it's so heavy. And so you know, rough
on the edges, to working with insulation and be covering
with fiberglass. Anyway, in all of those jobs, I can

(22:37):
remember some goofball in me, just you know, laughing our
heads off to get through it. And there's really something
to be said for that. But you know, you think
about when you're in school, what do they tell you
to be quiet, don't laugh, don't talk to each other,
follow orders, be in this classroom at this time, Be
in this classroom at this time. You have this many

(22:58):
minutes to eat lunch, and it's gonna be garb bitch
that they feed you. You have I guess a few
minutes for a recess. That's sort of like you know,
you'll lunch break when you're working a clocking in, clocking
out job. I mean, if if you think about it,
if you've ever worked one of those jobs where you
had to clock in when you got there, clock out
at lunch, clock back in, clock out at the end

(23:20):
of the day, the whole that kind of thing. That's
what you're trained for in school. You're not trained to
be creative. Now, if you're identified as you know, gifted
or whatever, you may be. If you are inclined toward art,
you may be. But most people are not trained to
be creative. They're not trained to really solve problems. They're

(23:44):
trained to regurgitate information, memorize information, repeat it back perfectly.
And then there's really a lot of bullying, not just
other students, but by teachers. There's a lot of you're
learning to work for a bad boss when you grow up.

(24:07):
So you know, the public school system was actually designed
to make unquestioning workers who would be good factory workers
and do exactly what they were told, or soldiers that
was the other option. So anyway, I mean, that's a
controversial subject, but I can I mean, I can show

(24:27):
you the quotes. If you get my herbal medicine for
home stars, what is it preppers and permaculture people, prepper
semesters and permaculture people, something like that. I have a
whole chapter on why people don't think for themselves because
they were trained not to think for themselves. So anyway,

(24:49):
if you're one of those people that you cannot think
for yourself and you have to go by exactly what
the government tells you, don't eat wild plants that have
sapped it in them. I don't eat even if it's
very mild levels like the yuccaflower. Don't eat wild plants
that may be slightly toxic, like poke salad or something

(25:10):
like that. Do exactly as you're told, and you know,
enjoy your life until you know you develop diabetes, kidney disease,
and heart disease following the dietary recommendations of the medical
establishment and are on twenty seven different pharmaceuticals for diseases

(25:31):
that your grandparents and great grandparents never even heard of,
and suffering from the side effects of all those contraindications,
and watch television and get fat and be very happy
until you you know, dropped in your fifties. You know,
if that's what you want to do, go for it.
I like to think for myself. I like, when I

(25:52):
was in school, what did I get in trouble for? Well,
usually it was because I had a book or I'd
either be steering out a window or reading a book
absolutely ignoring the teacher. I passed my classes. Most time.
I really didn't need to be there, and that's a
big part of who I am and who I am

(26:13):
who I am today. I was considered to be a
very bad kid because I did not pay attention, did
not want to be there, read looked out in the window,
or got into trouble whenever I could. Frankly, I think
the kids that get into trouble are a lot better
off in life than the kids that don't get into trouble.

(26:36):
I was thinking the other day people were talking about,
you know, lessons they learned in school, and you know
where I learned the best lessons in school, cutting class
out in the woods with a bunch of troublemakers just
up to no good. Those were actually the lessons that
I actually learned from for better or for worse. But anyway,

(26:58):
so yuka does true Yuka Spanish bandet or bear grass
or any of these does have some edible properties, but
it is not the yucca root that you'll buy in
the grocery store, getting an Argentinian restaurant with some chimmychury
and some wonderful roasted meat. Man, they know how to
do meat. I could move to Argentina. I could be

(27:21):
very happy in Argentina. Good meat, good wine, beautiful women, chimmychury, sauce,
a yucca root. I would be very tempted to consider Argentina. Actually,
But anyway, they just got to get more stable politically.
I mean, they're doing better now than they have been,
but it's kind of been a really not good between
Argentina and Chili over the past few decades. It's just like,

(27:45):
you know, they go back and forth between communism and
military dictatorship, and it's just like back and forth, back
and forth. You know. Now at least they've got a chance.
We'll see how it goes. Beautiful country. I knew some
people from there, so I know a little bit more
about the history of the culture than you know I
would otherwise. But anyway, I would be remiss if I

(28:07):
did not mention the other wonderful use of yucca, the
long leaves. I get frondze whatever they are. But then
it has a spiky tip on the end. They are
very fibrous. They make fantastic cordage. You could actually weave
them into cloth, and many cultures have done that. They've

(28:28):
made their clothes from yucca fiber. What you do is
you want to harvest some mature leaves. If you cut
the young, tender ones that are just coming up, they're
whitish in color, you can kill the plant, so try
not to do that if you can. In an emergency situation,
I wouldn't hold against you, but cut the leaves and
at that point you can either let them ret, which

(28:51):
means rot essentially, dig a hole, stick them in the ground,
cover them up, come back them up, playter that kind
of thing. Or what I do is take them and
boil them. Boil them about thirty forty five minutes, let
them cool, take the back of a knife or a
spoon and scrape off all the plant material and you're

(29:11):
left with fibers. These fibers can be twisted very easily
into cordage, and it is from of the strongest cordage
I know of. I mean, you can make rope out
of this stuff, you can make fishing line out of it.
It's just fantastic. I use it a lot in basketry.
I use it in a lot of things. When I
hang a knife around my neck, you know, like go

(29:31):
into the woods. I want a knife ready if I
need to cut some plant material, if I'm harvesting, or
if I'm gutting a fish or whatever, I put a
knife around my neck and there's a yucca cord that
I use there my herb basket. There's a video I
did on YouTube where I show you how I made
my herb basket out of pine needles. Well, I made
the strap out of yuccu. Because at about a quarter

(29:53):
inch thick, I'm put together several cords, twist them up
ended up with like a rope about a quarter inch thick.
That thing would probably hold five hundred pounds or more.
I mean. It's just really super easy to work with,
really super easy to use, and very very strong, And
if you work with it enough, you can get it

(30:13):
very actually fairly soft. You don't mind against your skin.
It can be pretty rough if you don't haven't worked it,
you know. But the other thing is the fronds leaves themselves.
Cut them at the base, let them dry a little bit,
let them dry out actually, and you can wave wonderful
baskets out of it real easy. It's called platted basketry.

(30:35):
You can do this with bark or palm fronds, but
yucca is just fantastic. Be sure to take the points off.
You don't want to stick yourself. But anyway, you can
make great baskets out of it. There's just just a
very useful plant. But medicinally, the Lumbies would tell their
patients to rub the root of bear grass that's yucca,
filam and tosa, very common in North Carolina, onto their

(30:58):
bodies to treat skinning irritation. Two pieces or more we
use for this medicine. The beaten root was used with
or without tallow for a solve salve sa l ve.
I have trouble pronouncing that word salve to treat sores.
Tea was suggested to treat diabetes. The Catawba, which is
another North Carolina tribe, would rub this planet of their

(31:20):
skin and body to treat general skin diseases. It's very interesting.
I have not really used yucca in that way. If
I get some kind of rash or something, you know,
I'll give it a try. I'll let you know what
I would imagine it's is sappening content. It's gonna almost
work like almost like talamine lotion, kind of dry things

(31:41):
in I would imagine, like I said, I have not
tried it. Plants for a future says. Medicinal use is
Spanish bayonet. The fruit is purgative. The boiled and mashroot
mixed with oil has been used as a salve in
the treatment of various complaints. Purgative means it's going to
give you diarrhea essentially, and if you're constipated, they're probably
easier things you can use. And I will use with

(32:04):
spoon leaf yuca poultice made from the root used in
treatment of source skin diseases and sprain, so it must
have an e stringency to it as well. But I
will use the Spanish dagg or. The fruit is purgative
and the root is detergent. Like I said, it can
be used as a soap substitute. Resources in southern fields
and forests, tells us specifically of bear grass or yucca

(32:25):
or atom's needle, sometimes called yucca film and tosa, a
tincture of the root is much employed in rheumatism, and
I'm told by correspondence in Statesburg, South Carolina. Then in
large doses it produces giddiness. That means dizziness. Now that
could actually be the sappening content, because you've got a
tincture form and that is going to be more readibly

(32:46):
absorbed by the liver. The statement should excite further attention
to the plant. The Cherokee doctors used in the form
of a poultice of the roots or a salve as
a local application in a laying inflammation. Peterson Field Guide
to Eastern Central Medicinal Plants says of Yucca philamentosa. American
Indians used the root in salves or poultices for scores,

(33:09):
skin diseases, and sprains. Pounded roots were put in water
to stupefy krued fish so they would float to the
surface for easy harvests. Could be used as a starting
material for steroids. Very interesting point, sapinans. Let's go back
to the controversial sapenance again. Sapinans can be used for

(33:30):
making synthetic steroids. They're actually very important. Gosh, if you
went back to pre nineteen hundred, really before nineteen twenties
or so, basically all of your insulin was taken from cows,

(33:51):
cowls or pigs, and it was natural animal based insulin
that you were injecting very unstable, went bad, very easy.
You could, you would build up a resistance to cow insulin,
you'd have to go to pig insulin. Things are not
good if you were diabetic. Interestingly, though, at that point
in time, only type one diabetes existed. That's true. Until

(34:15):
I think it was the nineteen twenties, no one in
America was diagnosed with type two diabetes until Diamond Jim
I can't remember his last name, Mobster restaurant owner weighed
over four hundred pounds eight constantly huge sweet tooth ate
himself into diabetes and that's when type two diabetes was

(34:38):
diagnosed in America. Now kids have diabetes, kids are developing
type two diabetes because all the sugar and everything in
our diets and processed foods that were taught to eat
in school, that were fed at snack time, that were
fed at lunchtime, that really would not be a big
part of our diet were it not for public education. Well,

(35:00):
the discovery of plant based sapinans and then synthetic sapinans
led to the development of synthetic insulin and now allows
people to live a longer life, live longer and healthier
life without anywhere near as much trouble as they used
to have. Sappanins from the wild yam are used in

(35:24):
the production of birth control pills. These sapinans form a
base for synthetic hormones. So once again, sapinins are not horrible.
Sapinins are not going to kill you. Sapinins are actually
maybe in your medication. But anyway, let's see. UH says

(35:47):
that root compounds are toxic to lower life forms. Yes,
it's right, The same toxins, the same sapinans in the
root will kill cattle, sheep, rabbits, you know, but humans
don't process them very easily. They pretty much passed through
Yucca Glauca. American Indians poltice the roots for inflammation and

(36:09):
used to stop bleeding, used in steam bass for sprains
or broken limbs, and as a hair wash for dandriff
and baldness. Once again, the sappenings used topically are a
pretty common treatment for like X men psoriasis, so dandriff.
Experiments with mice water extracts have shown anti tumor activity

(36:31):
against B sixteen melanoma. One human clinical study suggested that
sappen and extracts of roots were effective in the treatment
of arthritis. Whoever, the fightings have been disputed, and again warning,
root compound toxic to lower life forms, especially fish and
reptiles and herbivores and such as that. See y'all, I

(36:55):
think we'll wrap that one up here. As you may
have noticed, I am the fan of the yucca plant.
When I was a kid, I hated them because my
grandfather's put him like in every corner of the property.
He really liked him. And I'd be out there cutting
the grass and I'd bump into a yuka and it
would just stick me about a dozen times in my leg,
and they cut deep. I mean, they're they're they're like

(37:18):
little daggers. I mean, they're really quite unpleasant. But boy,
if I learned to really appreciate that plant when I
started getting into natural fibers and basketry and such as that,
yucca kudzu, things you never really think about using are
really good. And I would say it's a marginal edible.

(37:40):
We'll go with that marginable marginal edible. But the the other,
the cassava version, the yucca of Argentina and chili and
all that. Man, that stuff's good. I could eat that.
I could eat that every day. I mean, he's really good.
So anyway, y'all have a great week. Remember my books
make great Christmas presents, and I will talk to you

(38:03):
next time.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
The information this podcast is not intended to diagnose or
treat any disease or condition. Nothing I say or write
has been evaluated or approved by the FDA.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
I'm not a doctor.

Speaker 3 (38:16):
The US government does not recognize the practice of verbal medicine,
and there is no governing body regulating herblens. Therefore, I'm
really just a guy who stays herbs. I'm not offering
any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write
or say is accurate or true. I can tell you
what Earth has been traditionally used for I can tell
you my own experience, and if I believe in herb
has helped me, I cannot, nor would I tell you

(38:37):
to do the same. If you use an herb, anyone
recommends you are treating yourself, you take full responsibility for
your health. Humans are individuals, and no two are identical.
What works for me may not work for you. You
may have an allergy of sensitivity and underlying condition that
no one else even shares and you don't even know about.

Speaker 2 (38:57):
Be careful with your health. By continuing to listen

Speaker 3 (39:00):
To my podcast or read my blog, you agree to
be responsible for yourself, to your own research, make your
own choices, and not to blame me for anything ever
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