The History of Louisiana, Or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina / Containing a Description of the Countries That Lie on Both Sides of the River Missisippi

by Le Page du Pratz

There is another creeper very like salsaparilla, only that it bears its leaves by threes. It bears a fruit smooth on one side like a filbert, and on the other as rough as the little shells which serve for money on the Guinea coast. I shall not speak of its properties; they are but too well known by the women of Louisiana, especially the girls, who very often have recourse to it.

Another creeper is called by the native physicians the remedy against poisoned arrows. It is large and very beautiful; its leaves are pretty long, and the pods it bears are narrow, about an inch broad, and eight inches long.

The salsaparilla grows naturally in Louisiana, and it is not inferior in its qualities to that of Mexico. It is so well known that it is needless to enlarge upon it.

The esquine partly resembles a creeper and partly a bramble. It is furnished with hard spikes like prickles, and its oblong leaves are like those of the common creeper (liane;) its stalk is straight, long, shining, and hard, and it runs up along the reeds: its root is spungy, and sometimes as large as one's head, but more long than round. Besides the sudorific virtue which the esquine possesses in common with the salsaparilla, it has the property of making the hair grow, and the women among the natives use it successfully with this view. They cut the root into small bits, boil them in water, and wash their heads with the decoction. I have seen several of them whose hair came down below their knees, and one particularly whose hair came lower than the ankle bones.

Hops grow naturally in the gullies in the high lands.

Maiden-hair grows in Louisiana more beautiful, at least as good as that of Canada, which is in so great repute. It grows in gullies upon the sides of hills, in places that are absolutely impenetrable to the most ardent rays of the sun. It seldom rises above a foot, and it bears a thick shaggy head. The native physicians know more of its virtues than we do in France.

The canes or reeds which I have mentioned so often may be divided into two kinds. One kind grows in moist places to the height of eighteen feet, and the thickness of the wrist. The natives makes matts, sieves, small boxes, and other works of it. Those that grow in dry places are neither so high nor so thick, but are so hard, that before the arrival of the French, the natives used splits of those canes to cut their victuals with. After a certain number of years, the large canes bear a great abundance of grain, which is somewhat like oats, but about three times as large. The natives carefully gather these grains and make bread or gruel of them. This flour swells as much as that of wheat. When the reeds have yielded the grain they die, and none appear for a long time after in the same place, especially if fire has been set to the old ones.

The flat-root receives its name from the form of its root, which is thin, flat, pretty often indented, and sometimes even pierced through: it is a line or sometimes two lines in thickness, and its breadth is commonly a foot and a half. From this large root hang several other small straight roots, which draw the nourishment from the earth. This plant, which grows in meadows that are not very rich, sends up from the same root several straight stalks about eighteen inches high, which are as hard as wood, and on the top of the stalks it bears small purplish, flowers, in their figure greatly resembling those of heath; its seed is contained in a deep cup closed at the head, and in a manner crowned. Its leaves are about an inch broad, and about two long, without any indenting, of a dark green, inclining to a brown. It is so strong a sudorific, that the natives never use any other for promoting sweating, although they are perfectly acquainted with sassafras, salsaparilla, the esquine and others.

The rattle-snake-herb has a bulbous root, like that of the tuberose, but twice as large. The leaves of both have the same shape and the same colour, and on the under side have some flame-coloured spots; but those of the rattle-snake plant are twice as large as the others, end in a very firm point, and are armed with very hard prickles on both sides. Its stalk grows to the height of about three feet, and from the head rise five or six sprigs in different directions, each of which bears a purple flower an inch broad, with five leaves in the form of a cup. After these leaves are shed there remains a head about the size of a small nut, but shaped like the head of a poppy. This head is separated into four divisions, each of which contains four black seeds, equally thick throughout, and about the size of a large lentil. When the head is ripe, it will, when shaken, give the same sound as the tail of a rattle-snake, which seems to indicate the property of the plant; for it is the specific remedy against the bite of that dangerous reptile. The person who has been bit ought immediately to take a root, bite off part of it, chew it for some time, and apply it to the wound. In five or six hours it will extract the whole poison, and no bad consequences need be apprehended.