We are prepping a new crevice garden on the site of a neglected pollinator garden. It was overtaken in part by snowberry bushes, a vital winter food source for birds. The original plan was to compost them because there wasn’t a site selected for transplanting them. I kept bringing up how many calories that is until I was finally given the okay to just pot up as many as I thought would survive.

Now the city has a surplus of really good native plants that can go anywhere we’d otherwise pay to plant something non-native and ornamental. The problem of not having a site selected is being countered by my solution of converting all undervalued urban greenspace to something better.

That’s also only one of two truck-loads. I also got some native rabbitbrush, a long-season flowering shrub that pollinators go monkey for.

    • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      10·
      8 months ago

      I was reading off the list of ethnobotanical uses to my coworker as we were driving back and she was hating me for having to pot all of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphoricarpos

      Due to their low saponin content, snowberry was a common medicinal treatment used by several North American Indigenous tribes. Snowberry contains low concentrations of saponins, which are anti-carcinogenic and anti-inflammatory.[11] Saponins have also been proven to help with immune function and decrease cholesterol.[11] Saponins can be extremely toxic if consumed in excess,[11] but are typically applied externally or consumed in concentrations too low to inflict damage.[12] Its toxic effects can also be reduced through cooking.[13]

      The snowberry plant is known to be disinfectant, laxative, diuretic and has the ability to reduce fever.[12] Native Americans found several uses for the snowberry plant. Snowberry leaves were chewed up and used in a poultice to treat external wounds.[12] Its berries were used for a number of applications including as an eyewash, as an antiperspirant, a diarrhea remedy, and was also rubbed on the skin as a treatment for burns, rashes, warts, sores, cuts and other external wounds.[12] Snowberry stems were boiled and their essence was extracted to be used for stomach problems, menstrual pain, and as a soap. Weaker dilutions were used for children, meanwhile stronger concentrations were used as a disinfectant to clean open sores.[12] Snowberry bark was also boiled, its essence extracted and used to treat sexually transmitted diseases and urinary dysfunction issues. Its roots were commonly used in the treatment of fever, stomach ache, common cold, and even tuberculosis.[12] In California, the Coastal Miwok used pounded snowberry root to treat ailments such as the cold.[14]

      Due to the content of saponins in the berries, some tribes of the Pacific Northwest used the crushed fruits to stun fish in lakes and rivers in order to facilitate the harvesting of fish. The saponins, which are not toxic to humans, interfere with oxygen absorption in the gills.[15]

      Other uses

      In Ireland, children use the berries for play, bursting the berries close to each other’s ears. The berries are known as “billy busters”.

      They’ll kill a fish, make you shit, clean you up, cure every type of wound and illness including horny ones, wash your eyes out, and keep you from being sweaty.