Chippewa Burn Poultices: Giant Hyssop Leaves, the Four-Flower Wabunowuck and Tamarack Inner Bark (Densmore, 1928)

Three burn remedies from her medicine table. She gives no amounts. Recorded use, not medical advice: a deep, large or blistered burn needs a doctor (ours).

Dry the leaves, powder them, moisten with water and apply. It "was said to prevent blister and take out the fire." Second way: chew the fresh leaves and stalk and apply as a poultice.

Dry the flowers of goldenrod, coneflower and giant hyssop together with a "small sunflower" (species not given). When needed, moisten the flowers, apply, and cover with a bandage. When it dries, do not take it off: wet it again with cold water. Densmore was told this combination was "very strong".

Fresh or dried, chop the inner bark fine and lay it on the burn. Apply in the morning, wash off partly at night, and renew.

From Frances Densmore, *Uses of Plants by the Chippewa Indians*, **44th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology** (1928), pp. 352-353 (checked on the archive.org scan usesofplantsbych00dens). Chippewa remedies were mostly knowledge of the Midewiwin, shared with her so a record would survive. A claim in her remarks about hands in boiling water is left out on purpose. Amounts and safety advice are ours. Recorded use, not medical advice.