Chapters 6.26
6.26 - Cascara beverage
Breanne Smith , University of Guelph, Canada
Suggested citation for this chapter.
Smith,B. (2022) Greens, Fleshy Stems and Gourds. In The Student Encyclopedia of Canadian Indigenous Foods. Editor, M.N. Raizada, University of Guelph, Canada. http://www.firstnationsfoods.org/
Introduction
New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus Americans) is a shrub from the Buckthorn Family (Rhamnaceae) of native plants used to make a beverage known as the cascara beverage. Indigenous peoples used the health benefits that the cascara beverage provides for many years. The purpose of this paper is to inform others about the Cascara beverage and all its qualities.
Plant Background
Ceanothus Americanus is a plant used by Indigenous tribes known as the Chippewa and Cherokee tribes as well as a few other. These tribes used this plant as both a tea and herbal medicine from all parts of the plant including the leaves and roots (Hurteau & Anderson, 2002). This plant stem bark was also used as a part of the herbal medicine (Schmidt & Wilken, 2020).
Not only is the cascara beverage used by Indigenous tribes but also in the revolutionary war by European colonist. The European colonists used the New Jersey Tea plant to make non-caffeinated tea instead of drinking English black tea due to it not having to be imported and therefore not being taxed (Missouri Department Of Conservation, 2016).
Geographical Orgin
This plant is native to the east side of North America including Quebec, Ontario, parts of Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Massachusetts and other surrounding areas (Wynia, 2010). New Jersey Tea tends to be found in the sandy and hilly grounds due to the dry soil content (Wynia, 2010). This plant can survive in acidic soil ranging from 7.3 to 4.5 pH and is also used as a nitrogen fixer (Plant Database, 2022).
Associated Indigenous Peoples
This plant has been used by the Chippewa and Cherokee tribes as well as the tribes of the Missouri River region for multiple uses. The leaves of the plant were used either through tea or the physical root by the Chippewa and Cherokee for medical reasons including to ease the pain from a toothache, bowel troubles, constipation, pulmonary troubles or shortness of breath (Hurteau & Anderson, 2002). The tribes of the Missouri River region used the leaves from the plant to make tea then burned the roots for fuel when needed on there buffalo hunting trips (Hurteau & Anderson, 2002).
The significance of this shrub is in the medical aspects that this plant can give, theses tribes used the leaves to make tea to heal mostly gut and stomach issues. Not only was New Jersey Tea used by Indigenous tribes but also colonised Europeans during the revolutionary war due to the convenience (Hurteau & Anderson, 2002). The New Jersey Tea can be consumed in 2 different ways, through tea or by eating the root. The tea is a more common way of intake but using the root as a topical has been reported (Hurteau & Anderson, 2002).
Growth And Value
New Jersey Tea plant tends to be found in open prairie, woodlands, and rocky hillsides with sandy ground. Due to the adaption of this plant, it has become the dominant species in certain areas where the area has multiple fires. This plant has become fire resistant over time thanks to its roots, even though the top leaves, stems, and flowers will burn the roots stay intact and will eventually resprout (Hurteau & Anderson, 2002). The New Jersey Tea plant grows in sandy or rocky ground, typically in dry open woods, mountain sides, old fields, or the prairies. The plant cannot survive bellow 28 degrees Fahrenheit ( -2 degrees Celsius) but can withstand fire due to its long root system (Wynia, 2010).
Today, the New Jersey Tea plant is used more for the decorative purpose rather the health benefits it provides. With today’s modern-day medication, there is better antibiotics available to the public meaning that people don’t need to source the nutrients from this tea plant. There are also many versions of tea available which delivers even more health benefits and taste then the Ceanothus Americanus including green, black, orange pekoe, etc. The New Jersey Tea is sold in stores for $6.50 in a 2.5 x 2.5 x 3.5 inch pot and can be found in many greenhouses and nurseries across the United States and Ontario and Quebec (Prairie Nursery, 2022).
Growing Season
The New Jersey Tea plant is a perennial meaning that it will come back every year if the plant went dormant. The white flowers bloom from May through June and the fruit ripens from around August to October (Wynia, 2010).The plant can survive will full or plartial sun and tends to frow between 3 to 5 feet (Plant Database, 2022)). This plant has a minimum cold hardiness of -34℃ to -31.7℃ and has drought tolerance (Plant Database, 2022). This shrub has multiple white tinted bunches of flowers and wedge-shaped leaves that can rage from 2-10 dm tall (Hurteau & Anderson, 2002).
This plant is a wild food but can also be found in garden centres and nurseries today. Due to these plants high tolerance of drought, it can survive in places that others can not therefore it can yield high in certain areas, even though this plant is a slow growing species with a moderate death rate. This is a wild food plant mostly for animals and insects such as rabbit, deer, elk, bees, wasps, beetles and flies, but can also be consumed by humans in a form of tea (Wynia 2010).
Benefits To Improve Lives
This plant can help those who need it by providing jobs at the nurseries that they are located at, or because this plant is an herbal medicine, those who can’t afford proper health care can use this plant to help relive some of there symptoms (Wynia, 2010). In Canada the amount of people working in a flower and plant greenhouse environment is 14,070 (Statistics Canada, 2020). An average sized floral greenhouse has around 20-50 employees, these employees would plant, water, maintain, and harvest the plants growing. Once the plants are finished growing there would need to be a truck driver or multiple to deliver the flowers to the place of sale. At this point, roughly 10-50 more employees would be needed to run to store and maintain the store and the health of the plants depending on the size of the company, therefore approximately 30-100 jobs needed to supply a flower on a retail shelf for customers to enjoy (Statistics Canada, 2020).
For those lucky enough to come across this plant in the wild and in need for medication that they can not afford then this plant might just safe them from some pain. The New Jersey Tea plant has been found to relief people from problems such as skin problems, venereal sores, dysentery, syphilis and gonorrhea (Medical Herb Info, 2021). Sometimes healthcare care be difficult to afford for people especially for those who live outside of Canada or even for those who live to far from a town or city where healthcare is provided. In theses rare circumstances these plants are a necessity for survival and had make a major impact on some peoples lives.
Benefits To The Enviroment
This benefits the environment by providing animals and insects with food as well as humans with tea containing medical benefits (Wynia, 2010). The New Jersey Tea plant has nitrogen fixation abilities through the root nodules found on the plant which has been found to enhance the nitrogen content throughout the soil (University of Texas, 2015). An experiment was conducted at the North Carolina Botanical Gardens in Chapel Hill as well as the Forestry Science Laboratory in North Carolina where the team of scientists discovered the percentage of nitrogen increase due to the New Jersey Tea plant in that area. The New Jersey Tea plant was found to increase soil nitrogen fixation where the plant was located by 10 percent at the chapel hill location and 74 percent increase at the Forestry Science Laboratory (University of Texas, 2015)
.Wildlife
Limitations
Although this species might do well in certain areas, in most it is considered rare for example the farther north you are the less plants there will be due to the lower temperatures (Maine Department Of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, 2021). With the small population of New Jersey tea plants in Canada due to the temperatures it is difficult to make the cascara beverage, with a limited supply it is difficult to put this plant into production (Wynia, 2010).
References
1.Ceanothus americanus L. Maine Natural Areas Program Rare Plant Fact Sheet for Ceanothus americanus. (2021). Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mnap/features/ceaame.htm
2.Hurteau, M. D., & Anderson, K. M. (2002, August 5). Plant Guide - USDA. NEW JERSEY TEA. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_pima.pdf
3.Medical Herb Info. (2021, October 12). New Jersey Tea. Medicinal Herb Info. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from http://medicinalherbinfo.org/000Herbs2016/1herbs/new-jersey-tea/#:~:text=Alkaloid%20in%20the%20root%20mildly,effective%20in%20syphilis%20and%20gonorrhea.
4.Missouri Department of Conservation (n.d.). New Jersey Tea. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://mdc.mo.gov/
5.New Jersey Tea. Ceanothus americanus | Prairie Nursery. (2022).
6.Paul Nelson (n.d.). [drawing], Missouri Department of conservation. New Jersey Tea. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/new-jersey-tea#
7.Plant Database entry for New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus) with 37 images, 2 comments, and 39 data details. New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus) - Garden.org. (2022).
8.Schmidt, C. L., & Wilken, D. H. (2020, November 5). Ceanothus americanus - FNA - floranorthamerica.org.
9.Statistics Canada. (2020, December 30). Government of Canada. Language selection - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada / Sélection de la langue - Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/canadas-agriculture-sectors/horticulture/horticulture-sector-reports/statistical-overview-canadian-greenhouse-vegetable-industry-2019
10.University of Texas. (2015, October 13). HathiTrust Digital Library. HathiTrust Digital Library | Millions of books online. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from https://www.hathitrust.org/
11.Wynia, R. L. (2010). Plant Guide - USDA. Plant Fact Sheet New Jersey Tea. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_cofl2.pdf