bay berry?

[recurve shooter]

we call it wax myrtle down here. Is anyone realy familier with this shrub/tree/whatever you wana call it? it seems that it can be used for a variety of things, but most of the info i can find on the net is stuff written by people who heard maby it used to be used for something but arnt realy shure and dont know exactly how to use the stuff. its all over down here and im trying to start adding some plant knowledge to my skill book, so any info, experiences, ect would be awsome!

[mullet]

I've heard of old Crackers here using it to catch fish. They'd put it in a burlap sack with a rock and tie the top shut. Then smash all the berries and throw it in a pool in the creek or river. It will stun the fish and they  will float to the top. I believe there is a toxin in the berries that paralyze them.

[JW_Halverson]

In early colonial times the berry was collected and processed for the waxy oil, it was used for candles by the poor. 

The middle class used beeswax and the rich folks used spermicetti (sp?) from sperm whales.  George Washington conducted experiments to determine what burned longest, and brightest.  Spermicetti won the race for brightest with the least amount of soot, but beeswax was so much less expensive he felt you could burn two for one and come out ahead financially.  Thus endeth the history lesson for today.

[mullet]

If we are talking about the same berry, it would be some stinky burning, and maybe toxic.

[JW_Halverson]

It may well have been toxic in the long term, but in those days if it didn't kill you outright it wasn't considered toxic.  In those days they directly applied mercury to open festering venereal disease sores as a cure!!!  Reading about the old medical treatments makes me wonder how any of them survived long enough to reproduce!

[stickbender]

     JW, things aren't much different today, with Big Pharm.  None of them are looking for cures, just treatments, and if you look at the side affects....   You would be better off taking bay berry!   Any use of the leaves?  It grows all over down here also.

                                                                             Wayne

[mullet]

Wayne, I had an old book printed at the turn of the Century written by an old Cracker Indian Scout and cattleman. He talked about watching two Seminoles stalking a deer in an open field holding a Wax Mrytle bush. One holding the bush, the other with the flintlock in the "y" of the bush till they got in range. This took place in the 1840's.

[stickbender]

     Eddie, that is cool, I would like see it if you still have it.  You have to admire them back then, you know the mosquitos were horrendous.  My Mother used to talk about when they first moved down here, the old women would stay up at night fanning the babies, to keep the mosquitos off of them, when they didn't have any mosquito netting for them.  I know when I was a kid, they were REAL bad.   

                                               Wayne

[jamie]

bayberry (Myrica cerifera) has medicinal uses as well. it is a natural resource for antibiotics, the roots contain it, cant remember the name begins with m. also because it contains tannin it is good for dysentery and diarrhea.  almost positive it has diuretic effects too. so it is good for fevers when you want to sweat it out of you. (now the lawyers speak) never take anybodies word for it when it comes to edible and medicinal plants . do your homework ,cause not everybody has the same reaction to wild or modern medicine. peace

[beetlebailey1977]

I believe soap can be made form it also....

[stickbender]

     Jamie CYA of course   And in the words of Mark Twain, "Never follow the advice of a health book.  You might die of a missprint".
                                                                              Wayne

[MikmaqArcher]

my grandmothers always used it for infections you can make a poultice out of the leaves and or roots and apply it to infectons or to spots with arthritis. she also makes a tea from the roots an leaves to treat infections, i hope that helps you a bit.
                                                                                                                                                                                     Ke'seket

[bowtarist]

Pick yourself up a copy of Jethro Kloss's "Back To Eden".  ISBN# 0-940985-10-1

There is lots of good info in there about Bay Berry.  Says you can use the bark, leaves and flowers as an astringent and tonic stimulant and the leaves as an aromatic stimulant.  Tea was made and used for all sorts of things internally and externally.  It has a high tannin content, that is probably why it stunned the fish like Mullett said.  The natives used walnuts to do the same thing, must be the tannins that stun the fish.  We have a walnut tree that hangs over the creek, each fall the leaves and nuts fall into the "hole", most of the creek is dried up at this time of the year, and all the fish die.  I started looking into it and found what I'd written above.  Lots of good info out there for the finding.  I've been looking for my book, "Medicinal Plants of the Eastern Native Americans", but can't find it right now.  That's another gooder.  If you practice backwoods medicine, do it w/ caution and use multiple resources, sometimes there's no coming back.  Derik Gratz

[stickbender]

     Bowtarist, another excellent book, is the "Green Pharmacy", by James A. Duke, PHD.  It is an excellent book with all kinds of herbal remedies, and cross references.  It lists the herb, and it's uses, and also lists the problems, or diseases, or sickness, and the herb, or herbs that will help with it.  He travels around the world, doing research on native medicines, and herbal treatments, and cures.  He goes down to S.A. frequently, and various other countries, in the jungles, and it's native people.  I don't know if the if the Wax Myrtle is in the same family but the Bay Laurel, (Laurel Nobilis) has a anti bacterial oil, that is used in dental products to prevent tooth decay.  It is also good for preventing body odor, headache,and diabetes.  I would turn to natural herbs, before turning to chemical concoctions from big Pharm.  Just my opinion.

                                                                  Wayne