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Plants of the
Cherokee:
Medicinal, Edible, and Useful
Plants of the Eastern Cherokee Indians
After languishing for 50 years in
libraries, archives and attics around the southern
Appalachian region, the following manuscript by William
Banks was brought to the attention of Great Smoky
Mountains Association by two of the organization’s most
active members: Jerry Coleman and Ila Hatter. Mr.
Coleman and Ms Hatter live near the Cherokee reservation
in western North Carolina and are recognized experts on
edible and medicinal plants in the area. They were
overjoyed to discover the existence of the manuscript
and devoted themselves to seeing that it be published.
Staff at the National Park Service and
Association were equally excited to learn of Banks’
masters theses. During the early 1950’s, when Banks did
his research, there were still quite a few elder
Cherokee and others who continued the old ways of using
wild plants for a wide variety of medicines, food
crafts, and other purposes. Today, attempting to
conduct such research would be much less fruitful.
It should be mentioned that Banks’ thesis
advisor and mentor, Dr. A.J. Sharp, was one of the most
widely recognized and respected experts on the botany of
the Great Smokies and southern Appalachians. His career
as botanist, professor, writer and advisor spanned more
than 60 years. Sharp’s role as overseer on this project
lends it great credence.
Plants of the Cherokee
Serendipity: “…making
desirable but unsought-for discoveries by accident” was
exactly how this manuscript came into my hands. I heard
of Banks’ thesis from Dr. Jack Sharpe (Professor
Emeritus of UT) some 10 or 12 years ago. He knew of my
interest in Cherokee plant lore, as I was already
teaching edible and medicinal plant classes for UT’s
Smoky Mtn Field School. “However”, he said, “The only
public copy in the University Library has disappeared.
I have the only copy I know of in my safe at home. You
are welcome to visit and read it there.” Unfortunately
that occasion never presented itself before Dr. Sharpe
died. I thought I would never have access to the
information William Banks had gathered, until
“serendipity” brought Eileen Wilson and I together at a
Tremont workshop. During that weekend, one of the
students came up to me saying “You know, I have
something that’s been in my attic for over 20 years,
that I think you might find interesting. It’s a thesis
by one of Dr. Sharpe’s graduate students written in
1952…….” And I finished her sentence saying “by Bill
Banks on the Ethnobotany of the Cherokee!
When I read
the manuscript I realized that more serendipity was in
the list of people that Dr. Banks had interviewed. I
knew most of the families! And also knew that a lot of
the information from that generation had not been passed
down. So if this was published, here was a way all
their descendents and others interested in their
heritage, could have it forever. I found Bill (Dr.
William) Banks in Kentucky through a mutual friend. He
gave his consent to publication with the concession that
he honor the pledge he gave the Cherokee i.e., not to
profit from the information.
It seems
appropriate that the Great Smoky Mtn Association is the
publisher, as proceeds from sales help fund the
preservation of the National Park and the heritage of
all people who made these mountains home.
There are a couple
things I want to tell the reader. At first the unusual
phoneme system for the Cherokee names will be a bit
complicated. It is unlike any we have been used to in
other publications. The reason that it was suggested
for Banks’ to use it is because it came the closest to
reproducing some of the nuances in the Cherokee
language. In 1952, the language was not being taught,
and there was the real possibility that future
generations would not know how to say the words as their
grandparents had. In my editing task, I found that
eventually the system made sense and was not so
difficult to use after you become familiar with the
symbols. (And those were handmade for computer
typesetting by Joey Heath)
The second thing the
reader should know is the addition of a “translation” of
the diseases mentioned. Without medical diagnosis
people have to come up with their own names for their
illnesses. It seemed appropriate to do some research
into the descriptions and give the reader a list of what
the various diseases were that the plant remedies
alleviated. David Cozzo, PhD (Anthropology-UGA) has
supplied just such an appendix.
__________Ila Hatter
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