Devil's Club: A Wonder Weed

Devil's club is a most important plant to coastal people in Southeast & Southcentral Alaska, for both medicinal & mystical purposes.  Follow the link to the following article and podcast on NPR for more information about the many uses of Devil's Club: Devil's Club: A Medicine Cabinet for an Alaskan Tribe.

How to harvest and make use of devil's club stalks...

Nancy is dwarfed by the towering devil's club.

Using gloves, trim off a woody piece of the devil's club.  Use a kitchen knife to scrape off the needles.

Cut off the outer cambium layer.  This is the layer that you can dry and make into tea.  You can also steep it in cold water and use the water later to drink or help heal wounds.

The inner pith can also be used to make a salve.  When making the salve you need to use an enamel pot and mix the devil's club stems with bees wax, vitamin E and oil.