Devils Club(Alaska Ginseng) information

Devil's club is a most important plant to coastal people in Southeast & Southcentral Alaska, for both medicinal & mystical purposes. Athabascans boil the stem & branches or the root bark for fevers, stomach trouble, coughs, colds, and tuberculosis. Baked inner bark is used as a compress on swollen glands, boils, sores & other infections. Tlingit, Haida & all other Pacific Northwest coastal Indians have used this plant extensively. Medicinally, they use an infusion of root bark for general strength, colds, chest pains, arthritis, black eyes, gallstones, stomach ulcers, constipation and tuberculosis.

The stalk can be chewed & spit directly upon open wounds as an emergency analgesic measure. Devil's club is closely associated with shamanism. Shamans may carry a power charm made with spruce twigs, devil's club roots & their animal tongue, acquired during their quests. During the quest (a novice who feels called to shamanism quests for his power) a novice goes into the woods for one or several weeks, eating nothing but devil's club.

Devil's club, along with hellebore & wild heliotrope, can act magically. Nootka people on Vancouver purified themselves for whale hunting by drinking devil's club, bathing in devil's club & abstaining from sex. Devil's club is sometimes nailed to doors to keep out evil spirits or witches. Devil's club is also used to cure hangovers, as a deodorant or perfume, as baby talc, to regulate menstrual flow & lactation, & as a powerful snuff.

Devil's club is a ginseng plant, being a member of the Araliaceae family, & closely resembling Siberian ginseng. Siberian ginseng is in great demand worldwide & fetches a good price.  Cosmonauts use Siberian ginseng for strength & well-being. The potential for Devil's Club, hereafter called Alaskan ginseng, is great. Alaskan ginseng is a new panax ginseng from the Pacific Northwest (panax is the genus name of Oriental & wild American ginseng, & is the Latin root for the word panacea). It is suitable for industrial uses, i.e., for manufacturers who might use ginseng as an ingredient in items such as herbal tobacco, soft drinks, capsule pharmaceuticals & tea blends.  Alaskan ginseng is a potentially valuable export crop for Alaska. 

 Information above is from on line research.

Information below is from the book

 (Medicinal flora of the Alaska Natives) and is whiten by Ann Garibaldi