Bittersweet

Bittersweet

Celastrus scandens

biimaakwad (Densmore) bima 'kwud; (Rhodes) biimaakwod
manidoo-biimaakwad (Smith) manidobima' kwit, manidobima' kwit

Bittersweet is a woody, climbing vine that grows up to 20 feet tall. Forming tangled masses, it can restrict the growth of young trees. The slender, green twigs are smooth and flexible. The alternate, toothed leaves are thin, smooth, light green, and oval in shape with a pointed tip and rounded base. In June, clusters of small greenish­ yellow flowers bloom, with the sexes usually found on separate plants. In September and October the round, orange fruit capsule matures, splitting open when ripe to reveal the bright red seed coverings. Bittersweet is found growing along roadsides and fencerows, on shores and dune thickets, along stream and riverbanks, and on open rock outcrops or tall slopes.
(Plants used by the Great Lakes Ojibwa)
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Naturalized in North America from native Europe and Asia. The zigzag sprawling slender vine climbs along trees, hedges, thickets and fences, especially in moist places, seldom exceeding 7 or 8 ft in length. In June and July the purplish or blue flowers can be seen arranged in cymes which are succeeded in autumn by attractive bright red juicy berries that hang on the vine for several months. The attraction is for decoration, they should not be eaten. The leaves are acute and generally smooth, of a dull green colour, which is lost by drying. The root is long and almost orange-coloured. Twigs and root bark should be collected after the foliage has fallen. Taste is first bitter, then sweet.
(Indian Herbalogy of North America)
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Traditional medicinal uses included a decoction of the stalk for skin eruptions, a decoction of the root as a physic for babies and as a diuretic, boiled roots as an ointment for cancerous or obstinate sores, and the berries were used for stomach troubles.
(Plants used by the Great Lakes Ojibwa)
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Medicinal part is bark of root and twigs. Prepare in diluted alcohol or boiling water. Serves as alterative, diaphoretic, discutient, diuretic, deobstruent, narcotic, resolvent. Used for skin conditions of which the symptom is obvious, but the source of the real culprit is usually large in the galndualr system and blood stream. It is serviceable venereal funetions, and is in fact capable of wide application and use in leprosy, Tetter, and all skin diseases, Eczema, Scrofula. Also for rheumatic and cachetic affections, ill-conditioned ulcers, glandular swellings, and in obstructed menstruation it serves a good purpose.
(Indian Herbalogy of North America)
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Plants used by the Great Lakes Ojibwa, Meeker, Elias and Heim, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Odanah, WI, 1993

Indian Herbalogy of North America