In the saddle every day, well they sure do earn their pay,
Doing wrangling and lassoing and such stuff.
When it's windy or its raining, you wont hear the boys complaining,
For the life they lead makes cowboys pretty tough.
from: Roise and the Rustlers
by : Roy Gerrard
In these parts,we know this plant in the forefront of this pic-as Mormon Tea, or Brigham Tea, or Jointed Fir. (In doing a little research for this post, I learned that it can also be called Cowboy Tea or Squaw Tea, or maybe even Canyon tea.)
I’ve been telling folks for years, as we hike by this very proliferate plant, that the Piaute Indians and the Mormon settlers in this area brewed the stems of this plant as a tonic/tea. “How else could those people have survived the living conditions here!!” I joke, “No air conditioning, its HOT, there were/are tarantulas and scorpions and snakes and the ever delightful gila monster. The washes flooded, the wind/sand storms occurred frequently…. They HAD to have something to help them get through the tough times!!!”
Just for the record…I would have made a terrible pioneer!!! First, I would have lost the long, plentiful petticoats and skirt and put on some britches! Second, I would have continued on westward until I hit a warm, pleasant beach!!! The slight ephedrine buzz that this bitter tea may have provided wouldn’t have cut it for me!! uh uh (but a nice cold pepsi sure can!!) But since Kola nuts couldn’t be found in these parts…. I guess God did his best by providing this unique plant with its known effects:
• a stimulus to the central nervous system
• increased blood pressure
• increased heart rate
• increased urine to dispose of excess body fluid
• elevated mood
• decreased appetite
• lessened fatigue
It also has a pronounced diuretic and decongestant effect and was used wherever urinary tract problems occurred.
The Indians prepared Jointed Fir/Ephedra as a tea for stomach and bowel disorders, for colds, fever, and headache. The dried and powdered twigs were used in poultices for burns and ointments for sores. One tribe made a decoction of the entire plant and drank it to help stop bleeding.
Lesser known facts on this ‘tea’:
Other white settlers -besides the practicing Mormons, used a very strong tea of the plant for the treatment of syphilis and other venereal disease, and as a tonic. It was standard fare in the waiting rooms of whorehouses in early Nevada and California. It was said to have been introduced by a Jack Mormon who frequented Katie’s Place in Elko, Nevada during the mining rush of the last century. (there are always rebels among us!!)
• a stimulus to the central nervous system
• increased blood pressure
• increased heart rate
• increased urine to dispose of excess body fluid
• elevated mood
• decreased appetite
• lessened fatigue
It also has a pronounced diuretic and decongestant effect and was used wherever urinary tract problems occurred.
The Indians prepared Jointed Fir/Ephedra as a tea for stomach and bowel disorders, for colds, fever, and headache. The dried and powdered twigs were used in poultices for burns and ointments for sores. One tribe made a decoction of the entire plant and drank it to help stop bleeding.
Lesser known facts on this ‘tea’:
Other white settlers -besides the practicing Mormons, used a very strong tea of the plant for the treatment of syphilis and other venereal disease, and as a tonic. It was standard fare in the waiting rooms of whorehouses in early Nevada and California. It was said to have been introduced by a Jack Mormon who frequented Katie’s Place in Elko, Nevada during the mining rush of the last century. (there are always rebels among us!!)
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