The evergreen forest Hemlock tree is not to be confused with the poisonous parsley-like weed of the same name. Visually it would be easier to confuse Hemlock with spruce or balsam fir trees. Hemlock needles are flat like the fir, but are much shorter and have a short stem attaching them to the twig (whereas balsam fir needles have no stem).
The strength of the tannin in Hemlock bark makes it an excellent astringent. However, this high astringency has DANGEROUS ABORTIVE EFFECTS and therefore the bark should not be taken during pregnancy. Large doses can also knot up the stomach ( a property which might however render it a good remedy for diarrhea). The first European to be introduced to the hemlock tree was Jacques Cartier, the 16th century French explorer in 1525. When his crew was in danger from sickening and dying from scurvy he asked the neighbouring Iroquois people for help. They supplied him with the bark and leaves of "annedda" ( which is the Onandaga name for Hemlock) and instructions on its use. Boiled in water the tea was drunk every two days and poultices of the tea were applied to the swollen and sick limbs of Cartier's men. Cartier subsequently reported that " AS soon as they had drunk they felt better, which they found a true and evident miracle for of all the sicknesses they had suffered from after having drunk two or three times they recovered their health and were cured, so that some of the company who had had syphilis for more than five or six years before getting this sickness (scurvy) by this medicine were completely cured". Since then people have drunk Hemlock tea for its high vitamin C content. The Iroquois drank it for centuries as their common table tea, especially in the winter when they were limited to stored food and needed the extra vitamins and minerals....read more>>>...
