Cherokee's and blackberries

Something that was mentioned in the documentary In Light of Reverence was that Native American’s often use different plants for healing and medicinal purposes. I was curious as to what some of these plants were and what they did. An interesting one that I found was the blackberry. This is obviously a common fruit that even non-natives eat. The Cherokee specifically use this berry to treat stomach aches, diarrhea, and swollen tissues and joints and to strengthen the immune system as a whole. They use different forms of the berry to treat different things. Some of the forms include tea, cough syrup made from the root, or simply just chewing on the leaves. It is interesting to think that a common berry for us is actually a medicine for some native tribes. While we just think the actual berry is the only good part of the plant, the Cherokee use other parts to heal if ways that we would not think of.