Names

Shoshone:
Unknown

English: Lemonbush

Scientific: Rhus trilobata

Zone

Lower Foothills

Harvest Time

• Harvest berries in August

Primary Uses

• Food (berries)
  • Used fresh or dried
  • Used to make flavorful lemonade drink or in cold tea
  • Pounded into pemmican
• Medicine
  • Berries are high in vitamin C
  • Root bark can be used topically for bleeding and as an infusion for burns
  • Roots can be made into tea to treat diarrhea
  • Rootbark tea can be used to treat pneumonia, sore throat, ulcers, and urinary tract infections
  • Crushed leaves and berries can be used in topical application for rashes

Secondary Uses

• Medicinal
  • Good for heart health
• Other
  • Boiled roots used for black dye
  • Leaves sometimes mixed with tobacco

Cautions

• None listed

Active Principle(s)

• Vitamin C
• Bioflavinoids

Video Description of Plant

Click play on the video to learn more about this plant.

Notes

Good for the cardiovascular system. To make pemmican, berries are dried and pounded, then pounded into meat as a pemmican preservative.

This bush is also known as squawbush, but the preferred name is Lemonbush.