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While traveling in Alaska we visited a small town called Talkeetna. Several people in our group had aches and pains. We found a lady selling a pain salve and we all tried it. She told us story where the main ingredient came from. Here is that legend:
Apparently, hundreds of years ago people of the Tlingit Indian tribes noticed Grizzly bears gashed, bleeding and wounded from fighting each other walking or limping down the hillsides into the cool shaded bottoms. As they cautiously approached the bears, curious as to where they were going and what they were doing, they watched the bears rolling and rubbing their wounds on the plant. Some bears would dig the roots of the plant out of the ground and eat them.
Of course, the Indians had to know why, so they dug the roots and cut the plants and copied the bears! Oplopanax horridus (scientific name), has hundreds of sharp tiny thorns on its stems, so rolling around on them wasn't really a viable option. But chewing the bark and rubbing the inner bark of the root on aching joints, sore muscles, wounds, burns, etc. eased pain and symptoms. They learned to make a tea from the plant which reduced inflammation ad treated many diseases.
While a salve that includes this extract can be purchased in several towns in southeast Alaska, it was not available in the lower 48, until now.
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