I have seen posts at other sites regarding "oregon wild grapes" being used medicineally....are they just grapes? We have wild grapes here in Florida too. Would they have the same use?

-- Lynnda (venus@zeelink.net), October 20, 2001

Answers

What comes to mind is a shrub called Oregon Grapeholly (Mahonia aquifolium). It has blue-black berries and is a dye plant. It may well have medicinal qualities as well.

-- Katherine (KyKatherine@Yahoo.com), October 20, 2001.

Oregon Grape is nothing like an eating grape. They are hard little purpley berries on shrubby prickly bushes, much more like a juniper berry. If you want to try to do something medicinal with them, let me know and I'll send you whatever part of the plant you want, I was planning on killing the nasty things in the spring anyway.

-- Julie (julieamc@eagleslair.net), October 20, 2001.

The medicinal parts of Oregon Grape are the rootstock and roots not the fruit. You see it being used a lot now as a substitute for Goldenseal, which is being over-harvested.

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), October 20, 2001.

And, yes, it is Mahonia aquifolium. I didn't know it was a dye plant. Learn something new every day...

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), October 20, 2001.

you can also make oregon grape jelly from them its good fun to give as gifts another is elderberry jelly and mountial ash jelly the best is dandilion jelly. ronda

-- ronda (thejohnsons@localaccess.com), October 20, 2001.

Ronda -

Can you share the recipes for mountain ash jelly & dandilion jelly? They sound interesting!

-- Bonnie (stichart@plix.com), October 21, 2001.

Thanks to all who posted here, and especailly Julie. I have been so pleased to have stumbled unto this very interesting site.

-- Lynnda Davis (venus@zeelink.net), October 22, 2001.

There are plenty of medicinal uses for oregon grape plants, but most especially the roots, as Bren mentined. The isolate berberine is the active ingredient that people use this plant to sub for goldenseal in. Julie, if your looking here, if your planning ot get rid of the plants, harvest the roots, dry them, and give them to a local private health store. You will be saving many wild goldenseal plants which are becoming increasingly rare. Also, you can give the nasty plants, dug at the appropriate time, to nursuries, who use them as landscaping plants. Lynnda, your wild grapes may, or may not be the same species, I doubt it but I don't know. Oregon grape plants have holly-like leaves, and are sprawling or small shrubbing, the berries are in grape like clusters, and are powderblue to dark black- blue depending on soil, sun etc. They make good pie, and jelly, especially when mixed with sweeter fruit, or other sweeteners.

-- roberto pokachin in B.C. (pokachinni@yahoo.com), February 07, 2002.