Alnisedi: Eastern Hemlock

The following narrative was written as a contribution to a [State of Vermont] Eastern Hemlock Conservation Plan (2023) being prepared by an inter-organizational collaboration between the State of Vermont, Agency of Natural Resources, Department of Forest, Parks & Recreation (Savannah Ferreira, Jim Esden, and Josh Halman); University of Vermont Extension (Alexandra Kosiba); State of Vermont, Agency of Natural Resources, Department of Fish and Wildlife (Dave Adams); and Atowi Project (Rich Holschuh).

Cultural Significance

The northern extent of Eastern hemlock’s natural range coincides in great part with the homelands of the various Wabanaki peoples, from Lake Champlain along the St. Lawrence to Cape Breton. In the case of the state of Vermont, these are the lands specifically of the Western Abenaki, with their relatives the Mohican to the southwest. Given the slow growth habit and very long lifespan of hemlock, it is likely that there are individual multi-centenarians who have been present here since well before contact with Euro-American settlers. Following is a brief and partial compilation of Abenaki cultural relations with the eastern hemlock nation.

In the Western Abenaki language, this tree, in common with others, is encountered as an animate entity and addressed as “someone” rather than “something.” The referent is alnisedi or alnizedi (pronounced ahl NEE seh DEE). This naming follows from being seen as the “vernacular conifer”: the compound word used for hemlock combines alni- which means ‘common or ordinary’ with -sedi, denoting any ‘evergreen bough’.[1]

A number of ethnobotanical uses are known. An infusion or decoction of the needles is used to treat for rheumatism and for itchiness.[2] This infusion is also prepared as a tea and used as a source for Vitamin C, especially as an anti-scorbutic. Some scholars believe that Tsuga canadensis (among others) may be the “tree of life” recorded by French explorer Jacques Cartier in 1535, when his crew – rapidly dying from scurvy – were gifted the branches of an evergreen and directed to drink the tea prepared from its needles. Within a few days they were recovering.[3]

The bark of the tree is used as a tanning agent and dye material, due to the high tannin content. Hemlock boughs are often used in temporary brush shelters as a softening mattress and ground-insulating bedding material and layered for protection overhead as a shelter roof. Although there are few companion medicine or food plant sources to be found in the densely shaded understory of hemlock forests, their open nature make them good deer yards and an attractive roosting place for owls as well.

[1] https://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/original-forest-language

[2] http://naeb.brit.org/uses/search/?string=abenaki&page=3 (scroll to Tsuga…)

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2647905/