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Rhododendron tomentosum

Chukchi: нъэчэқут (n’echequt)
Central Alaskan Yup’ik: ayuq
Russian: багульник (bagul’nik)
English: tundra tea (Western Alaska), Labrador tea

Image
Rhododendron tomentosum
Photo by Kevin Jernigan

 

Chukchi:
Some people dry the leaves and mix them with leaves of blueberry, cranberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) and the leaves and berries of Empetrum nigrum for making a tea to treat colds and cough.

Некоторые сушат листья и смешивают их с листьями черники, клюквы и листьями и ягодами вороники (Empetrum nigrum) для приготовления чая от простуды и кашля.

Central Alaskan Yup’ik:
The leaves of this plant are gathered for two main purposes in this region. First of all, people use them to make a tea, either alone or mixed with store-bought tea. This mostly serves simply as a beverage although some people say it has medicinal properties, for example, in combating respiratory illness. Some elders warn about negative effects if people drink too much. The second major use is to burn the leaves and use the smoke for ritual purification. This can be done to give good luck for hunters or people gathering other plants on the tundra. It is also used to spiritually purify people and houses.