The
evergreen
In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...
aneda (spelled either this way or as annedda by different 16th- to 17th-century sources
) was used by
Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier ( , also , , ; br, Jakez Karter; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French-Breton maritime explorer for France. Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of th ...
and his men as a remedy against
scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, feeling tired and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding ...
in the winter of 1535–1536. It is generally believed to have been ''
Thuja occidentalis
''Thuja occidentalis'', also known as northern white-cedar, eastern white-cedar, or arborvitae, is an evergreen coniferous tree, in the cypress family Cupressaceae, which is native to eastern Canada and much of the north-central and northeastern ...
'',
a common tree in Quebec. However, historian Jacques Mathieu has argued at length that aneda was more likely ''
Abies balsamea
''Abies balsamea'' or balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada (Newfoundland west to central Alberta) and the northeastern United States (Minnesota east to Maine, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to ...
'', given that tree's role as a traditional remedy and given the much higher vitamin C content of its needles.
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fre ...
, around 1608, was unable to find the remedy, and some have supposed that the Indians had lost their knowledge of it in the intervening 72 years.
However, a more common explanation is that the
St. Lawrence Iroquoians
The St. Lawrence Iroquoians were an Iroquoian Indigenous people who existed from the 14th century to about 1580. They concentrated along the shores of the St. Lawrence River in present-day Quebec and Ontario, Canada, and in the American states o ...
whom Cartier met did not speak the same language as the
Huron
Huron may refer to:
People
* Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America
* Wyandot language, spoken by them
* Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec
* Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...
s or
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
living in the area at the time of Champlain, and so the term 'annedda' meant nothing to the latter group.
References
*Burpee, Lawrence J. (F.R.G.S.), ''Index and Dictionary of Canadian History. 1912.
External links
*{{cite journal , title=The Identity of the Tree "Annedda" , author=Macnamara, Charles , journal=Science , volume=92 , issue=2376 , pages=35 , date=July 1940 , bibcode=1940Sci....92...35M , doi=10.1126/science.92.2376.35-a , pmid=17790740
Trees of Quebec