This tree has escaped from cultivation around the water-courses of
the Flambeau Reservation and has been accepted by the Ojibwe there as
efficacious along with the native willows. The bark is astringent from
its salacin content and is used as a styptic and poultice for sores.
Willow bark was formerly employed by physicians among the whites as a
stomachic and antiperiodic in the treatment of intermittents, but is
rarely used today.
=Shining Willow= (_Salix lucida_ Muhl.), “zigoˈ bamîc”. The Pillager
Ojibwe use the bark of this species as an external remedy for sores.
The Ojibwe do not generally distinguish any particular willow with any
other name, but Whitefeather, Flambeau Ojibwe, called this species
“mûckigoˈ bamîc” [swamp tree] and said it was used on a cut to stop the
bleeding, and that the bark was also a poultice material for sores.
Other Flambeau Ojibwe called it “sizigoˈ bamîc”, but it was generally
noticed that in that latitude the Shining Willow was invariably found
in swamps, and not along streams, so there is justification for
Whitefeather’s name. Among the whites, this bark was used formerly as a
stomachic and antiperiodic.
=Bog Willow= (_Salix pedicellaris_ Pursh.), “sizigoˈ bamîc”. This is
a species of the cold bogs and meadows found far up toward the Arctic
Circle. While the Pillager Ojibwe did not give it a distinctive name,
they said it was not used for bark to smoke, but for bark to treat
stomach trouble. There is no record of its use by whites.
SARRACENIACEAE (PITCHER-PLANT FAMILY)
=Pitcher-plant= (_Sarracenia purpurea_ L.), “oˈ makakiˈ wîdass” [frog’s
leggins], as shown in plate 67, fig. 1. Bearskin, Flambeau Ojibwe
medicine man had a slight variant in pronouncing this—“oˈ makakiˈ
odass”. He said that the root is used to make a tea to help a woman
accomplish parturition. Eclectic practitioners used the whole plant to
make a tea for a tonic, stimulant, diuretic and laxative.
SAXIFRAGACEAE (SAXIFRAGE FAMILY)
=Wild Red Currant= (_Ribes triste_ Pall.), “mîciˈ tcimînûk.” The
Flambeau Ojibwe use the leaves as some sort of a female remedy. There
is no record of its use by the whites.
SCROPHULARIACEAE (FIGWORT FAMILY)
=Butter and Eggs= (_Linaria vulgaris_ Hill.), “owacawaˈ skwûneg”
[yellow light]. The whole plant is dried by the Flambeau Ojibwe and
used in the kettle with other foliage and twigs as a bronchial inhalant
in the sweat lodge. The Ojibwe name for medicine to be inhaled is
“nokweˈsîkûn” which sounds much like the Menomini Indian name for the
same thing,—“naˈ sîkon”. The eclectic practitioners claimed that the
plant is diuretic, and cathartic, using it in dropsy, jaundice, and
cutaneous eruptions. The fresh plant was sometimes used as a poultice
for hemorrhoidal tumors, and an ointment was made of the fresh flowers
for the same purpose and to use locally in diseases of the skin. In
Germany, the flowers were used for a yellow dye.
=Cow Wheat= (_Melampyrum lineare_ Lam.), “agoñgasiˈ mînûk” [chipmunk
berries]. The Flambeau Ojibwe say that this plant is made into a tea,
which is a “little medicine for the eyes”. There is no record of its
medicinal use by the whites.
=Wood Betony= (_Pedicularis canadensis_ L.), “mandamîˈ nîodjiˈ bîkîns”
[little corn root]. According to John Peper, Pillager Ojibwe, this root
was a bad kind of medicine, an aphrodisiac, when cut fine and placed
in some dish of food without the knowledge of those who were going to
eat it. There is no record of its medicinal use by the whites.
=Mullein= (_Verbascum thapsus_ L.). The Flambeau Ojibwe have no name
for this since it has come into their territory from the south and
they do not use it. The writer has gathered this for his grandmother
who smoked the leaves for relieving asthma and bronchitis. The flowers
are supposed to have diuretic properties and have been used in the
treatment of tuberculosis.
THYMELEACEAE (MEZEREUM FAMILY)
=Moosewood= (_Dirca palustris_ L.), “djibeˈ gûb” [djibe means a dead
person, or ghost or spirit]. The bark of Moosewood is very soft, strong
and elastic, so that twigs can be tied into knots. The Pillager Ojibwe
say that all their people use it as a tea for a diuretic. The bark
is sometimes substituted for Mezereum bark, which is official in the
U. S. pharmacopoeia. It is usually used in a compound decoction with
sarsaparilla for chronic skin diseases, and syphilitic, rheumatic and
scrofulous conditions. As an external ointment, it was used for a
stimulant to foul or ill-conditioned ulcers.
TYPHACEAE (CAT-TAIL FAMILY)
=Cat-tail= (_Typha latifolia_ L.), “bebamasûˈn” [it flies around]. The
Flambeau Ojibwe used the fuzz of the fruit for a war medicine. They
claim that the fuzz thrown into an enemy’s face will blind him.
UMBELLIFERAE (PARSLEY FAMILY)
=Musquash Root= (_Cicuta maculata_ L.), “apagwasîˈgons”. The Pillager
Ojibwe say that this root is used a little in their medicine, but did
not know just how. It was smoked in hunting.
=Cow Parsnip= (_Heracleum lanatum_ Michx.) “piˈ pîgweˈ wanûck” [flute
stem].[126] The Pillager Ojibwe pound the fresh root and apply it
as a poultice to cure sores. The fresh leaves and root are known to
produce vesication or blisters by the whites, and therefore have been
used by them as counter-irritants. The root has been used by eclectic
practitioners to cure epilepsy. In infusions, it is thought to cure
dyspeptic disorders.
=Sweet Cicely= (_Osmorhiza longistylis_ [Torr.] D. C.), “osagaˈ tîkûm”
[interlaced twigs]. The same name was applied by the Pillager Ojibwe
to _O. claytoni_, and evidently they did not distinguish between the
two species. A tea for making parturition easier is prepared from the
roots. The liquorice flavor of the tea is said to be good for a sore
throat.
=Wild Parsnip= (_Pastinaca sativa_ L.), “pigweˈwûnûsk” [flute stem].
The Pillager Ojibwe are quite cautious in using this poisonous root.
They claim that a little bit is very powerful, while much is poisonous.
They use a very minute quantity mixed with four other kinds of roots
to make a medicinal tea for female troubles. There is no record of its
medicinal use by the whites.
=Black Snakeroot= (_Sanicula marilandica_ L.), “masan” [from the
woods]. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the root pounded as a poultice to cure
rattlesnake bite or any snake bite. Bearskin, chief Flambeau medicine
man said that if this root be chewed, it would cause eruptions on
the epithelial lining of the mouth. They consider it a very potent
remedy. The Pillager Ojibwe call it “gîneˈbîg odjiˈ bîk” [snake root]
and make a root tea that is used to cure fevers of various kinds.
Eclectic practitioners have accredited it with active aromatic, bitter
principles. They have used it in intermittent fevers, sore throat,
erysipelas and cutaneous affections. It has been also used for St.
Vitus dance and other nervous affections.
URTICACEAE (NETTLE FAMILY)
=Hop= (_Humulus lupulus_ L.), “jiwîˈcgoniˈbûg”. The Pillager Ojibwe use
the common hop to make a tea which acts like saleratus on the system,
increasing the excresence of urine and reducing its acidity. It is
official in the U. S. pharmacopoeia as a tonic, diuretic, sedative and
somewhat anaphrodisiac.
=Wood Nettle= (_Laportea canadensis_ [L.] Gaud.), “masaˈnatîk” [forest
wood]. The Pillager Ojibwe use the root to make a medicinal tea for
its diuretic properties. It is said to cure various urinary ailments.
Eclectic practitioners have considered it tonic, astringent and
diuretic. They use both roots and leaves. The seeds and flowers are
given in wine for the ague.
=Slippery Elm= (_Ulmus fulva_ Michx.), “anib”. The Pillager Ojibwe use
the slippery inner bark for sore throat, especially when the throat is
apt to be dry. Slippery Elm is official in the U. S. pharmacopoeia as a
demulcent, emollient and nutritive. It is considered useful internally
for dysentery, diarrhea and bronchitis. Pounded bark for poultices has
been used for boils and inflammations, and in compounding suppositories.
=Lyall’s Nettle= (_Urtica lyallii_ Wats.), “masan” [woods]. The
Flambeau Ojibwe use only the leaves as medicine. These are soaked in
warm water and used as a poultice for heat rashes. It is something like
fighting fire with fire. Among the whites, nettles are known for their
powerful and peculiar diuretic properties.
VIOLACEAE (VIOLET FAMILY)
=Canada Violet= (_Viola canadensis_ L.) Although a common violet in
the territory of the Pillager Ojibwe, they claimed to have no name or
use for it. It was formerly used by eclectic practitioners as a blood
purifier and as a remedy in chronic affections of the lungs, and in
skin diseases, but is no longer used.
=American Dog Violet= (_Viola conspersa_ Reichenb.), “wewaîeˈ bûgûg”.
The whole plant is used by the Flambeau Ojibwe to make a tea for heart
trouble. The whole plants have been used among the whites as alterative
and expectorant remedies. They were said to be useful in skin diseases,
scrofula, syphilis and bronchitis.
VITACEAE (VINE FAMILY)
=River-bank Grape= (_Vitis vulpina_ L.), “ciˈwî mînûn” or “ciwî mînaga
wûnj”, shown in plate 70, fig. 2. The Pillager Ojibwe used a tea of
boiled twigs for women to drink to clear up afterbirth and enable it
to pass easily. They use the sap as a medicine for stomach and bowel
trouble. Among the whites, the tender branchlets and leaves were
sometimes employed for their agreeable acidulous flavor.
OJIBWE VEGETAL FOODS
The Ojibwe have always lived far from the haunts of civilization. They
were too far in the back country to participate in the colonial and
pre-colonial wars. They have always preferred to live where game is
abundant, and even today they are still able to subsist partly on deer
and fish. The products of the hunt were very important to them, and
they possess a very large number of hunting charms, which are roots,
seeds or blossoms that are used as good luck omens or actual lures in
trapping and fishing.
They have always made the greatest use of the edible plants of their
environment, but did not progress very far in an agricultural way
until the last quarter century, when each reservation was furnished
with an Indian or white farmer, preferably an Indian. He has used the
school children to cultivate demonstration farms, and his example
is persisting in some of his former pupils. The older people had
a few simple products from prehistoric days and have not allowed
them to completely run out. The garden patch was always small, and
the caretaker was invariably the woman of the household. Among the
cultivated crops were: Cranberry pole beans, maize or Indian corn,
potatoes of an early variety, squash and tobacco. The last crop has
not been grown by them in fifty years, as they now depend upon the
white men for their source of supply. At the present time, they raise
any of the crops, that the white men raise. In their gardens, one will
find lettuce and onions, radishes, carrots, parsnips, beets, turnips,
cabbage, potatoes of standard varieties, beans and peas, and any other
crop one will find in an up-to-date garden. Stranger still, one may
find garden flowers, and the lady of the house will be quite proud of
them, and usually a little jealous, if her neighbor has some flowers
that she has not.
Some of the wild crops they gather possess considerable commercial
value, such as blueberries and wild rice. The laborious work of
preparing wild rice for table use has boosted the price to $1.05 a
pound, which those “in the know” gladly pay. Blueberries yield a goodly
part of their cash income, for the berries usually sell for about
twenty cents a quart, and it is easy for an Indian family to pick
eighty quarts in a day. They do not pick them like the white man does,
but comb the bushes with their fingers, removing the leaves and twigs
later.
The Ojibwe are fond of their native foods, and since they regard all
plants as the gift of their deities, and sacred to their uses, they
feel that their native foods are medicine to keep them in health as
well as foods. While they know nothing about vitamins or chemical
constituents, they think that there are some salts or minerals in their
native foods that keep them well. We know that they are correct in
that. They ascribe many of their present diseases to the abandonment of
their native foods and the adoption of white men’s foods. They think
that the early failure of their teeth is due to using too much white
flour for bread.
From the middle of July to the middle of September, one will find
the women busily caring for the various food harvests. Maize will be
drying on cloth screens, and blueberries will be drying to tough, inky
pellets. Raspberries and dewberries are cooked into jams, cranberries
are cooked with maple sugar into a jelly, and circles of squash are
strung on a basswood bark string. Men and women are busy at the shallow
lake harvesting wild rice, and all are very active. Sundays they will
stop for a pow-wow or dream dance, but not if it is the wild rice
harvest time. The food plants are listed alphabetically by families.
OJIBWE FOOD PLANTS
ACERACEAE (MAPLE FAMILY)
=Box Elder= (_Acer negundo_ L.), “adjagobiˈ mûk”. The Pillager Ojibwe
collect the sap of the Box Elder and mix it with the sap of the regular
Sugar Maple to drink as a beverage.
=Sugar Maple= (_Acer saccharum_ Marsh.), “înenaˈ tîg” [Indian tree]
and “adjagobiˈ mîn”. Both names came from the Pillager Ojibwe,[127]
and although the trees were scarce on the Flambeau Reservation, they
also call it “înenaˈ tîg”, and gather quantities of the sap somewhere
south of the reservation. Maple sugar is one of their most important
foods and is used in almost every kind of cookery. Maple sap is saved
to drink as it comes from the tree, sometimes with the added sap of
the Box Elder or Yellow Birch. Again it is allowed to become sour to
make a vinegar “cîwaˈbo” used in their cookery of venison, which,
when afterwards sweetened with maple sugar, corresponds to the German
fashion of sweet-sour meat. Before they had the salt of the white
man, maple sugar took its place and still does when they can get it.
All kinds of meats were seasoned with it. There are many interesting
legends about the tree, its discovery and sugar making, as related in
Mr. Alanson Skinner’s “Material Culture of the Menomini”.[128] The
Ojibwe garner their sugar crop much the same way as they did years
ago, except that they have used large iron kettles since the coming of
the white man. The sugar camps are rather permanent affairs, and the
framework of the boiling house with its upright poles around the fire
place to hold the kettles is left intact. A bark-covered wigwam is used
to store the tools of sugar sap gathering, and granulation. Most of
the sap vessels and storage vessels are made of birch bark, sewed with
boiled basswood fiber or the core of the Jack Pine root. The vessels
are rendered waterproof by the application of pitch secured by boiling
Jack Pine cones.
In early April, the Ojibwe visit their camps, the men to repair the
camps and the storage vats of hollowed logs, and to cut fire wood, the
women to see that the sap buckets and mokoks are scrupulously clean and
watertight. If some can not be repaired, rolls of birchbark are there
to make new ones. The whole family then move to the camp and live in
the large wigwam, while they make sugar for a month. During the sap
flow, a man can chop holes and set taps into from two to three hundred
trees in a day. The first flow of sap is the best, and it gets to be
of a rather poor quality by the end of the flow. The Ojibwe will not
use the night flow of the sap, which they say is bitter, so they cease
collecting an hour before dark. Gathered sap is stored in hollowed
basswood log vats, and covered over with birch bark to keep it clean.
Boiling in the iron kettles is done much as the white man does it,
except that foam is dissipated by stirring with a fresh brush of a
spruce branch. The syrup is strained through a cloth and recooked in
two or three quart quantities until it is ready to sugar. Then, while
still warm, it is poured into a wooden trough, where it is pounded
and crushed with a heavy wooden paddle as it hardens. It is stored
in covered birch bark baskets called mokoks, of from twenty-five to
seventy-five pounds capacity. The sugar is graded according to its
whiteness and stored away. Sap is often added to the dregs in the
kettles and a second grade sugar is secured. To waste or spill any of
the sap is considered an affront to their deities, who punish such an
act by causing the sugar to shrink after it is made.
ALISMACEAE (WATER-PLANTAIN FAMILY)
=Arum-leaved Arrowhead= (_Sagittaria arifolia_ Nutt.) “wabasiˈ pîn”
[white potato].[129] Both the Flambeau and the Pillager Ojibwe call
this by the same name and use it exactly alike as far as its food value
is concerned. The Pillager Ojibwe also use it as a medicine for man and
horse. The Flambeau Ojibwe recognize that it is also a favorite food of
ducks and geese. A similar species found in California is used by the
Indians there as a potato under the name “wappate” or “wapatoo”, and
is called by the whites there “Tule root.”[130] The corms are a most
valued food source to the Ojibwe. They will dig them if they cannot
get them more easily. Muskrat and beavers store them in large caches,
which the Indians have learned to recognize and appropriate. It is
difficult to dig them out still attached to the plant, because the
connection between the roots and the corm is so fragile and small. The
round corms are attached by a tiny rootlet to the main mass of fibrous
roots, and are capable of reproducing the plant in a vegetative manner,
just as the Irish Potato does. They are from one-half to an inch and
a half in diameter and about three-quarters to two inches long. They
are pure white inside, sweet and quite starchy. The Indian does not
differentiate between this species and the Broad-leaved Arrowhead. For
winter use, the potato is boiled, then sliced and strung on a piece of
basswood bark fiber and hung up overhead for storage. They also use the
fresh corms, cooking them with deer meat, and maple sugar. Some of the
potatoes are kept over after cooking and the maple sugar is thickened
until they might almost be called candied sweet potatoes.
ANACARDIACEAE (SUMAC FAMILY)
=Smooth Sumac= (_Rhus glabra_ L.), “bakwaˈ nak” [binding tree]. The
Flambeau Ojibwe gather the berries to make a pleasant beverage much
like lemonade. The berries are tart and are sweetened with maple sugar,
soaked in water until required for use. They also gather and dry them
for winter use. The dried berries are cooked in water with maple sugar,
and form a hot drink, instead of a cooling one, as used in the summer
and fall.
=Staghorn Sumac= (_Rhus typhina_ L.), “bakwaˈ natîg” [binding
tree].[131] The Pillager Ojibwe use the berries in the same way as the
Flambeau Ojibwe use this species, and under the same name. They also
store up the dried seed heads for winter use.
ARISTOLOCHIACEAE (BIRTHWORT FAMILY)
=Wild Ginger= (_Asarum canadense_ L. var. _acuminatum_ Ashe), “nameˈ
pîn”, [sturgeon potato].[132] The Pillager Ojibwe often use this root
in cookery to season the food. They claim it takes away any muddy taste
from fish, and will render any meat dish digestible by anyone, even if
they are sick. The roots are processed in lye water for cookery on a
large scale.
ASCLEPIADACEAE (MILKWEED FAMILY)
=Common Milkweed= (_Asclepias syriaca_ L.), “caboˈ sîkûn” [milk],
“înîniwûnj” [indian plant] Flambeau name.[133] The Pillager Ojibwe
eat the fresh flowers and tips of the shoots in soups. They are
usually cooked with some kind of meat and become somewhat mucilaginous
like okra, when cooked. They also gather and dry the flowers for
refreshening in the winter time, to make into soup.
BETULACEAE (BIRCH FAMILY)
=Yellow Birch= (_Betula lutea_ Michx. f.), “wiˈnîsîk”. The Flambeau and
Couderay Ojibwe tap the Yellow Birch for sap to add to maple sap for a
pleasant beverage drink.
=Hazelnut= (_Corylus americana_ Walt.), “mûkwobagaˈ nak” [bear
nut].[134] The Flambeau Indians use the hazel nut as a food and are
especially fond of the newly gathered nuts before the kernel has
hardened. The name is often shortened to “bagaˈ nak”.
=Beaked Hazelnut= (_Corylus rostrata_ Ait.), “baˈ ganaˈ mîc” [nut
tree]. The Pillager Ojibwe also use the Beaked Hazelnut. The Flambeau
Ojibwe also recognize it as “bagaˈ nak” [nut] and use it as a food.
CAPRIFOLIACEAE (HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY)
=Nannyberry= (_Viburnum lentago_ L.), “atîteˈ tamîn”.[135] The berries
are eaten when ripe, fresh from the bush, and are also used in jam with
wild grapes.
CELASTRACEAE (STAFF TREE FAMILY)
=Climbing Bittersweet= (_Celastrus scandens_ L.), “manîdobîmaˈ kwît”
[spirit twisted].[136] The Pillager Ojibwe story of this plant is
practically the same as that of the Menomini, as given in Museum
bulletin Vol. IV, No. 1, pp. 63-64. Bittersweet is fairly abundant
around Leech Lake, and is found in dense hardwood forests climbing to
tops of trees thirty feet or more in height. When food is unobtainable
in the winter, because the snow is too deep and game is scarce, the
Ojibwe gather this bark and separate the inner bark to make a thick
soup for a meal. While it is not so very palatable, it is sustaining
and they may subsist on it for a considerable time, until they are able
to get some game, or to go to some relatives and get other foodstuffs.
The Ojibwe name refers as does the Menomini name, to the twisted
intestines of their cultural hero, Winabojo.
COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY)
=Large-leaved Aster= (_Aster macrophyllus_ L.), “mêgêsiˈ bûg”, [eagle
leaf]. The leaves of this aster are eaten when young and tender. The
Flambeau Ojibwe declare that they are fine-flavored and good to eat,
because they act as medicine at the same time that they are food. Among
the Pillager Ojibwe they use the root of this same aster as a soup
material, but call it “nêmêgosiˈ bûg” [trout leaf].
=Philadelphia Fleabane= (_Erigeron philadelphicus_ L.), “micao gacan”
[odor of split hoof of doe]. The Pillager Ojibwe say that deer and
cows eat this plant and that they use it in their smoking tobacco or
kinnikinnik mixture.
=Dandelion= (_Taraxacum officinale_ Weber) “wecaˈ waskwûneˈ k” [yellow
light]. The Flambeau Ojibwe gather the young leaves in the spring and
cook them with pork or venison for greens, using vinegar made from
soured maple sap.
CORNACEAE (DOGWOOD FAMILY)
=Panicled Dogwood= (_Cornus paniculata_ L’Her.) “meskwabiˈ mîc” [red
bush]. The Flambeau Ojibwe use this bark in their kinnikinnik or native
smoking tobacco. Sometimes real tobacco is mixed with it and sometimes
not, as real tobacco is expensive. The twig bark is peeled and toasted
over coals on a crude drying fork, then further shredded to carry in
their tobacco pouches and smoke in their pipes.
CRUCIFERAE (MUSTARD FAMILY)
=Large Toothwort= (_Dentaria maxima_ Nutt.), “mûkwopîniˈk” [bear
potato]. The rootstocks of this cress are very abundant in wet, springy
ground in the forest. The white man can only identify this plant in the
spring of the year when the flower and leaf are found, but the Ojibwe
knows the root and where it grows so gathers it when it has matured.
It is a favored wild potato, but has a very pungent acrid taste when
freshly dug. They heap the mass of cleaned roots upon a blanket and
cover it closely to exclude the air for four or five days. During this
time the roots ferment and lose the acrid taste, becoming sweet and
palatable. The Ojibwe cook them with corn and deer meat, or with beans
and deer meat, and say that, besides being a fine food, they are a good
medicine for the stomach.
CUCURBITACEAE (GOURD FAMILY)
=Cucumber= (_Cucumis sativus_ L.), “eckaˈdamîn” [its name]. The Ojibwe
use their cucumbers raw, but sometimes flavor them with a vinegar
“cîwaˈbo” made from souring maple sap. They are further flavored with
powdered maple sugar.
=Ojibwe Squash= (_Cucurbita maxima_ Duchesne), “ogwîˈssi maun owaso
kwoneˈk” [pumpkin, yellow light]. Their word “ogwissimaun” literally
means “tangled hairs”, and refers to the strings inside upon which
the seeds are borne. The Flambeau Ojibwe cultivate their own variety
of squash, although they say that they got it originally from the
Iroquois. They dry rings of squash for winter use.