Part 6

=Small Bedstraw= (_Galium trifidum_ L.), “ojîbweˈ oweˈ cûwûn”, [ojibwe male genitalia]. The Pillager Ojibwe make a medicinal tea of this species for skin diseases such as eczema, ringworm and scrofula. White men undoubtedly use it in much the same way as the preceding species through error in identifying it correctly.

RUTACEAE (RUE FAMILY)

=Prickly Ash= (_Zanthoxylum americanum_ Mill.), “gawaˈ kumîc”,[125] [its name]. Both Flambeau and Pillager Ojibwe make trips further south to get this bark, since none of the trees grow near them. They want it for treating quinsy and sore throat. They say that even the berries are good for a hot tea to treat sore throat, and also to use as a spray on the chest to cool and relieve congestion in bronchitis. Among the white men, it is considered a stimulant, tonic, alterative and sialagogue and is used for chronic rheumatism, colic, syphilis, and hepatic derangements.

SALICACEAE (WILLOW FAMILY)

=Balsam Poplar= (_Populus balsamifera_ L.), “manasaˈ di” [perfume poplar]. The Pillager Ojibwe cook the buds of the Balsam Poplar in lard or bear fat, and use the cold product for a salve on cuts, wounds or bruises. They also rub it on the inside of the nostrils, so that the balsamic odors can course through the respiratory passages and open them in case of congestion from cold, catarrh or bronchitis. Poplar buds are also official with white men who use them as a stimulating expectorant, and in the form of an ointment in treating sluggish ulcers and sores. Eclectic practitioners have used tinctures of the buds for stomach and kidney treatment and in scurvy and rheumatism, and sometimes, apply it to the chest. The bark is used by white men for a tonic and cathartic, of service in gout and rheumatism.

=Large-toothed Aspen= (_Populus grandidentata_ Michx.), “asadi” [bitter bark]. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the young roots of this tree in a tea as a hemostatic. There is no record of its use by the whites.

=Quaking Aspen= (_Populus tremuloides_ Michx.), “asadi” [poplar]. The Flambeau Ojibwe give this tree the same name as the Large-toothed Aspen. They use the bark of a young trunk for poulticing cuts and wounds. The astringent salacin in the inner bark undoubtedly draws the cuts together and causes healing. The Pillager Ojibwe distinguish the tree with a slightly different name, “asadins”, the diminutive of “asadi”, meaning “little poplar”. They use the inner bark for poulticing a sore arm or leg, and make the inner layer of their splints of the inner bark so that a broken limb may heal healthily. Eclectic practitioners use both bark and leaves in treating acute rheumatism, also to lower the temperature in fevers, to relieve pain and reduce arterial swellings, colds, hay fever, influenza, neuralgia and diabetes. Externally the whites have used it as a wash for gangrenous wounds, eczema, cancer, burns, and body odor.

=Crack Willow= (_Salix fragilis_ L.), “sizigoˈ bimîc” [willow name]. 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)