Ethnobotany of the Ojibwe Indians 17

Ethnobotany of the Ojibwe Indians 17

Hemlock= (_Tsuga canadensis_ [L.] Carr.), “gagagiˈ wîc”. The Flambeau

Ojibwe use the leaves of Hemlock to make a beverage tea. This sort

of tea is oftentimes used by the Indian Medicine man to carry his

medicaments and disguise the fact that the patient is taking medicine.

 

 

POLYPODIACEAE (FERN FAMILY)

 

=Brake= (_Pteris aquilina_ L.), “ana ˈganûck” [general fern name]. The

Flambeau Ojibwe are fond of young fern sprouts as a soup material. The

young fern tips, with coiled fronds, are about like asparagus tips,

only not stringy with fibrovascular bundles like asparagus. The tips

are thrown into hot water for an hour to rid them of ants, then put

into soup stock and thickened with flour. The flavor resembles wild

rice. Hunters are very careful to live wholly upon this when stalking

does in the spring. The doe feeds upon the fronds and the hunter does

also, so that his breath does not betray his presence. He claims to be

able to approach within twenty feet without disturbing the deer, from

which distance he can easily make a fatal shot with his bow and arrow.

After killing the deer, the hunter will eat whatever strikes his fancy.

 

 

RANUNCULACEAE (CROWFOOT FAMILY)

 

=Marsh Marigold= (_Caltha palustris_ L.), “o ˈgîteˈ bûg”. The Flambeau

Ojibwe use the leaves as a green to cook with pork in the springtime.

 

 

ROSACEAE (ROSE FAMILY)

 

=Smooth Juneberry= (_Amelanchier laevis_ Wiegand), “gozîgagoˈ mînûn”

[thorny berry]. According to John Whitefeather, Flambeau Ojibwe,

this is the name of the Juneberry, while Charley Burns on the same

reservation called it “bîsegaˈ gwomîn”. Both knew it only as a food,

although some tribes use the bark as a medicine. Juneberries were also

dried for winter use, the Indians often preferring them to blueberries.

The Pillager Ojibwe also use them as a food and use the bark as a

medicine.

 

=Red Haw Apple= (_Crataegus_ sp.), “mînesagaˈ wûnj”. The Pillager

Ojibwe use the haw apples as a food in the fall of the year.

 

=Wild Strawberry= (_Fragaria virginiana_ Duchesne), “odeˈ imîn” [heart

berry]. Both Flambeau and Pillager Ojibwe have the same name for the

Wild Strawberry, and call it the heart berry from its shape and color.

They are very fond of it in season and make preserves of it for winter

use.

 

=Wild Plum= (_Prunus nigra_ Ait.), “bûgeˈ sanatîg”. The Pillager Ojibwe

find quantities of the Wild Plum in thickets and gather it for food and

for preserves.

 

=Pin Cherry= (_Prunus pennsylvanica_ L.f.), “baeˈ wimînûn”. The Pin

Cherry is abundant around the Flambeau Reservation and the Ojibwe are

fond of it. It is an education in itself to see a group of Ojibwe women

working on mats with a supply of fruit laden branches beside them.

With one hand they will start a stream of berries into the mouth and

the stream of cherry stones ejected from the other corner of the mouth

seems ceaseless. The Pillager Ojibwe also have the tree and use it in

the same manner.

 

=Sand Cherry= (_Prunus pumila_ L.), “sewaˈkomîn”. The Flambeau Ojibwe

find plenty of this species on sandy openings in the forest, and gather

the fruit for food.

 

=Wild Cherry= (_Prunus serotina_ Ehrh.), “okweˈ mîn” [worm from egg

of a fly]. The Flambeau Ojibwe prefer this cherry to all other wild

cherries, and dry it for winter use. Some of them also make whiskey

from the ripe cherries.

 

=Choke Cherry= (_Prunus virginiana_ L.), “saweˈ mîn”. Although the

fruit of this cherry is sufficiently acrid to be unsatisfactory to the

whites as a food, the Pillager Ojibwe like it, especially after the

fruit has been frosted.

 

=High Bush Blackberry= (_Rubus allegheniensis_ Porter), “odatagaˈ

gomîc” [blackberry stem].[142] The Flambeau Ojibwe relish the

Blackberry and also the Dewberry (_Rubus villosus_ Ait.) although we

found no specimen nor distinctive name for it. They make a jam of the

berries for winter use.

 

=Red Raspberry= (_Rubus idaeus_ L. var. _aculaetissimus_ [C. A. Mey.]

Regel & Tiling) “meskwaˈ mîn” [red berry]. This is a favorite fresh

fruit of the Flambeau Ojibwe and is also used for making jams for

winter use.

 

 

SALICACEAE (WILLOW FAMILY)

 

=Large-toothed Aspen= (_Populus grandidentata_ Michx.), “asadiˈ”

[bitter bark]. The Ojibwe scrape the cambium layer to obtain a food

which is boiled and is something like eggs. They also scrape the

cambium of several other trees for food.

 

 

SAXIFRAGACEAE (SAXIFRAGE FAMILY)

 

=Prickly Gooseberry= (_Ribes cynosbati_ L.), “meˈ skwacaboˈ mînûk” [red

berries with thorns]. The Flambeau Ojibwe relish these berries when

ripe and make them into preserves for winter use.

 

=Wild Black Currant= (_Ribes americanum_ Mill.), “amîˈkomîn” [beaver

berries], shown in plate 70, fig. 1. The Pillager Ojibwe eat these

berries fresh, in jams, and preserves and dry them for winter. In the

winter, a favorite dish is wild currants cooked with sweet corn. The

Flambeau Indians use them in a like manner, but call them “kagagîtciˈ

mîn” [raven berries].

 

=Wild Red Currant= (_Ribes triste_ Pall.), “mîcitciˈ mînûk”. The

Flambeau Ojibwe gather these currants and use them as they do the Wild

Black Currants.

 

=Smooth Gooseberry= (_Ribes oxyacanthoides_ L.), “caboˈ mînûk” [smooth

berry]. The Flambeau Ojibwe gather this berry for fresh food, and also

make it into preserves for winter use. It is often cooked with sweet

corn.

 

 

SOLANACEAE (NIGHTSHADE FAMILY)

 

=Ojibwe Potato= (_Solanum tuberosum_ L.), “opîn” [potato].[143] The

Ojibwe have cultivated this early potato, according to their traditions

since aboriginal times, and it surely looks primitive enough. It is

round in circumference, about two or three inches long, has purplish

flesh, and never cooks to a mealy consistency. It is much prized for

soups and is always firm and crisp when cooked. White Cloud’s potato

patch on Bear Island, Leech Lake, Minnesota, is shown in plate 58, fig.

1.

 

 

URTICACEAE (NETTLE FAMILY)

 

=Hop= (_Humulus lupulus_ L.) “jiˈwîciniˈ goniˈ bûg”. The Pillager

Ojibwe often use the hop fruit as a substitute for baking soda.

 

 

VITACEAE (VINE FAMILY)

 

=Virginia Creeper= (_Psedera quinquefolia_ [L.] Greene), “manîdoˈ

bimakwît” [spirit twisted]. The Pillager Ojibwe say that the root of

this vine was cooked and eaten a long time ago by their people and that

it had been given as a special food by Winabojo.

 

=River-bank Grape= (_Vitis vulpina_ L.), “cîˈ wimînûn”. The Pillager

Ojibwe use these grapes after they have been frosted, and make them

into jelly for winter use.

 

 

 

 

OJIBWE VEGETAL FIBERS

 

 

The Ojibwe Indians have always been far removed from the beaten paths

of the white men, and for this reason make good use of their native

plant materials. Oft times, it seems to the white man that they bestow

considerable labor, upon making cord, string, mats, baskets and similar

articles that might as easily be purchased at a store. But money is not

plentiful, and many of the things that can be purchased have inferior

lasting qualities. Disgust for a poor substitute, pride in their own

resourcefulness, and the habit of centuries has kept them constantly

proving that they are the master of their environment and continuing to

make their products in the good old Ojibwe way.

 

Outside of yarn sashes, they have not woven textiles for a long time.

Perhaps the last of their textile work is in storage bags made from

nettle fiber or basswood string. Cedar bark fiber was used long ago for

some coarse textiles but not within the past century.

 

Their bark wigwams are quite comfortable and probably more Ojibwe live

in these native houses, shown in plate 46, fig. 2, and plate 58, fig.

2, than in frame houses. Certainly they use more of these than any

other Wisconsin tribe. The mats for the benches or beds at the outer

rim of the wigwam, or for the floor inside, are skillfully made. They

can make their wigwams wind and waterproof with sewed cat-tail mats

and birch bark, as shown in plate 46, fig. 2, and can even live very

comfortably in their wigwams in sub-zero temperatures.

 

There are several agency schools scattered about the reservations,

where the children may go to school, and happily the teachers usually

encourage the children to learn their own Indian arts. The schools are

really boarding schools, where the children stay continuously for nine

months, being completely clothed by the Indian service. Sometimes boys

and girls will escape and run home to hide, but the disciplinarian and

Indian policeman usually ferret them out and bring them back, or else

seize the father and hold him in jail until the scholar is produced

again. Indian children are taught more of the useful arts and household

arts than are the white children, but also have access to a college

education through their university or normal schools.

 

Under the head of vegetal fibers, we also consider their uses of

forest trees, since these are so closely related. As before, the plant

families are listed alphabetically, and descriptions of uses are made

along the same lines as in the preceding divisions of this bulletin.