Ethnobotany of the Ojibwe Indians

by Huron H. Smith

ERICACEAE (HEATH FAMILY)

Bog Rosemary (Andromeda glaucophylla Link.), “bîneˈ mîkci” [swamp]. Young, tender leaves and tips of this plant are used by the Flambeau Ojibwe to boil for a beverage tea. While they often pick and use it fresh on the hunting trail, they also gather and dry it for later use. It is not a bad substitute for “store tea.”

Leather Leaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata [L.] Moench.), “wabackîkiˈ bûg” [rabbit leaf]. This is another beverage tea leaf, prized by the Flambeau Ojibwe. It is used on the trail or dried and saved for future use. The Pillager Ojibwe also use it in the same manner, under the name,—“mackiˈ gobûgons” [little swamp leaf].

Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens L.), “wînîsiˈ bûgûd” [dirty leaf], shown in [plate 75], fig. 2. While the Flambeau Ojibwe use this as a rheumatic medicine, they also use the leaf tea from the youngest, tenderest leaves as a beverage tea, and especially favor it because it “makes them feel good”. They also eat the wintergreen berry which they call “owînîsiˈ mîn”.

Labrador Tea (Ledum groenlandicum Oeder.), “waboskîkiˈ bûg” [rabbit leaf], shown in [plate 76], fig. 2. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the tender leaves of this plant for a beverage tea, and will even eat the leaves in the tea. It is a well known tea to many northern and Canadian Indians.

Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos L.), “mûckiˈ mîn” [swamp berry] shown in [plate 67], fig. 2. This is an important wild food of the Flambeau Indians and also of the Pillager Ojibwe, who use a slightly different pronunciation, “mûckîtciˈ mîn” [swamp berry]. The train men that go through that reservation never seem to tire of getting Johnnie Frog to say “cranberry pie” for them in Ojibwe. It sounds so complicated because they really have no word for pie in their language but must say, “swamp berries made into sauce rolled between bread”,—“mûckiˈ gimînûn backiˈ mînasîgûn wiwegidaˈsîgûn”.

Blueberry (Vaccinium pennsylvanicum Lam.), “mînûn” [berries]. The Flambeau and the Pillager Ojibwe harvest quantities of blueberries both for themselves and to sell. They dry them in large quantities on raised scaffolds of rush mats, like currants, or raisins, which they somewhat resemble. In the winter, they like to cook them with dried sweet corn, sweetened with maple sugar. They also cook them with wild rice, and venison and make a sweet bread with them. They have different names for different varieties of blueberries. The Low Blueberry (V. vacillans Kalm.) is called “gimîneˈsît” while the low Black Blueberry (V. nigrum [Wood] Britton) is called “makateˈ mîn” [black blueberry]. No specimens of the last two were secured, but the names were common among the Ojibwe.

FAGACEAE (BEECH FAMILY)

Beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) “gaweˈmîc”. All the Ojibwe know and appreciate the sweet nuts of the beech tree. They are never plentiful enough to store for winter, but the Indians like them fresh.

White Oak (Quercus alba L.), “mîciˈ mîn” [oak berry]. All Ojibwe encountered told of their former dependence upon acorns for their soup stock. It seems that at least every Algonkian tribe knew and used all species of acorns. They got rid of the bitter tannin taste by soaking the acorns in hot lye. Wood ashes in water, when boiled gave them the lye. A regular woven bark bag held a quantity of acorns and the lye was leached out by washing the whole bagful in several changes of warm water. The acorns were then dried for storage, and when wanted, pounded and ground to a coarse flour which was used to thicken soups or form a sort of mush. Blueberries were often cooked with this mush to give it a good flavor and it was seasoned with maple sugar. White Oak acorns needed no lye treatment.

Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa Michx.), “mîtîgoˈ mîc” [wooden tree]. Bur Oak acorns are bitter, but yield to the lye treatment to become as edible as the acorns of the White Oak.

Red Oak (Quercus rubra L.), “mîtîgoˈ mîc” [wooden tree]. Because Red Oak was so abundant in the Ojibwe territory and so large in size, the acorns were one of their most important starchy foods. They leached the tannic acid flavor with lye and brought them to a par with the sweet acorns of White Oak.

Black Oak (Quercus velutina Lam.) “têˈ komîn”. The name is evidently an abbreviation of “mêtîgoˈ mîn”, but probably an intentional one for this tree was always referred to by the abbreviation. Its acorns were equally good as others when the tannin was extracted.

FUNGI

The writer found that none of the Ojibwe eat any of the mushrooms although they have two names for them,—“pîkwaˈ djîc” and “wajackweˈ do” [muskrat]. Probably some remote ancestor had a fatal experience with mushrooms and the news has been handed down. Although the Ojibwe have fanciful stories explaining why they use certain plants, no doubt their knowledge came by a process of trial and error through the centuries and the errors have been duly buried but not entirely forgotten.

GRAMINAE (GRASS FAMILY)

Corn (Zea mays L.), “mandaˈ mîn”. Corn is a traditional heritage of the Ojibwe, although none knew a time when they did not have it. Their origin myth is that it was a pinch of flesh taken from the side of their culture hero, Winabojo, by himself and cast upon the ground, to grow and become corn for them. This is the same as acknowledging that they do not know how it came to be here. When mandamin matures, they say that only horses can eat it raw in that condition. They have to soak it in lye water, wash out the lye and then parboil it to prepare it for the table. This is the same as our hominy. Scientists think now that corn originated in Mexico from an accidental crossing of teosinte and gama grass. While the Ojibwe cultivate and grow the approved strains of corn for Wisconsin, they also cling to their own “calico” corn, with all sorts of colors of grains on different cobs. They have two names for sweet corn,—“wîckobiˈ mandaˈmîn” [sweet maize], and “wîckobiˈ sîˈganûg” [turns sweet in cooking]. Their sweet or soft corns are different from those used by the white man. They roast the ears in the husk and make it into hominy as the white man does. They cut the kernels from their sweet corn and dry them for winter use. It is also boiled in a kettle, and when half-cooked, is cut from the cob and dried for winter use.

They had a name for popcorn, but the writer saw none of it while around them.

Wild Rice (Zizania palustris L.), “manoˈ mîn” [good berry]. The Ojibwe word is their pronunciation of the Menomini term for wild rice. Most Algonkians have the same word for wild rice and it forms a very important part of their food. The writer has often been present at the Ojibwe rice harvests. The largest operation seen was that of the Ojibwe at Mole Lake in Forest County, Wisconsin. There about twenty families were working at one time and the writer worked at each operation to become familiar with it. Wild rice preparation is the hardest kind of labor, and they earn all they get for it when they sell it. It sells in Milwaukee for $1.05 a pound, but one can buy it from the Indians at $.25 to $.35 a pound. One man reaped 1325 pounds of rice in the harvest time. The Menomini Rice Harvest group in the Public Museum exhibition halls, shows very well most features of the operation.

Various families have definite parts of the lake for their share, while others travel to small lakes and stay there until the harvest is complete. They set up a family camp, while the grain is still in the milk stage and wait for it to ripen. When this time arrives, having made experimental collections to determine it, they make a ceremonial gathering. Three to a canoe, two women and a man go to the rice beds and gather sufficient rice for a preliminary feast. With a hooked stick, held in a crescent by a string, the women pull the rice over the canoe and beat off the kernels with a stick, into the canoe bed. Sometimes, when the Indians do not want to waste any of the rice, they will go into the beds before it is ripe and tie several heads together to ripen in that manner. The first collection is prepared complete, with songs to their deities and a ceremonial feast is observed. After that all hands fall to in earnest and gather unremittingly until all the rice is harvested.

When the canoe is partly loaded, they pole back to camp, to prepare it. Wild rice grows in a mucky soil which may be quite deep. Ten foot poles, with a wide fork to secure a hold on the grass, are used to propel the canoe through the rice. On the return trip when loaded, the women trample the rice to break off the spiny beards or awns. The next step is roasting or parching. A wash tub is tilted against a large back log and a fire maintained under it. To keep the rice from burning, one must use a forty inch paddle and stir constantly for about three hours. The roasting destroys any weevils that might be present, gives the rice a pleasant flavor, loosens the husks or glumes and hardens the rice so it may be kept indefinitely.

In earlier times, a hole was dug into the ground and carefully lined with buckskin. Nowadays a candy bucket is sunk into the hole. This is the threshing floor. A man with new moccasins steps in to trample and thresh it.[138] He has a couple of poles, slanting near the hole, and supported on a tree with which he balances, while trampling the rice. He gives a circular, twisting pressure to the rice with his feet to grind off the husks. Then the chaff is winnowed away by a woman as shown in the present series, Vol. IV, plate 29, fig. 2. A large shallow birchbark tray is shaken up and down by the woman as she stands in a breeze. If there is no wind, the chaff accumulates on top and is pushed over the edge from time to time. After the winnowing, the rice is washed to clean it of foreign matter and of the smoky flavor of parching. It is then dried and ready to use or store. Wild rice swells more than cultivated rice in cooking. It is often moistened with six times its bulk in water. The kernels are about six times as long as thick and in cooking the ends curl backward to meet in the center, thus differing from Oryza sativa, the white man’s rice. The proper way to cook it Indian fashion is with deer broth and season with maple sugar. Wild rice cooked with wild fowl takes away the muddy or wild taste and is highly prized by those whites who know its qualities.

HYDROPHYLLACEAE (WATERLEAF FAMILY)

Virginia Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum L.), “nebîneˈnanikweˈîag”[139] [having hair on only one side]. The Pillager Ojibwe use the root as a feed for ponies to make them fatten rapidly.

JUGLANDACEAE (WALNUT FAMILY)

Shell-bark Hickory (Carya ovata [Mill.] K. Koch.), “bagaˈ nakoˈ bagan”. Hickory trees are scarce in the north, but the Ojibwe appreciate the edible nuts.

Butternut (Juglans cinerea L.), “bagaˈ nag”. Butternut is plentiful in the north and in most Ojibwe territory, while the Black Walnut is not to be found. They use the nuts for food and the hulls for dye.