EQUISETACEAE (HORSETAIL FAMILY)
Field Horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.) “gîjiˈ bînûsk,” [duck round].[105] The Pillager Ojibwe use the whole plant to make a tea to cure the dropsy. The plant has been used indefinitely chiefly in domestic practice by the whites.
Wood Horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum L.), “sibaˈ mûckûn”. The Pillager Ojibwe use the whole plant to make a tea to cure kidney trouble and dropsy. It has not been much used by the whites, except as a domestic remedy for gravel.
ERICACEAE (HEATH FAMILY)
Bog Rosemary (Andromeda glaucophylla Link.), “bîneˈ mîkci” [swamp partridge berry]. The plant was found on the Flambeau Ojibwe Reservation, but was not used medicinally. Among the whites, it is credited with poisonous properties.
Prince’s Pine (Chimaphila umbellata [L.] Nutt.), “gaˈ gîgeˈbûg” [everlasting leaf].[106] The Flambeau Ojibwe pronounce the name of Prince’s Pine nearly the same as the Menomini Indians, and use it for the same purposes, namely a tea for treating stomach troubles. Chimaphila is official with white men as a tonic and diuretic. It stimulates the mucous membrane of the genito-urinary tract, and has been used in renal dropsy, scrofulous conditions, chronic ulcers and skin lesions. It is employed both internally and as an embrocation.
Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens L.), “wînîsiˈ bûgûd”, [dirty leaves], shown in [plate 75], fig. 2. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the leaves to brew a tea to cure rheumatism and “to make one feel good.” The white man discovered the properties of this plant from the Indians, and originally wintergreen was the chief source of methyl salicylate. Aspirin is synthetically the same thing. Birch twigs were later used as a source and finally it was made from coal tar dye. Like other volatile oils, methyl salicylate was used as an antiseptic, analgesic, carminative and flavoring agent. It was added to liniments for rubbing muscular rheumatism, and similar complaints. Overdoses of the pure oil on the skin produce drowsiness, congestion and delirium.
Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccus L.) “mûckiˈ mînagaˈ wûnj” [swamp berry bush]. A tea for a person who is slightly ill with nausea. White men have used the bitter, astringent leaves in diarrhea and diabetes and for purifying the blood.
Blueberry (Vaccinium pennsylvanicum Lam.), “minûgaˈ wûnj” [berry bush]. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the leaves of this common blueberry for a medicinal tea as a blood purifier. White men have employed it in the same manner.