The Ojibwe also made use of an unidentified fungus matte material, found in the windshake spaces of down timber. This is the matted vegetating mycelium of some timber fungus, such as Fomes, Trametes, Polyporus or Pholiota. This made a good tinder for use in the fire base block, and when the fire stick was rapidly twirled against this material, it caught fire and was blown into a blaze that became the basis of their fire. In all medicine lodge ceremonials, the fire was kindled in this manner and thus deemed a sacred fire. Things cooked over this fire were ceremonial, and the calumet or pipe used in the ceremonies was always lighted from a coal of the sacred fire.
GERANIACEAE (GERANIUM FAMILY)
Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum L.), “oˈ sawaskwîniˈ s” [yellow light].[107] The Pillager Ojibwe use the astringent root for the treatment of flux, and also for healing a sore mouth. Eclectic practitioners have also used it as a mild internal astringent, useful for infants and people who have a delicate stomach, because it is not irritating. It is valuable in serious diarrheas. It has also been used by white men for rectal and vaginal injections to tone up weak muscles.
GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY)
Rattlesnake Grass (Glyceria canadensis [Michx.] Trin.), “anagoneˈ wûck” [fern]. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the roots of this as a female remedy, but it is difficult to understand why they call it a fern. There is no record of its use by white men.
HYDROPHYLLACEAE (WATERLEAF FAMILY)
Virginia Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum L.),[108] “neˈ bîneankweˈ ûk” according to the Pillager Ojibwe White Cloud on Bear Island, Leech Lake, Minnesota, but “anîmûcîdeˈ bîgons” [dog feet medicine], according to John Peper, of the same island. It furnishes a root that may be used to keep flux in check. He states that it is good for man, woman or child. It was used for the same purpose among the Meskwaki Indians, but there is no record of its use by whites.
IRIDACEAE (IRIS FAMILY)
Blue Flag (Iris versicolor L.), “naˈ bûkûck”.[109] The Flambeau Ojibwe use a half inch of the root boiled in water as a quick physic. Under the name “caboˈsîkûn” [milk root], the Pillager Ojibwe use a little piece of the root in boiling water, drinking a tablespoonful and a half as an emetic and physic.
Blue Flag root has been accounted one of the most valuable remedies by the eclectic practitioner. It is alterative, cathartic, sialagogue, vermifuge and diuretic. It has been used in scrofula and syphilis, chronic hepatic, renal and splenitic affections.