Montana Plants & Native Americans

Montnana Plants & Native Americans

Since the beginning of the human race mankind has depended on the natural resources in their environment for survival. They utilized the available flora to nourish their body, heal their wounds, comfort their ailments and to create products to ease their daily lives. Many of the same plants utilized thousands of years ago by the indigenous people have been integrated into modern day medicines. The scientific interest and knowledge of plants for nourishment, healing, and practical uses is called ethnobotany.

The multiple use of plants used for nourishment, medicinal purposes and practical use were ignored by Lewis and Clark during their monumental trek across the United States. Rather than consider the Native Indian’s use of native plants they persisted on using Dr. Rush’s Thunderbolt pills that probably caused more problems than the condition that inflicted them. Many modern day cultures continue to ignore native remedies and have come to depend on synthetic pharmaceutical drug production. In recent years the wealth of indigenous knowledge has been acknowledged revealing the use of native plants and the importance it had in the survival of indigenous people.. Pharmaceutical companies have utilized the immense knowledge of the indigenous people and their use of natural plants. The application of natural plant species have revealed the main reasons mankind has survived into present day. Following is a few of the plants, their application and their specific purposes.

Kinnikinnick Arctroaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng.

Common Name: Bearberry

This plant has a variety of names through out Montana. This plant grows in poor soil composing mostly of sand or gravel and is commonly found near Ponderosa Pine trees. Kinnikinnick and Bearberry are the most commonly used names in western society. The word kinnikinnick meaning that which is mixed, is derived from the Algonkian Indian’s language. Other versions came from western hunters who called it larb, Canadian traders called it sacacommis or sagack-homi, and the Europeans called it bearberry.

The American Indians mixed Kinninninnick leaves with tobacco to lessen the strength and add flavor to their strong tasting tobacco. Flathead Indian, John Pelkoe, explained “... hung them up in a sweat house. When the heat dries the leaves you just take it out in the open and then just squeeze them. You can them mix it with any kind of tobacco. It gives it good flavor and makes it mild.” The berries of the Kinninnick plant stay on the bush throughout winter and were eaten raw or fried. Kootenia Indians would fry them in a grease until they popped like popcorn .The Flathead Indians dried the leaves and pound it into powder and used it in foods.

The leaves of the kinnikinnick has medicinal properties. Harvesting time is best on a fall morning. The leaves hydroquinones and are a strong antibacterial for urinary tract infections.

Tea made from kinnikinnick was used for kidney, bladder, and chronic cystitis or urethritis. The tea leaves were used as a salve for rashes, skin sores, and a mouthwash for cankers sores. It also was used as an eyewash, and in poultice form an application to treat burns, back pain and rheumatism.

The Kinnikinnick plant is an evergreen shrub that has trailing multi branched woody stems. The bark is scaly and are reddish. The leaves are round at the tip which taper at the base and are one-half inches long. The flowers are a waxy pink and grow in clusters near the previous years branches. The late summer fruit ripen into red berries that are smooth, shiny, and pea sized.

All information on the Kinnikinnick plant were derived from:

Hart, J. Montana Native Plants and Early Peoples. Helena, Montana. Montana Historical Society Press,1992.

Kinnikinnick Arctroaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng.

Common Name: Bearberry

This plant has a variety of names through out Montana. This plant grows in poor soil composing mostly of sand or gravel and is commonly found near Ponderosa Pine trees. Kinnikinnick and Bearberry are the most commonly used names in western society. The word kinnikinnick meaning that which is mixed, is derived from the Algonkian Indian’s language. Other versions came from western hunters who called it larb, Canadian traders called it sacacommis or sagack-homi, and the Europeans called it bearberry.

The American Indians mixed Kinninninnick leaves with tobacco to lessen