A Study of Local Plants and their Traditional Uses

A Study of Local Plants and their Traditional Uses Created by Miniota School Students Park West School Division June, 2013

Ethnobotany– the study of plants and how they are used in a traditional manner Plantain is a common plant found across the prairies. It was used as a famine food, to treat stinging nettle rash and to treat bug bites. This is a study of how plants growing in and around Miniota, Manitoba were used traditionally by First Nation peoples. The plants have been sorted in three ways: food, medicine, household uses Each slide was researched and created by one of our students

Curricular Connections Grade Three – Growth and Change in Plants 3-1-16 Identify how humans from various cultures use plant parts for food and medicine 3-1-17 Investigate how humans from various cultures make useful products from plant materials Grade Four – Habitats and Communities 4-1-17 Recognize and appreciate how traditional knowledge contributes to our understanding of plant and animal populations and interactions Grade Five – Maintaining a Healthy Body 5-1-15 Explain how human health may be affected by lifestyle choices and natural and human caused environmental factors

Curricular Connections Grade 11 Biology – Wellness and Homeostasis Increase awareness of personal wellness, as well as personal and family health history. (GLO: B3) B11-1-02: Develop a personal wellness plan. (GLOs: B3, B5) B11-1-03: Recognize how individual wellness choices affect others. (GLOs: B3, B5)

To learn more about plants and their uses, you could: A helpful kit is, Medicines That Help Us by Christi Bellecourt speak to an Elder or Traditional Knowledge Keeper read magazine articles ask someone in your family do research on the internet interview a park naturalist or botanist check out books and encyclopedias

Dandelion leaves and roots are a nutritious food. They also help purify the blood and help indigestion and heartburn. Researching and sharing family herbal remedies is an important link to our past. Ask your parents and grandparents how they used plants when they were younger. You may be surprised by their answers!! The next series of slides will share with you common plants and their uses. See if you recognize any of the plants.

ButtercupFlowers The buttercup flower has yellow shiny petals shaped like an oval. They have green stems and 2 leafs in the stem. The Buttercup flower usually grows 3-4 inches. Medicine Use The First Nation peoples used Buttercup flowers to make a medicine called buttercup syrup. It was used to help with kids’ sore throats. It must be used carefully as it has a toxin in it that can be dangerous. Household Uses They were used as a decoration. Location Buttercups are found all over Canada. In the USA Buttercups are called Coyote’s Eye.

Food Berries were used to make pemmican, mixed with elk, deer meat and fat. They also used chokecherry for juice, pie, jam, jelly, vinegar, and tarts. Medicinal It helps create more blood cells which helps with your low iron. If you take a piece of bark and put it in water and leave it in the sun for a few days, it can be used for pink eye or eye infections. They used the bark for bark tea for diarrhea, lung infections, to cause sweating, as a cough medicine and used to bring down fever. Household items The berries can be used for paints and dyes. They used the branches to make furnitureand baskets. Chokecherry Flowers are white and in long, dense clusters. The fragrant flowers have 5 sepals, 5 petals, and many stamens. Leaves are from 1 to 3 1/2 inches long. The underside of the leaf is somewhat paler than the top of the leaf. The leaves turn bright yellow to orange in the fall. Growth Characteristics the shrub or small tree, grows from, 6 to 25 feet tall. Fruit is dark red to black, fleshy, cherry like. The fruit is, ¼ to ½ inch in diameter.

Round Leaf Hawthorn Physical Facts The round leaved hawthorn is a shrub that has deep green strongly veined, toothed leaves. It has thorns that range from 1-5 inches in length. It produces red berries. Medical Uses • Hawthorn has been use to lower blood pressure. Hawthorn can also strengthen your heart muscle and if you boil and drink it, it will help eliminate toxins from your body. Food uses • The berries can be used for sauces and jams and the leaves can be eaten to reduce hunger pangs. Location • The Round Leaved Hawthorn can be found in Europe, The Middle East and North America

Pennycress The small flowers are white in open clusters. They have 3-4 petals. The leaves are green and long. The plant height varies from 5 – 24 inches. • Medicinal uses • Tea made from the leaves can be used to cure scurvy. Leaves rubbed on the skin can help with rash from poison ivy. The seed pods made into tea are good for the stomach and it kills intestinal worms. It also acts as a blood purifier and It helps reduce fevers. It can be used in the treatment of puss in the lungs. • Food • You can eat the young leaves. They can be eaten raw or cooked and are kind of bitter. Dried leaves contain 54% protein and 1900 mg of vitamin C per 100 g. Pepper can be made from its dried and crushed seed pods.

Poison Ivy Medicinal:It is used primarily to relieve pain caused by skin and muscle disorders. It is also a remedy for sprains and strain and it is given to people experiencing pain from flu or arthritis.The fluid, prepared from the fresh leaves, is mostly given in doses of 5 to 30 drops. In small doses it will calm a person but must be given with care as it may cause an upset stomach, drowsiness and dizziness.It has been recommended for when you have trouble urinating. A mixture of the bark of the root and boiling water will help.Household:the oil in poison ivy causes a horrible rash and so could be used as a weapon during conflicts. Poison Ivy is a short, ground plant that has 3 leaves with a waxy coating. The leaves can range from a reddish colour to bright green.

Prickly Rose Household Item: The prickly rose dried fruit was used on powwow regalia before the use of beads. Medicinal: You can boil the hips to make a paste to stop you from itching. The root can be boiled to make a cure for diarrhea. The petals can be dried, powdered and crushed to help relieve heartburn Food: The hips of the Prickly Rose can be eaten but if you eat to many it can cause Diarrhea. Do not eat the seeds as they cause itchy bum. Theflowers are pink to red and have 5 petals. The leaves appear in leaflets of 3-7, and are toothed. The fruit (called hips)are red with many seeds. The branches and stems have thorns.

Saskatoon berry Food uses: people eat Saskatoon berries because they are sweet and tasty.They are used to make pies, crisps, tea, jams, jelly, juice Medicinal uses: Teas made of the inner bark and roots were used to help diarrhea, dysentery, and upset stomachs. They are a purple color with green leaves and a pinky color of branches. They often grow in bunches and very rarely will there ever be one or to in a bunch. They grow to be over 15 feet. House uses: The wood of the bush itself was weighty and flexible and useful in arrows and other tools, basket frames and cross pieces for canoes. Location: The Saskatoon grows in the Canadian Prairies, Northern Canada, British Columbia, the Northwest and central United States and Alaska

Silverberry Household: You can use the seeds and berries for beads. The bark can be used for strong rope or turned into baskets. The berries can be used for soap and the flowers can be used for perfumes or massage oils. Medicinal: The bark mixed with grease was used to treat frost bite. Food: The berries were cooked in grease, peeled and eaten like candy. The berries were also cooked into soup. Description Silverberry flower petals are silver on the outside and yellow on the inside. The berry is silvery green and has a large hard seed. The branches are a rusty color with long silvery green leaves. It is also known as the wolf willow and silver buffalo berry.

Swamp Birch Medicinal Uses: The branches were used to make a tea to help headaches and it also eased rheumatism and stomach cramps. Household uses: the swamp birch was used to make furniture and canoes. Food:Inner bark was used to make a powder for cereals and to make bread. Location: It is found in wetland forests. Size: 40-70' tall and 35-35' wide.The height is 4m (13ft) the leaves are 2-3cm (0.8-1.2in).

Scouring Rush Medicinal Uses: It can be used as a medicine for kidney and bladder stones, weight loss, hair loss, gout, frostbite, fluid retention, urinary tract infections, incontinence, and used on the skin to promote healing wounds. Household uses: Its outer coating is covered in a sandy substance so it can be used to clean metal or polish wood. Scouring rush is also called Horsetail, Snake grass and Candock. The plant can grow 2-5 feet tall. It is long, thin, segmented with vertical ribs along the stem. It lives in the majority of Canada and USA in wet, sandy soil.

Food: Many people ate them fresh or used in jams or jellies. The cherries were also used in small cakes and breads, while the dried fruits were taken as hunting food. Medicine: The bark was used for cough medicines. A bark tea was also used to treat blood poisoning.It was also used to treat sore eyes and stomach pains. Household: The bark was also used in basketry, especially in British Columbia where they would soak it in a red or black dye. Pin Cherry A small, deciduous tree with a height of 15 - 50 feet tall and about one foot in diameter. The red berries look like a sphere and hang by a stem.They grow well in open areas such as fields and in dry soils.

Medicine: People take the smooth wild strawberry for a wide range of conditions including diarrhea, yellowed skin jaundice, pain and swelling, fever, night sweats, and “tired blood” anemia Food: The berries are sweet and can be eaten on their own or used to make juice, jam, jelly, or added to other food. Smooth Wild Strawberry There are two kinds of wild strawberries in Manitoba. American wild strawberry is the most common in the southwestern 1/3 of the province growing in moist grassland and forest habitats. The smooth wild strawberry is more often found in drier sites with well drained sandy soils but both strawberries are common throughout Manitoba.

Western Snowberry Medicine The fruit have a gently cleansing and healing effect on the skin. The berries kill body parasites and heals wounds. The leaves are used on eyes that are inflamed. Food The branches and leaves are poisonous and will cause vomiting if eaten. It would take large amounts of the fruit to produce toxic symptoms. These symptoms are, vomiting, nausea and abdominal pain. You have to boil the berries before eating. The berries have a bitter taste and are not commonly used until all else fails. The western Snowberry branches are a pale green or light red brown. When it’s older they become grey brown. The leaves are 6cm long. They are thick and have a pale color underneath the leaves. The flowers are in clusters on the plant. They are a pinkish white color. The fruit is a greenish white color and it is in small clusters. In the autumn they turn purple. The fruit is poisonous. This plant is found in dry open woodland, river valleys, hillsides, ravines, and over grazed prairies.

Western Water Horehound Medicine: Western water horehound is used to reduce coughing. It contains oils that help dry the skin. It is also used to stop bleeding from the lungs and a disease called consumption. Food: The roots are edible and can be eaten raw or cooked. Western water-horehound may be found at lower elevations in the valleys in moist soils in marshes and along the shores of rivers, lakes and streams. The leaves are slim, tapering with toothed edges. The stems are covered in hairs and are 20-80 cm in height.

Wild Black Currant The stems are 3 - 5 feet tall. The blades of the leaf are one and a half inches long and across. The petals are up to 3" long, light green, and hairy. Each berry contains a lot of small seeds. The berries that grow on the plant are black with a smooth surface. Greenish yellow flowers grow on this plant. This plant can be found right across Canada. Medicine: Dried leaves are used to treat arthritis, gout, joint pain, diarrhea, and colic. It is also used to treat coughs, colds, and urinary problems. The leaves can be applied directly to wounds and insect bites to soothe them. Food: The berries are edible and high in vitamin C. The berries can be used to make pies and jam. Household: Some people use this plant for perfumes.

Food: Wild Mint is used as a herb and can be eaten raw or added to food for flavouring. Household: Powdered leaves can be sprinkled on berries/drying meat to repel insects. It is very aromatic and can be used to make things smell nice. Medicinal: First Nations made a lotion for a fever and the flu. A tea was made from it to help with diarrhea, cramps and upset stomachs. Wild Mint It can be 20 to 80 cm tall ands it has a green stem, serrated leaves and whitish purplish flowers. Location: Grows in moist areas in plains, foothills, and mountain regions.

Food: • Wild raspberry, leaves were a tasty and nutritious herb. Red raspberry fruits were a common snack. • Some First Nation use wild raspberry as a tea. • Medicine: • The leaves were used to cure upset stomachs, diarrhea, respiratory problems, sore throats and skin problems. • The leaves and roots were used to help with cramps, morning sickness, preventing miscarriages and easing labour and delivery. Wild Raspberry Description Single canes grow up to five feet in height. Canes are covered in small thorns. Red fruit is made up of over one hundred drupelets. The plant can be found across Canada.

Acknowledgements Park West School Division would like to thank Principal Trevor Lewis and the Grade 6, 7 and 8 class from Miniota School for taking on this project and sharing their research with the rest of the division. Cort Dogniez, First Nations and Metis Education Facilitator for leadership and support.

A Study of Local Plants and their Traditional Uses