BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, DECEMBER 31, 1979 VoL. 27, No. 10 
THE ETHNOBOTANY OF 
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS 
OF WESTERN MONTANA 
JEFFREY A. HART 
INTRODUCTION 
Little thorough ethnobotanical research has been done with the 
Flathead Indians. This paper brings together information from 
the research of Malouf (1971), Stubbs (1966), Teit (1930) and 
Turney-High (1937), but more importantly uses as the main 
sources of its information living Flathead Indians whom | inter- 
viewed in the summer and fall of 1973 on the Flathead Indian 
Reservation in western Montana. As only the oldest tribal 
members remember native plants, their uses, names and cultural 
significance, time is running out to record this valuable informa- 
tion. 
This paper has as its purpose the examination of some 110 
species of plants used by the Flathead Indians, including descrip- 
tions of the methods used in collection, preparation and utiliza- 
tion for food, medicine, technology and religion, as well as 
phonetic descriptions of the Indian names for the plants. 
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS 
The Flathead Indians occupy the southern half of the Flathead 
Indian Reservation in western Montana. They are members of 
the Salishan-speaking language group and are closely related to 
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