USES OF PLANTS BY THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS 
By Frances DensMorn 
INTRODUCTION 
A majority of the plants to be described in this paper were ob- 
tained on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. Specimens 
were also collected on the Red Lake, Cass Lake, Leech Lake, and 
Mille Lac Reservations in Minnesota, the Lac Court Oreilles Reser- 
vation in Wisconsin, and the Manitou Rapids Reserve in Ontario, 
Canada. Many of these were duplicates of plants obtained at White 
Earth but others were peculiar to the locality in which they were 
obtained. 
The White Earth Reservation is located somewhat west of north- 
central Minnesota, on the border of the prairie that extends west- 
ward and forms part of the Great Plains. It also contains the lakes 
and pine forests that characterize northern Minnesota and extend 
into Canada. This produces an unusual variety of vegetation, so 
that the Chippewa living on other reservations are accustomed to 
go or send to White Earth for many of their medicinal herbs. Birch 
trees are found in abundance, either standing in groups (pl. 28), 
covering a hillside, or bordering a quiet lake. There are large tracts 
of sugar maples and forests of pine, cedar, balsam, and spruce. (PI. 
29.) Many of the lakes contain rice fields, and there are pretty, 
pebbly streams winding their way among overhanging trees. (PI. 
30.) Toward the west the prairie is dotted with little lakes or 
ponds, shining like mirrors. In June the air is sweet with wild roses 
and in midsummer the fields are beautiful with red lilies, bluebells, 
and a marvelous variety of color. In autumn the sumac flings its 
scarlet across the landscape and in winter there are miles of white, 
untrodden snow. The northern woodland is a beautiful country, 
and knowing it in all its changing seasons, one can not wonder at the 
poetry that is so inherent a part of Chippewa thought. 
285 
