USES OF PLANTS BY THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS 



By Frances Densmorb 



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 (pi. 28), 

 covering a hillside, or bordering a quiet lake. There are large tracts 

 of sugar maples and forests of pine, cedar, balsam, and spruce. (PL 



29. ) Many of the lakes contain rice fields, and there are pretty, 

 pebbly streams winding their way among overhanging trees. (PL 



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 



