Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide / Edition 1

by Kelly Kindscher

Overview

Long before sunflower seeds became a popular snack food, they were a foodstuff valued by Native Americans. For some 10,000 years, from the end of the Pleistocene to the 1800s, the indigenous peoples of the plains regarded edible native plants, like the sunflower, as an important source of food. Not only did plants provide sustenance during times of scarcity, but they also added variety to what otherwise would have been a monotonous diet of game. Nevertheless, the use of native plants as food sharply declined when white men settled the Great Plains and imposed their own culture with its differing notions of what was fit to eat. Those notions tended to excluded from the accepted diet such plants as soapweed, labsquarter, ground cherry, prairie turnip, and prickly pear. Today it is strange to think of eating chokecherries, which were a key ingredient in that staple of the Indian diet, permmican.

Based on plant lore documented by historical and achaeological evidence, Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie relates how 122 plant species were once used as food by the native and immigrant residents on the prairie. Written for a broad audience of amateur naturalists, botanists, ethnologists, anthropologists, and agronomists, this guide is intended to educate the reader about wild plants as food sources, to synthesize information on the potential use of native flora as new food crops, and to encourage the conservation and cultivation of prairie plants.

By writing about the edible flora of the American prairie Kelly Kindscher has provided us with the first edible plant book devoted to the region that Walt Whitman called "North America's characteristic landscape" and the Willa Cather called "the floor of the sky." In describing how plants were used for food, he has drawn upon information concerning tribes that inhabited the prairie bioregion. As a consequence, his book serves as a handy compendium for readers seeking to learn more about historical uses of plants by Native Americans.

The book is organized into fifty-one chapters arranged alphabetically by scientific name. For those who are interested in finding and identifying the plants, the book provides line drawings, distribution maps, and botanical and habitat descriptions. The ethnobotanical accounts of food use form the major portion of the text, but the reader will also find information on the parts of the plants used, harvesting, propagation (for home gardeners), and the preparation and taste of wild food plants.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700603251
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	07/30/1987
Series:	Kansas and the Region Series
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Kelly Kindscher is professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Kansas and a senior scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey. He is the author of Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide and Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide and coauthor of The Nature of Kansas Lands.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Major Wild Edible Plants of the Prairi

Allium canadense, Wild Onion

Amaranthus blitoides, Prostrate Amaranth

Ambrosia trifida, Giant Ragweed

Amelanchier alnifolia, Serviceberry

Amorpha canescens, Leadplant

Amphicarpaea bracteata, Ground Bean

Apios americana, Hopniss or Groundnut

Asclepias syriaca, Common Milkweed

Astragalus crassicarpus, Groundplum Milkvetch

Atriplex argentea, Saltbush

Callirhoe involucrata, Purple Poppy Mallow

Camassia scilloides, Wild Hyacinth

Ceanothus americanus, New Jersey Tea or Red Root

Chenopodium berlandieri, Lamb’s Quarters

Cirsium undulatum, Wavy-Leafed Thistle

Cleome serrulata, Rocky Mountain Bee Plant

Corylus americana, Hazelnut

Coryphantha vivipara, Pincushion Cactus

Cucurbita foetidissima, Buffalo Gourd

Dalea candida, White Prairie Clover

Erythronium mesochoreum, Midland Fawn Lily

Fragaria virginiana, Wild Strawberry

Glycyrrhiza lepidota, Wild Licorice

Helianthus annuus, Sunflower

Helianthus tuberosus, Tuberous Sunflower or Jerusalem Artichoke

Ipomoea leptophylla, Bush Morning Glory

Iva annua, Marsh Elder

Liatris punctata, Gayfeather

Lomatium foeniculaceum, Prairie Parsley

Monarda fistulosa, Beebalm

Opuntia macrorhiza, Prickly Pear

Oxalis violacea, Violet Wood Sorrel

Pediomelum esculentum, Tipsin or Prairie Turnip

Physalis longifolia, Wild Tomatillo or Ground Cherry

Proboscidea louisianica, Devil’s Claw

Prunus americana, Wild Plum

Prunus virginiana, Chokecherry

Rhus glabra, Smooth Sumac

Ribes aureum, Golden Currant

Rosa arkansana, Wild Rose

Rubus flagellaris, Dewberry

Shepherdia argentea, Buffalo Berry

Stanleya pinnata, Prince’s Plume

Tradescantia occidentalis, Spiderwor

Viola pedatifida, Prairie Violet

Yucca glauca, Yucca or Small Soapweed

Other Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie

Abronia fragrans, Snowball Sand Verbena

Agastache foeniculum, Lavender Hyssop

Androstephium caeruleum, Blue Funnel Lily

Antennaria parviflora, Pussytoes

Argentina anserina, Silverweed Cinquefoil

Artemisia carruthii, Wild Sage

Calochortus gunnisonii, Sego Lily

Chamaesaracha coronopus, Greenleaf Five Eyes

Claytonia virginica, Spring Beauty

Comandra umbellata, Bastard Toadflax

Coreopsis tinctoria, Plains Coreopsis

Cymopterus acaulis, Stemless Indian Parsley

Descurainia pinnata, Tansy Mustard

Dysoddia papposa, Fetid Marigold

Elaeagnus commutata, Silverberry

Ericameria nauseosa, Rabbitbrush or Chimasa

Eriogonum alatum, Winged Buckwheat

Hedeoma drummondii, Drummond’s False Pennyroyal

Heliotropium convolvulaceum, Bindweed Heliotrope

Hoffmannseggia glauca, Indian Rushpea

Hymenopappus filifolius, Fineleaf Hymenopappus

Juniperus virginiana, Red Cedar

Lactuca ludoviciana, Prairie Wild Lettuce

Lathyrus polymorphus, Many-Stemmed Pea

Lepidium virginicum, Virginia Pepperweed

Lespedeza capitata, Roundhead Lespedeza

Lilium philadelphicum, Wood Lily or Prairie Lily

Linum lewisii, Wild Blue Flax

Maianthemum stellatum, Starry False Lily of the Valley

Matelea biflora, Star Milkvine

Mentzelia albicaulis, White-Stem Blazing Star

Mirabilis linearis, Narrow-Leaved Four O’clock

Monolepis nuttalliana, Nuttall’s Poverty Weed

Nothoscordum bivalve, False Garlic

Oenothera biennis, Common Evening Primrose

Orobanche ludoviciana, Cancer Root

Pectis angustifolia, Lemonscent or Limoncillo

Plantago patagonica, Woolly Plantain

Polanisia dodecandra, Clammy Weed

Polygonum erectum, Knotweed

Portulaca oleracea, Purslane

Pycnanthemum virginianum, Slender Mountain Mint

Quincula lobata, Chinese Lantern

Ratibida columnifera, Prairie Coneflower

Rumex venosus, Winged Dock

Silphium perfoliatum, Cup Plant

Solanum triflorum, Cutleaf Nightshade

Solidago missouriensis, Goldenrod

Sophora nutalliana, Silky Sophora

Sphaeralcea coccinea, Scarlet Globe Mallow

Strophostyles helvola, Trailing Wild Bean

Symphoricarpos occidentalis, Wolfberry or Western Snowberry

Thelesperma megapotamicum, Greenthread or Cota

Vicia americana, American Vetch

Xanthium strumarium, Cocklebur

The Grasses (Poaceae)

Achnatherum hymenoides, Indian Ricegrass

Bouteloua gracilis, Blue Grama

Distichlis spicata, Inland Saltgrass

Echinochloa muricata, Barnyard Grass

Elymus canadensis, Canada Wild Rye

Eragrostis pectinacea, Lovegrass

Hordeum pusillum, Little Barley

Koeleria pyramidata, Junegrass

Muhlenbergia asperifolia, Muhly

Panicum capillare, Panic Grass

Phalaris caroliniana, Maygrass or Carolina Canary Grass

Poa fendleriana, Bluegrass

Setaria leucopila, Foxtail

Sporobolus airoides, Alkali Sacaton

Tripsacum dactyloides, Eastern Gama Grass

Vulpia octoflora, Six Weeks Fescue

Appendix: Table of Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie

Literature Cited

Index

Editorial Reviews

"Whether you simply like prairie plants, want to diversify your diet, plan to recreate Grandma’s plum jam, or are a scholar comparing tribal uses, this book is an invaluable reference."—Great Plains Quarterly

"This book is semi-popular in nature, containing much information useful to the professional yet accessible to the non-specialist as well."—Journal of Ethnobiology

"A fascinating and readable book, which will please a wide audience from historians and anthropologists to amateur naturalists, botanists and the home gardener."—Missouri Prairie Journal

"Unique and important. . . . A definitive contribution to the study of wild edible plants and American Indian ethnobotany."—E. Barrie Kavasch, author of Native Harvests: Recipes and Botanicals of the American Indian

From the Publisher

This reference book covering 122 plant species is the result of an 80-day walk across Kansas and eastern Colorado. A general discussion of the Prairie Bioregion precedes individual descriptions which include common, American Indian, and scientific names and what they mean. Also included are a formal description, discussion of food uses, and cultivation information. The food use information is gleaned from an extensive list of references, spiced with the author's own experience in preparing and eating these foods. This is the first book on edible plants of the region and should be a valuable reference for botanical, regional and North American Indian lore collections. Drawings not seen. Katharine Galloway Garstka, Intergraph Corp., Huntsville, Ala.

Library Journal