Uses of Plants by the Hidatsas of the Northern Plains

1. Plants That Are Eaten

xxxvii editor’s note I have retained Gilbert Wilson’s writing and philosophy throughout . Although some minor editing has been necessary, each account is essentially presented as Wilson recorded it. I have relied on two sources. One is the material in his notebooks, which were transcribed on the spot from comments made by Buffalobird-woman and Wolf Chief and translated by Goodbird. These three were Wilson’s principal Hidatsa consultants. The second source is the transcribed version he prepared for the American Museum of Natural History. Wilson’s notes and copies of the reports he sent to the American Museum of Natural History are currently in the collections of the Minnesota State Historical Society (Gilbert L. and Frederick N. Wilson Papers, vols. 3–38). The Division of Anthropology Archives at the American Museum of Natural History and the Minnesota Historical Society have joint responsibilities for the entire collection, which also includes many drawings and photographs. Wilson’s field notes and his transcriptions vary little, but on occasion I have chosen one or the other because I think it better suits this collection. Alan R. Woolworth has written an outstanding account of both Wilson and his brother, Frederick, in “The Contributions of the Wilsons to the Study of the Hidatsa.” This can be found in Gilman and Schneider’s The Way to Independence (1987: 340–47). For those whose interests in plants extend beyond the material collected from Buffalobird-woman, Kelly Kindscher’s two books, Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie (1987) and Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie (1992), should be consulted. Melvin Gilmore’s clas- xxxviii editor’s note sic Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region was published in 1919 at about the same time that Wilson was finishing his fieldwork at Fort Berthold. Montana Native Plants and Early Peoples by Jeff Hart (1976/1996) discusses many of the same plants encountered by the Hidatsas. All these books are still in print and readily available. Dan Moerman at the University of Michigan has compiled an immense database, Native American Ethnobotany, available at http://herb.umd.umich.edu/ and also published Native American Ethnobotany (1998). For some, but not all, of the plants in the text I have added some prefatory remarks. On occasion, comments are inserted into Wilson’s transcription within brackets. Wilson also added some explanatory notes or issues, and these are usually contained within parentheses and generally followed with his initials, glw. For clarity’s sake, some parenthetical material is unattributed and may be Wilson’s, Buffalobird-woman’s, or Wolf Chief’s. The source indicated after the name of the individual providing the information or anecdote (e.g., Buffalobird-woman [vol. 20, 1916: 184–87]) indicates the Minnesota Historical Society microfilm number of Wilson’s archives. The book is organized according to the use or uses of the plants as described by Buffalobird-woman and Wolf Chief. A plant’s common name is followed by its use or uses in parentheses . The chosen common name and the essential utility of a particular plant are subjective. Common names vary immensely from one part of the country to another, as well as from one user to another. Generally the most frequently used common name is used. Other common names are sometimes provided at the end of each description in the taxonomic section, the organization of which is that used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the online plants database (usda, nrcs 2013; plants Database [usda 1913]). Because Buffalobird-woman and Wilson were sometimes not explicit in the primary uses of some plants, an attempt was made to determine their use. editor’s note xxxix The spellings of Hidatsa words appear as Wilson spelled them. He changed spellings as he learned to better understand the Hidatsa language, so many spelling variations exist in his notes from year to year. Once his fieldwork was done, he did a lot of thinking about how Hidatsa words should be written. During this time he also decided that Maxidiwiac’s name should be written in English as Buffalobird-woman (Cowbird-woman). Although he did use the spelling Buffalobird-woman in Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians (Wilson 1917a), he and various publishers have used a number of other spellings. Also included is a fairly detailed account of gardening and the various plants harvested. Because the most important plants consumed were those grown in the...