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The Ethnobotany of the Miami Tribe: Traditional plant use from historical texts A thesis submitted to the Miami University Honors Program in partial fulfillment of the requirements for University Honors By Brian C. King May, 2003 Oxford, Ohio i ABSTRACT THE ETHNOBOTANY OF THE MIAMI TRIBE: TRADITIONAL PLANT USE FROM HISTORICAL TEXTS by Brian C. King The purpose of this research project was to organize and clarify information found in historical documents pertaining to traditional Miami plant knowledge. It serves as a field guide to plants used as foods and drinks, industrially (fibers, building materials, dyes, etc.), medicinally and ceremonially. Plant references were extracted from the larger language documents. Botanical identities were clarified by comparing the species range to that of the Miami Tribe. Uses mentioned in the text were compared to other uses found reported in the literature. Botanical descriptions and illustrations are included to aid in identification of the plants. Preparations are also included, where applicable. A total of 86 plants are included in this guide, 49 of which had a documented Miami use. Of these, 29 were used as a food or drink, 17 were used industrially, and 8 were used either medicinally or cerimonially. ii iii The Ethnobotany of the Miami Tribe: Traditional plant use from historical texts by Brian C. King Approved by: ____________________________, Advisor / Reader Dr. Michael A. Vincent ____________________________, Advisor / Reader Mr. Daryl W. Baldwin ____________________________, Reader Dr. Kimberly E. Medley Accepted by: ____________________________, Director, University Honors Program iv v Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people and organizations, without whom this project would not have been possible. Thanks to my two advisors, Dr. Mike Vincent and Daryl Baldwin. Dr. Vincent is the curator of the Willard Sherman Turrell Herbarium at Miami University in Oxford Ohio. His knowledge of the local flora was an invaluable tool while clarifying the botanical identity of the more difficult plants. Mr. Baldwin is the director of the Myaamia Project at Miami University, and was instrumental in initiating this project. He acted as my connection to the tribe, and taught me about the Miami culture as well as helping with the plant information. Thanks to Dr. Kim Medley, who was part of my Honors committee, along with Dr. Vincent and Mr. Baldwin. I’d also like to thank Mike Gonella, who is a graduate student in Botany at Miami University. His research in ethnobotany will bring a new level of depth to the information supplied by the historical sources. Thanks to Dustin Olds, the land manager for the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, who showed me and Mike around the Miami tribal lands while we were collecting specimens. Also thanks to Dr. David Costa at U.C., Berkeley. The work by Dr. Costa, Mr. Baldwin, and others on Miami language has provided the basis for this project and the Myaamia Language Project in general. Thank you to Dr. Noel Holmgren, the illustrators of the Illustrated Companion to Gleason and Cronquist’s Manual and the New York Botanical Garden Press for their permission to reproduce the drawings presented in this thesis. Thanks to Miami University and the Undergraduate Summer Scholars program for supporting this and other projects related to preservation of Miami cultural information. And of course, thank you to the Miami Tribe. I hope this project helps you maintain a strong cultural identity. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page . i Abstract . ii Approval Page . iv Acknowledgements . vi Miami History . 1 Introduction to This Guide . 3 Catalog of Plants . .6 General Miami Plant Terms . .154 Glossary of Botanical Terms . 155 Harvesting Calendar . .157 Miami Language Sources . .161 Other References . 163 Plants Used by the Miami as Food or Drink by Scientific name . .165 by Common name . 166 by Miami name . 167 Plants Used by the Miami Industrially by Scientific name . .168 by Common name . 168 by Miami name . 169 Plants Used by the Miami Medicinally or Ceremonially by Scientific name . 170 by Common name . 170 by Miami name . 170 Plants Used by Other Groups as Food or Drink by Scientific name . .171 by Common name . .173 by Miami name . 175 Plants Used by Other Groups Industrially by Scientific name . .177 by Common name . 178 by Miami name . 179 vii Plants Used by Other Groups Medicinally or Ceremonially by Scientific name . .180 by Common name . 181 by Miami name . 182 Index of Plants by Scientific name . .183 by Common name . 185 by Miami name . 187 viii 1 Miami History The Miami lived along timbered river valleys in what are now eastern Illinois, Indiana and western Ohio. They shared many linguistic and cultural traits with neighboring Algonquian tribes. The Miami belong to the Central Algonquian linguistic family, and are closely related to the Illinois. They lived in the transition zone of the Eastern forest and prairie, and grew crops as well as hunting large game like deer and buffalo. The Miami were allied with the French during the French and Indian Wars, from 1689 to 1783. Unfortunately, a century of struggling to protect their homelands in combination with introduced diseases and alcohol all drastically reduced the Miami population by the mid 1700s. Still, they joined their former adversary the British to fight the American rebel colonists during the American Revolution from 1775 to 1783. Before and after the Americans won the war, more settlers were arriving in Indian territories west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Miami and other tribes resisted this westward expansion. To protect the settlers and control the land, President George Washington ordered an army be sent to Fort Washington, what is now Cincinnati, on the Ohio River. These soldiers fought the Miami and their neighboring tribes the Chippewa (Ojibwa), Ottawa, Potawatomi, Delaware, Shawnee and Illinois from 1790 to 1794 in what is known as Little Turtle’s War, or the Miami War. Miami leader Little Turtle led the military confederation to stop the American from trespassing on their land. The tribes were successful in winning several key battles. However, Little Turtle realized that they would eventually be overwhelmed by the American soldiers. He pushed for a peace agreement in 1794, but many warriors wanted to continue the resistance against European encroachment. Soon after, the confederation suffered a crushing blow at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. In 1795, the chiefs of the Indian alliance (including Little Turtle) signed the Treaty of Fort Greenville, which ceded much of the Ohio lands to the American government, although the tribes were able to reserve other lands further west. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the Miami lost most of their lands through the treaty making process. The U.S. Government then persuaded the Miami to accept relocation west by the terms of the 1840 treaty. In 1846, approximately 300 Miami were relocated to a reservation in Kansas, while several Miami families were exempt from the removal and allowed to remain in Indiana. The 2 Indiana Miami, as they were known, would organize themselves and be included in subsequent treaties, which laid the foundation for them to assert tribal status. However, by 1897 a US attorney general ended that status, and the Indiana Miami today have been unable to establish a government-to-government relationship with the U.S. federal government. For those who were forced to relocate to Kansas, they would soon find themselves relocated again to northeastern Oklahoma. Despite the continual forced relocations and loss of lands, the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma has been able to maintain its sovereign status with the US Government. The land base of both groups was eventually allotted to families, but by 1930, most of that land had been lost to land speculators and tax sales at one point both communities would find themselves landless as a nation. Some Indiana Miami chose to move west to Oklahoma, while many remained in the homeland of Indiana. In 1992, the total enrollment of the Miami Nation of Indiana was variably reported to be from 5,000 to 6,000, with about 2,500 residing in Indiana. The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma toady claims approximately 3,000 members. Unfortunately, a century of relocation and boarding school education erased parts of the cultural memory of the tribe. The language was in some cases prohibited, and by the middle of the twentieth century, it had fallen out of use. However, the tribe is making an effort to perpetuate its cultural identity among their children through a variety of language and cultural programs that continue today. A recent effort that directly benefits cultural preservation for the Miami Nation is the Myaamia Project, which was established at Miami University during the summer of 2001. Its mission is to assist the Miami Tribe in efforts to preserve, promote and research Miami Nation history, culture and language. The project is a true collaboration between the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio.. In 2002, the tribe and university signed an agreement to establish a central repository for Miami Indian linguistic and cultural resources at Miami University. It will include items such as records, photographs, maps, tribal records, and other related objects. 3 Introduction to this Guide Removals, boarding schools and deliberate attempts to eradicate language and culture made it difficult to maintain traditional beliefs, values and knowledge. Because the Miami Tribe’s culture is ecologically based, some of the traditional knowledge of the environment began to fade away. This work is intended to assist the Miami in preserving and in some cases regain traditional botanical knowledge. The primary sources for this are a number of extent records of Miami-Illinois language that were compiled from the late seventeenth century until the early 1960s.

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