National Historical Park National Park Service Nez Perce U.S. Department of the Interior

NEZ PERCE PLANT USES

Illtlerrool {Uwlsia rcdhiva Purili)

THE FOOD GATHERING CYCLE years. This is an area of Food was gathered in differ­ low elevation river valleys, ent areas as the year pro­ fertile prairies, and forest­ gressed. Plants were gath­ ed mountains. Fish were ered at lower elevations in abundant in the many rivers. the spring, then in mountains Elk, deer, moose, mountain as the snow melted. Much of sheep, and smaller animals the food was dried for use were plentiful. Various during the winter. Food was roots, berries, and other always shared with others. plants provided food, medi­ There would usually be a cine, and materials used in "first foods" feast at the daily Nez Perce life. Usual­ first salmon catch or root or ly, men did the hunting and berry harvest of the year, to The Nez Perce have lived in fishing, while women gathered give thanks and ensure a con­ north-central Idaho and near- roots and berries, prepared tinued abundance. hy parts of Washington and the food, and took care of Oregon for thousands of camp 1i fe.

ROOT FOODS Wild carrot (Daucus pusillus) This member of the 1ily was also an important root. family was dug from late July It was dug during June and through September in mountain July. It was eaten raw or meadows and prairies, a dried, or ground and made digging stick ("tookas") of into a porridge or finger fire hardened wood with an cakes. Yampa (Perideridia .antler handle was used to pry gairdneri.) was dug from late up this deep-growing bulb June through August. Its from the ground. The black smooth brown-skinned bulbs outer covering of the bulb have a sweet carroty flavor. was removed. Then the white They were eaten raw or bulb was washed and baked in cooked. After boiling or an earthen pit for two or steaming, bulbs were seasoned three days. When baked, the with fat and eaten. Cooked bulb turned brown and tasted bulbs were also ground into a similar to sweet potatoes. mash and shaped into shell - The baked bulb could then be like cups, then sun-dried. dried whole or ground into a They were eaten dried or meal for porridge or for cooked as a cereal. shaping into loaves. Roots were a mainstay of the Nez Perce diet. One of the Hitterroot {Lewi si a redivia) first roots to be gathered on was often obtained through hillsides in late March and trade, as it grows mostly in early April was wild potato the mountains of Montana and (Lomatium canbyi). It was Oregon. It was dug in May boiled with the skin on, then during the flowering season, peeled and eaten fresh. In when the black outer covering spring and summer, kouse of the white roots was (Lomatium, cous), one of the easiest to remove. It was more important roots, was sun-dried for storage. After gathered. It was eaten raw, boiling 15-30 minutes, which dried whole, or cooked. It was supposed to remove the was also ground into a meal bitter taste, it was served and made into small finger plain or seasoned with fat cakes or larger bricks, then and berries. dried. When dry, it tasted similar to stale biscuits and Probably the most important was also known as biscuit- root was the blue-flowered root. camas (Cjjnassja c|uajuajli). Cimtl (Cainaiiia i/uamaili |Punli| Greene) BERRIES blue huckleberries (Vaccinium open areas, golden currant membranaceuin) were also yery (Ribes aureum) and other cur­ popular and were gathered in rants that were gathered in the mountains in late July to August and September, red September. They were eaten sweet gooseberries (Ribes fresh, or dried and later oxvacanthoides) and purple boiled. sour gooseberries (Ribes inerme) which were gathered blackberries (Rubus ursiniis), in August. blackcap raspberries (Rubies nival is). and red raspberries berries that were only eaten (Rilbus idaeus) were eaten fresh included strawberries fresh, or dried when abun­ (fragaria sp.), salmonberries dant. The shiny red to black (Rubus spec tabilis), and A I.....U W,.J„„.I, thimbleberrios (Rubui parvi- Str.lr. Hurt' fruits of the chokecherry (Prunus vi mini ana L. var. florus). Rosehips (Riisj sp.) Probably tlie most Important demissa) were gathered in were occasionally gathered. berry was the serviceberry late September. They were (Amelanchier alnifolia) which eaten fresh, dried, or ground was eaten fresh, dried, mixed and then shaped into cakes or with roots, or made into balls which were then dried. small cakes and sun-dried. Blue elderberries (Sambucus The purple to black berries cerulea) were gathered in were gathered in July from late August and early Septem­ shrubs along river banks or ber in moist areas throughout on the prairies. If service- the region. berries were scarce, black hawthorn (Crataegus doug- berries that were eaten fresh lasii) or red hawthorn or dried included the red (Crataegus columbjana) were berry of the fireberry gathered in May and June and (Vaccinium scoparium) that used in the same way. was found in the mountains in ELDERBERRY

OTHER PLANT FOODS Various other foods played and washed. If was cooked a part in the Nez Perce diet. overnight with camas in an Several kinds of mushrooms eat then pit, becoming gelatin were boiled or fried. Sun­ 1 ike. Then it was ground flower seeds were gathered, into a meal and dried. The roasted, ground and formed meal was boiled into a-mush, into balls with added ren­ and rendered fat, ground dered fat. Pine nuts from camas, or berries were added long-needled pines were to make a dish called roasted and eaten. Wild hon­ "ho'pop". ey and the jellied sap of the tamarack (Larix occidentalis) The yound tender stems of were used as sweeteners. In arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsa- the spring, the sweet, tender morhiza sagittata), wild inner bark of the ponderosa celery (Lomatium grayi), elk pine (Pious ponderosa) was thistle (Cirsium scariosum), gathered in" strips and eaten and cow parsnip (lleracleum as a treat. 1 ana turn) were also peeled and eaten 1 ike celery in the Dark brown pine tree lichen spring. (Aleectoria jubata) was gath­ ered, the needles removed,

USES Of PLANTS TODAY Camas, kouse, and bitterroot has been plowed up, trampled are still used today. Huck­ by grazing livestock, or leberries are now the most affected by pesticides. popular berry, although ser- viceberries and elderberries Today, plant foods serve as a are still occasionally gath­ 1 ink with the past and are ered. No'pop is still used part of the proud heritage of by some people. the Nez Perce.

In the past, plants were a necessary part of everyday life. Today, other foods are WARNING: Do not try to easier to obtain and the old duplicate the use of these foods are used mainly for plants as individual aller­ special occasions. The gic reactions or your mis- plants are also not as abun­ identification of a plant dant as they once were be­ may prove fatal. cause much of their habitat