Since earliest times, plants have played a major role in human survival.  Peoples such as the Hopewell relied heavily on plants for food, medicine, clothing and shelter.  Native plants were also important to the survival and well-being of early settlers from other continents.  Wild grapes were collected for their sweetness and juice, wild onions for seasoning and beech  nuts for an emergency food.  Young common milkweed was eaten as an asparagus, black willow was a remedy for pain and sassafras was made into a soothing tea.

Today, wild growing native plants are not an important source of food for most Ohioans.  However, many people continue to have an intense interest in wild plants and their uses.  Knowing how the American Indians and others used a plant provides us with a better understanding of the value of biological diversity and of our natural environment, as well as our rich cultural history.

Below are selected species of edible plants found at Mound City.  Common names are in bold type with its scientific name in italics.  Click on the thumbnail to see a larger illustration; however, the file is large and may take some time to load.

DISCLAIMER: THIS PAGE IS NOT A PRESCRIPTOR.  IT IS SIMPLY A LIST OF NATIVE PLANTS ALONG WITH THEIR HISTORICAL USES.  USE THIS LIST TO IDENTIFY THE PLANTS ACCURATELY AS SIMILAR LOOKING PLANTS MAY BE DANGEROUS.

Lambs Quarters/Goosefoot (Chenopodium sp.)
Edible Uses: A cousin to spinach, young plants and very young leaves of older plants are eaten as greens or when freshly picked, added to salads.  The seeds, ground into a dark meal, make a flour for cakes and gruel or boiled until soft to make a nourishing cereal.  
Medicinal Uses:  High in Vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin, leaves of lambs quarters have been used to prevent scurvy.  Leaves are also used for stomachaches and as a poultice for burns.  Cold leaf tea is taken for diarrhea.

Cleavers (Galium aparine)
Warning!  Juices of this plant may cause dermatitis (skin rash)!

Medicinal Uses:  Leaves are applied as a poultice to reduce swelling.  As an herbal tea it is used as a diuretic, to reduce fevers, for bladder and kidney inflammations (kidney stones), and as a "blood purifier."

Grape (Vitis sp.)
Edible Uses:  Grapes are used to make a light tea, wine, and vinegar.  Cut vines may be used as a water source during periods of drought.
Medicinal Uses:  Tea made from the leaf is used for diarrhea, hepatitis and stomachaches.  A poultice of wilted leaves may be used for sore breasts and external cuts.

Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)
Warning!  Fruit is edible but other parts of this plant are poisonous!
Edible Uses: The fruit may be eaten raw after it is ripened by frost, but not everyone enjoys the flavor.  Ripened fruit is cooked into jam or jelly.
Medicinal Uses:   Externally, mayapple is used as a treatment for warts and skin eruptions.  Internally, a very small amount of root may be used as a cathartic (Laxative), a worm expellant, for jaundice, constipation, hepatitis, fever and syphilis.

Nodding Wild Onion (Allium cermuun)
Edible Uses: This plant is cooked or steamed as a vegetable or added to soups, stews and eggs.
Medicinal Uses: Very high in vitamin A, nodding wild onions are used for colds, colic, croup and fever.  A poultice of the plant may be applied to the chest for respiratory ailments or rubbed over the body as an insect repellant.

Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana)

Warning! Mature green leaves and stems are poisonous!

Edible Uses:  Pokeweed is an important source of food for wildlife.  When used as a food source for humans, it should be boiled and the water changed at least three times.  Very young sprouts are simmered and lightly salted to be eaten like asparagus.

Medicinal Uses: A berry tea is brewed for rheumatism, arthritis and dysentery.  A root poultice may be applied for rheumatism, neuralgic pain and bruises.  Leaf poultice is a treatment for pimples and blackheads.

Smartweed/Knotweed (Polygonum sp.)
Edible Uses: High in nutritional value, this tasty tuber-like root can be roasted or boiled.  Very young tender leaves are cooked to be eaten as a vegetable or used to enhance soups or eaten in salads.  Old hollow roots are prepared in a way we would prepare domestic rhubarb.

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)
Warning! Pollen or plant may cause an allergic reaction!
Edible Uses: Sunflower seeds are crushed and boiled to extract a light oil.  Seeds are also roasted in the shell to make coffee or ground into a meal for cereal or flour.
Medicinal Uses: A tea made from the flowers is used as a treatment for lung ailments and malaria.  Leaf tea is drank for high fevers.  The astringent quality of the leaf tea makes it useful as a poultice for snake bites and spider bites.

Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Edible Uses: All parts of this plant (leaves, stem and blossoms) make a refreshing tea.
Medicinal Uses: Leaf tea is used as an antiseptic or drank for colic, flatulence, colds, fevers, stomachaches, nosebleeds, insomnia and heart trouble.

Wild Ginger (Asarum canadensis)
Edible Uses: The root, fresh or dried, is used as a cooking spice.  Sliced, dried, and ground, the root also makes a rich, sugary syrup and confection.
Medicinal Uses: Root tea is drank for whooping cough, flatulency, indigestion, fevers, colds and heart conditions, or used to promote sweating.  Teas are also drank as an expectorant.

Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)
Edible Uses: Fresh fruit may be used on shortcakes, in tarts, as a sauce, and cooked into jellies, jams and preserves.  Pressed and dried fruit supplemented the winter diet.  Brewed stems, stocks and leaves of the plant make a tasty hot tea or cold drink.
Medicinal Uses: High in vitamin C, this unusually nutritious fruit prepared as a syrup, infusion or decoction is thought to be useful for fevers, "gravel" (kidney stones), gout, scurvy and consumption.

Wood Sorrel (Oxalis stricta)
Edible Uses: These edible greens are collected and added to salads or steeped for a cold, sour drink.
Medicinal Uses: Rich in vitamin C, sorrel is chewed for nausea and mouth sores.  Fresh leaves are useful as a poultice or drank as a tea for urinary infections, scurvy and sore throats.

NATIVE TREES

Written by HOCU Biological Technician Constance Jones
Line drawings by Steve Patrick, Chillicothe, Ohio.  Adapted from A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and Central North America by Lee Allen Peterson.
 

References

Bennett, James P. and Jennifer E. J. Course.  1996.  The Vascular Flora of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Ross County, Ohio.  Madison: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Institute for Environmental Studies.

Erichson, Charlotte Brown.  1979.  Medicinal and Other Uses of North American Plants.  New York: Dover Publications, Inc.

Foster, Steven and James A. Duke.  1990.  A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants: Eastern and Central North America.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Peterson, Lee Allen.  1977.  A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and Central North America.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.