Herbs For Health

            Plants/Medicines of the Great Lakes Woodlands Region.
             Since the beginning of time the Nishnawbe people have been accessing the plants in the Great Lakes Woodlands region for food and as medicines. As a young boy it was my job to assist my great grandmother in gathering and preparing plants. ( My grandmother raised me and there were no girl children to help her.) It was my job to be her eyes, and do the picking. The plants saved many lives. One winter many people were sick with lung problems. Several families had lost young children. My grandmother and I went out into the back forest and laid down our offering (this was always done we had to acknowledge that we were taking a life). (Elder: John Loukes of Nishnaabi descent 2002).
             Native American people have a remarkable amount of knowledge of the world in which they live. In particular, they know a great deal about plants. American Indians used plants as medicine, as foods, as dyes, and as fibers (for weaving, baskets, building materials, and so on). They found useful purposes for most kinds of plants. Most of the plants used are native to North America, but some are not. Some are plants that were introduced into North America and some perhaps in pre-Columbian times and some certainly thereafter and became naturalized, growing spontaneously. When you hear about plants used as drugs by Native peoples, the first thing people usually ask is, "Do they work?" The short answer is, yes, which means that the medicine has the effect that Native Americans want it to have that it meets their expectations. This essay will only focus on a few of the well-known medicines from the Great Lakes Region in Canada.
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             Cowslip.
             A plant used quite often by the Nishnaabi people. The other name for this plant is the marsh marigold.