Medicine

Plantain

As medicine

The leaves of the plantain plant are made into a poultice as a painkiller for cuts and bruises and the above ground part of the plant is made into a tea to soothe burns. A leaf that is large enough to cover a cut is used. Fresh leaves are preferred because Ruth said,

When you dry them in the winter, they will [turn to] powder. But you can also make a poultice out of that and do the same thing.

Ruth added,

English

Larkspur

As medicine
The whole larkspur plant, purple in color, is used to make a tea for washing people's hair when they have lice. The whole plant from the ground up is chopped and made into a tea.
Source: Andre, Alestine, Nan t'aih nakwits'inahtsìh (The Land Gives Us Strength) (2006)   
 
English

Fireweed - tall

As food
The pink flowers of the fireweed plant are edible and can be mixed in with jello and salads. In the spring, the new shoots can be cooked like asparagus, chopped and eaten as greens, or mixed in with salads.
 
As medicine
The whole plant can be boiled and the liquid rubbed on the skin for rashes. A poultice is made from the leaves and applied to burns, bee stings, aches and swelling caused by arthritis.
English

Fireweed - dwarf

As medicine
The leaves of the tall fireweed and dwarf fireweed are chewed and applied to bee stings and bites.
Source: Andre, Alestine, Nan t'aih nakwits'inahtsìh (The Land Gives Us Strength) (2006)   
English

Dock

As medicine
The leaves or the roots of the dock plant are used to make a tea to wash skin ailments. Ruth Welsh said,
Dock is…used for making...a poultice...out of the root and [applied]...on sores that won't heal.
Ruth Welsh said Mrs. Annie Henry from the Yukon would make a tea out of the roots of this plant to bathe rashes or open sores.
Source: Andre, Alestine, Nan t'aih nakwits'inahtsìh (The Land Gives Us Strength) (2006)   
English

Coltsfoot

As medicine
Two species of coltsfoot (Petasites frigidus and P. palmatus) plants are in the Gwich’in Settlement Area. They are used as a steam to treat chest conditions such as asthma, congested chest conditions or colds. Ruth Welsh said,

... [when] your child has a cold... [and] you want something to steam in the child's room to break the congestion and help them sleep, this is one of the plants that we used for that purpose.

English

Chamomile

     As medicine

The chamomile plant is used as a relaxant tea. The tea is boiled for only a few minutes and then left to steep. Ruth Welsh said,

English

Horsetail

As medicine
The leaves and stems can be steamed for nasal congestion, colds and stomach ailments.
As food
The root tubercles, or dazho zhii (translated from Teetł'it means “mouse food”) can be eaten raw.
As pot cleaner 
The coarse green stems can be gathered and used to scrub pots and clean dishes.
Source: Andre, Alestine and Alan Fehr, Gwich'in Ethnobotany, 2nd ed. (2002)
English

Yellowberry

For food
The white flowers come out in June and the berries which resemble orange raspberries, are ready to pick in late July when they are soft and plump. Along with blueberries and cranberries, yellowberries are a favourite in the area. People usually eat them right away, or save them for a special occasion or to give away as a gift. In the old days people stored yellowberries in birch bark baskets under the moss, where the permafrost kept them from spoiling and, in winter, from freezing too hard.
English

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