Names

Shoshone:

English: American Bistort

Scientific: Polygonum bistortoides

Zone

Alpine

Harvest Time

• Spring and early summer

Primary Uses

• Root: eaten fried, or in stews

Secondary Uses

• Cure for scurvy
• Roots: wound dressing

Cautions

• None Listed

Active Principle(s)

• None listed

Video Description of Plant

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Notes

Medicinal Uses

• Abrasion: Root poultice
• Antibacterial: Mashed roots
• Anti-inflammatory: Mashed roots
• Bleeding: Mashed roots to stop bleeding
• Burns: Mashed roots applied to burns
• Diarrhea: Roots eaten as food
• Healing: Root poultice applied to all wounds
• Hemorrhoids: Roots eaten as food
• Infection: Root poultice
• Intestinal Health: Roots eaten for parasites
• Liver: Roots eaten for jaundice
• Rash: Root poultice
• Stings: Root poultice
• Ulcers: Roots
• Vitamin C: Plants with roots
• Wounds: astringent

General Notes:

• Good food and medicine
• Astringent

Process Prep:

• Cook roots as food
• Mash roots as medicine

Names

Shoshone: ay.fee.by.hy.d

English: Alpine Bluebells

Scientific: Mertensia alpina

Zone

Alpine

Harvest Time

• Spring

Primary Uses

• Gut health: flowers eaten as pre-biotics

Secondary Uses

• Immune booster

Cautions

• May cause some nausea till you get accustomed

Active Principle(s)

• glucopoly-saccharides
• Vitamins C, B, A

Video Description of Plant

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Notes

Medicinal Uses:

• Abrasion: Crushed leaves and poultice
• Antibacterial: Mashed leaves in poultice
• Vitamin C: Food

Process Prep

• Raw or cooked as food

Names

Shoshone:

English: Moss Campion

Scientific: Silene acaulis

Zone

Alpine

Harvest Time

• Early summer

Primary Uses

• Flowers Edible; sweet

Secondary Uses

• None listed

Cautions

• None listed

Active Principle(s)

• None listed

Video Description of Plant

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Notes

Names

Shoshone:

English: Alpine Sedges

Scientific: Carex sp.

Zone

Alpine

Harvest Time

• All parts edible, depends on plant’s stage

Primary Uses

• None Listed

Secondary Uses

• None Listed

Cautions

• None Listed

Active Principle(s)

• None Listed

Video Description of Plant

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Notes

Food Notes

• All parts edible, depending on plant’s stage

Names

Shoshone:

English: Mountain Sorrel

Scientific: oxyria

Zone

Alpine

Harvest Time

• Before flowering
• Early summer

Primary Uses

• Lemon/citrus flavor
• High in Vitamin C and A

Secondary Uses

• To flavor bland foods

Cautions

• May trigger kidney inflammation if prone to problems w/ oxalates
• Limit intake due to oxalates

Active Principle(s)

• oxalates

Video Description of Plant

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Notes

Medicinal Uses

• Abrasion: Crushed leaves on sores and injured skin
• Cancer: Leaf poultice for skin cancer
• Diarrhea: Tea
• Fever: Leaf tea
• Healing: Leaves applied to wounds
• Infection: Leaf poultice soothing to wounds
• Itching: Leaf poultice
• Rash: Plant infusion
• Skin: Mashed plants used on any skin problem
• Stings: Mashed leaf poultice
• Stomach: Leaf tea for stomach problems
• Swelling: Leaf poultice
• Ulcers: Leaf tea
• Vitamin C: Leaf tea or cooked as food

General Notes

• Treatment for scurvy
• Itch medicine

Names

Shoshone:

English: Compass Flower

Scientific: Hymenoxis grandiflora

Zone

Alpine

Harvest Time

• Not Specified

Primary Uses

• Compass, because faces east

Secondary Uses

• None Specified

Cautions

• Not edible

Active Principle(s)

• None Listed

Video Description of Plant

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Notes

Names

Shoshone: doo.ay.fee.boe.goe

English: Thin Leafed Huckleberry

Scientific: Vaccinium membrenaceum

Zone

Subalpine

Harvest Time

• Mid to late summer

Primary Uses

• Berries: Purple
• Has proanthocyanidins for cardiovascular health

Secondary Uses

• Old People’s Medicine

Cautions

• None listed

Active Principle(s)

• None listed

Video Description of Plant

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Notes

Medicinal Uses

• Diarrhea: leaf tea
• Eyes: Leaf and berry tea as eye medicine and to prevent blindness
• Heart: Dried leaf and berry tea to strengthen the heart
• Vitamin C: Dried leaf and berry tea

General Notes

• Dried leaves and berries were a standard good-tasting tea

Names

Shoshone:

English: Grouse Whortleberry

Scientific: Vaccinium scoparium

Zone

Subalpine

Harvest Time

• Mid to late summer

Primary Uses

• Berries: In pemican and goatsup tiny and red
• Leaves high in proanthocyanidin

Secondary Uses

• Leaves: eye medicine
• Old people’s medicine

Cautions

• None Listed

Active Principle(s)

• None Listed

Video Description of Plant

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Notes

Medicinal Uses

• Diarrhea: Leaf tea
• Eyes: Leaf and berry tea as eye medicine
• Old People’s Medicine: Leaf tea to prevent blindness (macular degeneration)
• Vitamin C: Leaf, berry tea

Names

Shoshone: day.wah.pee

English: Whitebark Pine

Scientific: Pinus albicaulis

Zone

Subalpine

Harvest Time

• Any time

Primary Uses

• Nuts favored by Mtn. Shoshone and Grizzly

Secondary Uses

• Inner Bark as emergency survival food

Cautions

• Very sticky to harvest

Active Principle(s)

• None Listed

Video Description of Plant

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Notes

Medicinal Uses

• Burns: Pitch made into a salve with animal fat
• Congestion: Pitch swallowed as an expectorant
• Fever: inner bark boiled as a tea
• Immune: Pitch (boosts local immune response)
• Infection: “sunopee” bandage made of pitch
• Lungs: Inner Bark tea as a decongestant
• Old People’s Medicine: Pitch salve for rheumatic joints
• Pain: Pitch salve used on achy joints
• Pneumonia: Pitch swallowed as an expectorant
• Rash: Pitch salve
• Stings: Pitch mixed with tobacco for bees, wasps, scorpions
• Stomach: Pitch for upset stomach
• Urinary Tract infection: pitch swallowed
• Vitamin C: needle tea
• Wounds: Bandage made of pitch “sunopee”

Processing

• Use fire to release Nut from the cone

Names

Shoshone: bah.soo

English: Subalpine Fir & Englemann Spruce

Scientific: Abies bifolia & Picea engelmannii

Zone

Subalpine

Harvest Time

• Anytime
• Branch tips – June

Primary Uses

• Tea from fir needles, for sickness prevention

Secondary Uses

• Use Sap for bandage sealant

Cautions

• None Listed

Active Principle(s)

• Pro Antho Cyanidins in tips
• Complete protein in nuts

Video Description of Plant

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Notes

Process Prep

• Boil branches – 20 minutes

General Notes

• Wintertime tea for general health

Medicinal Uses

• Anti-inflammatory – tea of needles
• Chest Cold – Inner bark boiled for tea
• Congestion – pitch swallowed as an expectorant
• Fever – tea of boiled branches and needles
• Immune system – pitch (topical)
• Infection – pitch w/ animal fat makes an antimicrobial bandage
• Lungs- tea of needles
• Old People’s Medicine- Pitch salve for rheumatic joints
• Pain-pitch salve used on achy joints
• Rash-pitch salve
• Vitamin C-needle tea
• Wounds- bondage made of pitch