Plants Displayed in First Peoples
Utah Century Plant, Agave utahensis Fiber: (Navajo) Fibers used to make blankets.
Central Prickly Pear Cactus, Opuntia polycantha Drug: (Navajo) Plant used as a poison for hunting. Food: (Goshute) Joints roasted in hot coals and eaten. (Paiute) Flesh peeled and eaten roasted or uncooked and fresh. Dye: (Navajo) Fruit used to dye wool pink. Dead, rope fruits used to make a cardinal dye. Other: (Navajo) Juice used to adhere buckskin cuttings and trimmings to the buckskin war shirt.
Broadleaf Cattail, Typha latifolia Drug: (Navajo, Ramah) Whole plant used as a ceremonial emetic. Food: (Goshute) Seeds roasted and used for food. (Navajo, Ramah) Rhizomes eaten raw in summer. Young stalks just appearing above the ground used for food. (Paiute, Northern) Seeds gathered into a dough, kneaded, made into flat cakes, and roasted under hot coals. Seeds roasted, winnowed, ground into fine flour, boiled, made into round cakes, and sun dried. Pollen mixed with water, kneaded, formed into bakes, and baked. Toots dried for future use. Rhizomes peeled and dried for future use. Roots dried, ground into flour and made into a sweet mush. Dried rhizomes ground into flour and made into mush. Seeds roasted, ground into a meal and stone boiled into a mush. Seed ground into meal and made into soup. Seeds roasted, ground into a meal, and eaten with a little water without boiling. Seed eaten fresh and raw or cooked. Roots peeled,
chewed, juice swallowed and the stringy pulp spat out. Stalked used for food. Green spikes eaten fresh. Fiber: (Navajo, Ramah) Leaves used to make storage baskets, medicine baskets, and water jugs. Leaved used to make bed mats. (Paiute) Leaves and fruiting stalks sewn and woven into mats wrapped around willow frames to form houses. (Paiute, Norther,) Used for wefts and binding tule items. Used for house building materials. Used to make shingles for house exteriors. Used in the construction of duck decoys and bots. Used to secure the edges of skirts. Leaves twined as weft rows for sandals. Used as the twining wefts for clothing. Used to secure the edges of mats. Leaves used in a simple pile for seating. Other: (Navajo, Ramah) Leaves used to make bed mats, storage baskets, medicine baskets, and water jugs. Leaves used to make mats hung up in the Hogan to bring rain. Leaves used to make mats hung up in the Hogan to protect it, the people, and the sheep from lightning. (Paiute, Northern) Used for wefts and binding tule items Used as ties for sandals. Used in the construction of duck decoys and boats.
Bulrush Root, Schoenoplectus sp Food: (Paiute, Northern) Seeds parched, ground into flour and made into mush. Seeds used for food. Seeds parched and stored for later use. Fiber: (Paiute, Northern) Used for wefts and binding tule items. Used to secure the edges of skirts. Used as the warps for sandals. Used as the warps and the twining wefts for clothing. Used to secure the edges of mats. Used to make twined mats for the insides of houses. Used in simple pile for seating. Other: (Paiute, Northern) Used for wefts and binding tule items. Used as ties for sandals.
Fremont Grassroot, Chenopodium fremontii Food: (Navajo) Seeds used to make tortillas and bread. (Paiute) Species used for food. (Paiute, Northern) Seeds ground into a meal and eaten.
Amaranth, Amaranthus blitoides Food: (Navajo) Plant used as sheep forage. Seeds ground into meal and made into stiff porridge or mixed with goat s milk and made into gruel. Seeds ground into a meal and used for food. Boiled and eaten like spinach, boiled and fried in lard, or canned.
Gambel Oak, Quercus gambelii Drug: (Navajo, Ramah) Decoction of root bark used for postpartum pain. Decoction of root bark used as a cathartic. Leaves used as a ceremonial emetic. Decoction of root bark use4d for postpartum pain to help in delivery of placenta. Root bark used as a life medicine. Food: (Navajo, Ramah) Acorns eaten raw, boiled, roasted in ashes, or dried, ground and cooked like cornmeal. Fiber: (Navajo, Ramah) Whole trees used for shade house construction. Wood used to make frames for baby cradles. Dye: (Navajo, Ramah) Red leaf galls and red clay or gum used to make stripes on arrow shafts between and below the fathers. Other: (Navajo, Ramah) Wood used to make ceremonial bull-roarers. Wood used to make ax handles, hoe handles, digging sticks, and weaving tools. Wood sticks notched by sheepherders to keep track of the days they have worked.
Spring Beauty, Claytonia lanceolata Food: (Goshute) Bulbs used for food. (Ute) Bulbs formerly used for food.
Bitterroot, Lewisia rediviva Food: (Paiute) Roots dried and used for food. Roots boiled like macaroni. Roots peeled and dried for winter use and boiled and eaten with salmon. (Paiute, Northern) Roots peeled, boiled, or roasted and eaten without grinding. Leaved boiled like spinach and eaten.
Small Western Bistort, Bistorta bistortoides Food: Roots eaten raw or fire-roasted with a flavor resembling chestnuts. The seeds were dried and ground into flour and used to make bread. They were also roasted and eaten as a cracked grain.