This is a listing of some of the online ethnobotanical texts for the Great Lakes bioregion. If you know of others that I can link to, please drop me a line and let me know.

I want to say, right off the bat, that there can be problems with enthnobotanical writings, and we should always remember that many native tribes still exist, and have vibrant, living traditions that are not limited to or summed up by "historical uses".  Another problem I find with ethnobotany in general is that the texts are usually written by western academic white guys, and not people in-and-of the cultures being discussed.  This is not overtly bad (for example Kelly Kindscher's release of Huron Smith's Ethnobotany of the Hocąk shows Smith to be an admirable fellow), but texts written from within a tradition have a special insight that I'm not sure outside observers can convey. 

With this in mind, the first text I'll link to is:

Ethnobotany of the Anishanaabek Northern Great Lakes Indians by Scott Herron

(You need to create an academia account to download this, but being that Scott is an Odawa tribe member, his insights are especially valuable...)

Ethnobotany of the Forest Potawatomi

Ethnobotany of the Menomoni

Ethnobotany of the Ojibwe by Huron H. Smith

Huron Smith's Ethnobotany of the Hocąk (Winnebago) by Kelly Kindscher and Dana P. Hurlburt

An Ethnobotany of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Volume 1 by Rebecca S. Toupal 

An Ethnobotany of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Volume 2 by Rebecca S. Toupal

mahkihkiwa: Myaamia Ethnobotanical Database

by the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma/Miami University/Michael Gonella

Ethnobotany of the Miami Tribe

by Brian C. King

The Ethnobotany of Sweet Flag, Acorus calamus L.

by Timothy J. Motley

(okay, this is a global, and not regional, ethnobotanical write up, but it's relevant to this region) 

© jim mcdonald