Rooted in the prairie
Native Plants, Dakota Traditions & the Minnesota River Valley
Explore the plants! See their English, Dakota, and scientific names, learn about their importance to Dakota people, and press play to hear each Dakota name.
Prairie Crocus – Hokṡiċekpa
Anemone patens
One of the first flowers to emerge after winter, Hokṡiċekpa announces the return of spring to the prairie. In Dakota tradition she is known as Wanahċa Uŋċi, Grandmother Flower, and her early arrival calls to her other plant relatives she knows as her grandchildren. She carries a story of renewal from one generation to the next. Her ability to emerge while much of the prairie is still dormant reminds us that life continues beneath the soil even through the cold Mni Sota Mokoċe winters.
Northern Sweetgrass – Waċaŋġa
Hierochloe odorata
Waċaŋġa is an important aromatic and ceremonial plant relative for many Native peoples, including Dakota communities. Growing in moist prairies, meadows, and other wet places, she also connects the upland prairie to the wetter landscapes approaching rivers, marshes, and fens. Regarded as the sacred hair of Uŋċí Maka, Grandmother Earth, her presence reminds us that prairie and river are not separate ecosystems, but parts of a braided landscape through which water, plants, animals, and people move.
Prairie Turnip – Tiŋpsiŋna
Pediomelum esculentum
Tiŋpsiŋna has long been an important food for Dakota people. Her large underground roots can be dug, prepared fresh, or dried and preserved for later use. Like so many prairie plant relatives, much of what sustains her lies unseen underground, a connection between healthy prairie soil, food, and the people who have cared for this landscape.
Lead Plant – Żiŋtkato
Amorpha canescens
Żiŋtkato has roots that grow extremely deep and create a stong complex that stabilize soil and retain water on the land, which in turn, supports stream and river health. Her leaves can be used for a refreshing tea that soothes lung congestion. Sometimes called “buffalo bellows,” her summer flowering was said to coincide with the time when buffalo bulls began bellowing during their mating season. Her long fingers of lavender flowers smell like honey to attract and feed native pollinators. Żiŋtkato has a subtle presence that is outdone by what she gives to back to her relatives.
Prickly Pear – Uŋċeda Bdaská
Opuntia macrorhiza
Uŋċeda Bdaská is surprisingly at home in Mni Sota Mokoċe. She makes her home in the dry, rocky prairies of southwestern Minnesota, including Ċaŋṡayapi. Uŋċeda Bdaská has provided an important food source for Dakota people as well as aided in preparing painted hides to help colors adhere. Her unexpected presence growing from the layers of granite is a reminder of just how divers and uniquely adapted the Ċaŋṡayapi prairie can be.
Prairie Rose – Uŋżiŋżiŋtka Hu
Rosa arkansana
Uŋżiŋżiŋtka Hu has a beautiful relationship with Dakota people as a source of food, medicine, and cultural teachings. After her pink, fragrant summer flowers fade, bright red rose hips form and can persist into fall. These nutritious fruits can be gathered and dried for later use. Rich in vitamin C, rose hips provide an important fall and winter food, not only for oyate, but for our animal relatives. Uŋżiŋżiŋtka Hu spreads through underground rhizomes, helping her to survive drought, grazing, and fire and return every year as part of the resilient prairie community.
Purple Coneflower – Iċaḣpe Hu
Echinacea angustifolia
Iċaḣpe Hu is one of the most widely documented medicines of the Great Plains and has longstanding relationships with Dakota people. Her powerful root aids in pain relief, particularly toothaches, and can be applied to burns, inflammation, wounds, and venomous bites. The same deep root that provides medicine also allows Icaȟpe Hu to survive drought and fire in the prairie. Iċaḣpe Hu remains one of the most recognizable medicines, carrying generations of Indigenous plant knowledge into the present.
Wild Bergamot – Heḣaka Tapeżuta
Monarda fistulosa
Known to Dakota people as “Elk Medicine,” Heḣaka Tapeżuta is a fragrant plant relative with important medicinal and cultural relationships. Her leaves and flowers can be made into medicine for abdominal pain and her aromatic oils contain compounds such as thymol and carvacrol, which are proven to have antimicrobial properties. Heḣaka Tapeżuta has a dramatic presence in the prairie, and her purple flowers can be seen for miles in large patches across the landscape. Her many blossoms are able to provide important medicines while also giving back to native bees, butterflies, and other pollinator relatives.
Common Milkweed – Paŋnuŋpada
Asclepias syriaca
Paŋnuŋpada is a familiar plant relative of the prairie, with longstanding Indigenous relationships as a source of food, fiber, and medicine. Her strong fibers were traditionally made into cordage, while carefully prepared young portions of the plant were eaten by a number of Indigenous peoples. Paŋnuŋpada has a very special relationship with monarch butterflies, as her leaves are the only thing monarch caterpillars can feed on. Her presence is another powerful example of the connections between plants, insects, people, and the prairie.
Blue Vervain – Ċaḣdoġa Peżuta
Verbena hastata
Ċaḣdoġa Peżuta has a very strong relationship with Dakota people as medicine and her name can be translated simply as “medicine.” Ċaḣdoġa Peżuta has provided medicines for stomachaches and sore throats as well as fevers, coughs, headaches, and other ailments. Unlike many plant relatives of the dry prairie, Ċaḣdoġa Peżuta thrives in wet meadows, river-bottom prairies, and along streams and marshes. Her tall blue-purple flowers connect the prairie to the water, while providing summer food for pollinator relatives.
Purple Prairie Clover – Tokadaŋ Tapeżuta Wiŋyedaŋ
Dalea purpurea
Tokadaŋ Tapeżuta Wiŋyedaŋ has longstanding relationships with many Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains. Her roots can be prepared to aid with ailments including stomach problems and applied externally to wounds. Beneath the prairie, she reaches her woody taproot down four times deeper than she can grow tall, which helps her to survive drought and access moisture far below the surface. As a native legume, Tokadaŋ Tapeżuta Wiŋyedaŋ also forms relationships with soil bacteria that fix nitrogen, helping repair the health of the prairie.
Butterfly Weed – Paŋnuŋpada Duta
Asclepias tuberosa
Paŋnuŋpada Duta brings brilliant oranges of a plains sunset into the grasses of the prairie. Her thick root can be prepared to aid with respiratory ailments, wounds, swelling, and other conditions. Her intricate flowers also provide nectar for many types of butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. Goldfinches and other birds use her silky seeds to build nests. When young caterpillars snack on her leaves, they become toxic to awaiting predators. Like many other relatives of the prairie, Paŋnuŋpada Duta is a generous relative.
White Sage – Peżiḣota
Artemisia ludoviciana
With her soft, silver leaves and distinctive fragrance, Peżiḣota is an important medicine and holds a special cultural and ceremonial relationships with Dakota people. Long valued for cleansing and purification, Peżiḣota is burned ceremonially and prepared as teas and washes. Boiling Peżiḣota has been found to extract compounds that inhibit the growth of certain bacteria and fungi. Peżiḣota can thrive in prairies, vast grasslands, and desert landscapes. She is able to return after disturbance through her underground rhizomes. Growing across many ecosystems, she has supported Native Peoples, animal relatives, and other plant relatives for millenia.
Stiff Sunflower – Waḣċazizi
Helianthus pauciflorus
Waḣċazizi holds a special relationship with Dakota people and the sun. Her flowers follow Aŋpetu Wi, the Sun, across the sky and she is respected for her continual prayers. Dakota tradition regards the places where Waḣċazizi grows as sacred ground. Her seeds can be eaten and parts of her stem, root, and flower can be boiled to condition hair. Blooming in late summer, Waḣċazizi brings brilliant yellow to the mature prairie and provides food for pollinators and birds through the passing of bdoketu, summer.
Mural artwork by Hannah Anema
Dakota language recordings by Ella O'Keefe
This activity is made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.