There is a new book hot off the University of Oklahoma Press, "Plains Apache Ethnobotany," by Julia A. Jordan. I've just finished reading it and I want to let others know about this important book about the Plains Apache of Western Oklahoma, their culture and their use of native plants. The book about the Plains Apache was first presented as a master's thesis in 1965. (Ethnobotany is the study of the relationship between people and plants.)

"I am greatly indebted to Dr. Paul E. Minnis of the Anthropology Department of the University of Oklahoma for encouraging me to revitalize my thesis manuscript and prepare it for publication ... I am indebted also to Dr. Wayne J. Elisens, professor of botany and curator of the Robert Bebb Herbarium of the University of Oklahoma, for his interest in the Plains Apache ethnobotany, for his updating of the scientific names, for providing a map of the Plains Apache territory in Oklahoma, for his permission to use his tables for vascular plants used by the Plains Apache, and for many other contributions to the botanical aspects of this work," she said.

In the early 1960s, Julia's advisor, Dr. William E. Bittle, professor of anthropology at the University of Oklahoma, suggested that she might do her master's thesis in anthropology on the Plains Apache of Oklahoma at a time when the tribes were losing much of their traditional knowledge and history. Dr. Bittle had been working with the Plains Apache in his linguistics studies and had a good relationship with the peoples of the Plains Apache.

Since Julia (I feel more comfortable calling her Judy since we have been friends for a very long time) had been interested in the Indians of the Great Plains for some time and loved native plants, she quickly agreed to interview the elders of the Plains Apache about their use of native plants in their daily living and in the traditions of the past of their culture.

Plains Apache have roamed the plains for hundreds of years. When the first white people encountered these native plains peoples in 1541 they found a number of Apachean-speaking groups on the plains. "All were nomadic people living primarily on the bison but also hunting deer, antelope and various small game," she wrote. "They also gathered wild plant foods and traded with settled Puebloan peoples exchanging meat, tallow, hides and salt for corn and other produce."

Dr. Bittle introduced Judy to members of the Plains Apache, including the six Apache elders that she would be working with during the months of July and August of 1963 and 1964. The Elders and she became good friends when they were convinced that she and other anthropology student researchers "had a serious and respectful interest in their history and culture. They seemed pleased." The Elders interviewed were Ray Blackbear, Connie May (Datose) Saddleblanket, Fred Bigman, Louise (Susagossa) Saddleblanket, Rose Chaletsin, Gertrude Chalepah.

The information on plant gathering and usage provided by the Elders of the Plains Apache was hand written on the spot of the interview and was as near as possible verbatim using the Elders words when possible. One hundred-twelve native plants including two mushrooms were identified as used by the tribe beginning about 1890 up to 1950 as important for food, medicine, material needs such as shelter, ritual and personal adornment. Although 112 plants were identified by their botanical names, Plains Apache names, etc., their botanical heritage included many more useful plants than those identified.

Some of the most used botanicals utilized by the tribe: Cedar (especially that gathered from the top of hills or mountains) was used in ceremonial rituals, to purify and sweeten the air of ceremonial tipis, homes and sweat lodges.

Ritual and medical plants and the concept of health and illness: "The Plains Apache conceived of disease as a disruption of harmony between humanity and the external world. They considered most sickness to be the result of witchcraft, ghosts, or invasion of the body by some evil force or foreign object." ... The person was considered "as a psycho-biological whole." There is no split between the spirit and the physical. "Apache medicines were administered toward the end of relieving the symptoms of distress" in such categories as diarrhea, headaches, colds, etc.

The Elders and others of the tribe sometimes also utilized Western Medicine. For instance, when Rose Chaletsin broke her hip in 1963 she went to a modern hospital where the bone was set and medication given her. "Along with this treatment she also applied one of her family medicines, a root that, when chewed and applied externally was reputed to be good for pain and swelling accompanying broken bones."

Food plants they gathered included yucca glauca, called Indian cabbage, early spring flowers used like cabbage, a little meat was used as seasoning, plums, grapes, prickly pear fruit, walnuts, Indian turnip. They used the native grasses, certain weeds and trees to build structures, weaving and tying the grasses to the oval dwellings and shelters to form secure shelters.

Wild bergamot Monarda fistulosa was one of several sought out precious personal possession for its aesthetic reasons and as an attractant to the opposite sex.

This is only a small sample of this extraordinary study by Judy. I've used up my allotment of space, so check out the book. "Plains Apache Ethnobotany" may be purchased from the OU Press. The phone number is 325-3200, e-mail is ssee@ou.edu or you can order it from Borders and Hastings bookstores or online at Amazon.com.