Kelly Kindscher – författare

The Plains Indians found medicinal value in more than 200 species of native prairie plants. Unfortunately, modern American culture has not paid much attention. White settlers did learn a few plant-based remedies from the Indians, and a few prairie plants were prescribed by frontier doctors. A couple dozen prairie species were listed as drugs in the ""US Pharmacopeia"" at one time or another, and one or two, like the Purple Coneflower, found their way into the bottles of patent medicine. But in both the number of species used and the varieties of treatments administered, Indians were far more proficient than white settlers. Their familiarity with the plants of the prairie was comprehensive - they recognized more varieties of some species of prairie plants than scientists do today. Their knowledge was refined and exact enough that they could successfully administer medicinal doses of plants that are poisonous. All of the species used by frontier doctors were used first by Indians. In ""Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie"", ethnobotanist Kelly Kindscher documents the medicinal use of 203 native prairie plants by the Plains Indians. Using information gleaned from archival materials, interviews and fieldwork, Kindscher describes plant-based treatments for ailments ranging from hyperactivity to syphillis, from arthritis to worms. He also explains the use of internal and external medications, smoke treatments, moxa (the burning of a medicinal substance on the skin), and the doctrine of signatures (the belief that the form or characteristics of a plant are signatures of signs that reveal its medicinal uses). He adds information on recent pharmacological findings to further illuminate the medicinal nature of these plants. Kindscher's study encompasses the entire Prairie Bioregion, a one-million-square-mile area bounded by Texas on the south, Canada on the north, the Rocky Mountains on the west and the deciduous forests of Missouri, Indiana and Wisconsin in the east. Along with information on the medicinal uses of prairie plants by the Indians, Kindscher also lists Indian, common and scientific names and describes Anglo folk uses, medical uses, scientific research and cultivation. Descriptions of the plants are supplemented by 44 line drawings and over 100 range maps.

The wild plants in this book tell stories of land, people, and food. As renowned botanist Kelly Kindscher guides us through over one hundred edible plants in this beautiful field guide, we find that foraging has always been an important part of prairie life.Before colonization, Native American women were the primary gatherers of wild plants, which were an abundant, sustainable, and delicious feature of Indigenous diets. Colonizers reduced the significance of wild plants in prairie life as they relocated Native peoples and imposed their agrarian culture on the land, but these Indigenous foodways were never truly lost. In the recent past, foraging has become a tremendously popular way for many peoples to connect with the earth, promote sustainability, and revive and honor cultural food traditions.In this beautifully illustrated new edition, Kindscher explores 117 wild plants of the prairie, offering information about habitat, food use, and cultivation. Color photos and maps make this stunning book a useful foraging guide for anyone to take out into the prairie. A must-have for enthusiasts and professionals alike, Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie gives us the great opportunity to engage with the land we live in.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of one the of most popular medicinal plants—Echinacea a species that is native to only the US and Canada. There are nine Echinacea species and several roots and above-ground portions of these showy wildflowers have been used in herbal medicine as an immune stimulant and to reduce one’s chances of catching a cold. Considerable medical research supports these claims. The most popular species and the primary one wild-harvested is the one native to the Great Plains, Echinacea angustifolia. It has a long history of use, including being both historically and currently the most widely-used medicinal plant by any of the Great Plains Native Americans. The importance of this species is described by the editor with a few key contributors chosen to relate the important facets of the story of this interesting plant: Echinacea’s biology, ecology, medicinal uses, markets, production and harvest, along with population biology, legalprotections, ethnobotany, and history. The US Forest Service has expressed concern about the conservation status of Echinacea species on their lands, especially on the National Grasslands and National Forest units in the northern Great Plains. Overall, the future status of Echinacea, as an important medicinal plant and in the wild is not grim, but this book provides a clear perspective of why both cultivated and wild-harvested Echinacea will continue to be available to consumers without threatening the remaining populations.