CULTURE KEEPERS
D
Planting Seeds of Restoration
BY HARVEY LEIFERT
The fibers found in stalks of “qēemu,” or dogbane (below), were an essential material for the Nimíipuu people.
ogbane was once much more plen- tiful throughout the United States.
Growing up to 6 feet high, its white flow- ers can still be spotted along the edges of woods or dotting creek beds. But today, this plant that was once so integral to the lives of the Nimíipuu people is nowhere to be seen on their lands in Idaho. Known by a variety of common names,
including Indian hemp, American hemp, snake’s milk and hemp dogbane, Apocy- num cannabinum is a plant that does not have any psychoactive effects and is toxic to both people and domestic ani- mals, including livestock. When Europe- ans began to settle in the West during the 1800s, farmers tried to eradicate it, often with state assistance. Stella Sammaripa wants to bring it back. Sammaripa is one of the more than
3,500 Nimíipuu people who are members of the Nez Perce Nation in north-central Idaho. Their ancestral homelands also stretched into what is now Washington, Oregon and Montana. Sammaripa, who serves as a language technician for the Nez Perce Language Program, traces her interest in dog- bane to her hometown, Kamiah, on the Nez Perce Reservation. “Kamiah actu- ally comes from the word ‘qēemu,’ the Nimíipuu name for Indian dogbane,” she said. “It was a gathering site.” Splitting the stalk of qēemu reveals
its strong hemp fibers, which can be rolled together to make twine or rope and woven into mats, baskets or corn- husk bags or used to tie together sup- ports for teepees, lodges and sweat houses. One significant object created with the plant’s fibers was a fezlike hat that was presented to women who had obtained a high rank of knowledge. Nez Perce Cultural Resources Specialist Josiah Pinkham said qēemu was integral to the Nimíipuu people’s lives. He said,
“It is an ancient relationship.” However, growing up, Sammar-
ipa never saw the plant. While she was attending college, she thought of a way to restore it to Nimíipuu lands. While working and raising four chil-
dren, Sammaripa took courses for 11 years to obtain her Bachelor of Science in Native Environmental Science (BSNES) from the Northwest Indian College’s campus in Bellingham, Washington. She graduated in 2021.
12 SPRING 2022 AMERICAN INDIAN
J.N. STUART
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