1. Ojibwe Naming of Wild Plants
Dwight A. Gourneau
Adapted from Michael Price’s TRIBES Presentation

2. Wild Plant Name Suffixes in Ojibwe Language
“-jiibik” – root
“-imin” – berry, fruit, seed
“-bag” – leaf
“-pin” – potato-like, tuber
“-aatig” – trunk, stem
“-waak” – tree
“-ashk” – long grassy stem
“-mizh” – small tree, shrub
“-aandag” – bough
“Mashkii-” – bog

3. Latin-Ojibwemowin Classification
Round Leaf Sundew
Waawiiye-niigeganzh
(Drosera rotundifolia)

4. Mashkiig – Bog or Peatland
Mashkikii – “medicine from the earth or bog”

5. Mashkiig – Bog or Peatland
Mashkiigwaatig
Tamarack
(Larix laricina)
Mashkiigomin
Small Cranberry
(Vaccinium oxycoccos)

6. Mashkiig – Bog or Peatland
Mashkiigobag
Labrador Tea or
Swamp Tea
(Ledum groenlandicum)
Mashkiigojiibik
Marsh Five Finger
(Potentilla palustris)

7. Waabashkikii - Swamp

8. Waabashkikii - Swamp Waabashkikiibag Leatherleaf
(Chamaedaphne calyculata)
Meadow Sweet
(Spiraea alba)
Labrador or Swamp Tea
(Ledum groenlandicum)

9. Anungobikobiise “Star that lives on the water” White Water Lilly
(Nymphaea odorata)

10. Ladyslippers Makizinan “Moccasins” Agobizowin Yellow Ladyslipper
(Cypripedium caleolus)
Agobizowin
“A remedy tied on a wound”
Showy Ladyslipper
(Cypripedium reginae)

11. Naming Categorization
Descriptive
Utility
Medicinal Use
Food Source
Spirituality

12. Descriptive Omakikiiwidaasan Waabooyaabag “Frog Leggings”
Pitcher Plant
(Sarracenia purpurea)
Waabooyaabag
“Blanket Leaf”
Common Mullein
(Verbascum thapsus)

13. Utility Miskojiibik Ozaawijiibik Bloodroot (Sanquinaria canadensis)
- Used as a red dye
Ozaawijiibik
Goldenthread
(Coptis trifolia)
- Used as a yellow dye

14. Utility Anaakanashk Nabagashk “Anaakan – woven mat” Softstem Bulrush
(Scirpus validus)
Gichigamiwashk
“Tall Grass of the Great Waters”
Nabagashk
“Tall Grass with Flat Leaf”
Common Cattail
(Typha latifolia)

15. Utility
Wiigwaasaatig
Paper Birch
(Betula papyrifera)

16. Utility Aagimaak “Snowshoe-making tree” Aagim - snowshoe Black Ash
(Fraxinus nigra)
Used to make snowshoes;
Inner bark strips - baskets

17. Medicinal Use Oshkinigiikwe Aniibiish Zhaabozigan
Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare)
“Young Woman’s Tea”
Zhaabozigan
Common Milkweed
(Asclepias syriaca)
“Laxative; used to produce post-birth milk flow”

18. Food Source Minoomin Ode”imin “the good seed” Wild Rice
(Zizania palustris)
Ode”imin
“heart fruit”
Wild Strawberry
(Fragaria virginiana)

19. Food Source Aninaatig Ziinzibaakwad Apakweshkwe Nabagashk Sugar Maple
(Acer saccharum)
Apakweshkwe
Apakwe – “to put on roof”
Nabagashk
“Tall Grass with Flat Leaf”
(Typha latifolia)
- Edible bulbs and spring shoots

20. Spirituality Giizhig(aandag) Wiingashk White Cedar
(Thuja occidentalis)
“Giizhig” – “sky or day”
Wiingashk
“aromatic herb”
Sweetgrass
(Hierochloe odorata)

21. Spirituality Nookwezigan White Sage (Artemisia ludoviciana)
“soothing grandmother medicine”
- spiritual purification
Daisy Fleabane
(Erigeron strigosus)
- used for headaches

22. Other Ojibwe Plant Names
Giiziso-Mashkikii
“Sun Medicine”
Goldenrod
(Solidago canadensis)
Apaakozigan
“smoking mixture”
Bearberry
(Arctostaphalos uva-ursi)

23. Other Ojibwe Plant Names
Ajidamoowaanow
“Squirrel’s Tail”
Woolly Yarrow
(Achillea millefolium)
- flowers smoked ceremonially

24. Evergreens - Relationships
“aandag” – “bough”
Gaawaandag – White Spruce
Zezegaandag – Black Spruce
Giizhigaandag – White Cedar
Okikaandag – Jack Pine
“Zhin” – “to lie down”
Zhingwaak – White Pine
Zhingobii – Red or Norway Pine
Zhingob – Balsam Fir
Miskwaawaak – Red Cedar
Miskwaawaakaandag – Red Cedar bough

25. Makwa – Black Bear

26. Zhigaagawanzh
“Onions”
Zhigaag
“Skunk”
Zhigaagong
“Where skunk’s live”

27. Chi-Miigwech