Alutiiq Museum releases book on traditional use of plants

Kayla Desroches/KMXT

The Alutiiq Museum just released a book about the traditional uses of Kodiak plants.

Homer based ethnobotanist Priscilla Russell worked with museum staff to transform her research into the 181-page resource. According to a museum press release, Russell visited Kodiak villages in the 1990s and documented local knowledge with residents’ help.

The book includes descriptions about plants and their uses, photography, and Alutiiq words.

One of the plants Russell mentions is wormwood, which she says the Dena’ina people also used.

“In fact wormwood is used by every indigenous group where wormwood grows. It’s actually a sage, from the sage family. It’s good for infections, externally. You can put it on sores.”

She also talks about the traditional uses of Angelica.

“It’s like aloe inside. You take apart the branches. It’s very soft, and you can rub it on your skin, and it’s very good for skin infections and other problems.”

According to the press release, Russell interviewed more than a hundred residents during her research and the book includes photographs of some of those contributors.

Alutiiq Museum executive director April Laktonen Counceller points out that the book helps “[preserve] the knowledge of many Alutiiq people who are no longer living, whose knowledge would otherwise be lost to time.”