The only time I see these beautiful flowers are along gravel roads. You will see two here and three there, growing right on the edge of the road. These wild flowers brighten the day, they have petals ranging in color from light to dark pink, surrounding a yellow center. They stand out in contrast to the green grass. I don’t know if they grow in the fields back from the road, I have not noticed them. Botanists say they these flowers like dry areas to grow. These flowers stand on brown prickly legs about 7 inches tall with red buds incased on a separate stem. Alas they are gone now, cut down when the ditches are mowed in preparation for the winter snow. Somehow they manage to return next year; visible in the month of July. Although they are called wild roses, they are not the same as the flowers obtained from florists, grown from bulbs. In 1907 the Wild Prairie Rose became the State Flower of North Dakota, they also grow all over the United States of America. This plant is known to botanists as Rosa arkansana. The Dakota name is Unjinjintkahu. (To stand erect) against the wind, as I have never seen them blown over. The Dakota name is also the name given to the modern tomato, why??? The Rosebud Reservation in southern South Dakota is named for the Rosebud River (Unjinjintka Wakpa).

The use of the flower and buds are found in quilt and beadwork designs as well as embroidery. The Dakota as well as other Endogenous people used the whole plant. The flower petals were gathered and dried to make stored clothing items smell pleasant. In emergency situations the plant was boiled in water and thickened with corn or wheat flower and consumed. The rose hips (berry) were used to flavor soups. The prickly stems were singed off and the outer bark removed. The inner bark was made into an eye wash. I hope local farmers don’t consider the Wild Prairie Rose “the weed of the week” and purposely destroy them.

Bibliography

Densmore, Francis How the Indians Use wild Plants for Food, Medicine and Crafts. Dover Publications Inc., New York 1974.

Kindscher, Kelly, Loren and Michel Yellow Bird and Logan Sutton. Sanish (Arikara) Ethnobotany. Society of Ethnobiology, Tacoma, Washington, University of Puget Sound 2020. Page 151.

Rogers, Dillwyn Edible, Medicinal, Useful, and Poisonous Wild Plants of the Northern Plaines – South Dakota Region. Biology Department, Augustana College, Sioux Falls. No Date. Page 92.

Stevens, O.A. Handbook of North Dakota Plants. North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1963. Page 174.

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