Vocabulary in Braiding Sweetgrass

A fragrant, tall grass (Hierochloe odorata) sacred to many Indigenous peoples of North America, traditionally harvested and woven into baskets and used in ceremonies.

A figure from Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) creation stories who falls from the sky world and, with the help of animals, creates the earth on a turtle's back.

The Iroquois Confederacy, a group of Indigenous nations of the northeastern woodlands; the name means 'People of the Longhouse.'

Relating to the Potawatomi people, an Algonquian-speaking Indigenous nation of the Great Lakes region, whose language and traditions the author draws on throughout the book.

The quality of being alive or having a living spirit; in the Potawatomi language, many beings — plants, rivers, mountains — are grammatically and spiritually treated as animate, not as objects.

A figure from Algonquian tradition representing a cannibalistic, insatiable monster; used in this text as a metaphor for the destructive, never-satisfied greed of consumer culture.

A plant that grows on another plant for physical support but does not take nutrients from it; it is not a parasite.

Symbiotic associations between fungi and plant roots through which plants and fungi exchange nutrients; the underground fungal networks that connect trees and plants in a forest.

A composite organism made of a fungus and an alga (or cyanobacterium) living together; often seen as crusty patches on rocks or bark, and used here as an example of mutualistic relationship.

An Indigenous ethical framework for taking from the natural world: asking permission, taking only what you need, never taking more than half, giving thanks, and giving back in return.

A mutual exchange in which both parties give and receive; here, the moral and ecological principle that humans must give back to the earth in return for what they take from it.

The trickster-teacher figure of Anishinaabe oral tradition, who appears in stories as a transformer and cultural hero teaching lessons about living rightly in the world.

A large North American hickory tree and its edible nut; used in this text to illustrate how trees communicate and synchronize mass-fruiting events across a forest.

The synchronized, irregular production of an enormous crop of seeds or nuts by a population of trees all at once, a strategy that overwhelms seed predators and ensures some seeds survive.

The process by which excess nutrients (especially nitrogen and phosphorus) flow into a body of water, causing explosive algae growth that depletes oxygen and kills aquatic life.

Officially forbidden or banned; here used to describe burning or other land-management practices that colonial law prohibited Indigenous peoples from continuing.

A controlled fire deliberately set by land managers to clear dead vegetation, restore habitat, and promote the growth of fire-adapted plants such as sweetgrass.

The complete natural environment — soil, climate, topography — that gives a plant its distinctive character; borrowed from wine culture and used here to describe what makes a particular place's sweetgrass unique.

A way of living in which people harvest or grow only what they need to survive, without producing surplus for profit; contrasted in the text with extractive, market-driven economies.

The chemical suppression of one plant's growth by another through the release of toxic compounds into the soil; a form of botanical competition.

Land or resources held and managed collectively by a community rather than owned privately; the text uses it to argue for treating the natural world as a shared inheritance rather than private property.

Weaving three or more strands together into a unified whole; used both literally for weaving sweetgrass baskets and metaphorically for intertwining Indigenous knowledge, science, and story.

A group of closely related Algonquian-speaking Indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes region, including the Ojibwe and Potawatomi; the author identifies with this cultural tradition.

The accumulated, multigenerational understanding that Indigenous peoples have developed about local ecosystems, species, and sustainable land management through centuries of direct observation and practice.

A ball-and-stick game originating with Indigenous peoples of North America; referenced in the text within traditional stories as a contest among animals.