Based on collaborative research with Indigenous knowledge holders and a review of literature, approximately 30-40 fungi are documented as having cultural roles for Canadian Indigenous groups. This paper describes the importance of fungi to Canadian Indigenous Peoples. , 1990 Note: Species are generally listed in alphabetical order of scientific name.
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, 1990 Harvested in fall from sandy river and lake shores under cottonwoods (Interior Salish: Nlaka'pamux, Stl'atl'imx, Secwepemc, Syilx) cut, cleaned, peeled, washed, and cooked by frying, or boiling in soups and stews sometimes eaten raw strung and dried, or sautéed, then canned or frozen Turner 1978 Turner et al. Redhead, personal communication, 1984 Scarpino 2020 Turner 1978 Turner et al. More recently, harvested commercially by others (e.g., Ulkatcho Dakelh, Nuxalk, Nisga'a, Atikamewk, Cree), mainly for export to Japan Japanese Canadians also harvest them also eaten by Western American tribes Anderson and Lake 2013 Galloway 1982Galloway, 2009Hebda et al. 5) Harvested in fall (usually) under coniferous trees cooked (fried or cooked in soups and stews) and eaten (Salishan peoples of the Coast Mountains -Nlaka'pamux, Stl'atl'imx, and Halq̓ eméylem/ Stó:l o) large quantities gathered, peeled, sliced and preserved by drying on strings or by canning or freezing patches carefully tended sometimes traded or gifted to people further inland. 353 Turner and Bell 1971 American matsutake, or pine mushroom (also called wood, Japanese, or mountain mushroom) (Fig. 1987 Eaten raw by Straits Salish Upriver Halkomelem washed and cooked an orange jelly fungus growing on alder, presumably Tremella mesenterica and/or related species Galloway 1982, p. Eaten, boiled then fried, or boiled in soups and stews (Secwepemc, Syilx, Stl'atl'imx, Nlaka'pamux) formerly strung and dried recently frozen or canned to preserve also eaten by Pomo and other western US tribes Anderson and Lake 2013 Turner et al. Grifola frondose (Dicks.) Gray and Fomitopsis spp.] eaten after cooking, sometimes in two changes of water (Haudenosaunee) boiled, or used as an ingredient of soups "frequently fried in butter and seasoned as required" apparently also eaten by Syilx (Okanagan) Polyporus species also boiled and eaten by Pueblo of the Southwest U.S. With very few exceptions (Tagish people McClellan 1975), people seldom, if ever, ate mushrooms raw. 2000 Clément 2014 Norton 2018 Cuerrier et al. 1981 Marles 1984 Kari 1987 Kuhnlein and Turner 1991 Compton 1993 Marles et al. Examples of peoples who did not normally eat mushrooms include Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Nuxalk (Bella Coola), Kwakwaka'wakw (Southern Kwakiutl), Haisla and Hanaksiala, Haida, Upper Inlet Dena'ina of Alaska, Innu of Ekuanitshit (North Shore, Quebec), the Naskapi Innu of Labrador, and most Inuit except for those from Greenland, among others (Parker 1910 Waugh 1916 Rousseau and Raymond 1945 Eidlitz 1969 Turner 1973 Turner and Bell 1973 Bouchard and Turner 1976 Turner et al. Groups known to have eaten at least some mushrooms and (or) other fungi traditionally include Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Denesuline (Chipewyan), Southern Tutchone, Tagish, Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot), Ktunaxa, Tsilhqot'in, Nlaka'pamux (Thompson), and Stl'atl'imx (Lillooet) of Canada, and the outer Inlet and Inland Dena'ina of Alaska.
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Further research into the toxicity of products made from these species is warranted, as is initial investigation of the bioactivity of a dozen additional genera for which traditional use data are particularly suggestive. Plants with strongest scientific support for contraceptive or abortifacient activity include species of Juniperus, Lithospermum, and Ricinus the latter two are reported to have long-lasting contraceptive effects. For the vast majority of species, and often genera, no relevant scientific data were found, leaving the safety of these species unknown.
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Biomedical literature was searched for references to bioactivities of these species relating to the reproductive system. If any of these are both effective and relatively safe, that information ought to be preserved, both for its potential utility and because it would mean that those species are unsafe for consumers who wish to become pregnant. Species from over a hundred genera found in North America have reported traditional uses as contraceptives or uses that suggest possible abortifacient or postcoital contraceptive activities.