Innovation Anthology #379:
Ratroot is native to boreal wetlands. Its tall slender leaves are similar to cattails and it’s related to iris.
Ann Smreciu is a restoration ecologist who is investigating the propogation of rat root for use in created wetlands in the oil sands.
As Ann explains, the ratroot is important to Aboriginal people.
ANN SMRECIU: They actually dry the rhizome. The rhizome is like an underground stem and it grows long and produces shoots from that. And what they do is they dig up the rhizome, they dry it, and chew pieces of it, primarily for things like sore throats, upper respiratory, although I’ve heard that its used for lungs and liver as well.
The elders are somewhat skeptical that Ann’s ratroot plants will be as good as those that come from the wild.
ANN SMRECIU: The plants that we are growing in the greenhouse look a little bit different than what they see in the wild. Once we put them out into the natural settings and the temperature regimes that we have, I think the plants will grow much more similarly to those that are natural. And I think that those problems will be alleviated. I think that they’ll be less concerned about it.
Ann Smreciu presented her findings at the recent CONRAD conference on oil sands reclamation research.
Thanks today to Syncrude
FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY
I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
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Syncrude
Program Date: 2011-02-24