TRADITIONAL PLANTS AND HERBS

Required Competition
Registration Deadline February 14, 2025.

Strengthen existing science/botany/environmental science programs at TCUs and stimulate new interest in plant fields.
Encourage interest in Tribal culture and history of traditional plants and their impact on Native community wellness.

This form shall be submitted by February 14, 2025.

Plants of the Black Hills and Bear Lodge Mountains by Gary E. Larson and James R. Johnson
Grassland Plants of South Dakota and the Northern Great Plains by James R. Johnson and Gary E. Larson
Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region by Melvin R. Gilmore
Culturally Important Plants of the Lakota by Linda S. Black Elk publication (attached to this email)
Basic Illustrated Edible Wild Plants & Useful Herbs by Jim Meuninck
Medicinal plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide by Kindscher, Kelly
Native American Medicinal Plants: An Ethnobotanical Dictionary by Moerman Daniel E
Lakota Star Knowledge Ronald Goodman

This form shall be submitted by February 14, 2024.

Traditional Plant Rules

The traditional plant competition will be in a PowerPoint format with fifty (50) slides (one (1) slide for each plant) on a provided laptop.
The traditional plants will be selected from the Native/Tribal region of the host committee.
A list of all the traditional plants, with acceptable scientific, Tribal, and common names, as well as acceptable uses, will be available as part of the registration packet.
Plants will be identified with appropriate information immediately following the competition.
First, second, and third place will be awarded.
Books from the reference list can be obtained from any Tribal College library, science department, or bookstore.
Tribal College student participants will have up to two (2) hours to complete the competition.
There can only be one (1) Tribal College student participant at a laptop at a time during the competition.
Reference material or cell phones are not permitted during the competition.
Common or Tribal names/spelling or traditional uses may vary; check the registration-reference list for acceptable plant names, spelling, and uses.
Traditional plants may have more than one (1) traditional use; however, only one (1) traditional use needs to be provided for each plant in the competition. Each Tribal College student participants’ list will provide one (1) traditional use for each plant.

Any alternate use for a traditional plant that Tribal College student participant wishes to provide during the competition shall be cleared by the host committee coordinator prior to the start of the competition. Any traditional use provided by the Tribal College student participant shall be verified as a traditional use of the host committee region.
Tribal College student participants shall list the scientific name, common name, the Tribal name, and traditional use for each plant.
Traditional uses for each plant shall be specific beyond simply “food” or “medicine”.
- or medicines, Tribal College student participants shall identify the part of the plant that is used and illness that is treated.
- For foods, Tribal college student participants shall identify the part of the plant that is consumed.
- For building materials, tribal college student participants shall identify the part of the plant that is used and give an example of its uses.
- For other uses, Tribal college student participants shall identify the part of the plant used and its uses.

Traditional Plant Guideline

The host committee selects the Traditional Plants coordinator. The Traditional Plants coordinator will reserve an appropriately sized Traditional Plants location. A small conference room will suffice. The suggested length of the competition is at least two (2) days.
The Traditional Plants coordinator will provide periodic updates to the host committee concerning registration numbers.
The Traditional Plants coordinator may use the proven rules from above and adjust as the need arises to adapt to the specific host location, participant-entry size, budget limitations, etc.
Generally, this competition does not include a speaking/pronunciation aspect, especially for American Disability Act reasons (as always, please be sensitive to any differently abled registrant). However, at the discretion of the Traditional Plants coordinator, the competition may include a speaking/pronunciation requirement. The coordinator must add a phonetic spelling reference sheet to the preparation packet for the student registrants to study. If there are multiple acceptable pronunciations to a Traditional Plant, all acceptable phonetical spellings must be included in the preparation materials. Any one (1) correct pronunciation (per Traditional Plant) by a student competitor will be acceptable to satisfy this additional requirement to the competition.

The Traditional Plants coordinator might need to recruit ~ two (2) people (faculty, students, or staff members) to assist with judging, onsite monitoring, and registration. Judges must provide student participants with feedback on their scoring.
Suggested Checklist of Materials to bring to the conference: master spreadsheet of the registered students, enough scorecards for each Traditional Plants participant, laptop with Traditional Plant PowerPoint presentation.
Have a firm registration deadline. Postmarked, faxed, emailed, etc. at least seven (7) days before the start of the conference. No exceptions.
Enter registered students into a master spreadsheet by college/team to ease the checking in process at the conference.
The coordinator arrives at the conference at least a day before the competition to set up the room reserved for the Traditional Plants with a table and the laptop.
The Traditional Plants coordinator is responsible for reporting the winning team to the awards’ banquet coordinator.