the female line. Such a matrilineal kinship system is common among many other Native American peoples, including other Algonquian tribes. Culture Traditional Menominee spiritual culture includes rites of passage for youth at puberty. Ceremonies involve fasting for multiple days and living in a small isolated wigwam. As part of this transition, youth meet individually with Elders for interpretation of their dreams, and to receive information about what adult responsibilities they will begin to take on following their rites of passage. Ethnobotany Traditional Menominee diets include local foods such as Allium tricoccum (ramps, or wild garlic). Boiled, sliced potatoes of Sagittaria cuneata are traditionally strung together and dried for winter use. Uvularia grandiflora (bellwort) has historically been used to treat pain and swellings. Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium, ssp obtusifolium (rabbit tobacco) is also used medicinally. Taenidia integerrima (a member of the parsely family) is taken as a root infusion for pulmonary troubles, and as chew, the steeped root, for 'bronchial affections'; it is also used as a companion herb in other remedies because of the good smell. They use Abies balsamea using the inner bark as a seasoner for medicines, taking an infusion of the inner bark for chest pain, and using the liquid balsam pressed from the trunk for colds and pulmonary troubles. They also use the inner bark as a poultice for unspecified illnesses. They also apply gum from plant blisters to sores. History The tribe originally occupied a large territory of extending from Wisconsin to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Historic references include one by Father Frederic Baraga, a missionary priest in Michigan, who in his 1878 dictionary wrote: Mishinimakinago; pl.-g.—This name is given to some strange Indians (according to the sayings of the Otchipwes [Ojibwe]), who are rowing through the woods, and who are sometimes heard shooting, but never seen. And from this word, the name of the village of Mackinac, or Michillimackinac, is derived. Maehkaenah is the Menominee word for turtle. In his The Indian Tribes of North America (1952), John Reed Swanton recorded under the "Wisconsin" section: "Menominee," a band named "Misi'nimäk Kimiko Wini'niwuk, 'Michilimackinac People,' near the old fort at Mackinac, Mich." Michillimackinac is also spelled as Mishinimakinago, Mǐshǐma‛kǐnung, Mi-shi-ne-macki naw-go, Missilimakinak, Teiodondoraghie. The Menominee are descendants of the Late Woodland Indians who inhabited the lands once occupied by Hopewell Indians, the earliest human inhabitants of the Lake Michigan region. As the Hopewell culture declined, circa