When hunters pursue upland game birds, bear, deer, elk, and
other game species this fall they will also be within arm's
reach of Montana's wild, native plants with some interesting
cultural and medicinal histories. Most Montanans know an
antelope or an elk when they see one—so it is surprising how few
feel confident identifying a wild plant. Only a short time ago,
trappers, settlers and native people considered wild plants
essential to their health and survival. Among the most easily
recognized native plants found in the outdoors are:
huckleberries, chokecherries, wild raspberries and strawberries,
buck brush, red dogwood, sagebrush, and the native grasses
including bluebunch wheatgrass—Montana's state grass. Also eye-
catching and easy to identify is a shrub known as bearberry, or
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi. Arktos is from the Greek for "bear",
stafulh or staphyle for grapes. Uva means fruit, ursi means
bear. Other common names for this plant are: kinnikinnick,
crowberry, foxberry, hog cranberry, mountain box, a