kinnikinnick

[Sally Thomason]

In northwestern Montana, in the high valleys, kinnikinnick is a
handsome low dark-green plant that looks like the kind of ground
cover that people plant in their yards.  Pretty flowers, and then
bright red berries in late summer.

Here's what the Audubon "Western Forests" guide says about it
(p. 418):

   "Kinnikinnick, an Indian word formany tobacco
    substitutes, is most frequently applied to this
    species [= the one I just described], which also
    had many medicinal uses, including the alleged
    control of several sexually transmitted diseases."


  -- Sally Thomason