What was the “broken straw” of Pennsylvania’s Brokenstraw Creek? An investigative ethnobotany of place.

Brokenstraw Creek meets the Allegheny River below Warren, Pennsylvania. The rich alluvial environment at the confluence of these two streams, now called Irvine Flats, provided productive habitation sites for Seneca and Delaware Native American tribes through the mid-1700s. The name “Brokenstraw” is thought to be derived from the original Seneca and Delaware place names for the area, later perpetuated by French and English explorers. This “broken straw” was said to be a species of grass that grew taller than a human, dying back in the winter and littering the ground with its dead stems. What was this grass species? Using data from contemporary botanical surveys of the area, and historical observations and plant records, I identified a suite of species that could include the “signature grass” of Brokenstraw Creek. I suggest that not one, but several, tall grasses of an alluvial grassland community provided the basis for the creek’s name.