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U ses of P lant s by t he India ns of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 1The S outhw est S chool of B ota nical Medicine ht t p://w w w .sw sbm .com

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PREFACE

The results contained in the following paper are born of the desire toa scerta in so fa r a s possible the rela tion of th e na tive people of th e pla insto one phase of their indigenous physical environment—its plantlife—and their ingenuity in supplying their necessities and pleasuresth erefrom. It m ust be borne in mind t ha t t he sources of supply a va ilableto any of the tribes of the American race were greatly restricted ascompared with the field from which our European race draws itssupplies. Many of the plants of this continent utilized by its nativepeople, however, migh t w ell be useful a cquisit ions for our people if ma deknown t o us.

Another potent reason for gathering such information while it may stillbe obtained, before the death of all the old people who alone possess it,

is tha t it is only in t he light of know ledge of physica l environments t ha tfolklore, ritual, ceremony, custom, song, story, and philosophy can beinterpreted intelligently. The intellectual and spiritual life of a people isreflect ed from t heir ma teria l life. The more fully a nd clea rly t he physica lenvironment of a people is known the more accurately can all theircultural expressions be interpreted. The old people themselvesa pprecia te th is an d ha ve expressed themselves a s glad t o give me a ll th einformation they could in the matters of my inquiry, in order that , asthey said, future generations of their own people as well as the whitepeople may know and understand their manner of life. To this end my

informa nts in the several tr ibes ha ve ta ken pains a nd ha ve show n greatpa t ience in inst ructing m e in t heir lore.

The information here collated has been obtained at first hand fromintelligent and credible old persons, thoroughly conversant with thematters which they discussed. The various items have been rigorouslychecked by independent corroborative evidence from other individualsof th e sa me tr ibe a nd of different tr ibes t hrough a protr a cted period. Thew ork of th e interpreters employed ha s a lso been verified by compa risona nd by m y own st udy of the la ngua ges of the va rious tr ibes interview ed.

The information, was obtained by bringing actual specimens of eachpla nt to the observa tion a nd identifica tion of ma ny informa nts, a nd t hena mes, uses, a nd prepa ra tion in each ca se were noted on t hfrspot a t thedicta tion of the informa nt .






I ha ve met uniform courtesy, kindness, and h ospita l ity a t the ha nds ofIndians of the several tr ibes in the pursuit of my inquiries, and mysincere tha nks a re due to very ma ny m en a nd w omen of the t r ibes, theirgreat number preventing acknowledgment to them here by name.Special mention for conspicuous service rendered the author should be

made of Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte and her sister, Mrs. Walter T.Diddock, of Walthill , Nebr. , daughters of Chief Iron Eye, otherwiseJ oseph La Flesche, of the Oma ha tr ibe. Of th e sam e tribe should bementioned Wajapa, White Horse, George Miller, Daniel Webster, AmosWa lker, a nd R icha rd R obinson.

P enishka, of the P onca t ribe, enrolled on th e Governm ent rolls a s J a ckPenishka, Niobrara, Nebr. , has given much useful information of histribe.

Of the Teton Dakota, mention should be made of Fast Horse and hisw ife, J oseph H orncloud, Ott o Ch iefeagle, an d t he w ell-know n S hortBull.

Of the P a w nee, special t ha nks a re due Mr. J a mes R. Murie, Mr. AlfredMurie and his wife, Chief White Eagle, Mr. David Gillingham, Mrs.Rhoda Kn ife-Ch ief a nd Mr . Cha rles Knife-Ch ief.

My thanks are due also to Dr. Charles E. Bessey, of the University ofNebraska, for suggestions and encouragement in carrying on the work

a nd t o him a nd Mr. J a mes Mooney for reading t he ma nuscript.

I wish to acknowledge also my obligation to Mr. W. E. Safford for hispainsta king a id in a rra nging and verifying the bota nica l nomenclat ure.

(Note: I have updated the latin names in brackets , such as [Echinaceaangust i fo l ia ] - Micha el Moore)






USES OF PLANTS BY THE INDIANS OF THEMISSOURI RIVER REGION

B y MELVIN R ANDOLPH G ILMORE

INTRODUCTION

During the period which has elapsed since the European occupancy ofthe continent of North America there has never been a thoroughgoing,comprehensive survey of the flora with respect to the knowledge of itand its uses possessed by the aboriginal population. Until recent yearslittle study had been made of the ethnobotany of any of the tribes or ofany phytogeographic region. Individual studies have been made, but

the subject has not claimed a proportionate share of interest with otherphases of botanical study. The people of the European race in cominginto the New World ha ve not r eally sought t o ma ke friends of the na tivepopulation, or to make adequate use of the plants or the animalsindigenous to this continent, but rather to exterminate everythingfound here a nd to suppla nt i t w ith th e plan ts a nd a nima ls to which theywere accustomed at home. I t is quite natural that al iens should have alonging for the familiar things of home, but the surest road tocont entment w ould be by wa y of gaining fr iendly a cqua inta nce w ith t henew environment. Whatever of good we may find in the new land need

not exclude the good things we may bring from the old, but ratheraugment the sum total contributing to our welfare. Agriculture andhorticulture should constantly improve the useful plants we alreadyha ve, wh ile discovery of ot hers sh ould be sough t .

We shall make the best and most economical use of all our land whenour population shall have become adjusted in habit to the naturalconditions. The country can not be wholly made over and adjusted to apeople of foreign habits and tastes. There are large tracts of land inAmerica w hose bounty is wa sted beca use the plant s w hich can be grow n

on them are not acceptable to our people. This is not because theseplants are not in themselves useful and desirable, but because theirva lua ble qua lities a re unknown . So long a s th e people of th e count ry d onot demand articles of food other than those to which our Europeanancestors were accustomed those articles will be subject to demand inexcess of production, w ith consequent enha ncement of cost, w hile at th e






successful in my researches, but had not been long employed when I saw an oldIndia n ga lloping towa rd me. He ca me up a nd shook han ds with m e and, pointing to theplant s I ha d collected, said, " B on pour ma nger?" to wh ich I replied, " Ne pas bon." H ethen said, " Bon pour medicine? " I replied, " Oui." He again shook hands and rodea wa y. . .. On my return t hrough th e vil la ge I wa s stopped by a group of squa ws, w hoInvit ed me very kindly into th eir lodges, ca lling m e Wakendaga 2 (physicia n). I declined

accepting their invitat ion, showing them that the sun was near sett ing, " and that i tw ould be night before I could reach t he boa ts. They th en invited me to sta y a ll night;th is also I declined, but suffered them t o exa mine my pla nt s, for a ll of wh ich I foundthey had na mes.3

ETHNIC BOTANY

In savage and barbarous life the occupation of first importance is thequest of food. In the earliest times people had to possess a practicalworking knowledge of plants with regard to their utilization for food;

those which were edible, those by which shift could be made at need toa vert fa mine, a nd t hose w hich on a ccount of deleterious properties mustbe a voided a t a ll times, cam e to be know n by experience of a ll the peoplein their ran ge.

In th e process of experiment some plan ts w ould be found w hich, t houghnot proving useful for food, would disclose properties which could beused as correctives of unhealthy conditions of the body; some would befound t o a llay fevers, some to stimula te cert a in functions, oth ers ha ving,th e effect to stop hemorrh a ge, an d so on.

Certain persons in every tribe or social group, from taste and habit,would come to possess a fund of such knowledge, and to these allsimpler folk, or those more occupied with other things, would resort.These wise ones then would know how to add the weight and dignity ofceremony and circumstance so that the lai ty should not fai l to awarddue appreciation to the possessors of such knowledge; thus arose therituals connected with the uses and the teaching of the same. Personswho desired to acquire such knowledge applied to those who possessedit, a nd if of a pproved cha ra ct er an d prudence t hey, upon present a t ion of

2 Bradbury must have been mistaken as to the meaning of the people or havemisunderstood the term used, because the Omaha word for "physician " is wazathe .

The word waka n dagi means "something supernatural . " This may be the wordBradbury heard and has given as wakendaga, or he may have misunderstood someother word. No such word as wakendaga has been found by me in the Omahalanguage.3 B ra dbury, Tra vels in the I nt erior of America, p. 75.






inha bited by th is people. Doctor Wa lker offers t his suggestion only a s a

possible explanation of the derivation of t ipsi n na . T i n ta i s the Dakotaw ord for " prair ie" ; na is a suffix diminutive. I t is suggested, then, tha t in

t ipsi n na w e ha ve a compound from t i n ta-psi n -n a . This seems a pla usibleexplanation. I t need not imply that Psoralea was thought to be l ike

Zizania , but only that i t was a l i t t le plant of the prair ie, t i n ta, which

served a use like to that of Zizania , psi n . This is probably a case inpoint, but whether so or not, instances could be cited of the influence ofvegetation on language, as in case of some names of months,Wazhushtecha-sha-wi , Red Strawberry moon—i. e. , the moon (lunarmonth ) w hen stra w berries a re red r ipe, the na me of the month of J unein the Da kota ca lenda r .

The prevalence of certain plants often gave origin to place names. Asexa mples of such na mes ma y be cited the Oma ha na me of Loga n C reek,

tr ibuta ry of the E lkhorn R iver, Taspa n -hi-bate-ke (mea ning river w hereclumps of Crataegus a re). Another insta nce is the Oma ha na me of Loup

River, which is Nu- ta n -k e (river where nu abounds). Nu i s the Omahaname of Gl yci ne api os . The Omaha name of Little Blue River is Maa- ozhi-ke (river full of cott onw oods, maa ).

The character of the flora of a region has its effect on the style ofarchitecture. The tribes of the eastern woodlands had abundance oftimber for building, so their houses were log structures or frames

covered with bark. In Nebraska, where the forest growth was verylimited, the dwell ing was the earth lodge, a frame of t imbers thatchedw ith prair ie gra ss and covered with ea rth.

A people living with nature, and largely dependent upon nature, willnote wit h car e every na tu ra l a spect in t heir environment. Accust omed t oobserve through the days and the seasons, in times of stress and ofrepose, every natural feature, they will watch for every sign of theimpending mood of nature, every intimation of her favor and everymonition of her austeri ty. Living thus in daily association with thena tu ra l feat ures of a r egion some of the more nota ble w ill a ssume a sortof personality in the popular mind, and so come to have place inphilosophic t hought a nd religious rit ua l.

Throughout the range of the Plains tr ibes they saw everywhere thecottonwood, the willow, and the cedar. These trees by their appearance

U ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 10The S outhw est S chool of B ota nical Medicine ht t p://w w w .sw sbm .com





impressed the imagination of the primitive mind. The cedar, appearingto be w ithdra w n into lonely places, and st a nding da rk a nd sti l l , l ike anIndian with his robe drawn over his head in prayer and meditation,seemed to be in communion with the Higher Powers. The willow wasalways found along the watercourses, as though i t had some duty or

function in the world in connection with this element so imperativelyand constantly needful to man and to all other living forms. Thecottonwood they found in such diverse situations, appearing always soself-reliant, showing such prodigious fecundity, its lustrous youngleaves in springtime by their sheen and by their restlessness reflectingthe splendor of the sun like the dancing ripples of a lake, that to thistree also they ascribed mystery. This peculiarity of the foliage of thecott onw ood is quit e rema rka ble, so th a t it is said t he a ir is never so stillthat there is not motion of cottonwood leaves. Even in still summera fternoons, a nd a t night w hen a ll else w a s sti l l, they could ever hea r t he

rust ling of cott onw ood lea ves by t he passa ge of litt le va gra nt current s ofair. And the winds themselves were the paths of the Higher Powers, soth ey w ere consta nt ly reminded of the my stic cha ra cter of th is tree.

The Sacred Pole, an object of the greatest veneration to the OmahaNa tion, wa s ma de of cott onw ood.

These three trees will serve as examples of plants to which mystery isascribed and which had symbolism in the rituals of religion. In thechapter on the aboriginal uses of plants , where the plants are l is ted

a ccordin g t o t a xonomic order, severa l ot hers w ill be found .

I t wil l be found that the sense of beauty and the pleasure-giving artswill , with every people, find outlet and expression by means of thenatural products of their own region. Much of the enjoyment of arta rises from a ssocia tion. The tribes of Nebraska found w ithin t heir ra ngemany plants yielding pigments to gratify the love of color; they alsofound many plants whose leaves or seeds yield fragrance. All of thesescents are clean and wholesome and redolent of the pure outdoors andfreshness of breezes from nature's garden and the farthest removed

from any suggestion of hothouse culture and of the moiling of crowds.B y a w hiff of a ny of these odors one is menta lly ca rried, by the pow er ofassociation and suggestion, to the wide, quiet spaces, where the mindmay recover from throng-sickness and distraction of the multitude andrega in pow er a nd poise.






Native plants of the region also furnished the materials for personaladornment, al though i t is noteworthy that i t has not been found thatflowers were used for this purpose by any of the tribes of the plains. Itwas often remarked that the people admired the wild f lowers in theirnatural s tate, but they never plucked them. However, beads and

penda nts w ere ma de from ma ny seeds.

INFLUENCE OF HUMAN POPULATION ON FLORA

It would be most interesting if we could determine with any degree ofa ccura cy t he efficient fa ctors in t he redistribut ion of vegeta tion over th eice-devastated region after the glacial retreat. We should like to knowthe distance, velocity; and direction, and the active agents, eolian,hydrographic, faunal, and anthropic, of the various currents in theresur gence of flora l life over t he r egion form erly ice covered.

We see the results of huma n a gency a s a factor in plant migra tion veryclea rly in th e int roduction into th is St a te of a n umber of pla nt s since theadvent of Europeans. Some species introduced here are indigenous onthe Atlantic seaboard, some have been brought from Europe andnaturalized in the Eastern States, and thence brought here byimmigra nt s from t hose St a tes; oth er species, for insta nce Sal sola pesti fer [Salsola kal i ssp. t ragus ,] (Russian thistle), have been introduceddirectly from E urope.

Verbascum thapsus (mullein), Arc t i um minus (burdock), Leontodontaraxacum [Tar axacum off icin ale ] (dandelion), and many other weedsnow very common, are of recent introduction by this means, besidesmany plants purposely introduced by the white settlers, such as Nepetacatar ia (catnip), Rori pa armor acia (horseradish), and other herbaceouspla nts , a nd fruit a nd t imber t rees, vines, a nd shrubs.

Although these sources of plant immigration into Nebraska arerecognized, th e huma n fa ctor in pla nt d istribut ion prior to the E uropeanadvent is not so obvious and may not have suggested itself to most of

my readers. But the people of the resident tribes traveled extensivelyand received visitors from distant tribes. Their wants required forva rious purposes a gr eat number of species of pla nt s from m ount a in a ndplain and valley, from prairie and from woodland, from regions asremote from each other as the Rio Grande and the Great Lakes and St.Lawrence.






Their cultivated plants were all probably of Mexican origin, comprisedin the Cucurbitaceae (squashes, pumpkins, gourds, and watermelons),Phaseolu s vul gari s (garden bean) in 15 or more varieties, Zea m ays (corn) in five general types aggregating from 15 to 20 varieties, and

t heir t oba cco, N icot iana quadr iva lv i s .

But besides these known plant immigrants already carried intoNebraska by human agency before the advent of Europeans, certainfacts lea d me to believe tha t some pla nts not under cultivat ion, a t lea stin the ordina ry sense, ow e their presence here to huma n tr a nsport a tion,eith er designed or undesigned. P a rt s of certa in pla nt s, an d in most casesthe fruits or fruiting pa rts , w ere desired a nd used for t heir fra gra nce, asthe seeds of Aquilegia canadensis , the fruiting tops of Thal i c t rumpurpurascens [?] , the entire plant of Gal ium t r i f l o rum , the fruits of

Zan thoxylum am er icanum , and leaves and tops of M onar da f i stul osa .Any of these easily might be, and probably were, undesignedlydistribut ed by the movement s of persons ca rry ing th em. Desirable fruitswere likely carried from camp to camp and their seeds dropped in aviable condit ion often in pla ces favora ble to their growt h. M alu s ioensis is found in Iowa and on the west side of the Missouri River in thesoutheast part of Nebraska, but nowhere higher up the Missouri on thewest side except on a certain creek flowing into the Niobrara from thesouth near the line between Knox County and Holt County. TheOmaha and Ponca call this creek Apple Creek on that account. The

origina l seed, so far from t heir kind, proba bly rea ched t his place in ca mpkitchen refuse.

Acorus calamus an d Lobel ia cardinal is are both found in certainrestr icted areas within the old Pawnee domain. Acorus is exceedinglyhighly prized by the Pawnee, and also by the other tribes, for medicinaluse, and by the Pawnee especially for ritualistic religious use. Also itsseeds were used for beads. Seeds obtained originally at a place fardistant might have been lost in the margins of streams, and so havebeen int roduced unw itt ingly. Moreover, seeds or living roots might ha ve

been brought purposely and set by the priests and doctors without theknowledge of th e la ity. Thus t his pla nt ma y lia ve been intr oduced t o th efew places where it is now to be found in Nebraska either with orwithout design. At al l events i t appears most probable that i t wasintroduced by human agency. I t is s ignif icant that the isolated areaswhere it is found are comparatively near old Pawnee village sites.






Lobel ia w a s a pla nt t o w hich myst ic pow er in love a ffa irs wa s a tt r ibuted.It w a s used in ma king love cha rms. Of course the meth ods a nd formula efor compounding love medicines were not known to everyone, so aperson desiring t o employ su ch a cha rm must resort to some one reputedto have knowledge of it and must pay the fees and follow the

instructions of his counsellor. In order to have the medicine convenientthe wise ones might very naturally think of trying to introduce it togrow in their own country. Quite naturally, too, its introduction, ifaccomplished, would be secretly effected. Advertising is contrary to theprofessional code.

In another place the recent dissemination of Mel i lo tus is discussed.When the Pawnee were removed from Nebraska to Oklahoma theycarried with them seeds from Nebraska, their mother country, to thela nd, foreign to th em, wh ich circumst a nces t hey ha d no pow er to cont rol

ca used t hem t o colonize. B esides t he seeds of t heir cultiva ted crops t heycarried stores of dried fruits as part of their food supply. Among thesew ere qua nt ities of dried plums, often dried entire w ithout pitt ing. At t hepresent time t here ar e thickets of Pru nu s amer icana wherever are seenthe lodge rings of the original earth lodges which they first occupiedwhen they went to Oklahoma. This fact I observed when I visi ted thattr ibe in pursuit of informa t ion in t heir plant lore. From considera tion ofsuch facts as are here demonstrated I am of the opinion that humanoccupation and activities were more or less efficient factors in thedistribution of plants in Nebraska as found by the first comers of the

Eur opea n ra ce.

The most casual observer can perceive that Europeans, since theira dvent , ha ve grea tly cha nged the f lora by introducing new species a nddepleting the numbers of some and augmenting the numbers of certainoth er species. A very grea t depletion h a s occurred in th e gra ssla nd floraby reason of the large areas in which the original f lora has beencompletely ext ermina ted by t he plow . Other a rea s ha ve been overgra zeduntil the original balance of vegetation has been destroyed by theunnatural competition induced among the native species as well as by

the added competitive factor of introduced species. Thus many pasturelands may now be seen in which hard and bitter species, such asSol idago r igida [Oligoneuron r igidum var . r i g i dum ] an d Vernoniafasciculata , not desired by grazing animals , have inordinatelyincreased. Not only have some species of the natural prairie flora beenthus decreased and others increased, but the woodland f lora has been






considerably augmented not only by artificial planting, but also byattendant protection of the natural increase, which protection has beenin some inst a nces int entiona l a nd in others only coincidenta l.

The introduction and dissemination of species by human agency in

aboriginal time has been discussed already. It remains to notice thehum a n fa ct or in depletion of certa in species a nd a ugment a tion of oth ersprior to European advent. Probably the chief means employed by thetribes, affecting the floral balance, was that of fire. Their habit of firingthe gra ssla nds w a s effective in reta rding the a dvan ce of woodland w ithall its associate flora and very probably even drove back the forest lineand exterminated some areas which, previous to any human occupancy,ha d been possessed by forest growt h.

TAXONOMIC LIST OF PLANTS USED BY INDIANS OF THE

MISSOURI RIVER REGION4

P ROTOP H YCE AE AND Z YGOPHYCEAE

Without specification of genera or even of orders it is sufficient to saythat a green stain for decoration of implements made of wood wasobtained from masses of the green aquatic vegetation popularly knowna s " pond scum" or " frog spit. " The green substa nce used by th e people ofthe tribes for the purpose of making a green stain, obtained by themfrom sluggish streams and ponds, doubtless consisted of colonies of

Protococcus , Ulo th r i x , Chaetophora , Spirogyra , etc.

AGARICACEAE

PLEUROTUS ULMARIUS B ull. Elm Ca p.

This fungus is used for food by the tribes acquainted with it . Whenyoung a nd t ender it is most d elicious. It grows in d eca yed spots on Acernegundo an d U lmus sp. The w rit er discovered its use for food a mong t hepeople of the Dakota Nation. Some women were gathering it in a grove

of boxelder near the place where the Cannonball River flows into theMissouri River, and they gave information as to its use. They werelooking for it in decayed spots caused by tapping the trees for thepurpose of suga r m a king, for t hese people still ma ke suga r from t he sa pof the boxelder.

4 See glossary of pla nt na mesU ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 15

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P OLYP ORACE AE B RACKE T FU NGI

POLYSTICTUS VERSICOLOR (L.) Fr.

Cha n na n kpa (Da kota ), " t ree ears" (cha n ; w ood or t ree; na n kpa , ea r).

The Dakota use this fungus for food when young and tender, exceptspecimens growing on ash trees (Frax inus ), which they say are bit ter .They a re prepar ed by boiling.

U STILAGINACEAE SMUTS

USTILAGO MAYDIS (DC .) Cda . Corn S mut .

Wahaba thi (Omaha-Ponca); literally, "corn sores" or "blisters"(wahaba , corn).

This fungus was used for food by both Omaha and Pawnee. For thispurpose the spore fruits were gathered as soon as they appeared, whilefirm a nd w hite, a nd boiled. They w ere said t o be very good.

LYCOPERDACEAE PUFFBALLS

LYCOPERDON GEMMATUM Batsch. , CALVATIA CYATHA-

FORMIS (B osc.) Morg ., BOVISTA PLUMBEA P ers. P uffba ll.

H okshi chekpa (Da kota ), "ba by's na vel" (hokshi , baby; chekpa , na vel).

The Pawnee name is Kaho rahik (kaho , the name + r ah i k , old),descriptive of it in t he sta ge wh en it is used a s a stypt ic.

The pra irie mushrooms, commonly designa ted puffba lls, were ga t heredand kept for use as a styptic for any wounds, especially for applicationto the umbilicus of newborn infants. From its universal application to

this use a mong t he Da kota is derived t heir na me for t he puffball . In theyoung stage it is used for food. It is used also as a styptic by the Poncaa nd t he Oma ha . While w hite a nd . firm, before the spores formed, it w a ssometimes roa sted for food by t he Oma ha , but t his use wa s unknow n t omy informa nt a mong the Da kota .






H ELVELLACEAE

MORCHELLA ESCULENTA (L.) P ers. Morel.

Mika i t h i (Oma ha -P onca ), "s t a r sore" (mikay , s tar ; th i , sore). They a re

much esteemed for food a nd a re eat en boiled.

P ARMELIACEAE

PARMELIA BARBATA Tur n. L ichen.

Cha n wi ziye (Da kota )

U SN EACEAE

USNEA BARBATA H offm. Lichen.

Cha n wi ziye (Da kota ).

This lichen and the preceding one are by the Dakota used in the samew a y a nd given t he sam e na me. They w ere used to make a yellow dye forporcupine quills; for this purpose the lichens were boiled and the quillsdipped in th e result ing liquid.

E QUISETACEAE

EQUISETUM SP. Horseta i l, Scouring Rush, Sna kegra ss, J oint Rush.

Ma n de id he shn aha (Oma ha -P onca ), " t o-ma ke-a -bow-smoot h " ' (ma n de,bow; shnaha , to smooth; i d he carries the idea of purpose or use).Designa ted a lso shangga wath ate because horses (shangga ) eat i t w i thavidity.

Pakarut (P a w nee).

It was used by these tribes for polishing, as we use sandpaper.Winneba go children sometimes ma de wh istles of the st ems, but t he olderpeople w a rned t hem not t o do so lest sna kes should come.






P INACEAE CONIFERS

PINUS MURRAYANA [Pin us Cont or ta ] Oreg. C orn. Lodgepole P ine.

Wazi (Da kota ).

While not indigenous to Nebraska, this tree was known and prized foruse a s tipi poles. The tr ibes of east ern Nebra ska ma de trips to obta in itin its ha bita t or tra ded for it w ith t heir w estern neighbors.

[CU P R E S S A C E A E ] J UNIPERUS VIRGINIANA L. Ceda r.

Hante or an te sha (Da kota ); sha , " red."

Maazi (Oma ha -P onca).

Tawatsaako (P a w nee).

The fruits are known as ante i t ik a , "cedar eggs." The fruits and leavesw ere boiled t ogether a nd t he decoction w a s used interna lly for coughs. Itwas given to horses also as a remedy for coughs. For a cold in the headtwigs were burned and the smoke inhaled, the burning twigs and thehead being enveloped in a blanket. Because the cedar tree is sacred tothe mythical thunderbird, his nest being “in the cedar of the western

mountains," cedar boughs were put on the tipi poles to ward offl ightning, " a s w hite men put up l ightn ing rods, " my informa nt sa id.

In the year 1849-50 Asiatic cholera was epidemic among the TetonDakota. The Oglala were encamped at that t ime where Pine RidgeAgency n ow is. Man y of the people died a nd oth ers sca tt ered in a pa nic.Red Cloud, then a young man, tr ied various treatments, f inally adecoction of ceda r leaves. This w a s drun k a nd w a s used a lso for ba th ing,a nd is sa id to have proved a cure.

The Omaha-Ponca name for the cedar is maazi . Cedar t w igs were usedon t he hot st ones in the va por ba th , especia lly in purifica tory rit es. J .Owen Dorsey5 sa ys, " In t he Osa ge tra ditions, cedar symbolizes the treeof life." Fr a ncis La Flesche6 s ays :

5 Siouan Cults, p. 3916 Flet cher a nd L a Flesche, The Om a ha Tribe, pp. 457-458.






An a ncient ceda r pole wa s a lso in th e keeping of the We'zhi n shte gens, and w a s lodgedin the Tent of War. This venerable object was once the central figure in rites thathave been lost . In creation myths the cedar Is , associated with the advent of thehuma n ra ce; other my tha connect this t ree with t he thunder . The thunder birds weresaid to live " in a forest of cedars . . . " There is a tradition that in olden times, in thespring aft er the first th under ha d sounded, in the ceremony which then t ook pla ce th isCedar Pole was painted and anointed at the great tr ibal festival held while on thebuffalo hunt.

As a remedy for nervousness and bad dreams the Pawnee used thesmoke trea tm ent, burning ceda r t w igs for t he purpose.

TYPHACEAE

TYPHA LATIFOLIA L. C a t-ta il. (P l. 1, b .)

Wihu ta -hu (Dakota); w i hu t a , " the bottom of a t ipi " (hu , plant-body,herb, shrub, or tree; in a Dakota plant name hu s ignif ies "plant, " asdoes h i in the Oma ha langua ge).

Wahab' igaskonthe (Omaha-Ponca); wahaba , corn; igaskonthe , simila r,referring to the appearance of the floral spikes synchronously with thema tu ring of the corn.

Ksho-hi n (Winnebago); ksho , prairie chicken, h i n , feather. The plucked

down resembles in color and texture the finer feathers of the prairiechicken.

Hawahawa (P a w nee).

Kir i t - tacharush (Pawnee), "eye itch" (k i r i t , eye; tacharush , itch); sonamed because the flying down causes itching of the eyes if it gets intothem.

The down was used to make dressings for burns and scalds; on infants,

to prevent chafing, as we use talcum; and as a f i l l ing for pil lows andpadding for cradle boa rds a nd in q uilt ing ba by w ra ppings. Pieces of thestem were essential elements in making the ceremonial object of theOmaha and Ponca known as niniba weawan , used in the Wawanceremony. In a family in which the birth of a child was expected thewomen busied themselves in collecting a great quantity of the down of






ground is entirely the same, but the root under ground is much greater in theAmerican than in the European. Mr. Osbeck, in his voyage to China, mentions thatthe Chinese plant a Sagi t tar ia , and eat its roots. This seems undoubtedly to be avar iety of this katniss .

P OACEAE

SPARTINA MICHAUXIANA [Spart ina pect inata ] Hitchc. SloughGrass .

S idu-h i (Oma ha -P onca).

This plant , wh ich grows in a l l the swa les of eastern Nebra ska, w a s usedas thatching to support the earth covering of the lodges in theperma nent villa ges.

SAVASTANA ODORATA [H ier ochl oe hi r ta, H . odorat a ] (L.) Scribn.Sw eet G rass .

Wachanga (Da kota .)

Pezhe zonsta (Oma ha -P onca).

Manuska (Winn eba go).

Kataaru , (P a w nee).

Sweet grass is found in northeastern Nebraska, and more abundantlynor thward and eas tward. I t was used for per fume and was burned asan incense in any ceremony or ritual to induce the presence of goodinfluences or benevolent pow ers, w hile wild sa ge, a species of Artemisia ,was burned to exorcise evil influences or malevolent powers. It was anessential element in the objects used in the Wawan ceremony of theOma ha a nd P onca . According to J . Owen D orsey, wachanga is one ofth e pla nt s used in connection wit h t he sun da nce.10

On P a lm Sunda ys old Da kota s, members of the church, w hen they ha vereceived palms a t the church, ca rry t hem home an d t ie sweet gra ss wit hthem when they put them up in their houses. At the present time, it issa id, some of th e old people still ca rry sw eet gra ss t o church for t he P a lmSu nda y service. This is from t he old-tim e a ssocia tion of sw eet gra ss w ith

10 Siouan Cult s, p. 454U ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 21






sa cred ceremonies a nd th ings holy.

When C hief Welkie, of th e P embina ba nd of t he Chippewa tr ibe, ma de atreaty of peace with the Dakota tr ibe the ceremony included thesmoking of a pipe of toba cco mixed w ith sw eet gra ss. This w a s, no doubt,

w ith t he idea of summoning a ll good pow ers a s w itnesses an d helpers inconcluding t he desired peace.

PANICUM VIRGATUM L. Switch G rass.

ade wath azhn in de (Ponca).

On the buffalo hunt, in cutting up the meat the people were careful toavoid laying it on grass of this species in head, because the glumes ofthe spikelets would adhere to the meat and afterwards would stick in

the t hroat of one ea ting i t .

STIPA SPARTEA Trin. [H esper osti pa spar tea ] Porcupine Grass,Spa nish Needles, Needle G ra ss. (P l. 2.)

Mika-h i (Oma ha -P onca), "comb plan t" (mika , comb).

Pitsuts (P a w nee), "ha irbrush"; or Paar i pi tsuts , Pa wnee ha irbrush.

The stiff a w ns of th is gra ss w ere firmly bound into a bundle, from w hich

the pointed grains were burned off, leaving a brush used for dressingthe hair. This brush was used also in a certain part of the ceremonyheretofore mentioned a s the Wa w a n of the Oma ha -P onca, th e Ha ko11 ofthe Pa wnee.

ZIZANIA AQUATICA L. Wild Rice, In dia n R ice. (P I. 3.)

Psi n (Da kota ).

Si n wan i nda , (Oma ha -P onca).

Si n (Win neba go).

The range of wild rice is very extensive throughout the NorthTemperate Zone. It is found in the shallow lakes of the Sand Hills of

11 Flet cher, The H a ko, p. 220.U ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 22






birds from doing a ny furth er dam a ge.14

In the Omaha subgens, the Wazhinga-thatazhi (" those who eat nosma ll birds" ), the people feared t o eat th e first ma tu re ea rs lest t he sma llbirds, particularly blackbirds, should come and devour the rest of the

crop.15

A w hite lea f a ppearing in a cornfield wa s ha iled with joy by t he Omah aas a portent of a bountiful crop for the year and of abundance of meata t t he next buf fa lo hunt .

Among the Omaha i f a murderer passed near a f ield i t was feared theeffect would be to blight the crop. Some time in the latter half of thenineteenth century a murderer, having passed his term of exile for hiscrime, was returning to his people. As he approached he was warned

away from the f ields by their owners. This individual was a mysteryman ("medicine man") and as such was considered to possesssupernatural power, or to be able to enlist the aid of supernaturalpowers by certain prayers and songs; hence as he came by the fields hesang a song to the powers to avert the disastrous effect on the crop,w hich oth erwise his presence might incur. Of t his he a ssured t he peoplet o qu iet t heir fear s of blight on t heir crop.

Corn silks were gathered and, after being dried in the sun, were storedaway for use as food. To this end the dried corn silks were ground with

par ched corn, a nd, it is sa id, ga ve sweetness t o the compound.

Our European race l i t t le appreciates the great number and variety ofcorn food products made by the American tribes. No attempt is herema de even t o give a fu ll list of such products.

ANDROPOGON FURCATUS [A. ger ar di i ] Muh l.

ade-zhide (Omaha-Ponca), "red hay" ( ade , hay; zhide , red). Thisgrass, the most common in the meadows and prair ies of the State, was

ordinarily used to lay on the poles to support the earth covering of thelodges. The stiff , jointed stems are termed in the Omaha-Poncalanguage peska . These were often used by little boys in play to makearrows for their toy bows. In making arrows of the stems of this wild

14 Dorsey, Om a ha Sociology, p. 23815 Dorsey, Sioua n C ults, p. 402.






grass small boys of the Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa tr ibes wouldcommonly insert a thorn of Crataegus sp. (thorn apple) for an arrowpoint. With such a rrows t o th eir litt le bow s th ey would tra in th emselvesto skill in a rchery by shoot ing frogs. The first field ma tr on t o t he Oma ha

ta ught t he women t o knit . One w oma n, P onka -sa n , lost her needles a nd

improvised a set from peska . White Horse, an old medicine-man of theOmaha, told me of a remedial use of Andropogon which he hadobtained by purchase from an Oto medicine-man. A decoction of thelower blades of this grass chopped fine was drunk in cases of generaldebility and languor without definitely known cause. The samedecoction w a s used a lso for ba t hing in ca se of fevers, for t his purpose acut being made on the top of the head to which the decoction wasapplied. The people had great dread of fevers because of the evil effectthey were supposed to have on the mind; this no doubt was because ofdelirium w hich often a ccompa nies fever.

C YPERACEAE

SCIRPUS VALIDUS [Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani ,] Va hl. B ulrush.

Psa (D a kota ).

Sa-hi (Oma ha -P onca).

Sistat (P a w nee).

The tender w hite pa rt a t t he base of the stem of the bulrush w a s eat enfresh and raw by the Dakota. The stems were used to weave. intomatting by all the tribes. A medicine-man of the Pawnee evinced livelyinterest when he saw a specimen in my collection, but did notcommunicate any information about i t , a fact from which I infer i t hassome ceremonia l use.

ARACEAE

ARISAEMA TRIPHYLLUM (L.) Torr. J a ck-in-the-pulpit . (P I . 4.)

Mikasi -maka n (Oma ha -P onca ), " coyote medicine."

N ikso koror ik kahtsu ni tawau (Pawnee); medicine (or herb) kahtsu ;tha t bea rs , n i t awau ; w ha t resembles, koror ik ; a n ea r of corn, nikso . The






na me is strikingly descript ive of th e ripened fruit.

This plant is used medicinally by the Pawnee. When a Pawneemedicine-man saw my specimen he evinced lively interest and showedme a bag containing the pulverized corm, but was unwilling to tell me

its use. Another Pawnee medicine-man, however, told me of its use intrea ting hea da che by dusting on the top of the hea d a nd on the temples.

The corm was pulverized and applied as a counterirritant forrheumatism and s imilar pains , as i r r i tant plas ters are used by whi tepeople.

The seeds of this plant were put into gourd shells by the Pawnee toma ke ra tt les.

[ACORACEAE]ACORUS CALAMUS L. Sw eet Fla g, Ca lamus.

Si n kpe-ta-wote (Da kota ), "m uskra t food " (si n kpe , muskrat ; wote , food).

Makc n - n i n i da (Oma ha -P onca).

Ma n ka n -kere (Winnebago).

Kahtsha i tu (P a w nee); kahtsu , medicine; ha , in w a ter ; i tu , lying.

All the tr ibes hold this plant in very high esteem. I t was used as acarminative, a decoction was drunk for fever, and the rootstock waschewed as a cough remedy and as a remedy for toothache. For colic aninfusion of the pounded root stock was drunk. As a remedy for colds therootstock was chewed or a decoction was drunk, or it was used in thesmoke treatment. In fact , this part of the plant seems to have beenregarded as a panacea. When a hunting party came to a place wherethe calamus grew the young men gathered the green blades andbraided them into garlands, which they wore round the neck for their

pleasant odor. It was one of the plants to which mystic powers wereascribed. The blades were used also ceremonially for garlands. In themyst ery ceremonies of the P a w nee a re songs a bout t he ca lam us.

Among t he Teton D a kota in old t imes w a rriors chewed t he root-stock t oa paste, which they rubbed on the face to prevent excitement and fear






All the species of wild onion found within their habitat were used forfood by the Nebraska tr ibes, commonly raw and fresh as a relish,somet imes cooked a s a fla vor for mea t a nd soup, also fried.

ERYTHRONIUM MESOCHOREUM Knerr and E. ALBIDUM Nutt .Sprin g Lily, Sn a ke Lily. (P l. 6.)

H ed te-shu tsh (Winn eba go).

I was informed by Winnebago that children ate them raw with avidityw hen freshly dug in springt ime.

LILIUM UMBELLATUM [Li l i um phi lade lph icum var . and i num ]Pursh.

The flowers of this plant, pulverized or chewed, were applied by theDakota as an antidote for the bites of a certain small poisonous brownspider. It is said t o relieve the inflam ma tion a nd sw elling immediat ely.

[AGAVACEAE ] YUCCA GLAUCA Nutt . Soapweed, Spanish Bayonet, Dagger Weed.(P ls. 7, 8.)

Hupestula (Da kota ).

Duwaduwa-h i (Oma ha -P onca).

Chakida-kahtsu or Chaki la-kahtsu (P a w nee).

The root was used by the Pawnee and Omaha in the smoke treatment.By all the tribes the root was used like soap, especially for washing theha ir. On the high t reeless pla ins th e Teton Da kota , for w a nt of wood forfire-drills, utilized yucca. The hard, sharp-pointed blades were boundtogether with sinew to make the dri l l , and the stem, peeled and dried,

was used as the hearth of the f ire-making apparatus, just as punk wasused in th e timbered regions.

Yucca leaves were macerated till the fibers were cleared, and, with thesha rp, har d point of the lea f s t i l l at ta ched, were tw ined into th read. Thesha rp point w a s used a s a needle.






SMILAX HERBACEA L. J a cob's La dder.

Toshunu k a un shk e (Winnebago), "otter armlet" (toshunuk , otter;a unshk e , a rmlet).

The fruits were eaten at t imes by the Omaha for their pleasant. taste.They w ere said t o be effect ua l in relieving hoar seness.

I RIDACEAE

IRIS VERSICOLOR L. B lue Flag . (P l. 9.)

Maka n -skithe 16 (Omaha-Ponca), "sweet medicine" (maka n , medicine;ski the , sweet), or perha ps in t his ca se mea ning not " sw eet " in th e sense

we use the word, but " s t imula t ing," a s the pla nt ha s a pungent t a s te .

The rootst ock w a s pulverized an d mixed wit h w a t er, or more often w ithsaliva, and the infusion dropped into the ear to cure earache; it wasused also to medica te eye-w a ter. A past e wa s ma de to a pply to sores a ndbruises.

S ALICACEAE

POPULUS SARGENTII [Populus deltoides ssp. moni l i fera ] Dode.

Cottonwood. (Pl. 5, b .)

Wága cha n (Da kot a ) ; cha n mean s "w ood " or " tree."

Maa zho n (Oma ha -P onca), "cott on t ree" (zho n , w ood or t ree).

Natakaaru (P a w nee).

The Teton Dakota say that formerly the people peeled the youngsprouts and ate the inner bark because of i ts pleasant, sweet taste and

nutritive value. Young cottonwood branches and upper branches ofolder trees were provided as forage for their horses and were said to bea s " good for t hem a s oat s . " White tr a ppers an d t ra velers ha ve recordedth eir observa t ions a s to the va lue of the cott onw ood a s fora ge.

16 It should be noted t ha t a number of different pla nts seem t o be known by th eOmaha and P onka as maka n —skithe , "sw eet medicine."


[SMILACACEAE]





Mystic properties were ascribed to the cottonwood. The Sacred Pole ofthe Omaha was made from a cottonwood. This was an object whichseems to have had among that people a function somewhat similar totha t of th e Ark of th e Covenant a mong the a ncient H ebrews. Among the

list of personal names pertaining to the Ka nza gens of the Omaha tr ibeis that of Maa-zho n H oda , Gray Cotton-wood. Cottonwood bark wasemployed as a fuel for roasting the clays used in making paints forhera ldic a nd sy mbolic pa inting of the skin. A yellow dye w a s ma de fromthe leaf buds in early spring. A very pretty and interesting use ofcottonwood leaves was made by children in play. They split a leaf ashort distance down from the t ip along the midrib; at equal distancesfrom the tip they tore across from the margin slightly; then, bendingback the margin above the rents for the smoke flaps, and drawingtogether the leaf-margins below the rents and fastening them with a

splinter or a thorn, they had a toy tipi. These they made in numbersand placed them in circles like the camp circle of their tribe. The childrenof al l the Nebraska tr ibes played thus. I t is interesting to note thismanifestation of the inventive genius and resourcefulness of the Indianchild mind thus reacting to its environment and providing its ownamusement. Children sometimes gathered the cottony fruits of the cot-tonwood before they w ere sca tt ered by t he wind a nd used them a s gumfor chew ing. In ea rly spring, before th e leaves a ppear , the w a xy buds ofthe cottonwood were boiled to make yellow dye. Feathers for plumingarrows were dyed a yellowish color by dipping in a decoction made by

boiling the seed vessels of this tree.

Mention ha s been ma de a lready of th e use of cott onw ood leaves by litt legirls in ma king t oy t ipis. They w ere also used to ma ke toy mocca sins. Forthis purpose a rent w a s ma de at equa l dista nces on ea ch side of the lea fabout halfway from the tip to the petiole. The edge of the leaf was nowturned down in a line from this rent to the base; then the edges of theleaf from the rent to the t ip were brought together and pinned with asplinter to make the fore part, the edges of the base were broughttogether and fastened to make the back part , and behold! a t iny green

mocca sin of th e pat tern common a mong th e tribes of th e pla ins, the t opbeing turned dow n a t t he ankle.

Girls and young women made another pleasing use of the cotton-woodleaf. The tip of the leaf was put between the lips and the sides presseda gainst t he nostr i ls wi th the thumb a nd index finger in such a wa y t ha t






one nostril was quite closed and the other partly so. Then the breathwas expelled through the partly closed nostril , vibrating on the leaf insuch a way that very sweet musical notes were produced, birdlike orflutelike in q ua lity. The effect is m ost plea sing t o th e ea r.

The green, unopened fruits of cottonwood were used by children asbea ds a nd ear pendants in pla y.

SALIX INTERIOR [Sal i x exigua ] Rowlee. Sa ndba r Willow .

The stems of this willow were peeled and used in basketry by theOmaha a nd other tr ibes .

SALIX sp.

Wa pe-popa (Da kota ), generic na me for w illow .

Ruhi (Winn eba go).

Ki tapato (P a w nee).

Poles of willow of various species, overlaid on the heavier timbers tosustain the thatch covered with earth, were used in the construction ofth e ea rt h lodge. Sma ll poles of w illow w ere used t o form t he fra me of th esuda tory, or ba th lodge. Before Eur opea n customs ha d so fa r superseded

the native tribal customs, willow had its place in the funeral customs ofthe Omaha . On the day of bur ia l , the four th da y a f ter the dea th , a t thetime of starting from the home for the place of interment, young men,friends of the family of the deceased, appeared at the lodge toa ccompa ny t he funera l part y t o the gra ve. They ma de para llel ga shes inthe skin of the forearm, and lifting the skin between these gashes, theythrust in the stems of willow twigs; leaving these thus depending fromth e ar m, th e tw igs were soon ba th ed in the blood of the young m en, whothus attested to the l iving their sympathy and condolence, while theysang the tribal Song to the Spirit. This song is one of joyful cadence

rather than mournful, because it is a song of cheer to the departingspirit, w hile th eir blood a nd t ear s ma nifest t heir sympa th etic feeling forthe bereaved.






J UGLANDACEAE

J UGLANS NIGRA L. B lack Wa lnut.

Hma (Dakota); Teton dialect, gm a ; also by the Teton Dakota called

cha n -sapa , , bla ck wood.

Tdage (Oma ha -P onca). Tdage-hi , wa lnut t ree.

Chak (Winn eba go). Chak-hu , wa lnut tree.

Sahtaku (P a w nee).

The nuts were used for food and a black dye was made from the root.The black wa lnut (tdage ) is mentioned in the myt h of " Isht inike a nd t he

Four Creators.17 For food the nut s w ere eat en pla in or served w ithhoney, or m a de int o soup.

HICORIA OVATA [Car ya ovata ] (Mill.) B rit ton. H ickory Nut .

Cha n su (Da kota ). Cha n su-hu , hickory t ree.

No n si (Oma ha -P onca). No n si-hi , hickory tree.

Pa n ja (Winn eba go), nut . Pa n ja-h u , nut t ree.

Sahpakski isu (Pawnee), skull nut, from the resemblance of the nut(saht , nut; pakski isu , skull).

The nuts were used for food in the same way as walnuts . Sugar wasmade from the sap as from Acer species, and also by boiling hickorychips.

B ETULACEAE

CORYLUS AMERICANA Wa lt . Ha zelnut.

Uma (D a kota ). Uma-hu , ha zel bush.

U n zhinga (Oma ha -P onca). U n zhinga-hi , ha zel bush.

17 Dorsey, ¢egiha L a ngua ge, p. 556.U ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 32






H uksik (Winnebago).

The nuts were used for food as were other nuts, being eaten raw withhoney, or used a s body for soup.

BETULA PAPYRIFERA Ma rsh. Pa per or Ca noe Birch.

Ta n pa (Dakota). Ta n pa-hu , birch tree. Teton dialect Cha n ha sa n , pale-

bark (cha n -h a , bark; sa n pa le).

The bark, shredded fine, was bound in bundles for torches. It was usedalso as material for vessels to catch the sap from the trees in sugar-ma king time, a nd for va rious household ut ensils.

FAGACEAE

QUERCUS MACROCARPA Michx. Bur Oa k.

Uskuyecha-hu (Da kota ).

Tashka-k i (Oma ha -P onca).

Chashke-hu (Winn eba go).

Patk i -natawawi (P a w nee); patk i , a com; natawawi , bea ring.

QUERCUS RUBRA L. Red Oak.

U ta (Da kota ). Uta-hu , oa k tr ee.

Buude-hi (Oma ha -P onca).

Nahata-pahat (P a w nee), "r ed-tr ee" (nakata , tr ee; pahat , red).

Acorns, especially of Quer cus r ubr a , were used for food. The bitter andastringent properties were extracted by leaching with wood ashes,prefera bly t he a shes from ba ssw ood. The ba rk of the root of a ny speciesof oak was scraped off and boiled and the decoction given for boweltrouble, especially in children.






U LMACEAE

ULMUS AMERICANA L. White E lm, America n E lm.

Pe (Dakota), " the elm"; pe cha n , "elm wood"; pe i kcheka , " the common

elm."

Ezho n sho n (Omaha-Ponca), "elm tree," generic name; ezho n zho n ska ,"w hite elm " (ska , white).

Tai t sako taka , (P a w nee), "w hite elm" (tai tsako , elm; taka , w hite).

The wood was used for fuel; forked trees were used for the posts inbuilding the earth lodge; sections of elm logs were used to make hugecorn mortars, while the pestles were also made of this wood. Smaller

mortars and pestles of this wood were made for grinding medicines andperfumes. All th ese uses a pplied a lso t o t he other species of elm.

ULMUS THOMASII S a rg. Rock E lm.

Pe i tazi pa (Da kota ), "bow elm" (i tazipa , bow ).

Ezho n zho n zi (Oma ha -P onca), " yellow elm" (zi , yellow ).

This species a nd th e preceding w ere both used for sa ddle tr ees. It w ould

seem from t he Da kota na me tha t i t w a s formerly used for ma king bow s,but I ha ve no direct informa tion on th a t point.

ULMUS FULVA [Ul mus rubra ] Michx. S lippery E lm or Red E lm.

Pe tu tu tupa (D a kota ), or in Teton dia lect pe tu tu n tu n pa .

Ezho n zhide (Omaha-Ponca), "red elm" (zhide , red) or ezho n zhide g th ig th i de , " slippery r ed elm" (g th ig th i de , slippery ).

Wak i d i k i d i k (Winnebago).

Tai t sako pahat (P a w nee), "r ed elm" (pahat , r ed).

The bark, when weathered for several years t i l l i t glows withphosphorescence in the darkness, was used to catch the spark in fire-






making. The fresh inner bark was boiled and the resulting decoctionwas drunk as a laxative. The Omaha used to cook the inner bark withbuffalo fat in rendering out the tallow. They considered that the barkgave a desirable f lavor to the fat and added a preservative quali ty,preventing it from becoming rancid. When the rendering was finished

the children always asked for the pieces of cooked bark, which theyprized as titbits. The inner bark fiber was also used for making ropesand cords.

CELTIS OCCIDENTALIS L. Ha ckberry.

Yamnumnugap i (Dakota), from yamnumnuga , " to crunch," becauseanimals crunch its berries.

Gube (Oma ha -P onca).

Wake-warutsh (Winnebago), "raccoon food" (wake , raccoon; warutsh ,food).

Kaapsi t (P a w nee).

Omaha informants say the berries were eaten only casually, but theDa kota used t hem a s a f la vor for mea t. F or t his purpose they poundedthem fine, seeds and all . When they first saw pepper corns of blackpepper, and their use as a condiment when ground, they likened them

t o yamnumnugapi and so they called black pepper yamnumnugapiwashichu n , "w hite man 's yamnumnugapi ."

The Pawnee say they pounded the berries f ine, added a l i t t le fat , andmixed t hem w ith par ched corn. They described the combina tion a s verygood.

MORACEAE

TOXYLON POMIFERUM [Maclura pomifera ] Raf. Osage Orange,

B ois d'Arc.

Zho n -zi-zhu (Omaha-Ponca), "yellow-flesh wood" (zho n , w ood; zi , yellow ;zhu , flesh).

Naki tsku (P a w nee).






This tree wa s not na tive to Nebra ska, but i ts w ood w a s used for ma kingbows whenever it could be obtained. It was gotten whenever southerntrips were made into i ts range, which is in the southern part ofOklahoma; or i t was obtained by gif t or barter from the tr ibes of that

region.

HUMULUS AMERICANA Nutt . Hops.

Cha n iyuwe (Dakota), but this only means twining, i yuwe , on a tree,

cha n . Since its European use in connection with yeast has becomeknow n t o them t hey ca ll i t wa pe onapo ye ; wa pe , " leaves " ; onapo ye ," to puff up."

Maka n ski the (Omaha-Ponca), "sweet medicine." Since learning itslea vening use it is called in th a t connection wi unab i u .

The Teton Da kota steeped th e fruits t o ma ke a drink t o a llay fevers an dintestinal pains. A part of the root down 3 or 4: feet in the ground was

called Maka n ski the , "sweet medicine" ; this was chewed and applied towounds, either alone or in combination with the root of Physalislanceolata , " the crooked medicine," and that of Anemone canadensis ," th e lit tle buffa lo medicine."

U RTICACEAE

URTICA GRACILIS Ait. Net t le.

H an uga-h i or manazh iha-h i (Oma ha -P onca).

The dried stalks were crumpled in the hands or gently pounded with astone to free the fiber from the woody part. The first method was morecomm on. The fiber of nett les w a s used by Nebra ska tr ibes for spinningtwine and cordage. Rope of this fiber was generally used to hobblehorses. I t w a s a lso used to wea ve into cloth. I t is said t ha t cloth of this

fiber w a s used in th e Sa cred B undle of th e Tent of Wa r.

Small boys gathered the f iber of this plant to use as wadding for theirpopguns.






P OLYGONACEAE

RUMEX CRISPUS L. S our D ock.

Sh iak ip i (Da kota ).

Among the Teton Dakota the green leaves, crushed, were bound onboils to dra w out th e suppura t ion. The Oma ha boiled t he leaves for fooda s w hit e people do. This plan t is na t ura lized from Eu rope.

RUMEX HYMENOSEPALUS Torr. Ca na igre.

Kahts-p i rakar i or kahts-p i lakar i (Pawnee), "medicine with manychildren" (kahtsu , medicine; p i ra . or p i l a , children; kar i , many), socalled because of the sweet-potato-like roots clustered at the base of the

stem.

The plant is found indigenous in sandy slopes of river valleys in theregion of the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma and southwest-ward.Since the a l lotm ent of their lands in severa lty, the Wichita a nd P a w neea re bringing th is pla nt into cultiva tion. The root is used a s a remedy fordiarrhea.

C HENOPODIACEAE

CHENOPODIUM ALBUM L . La mb's-qua rter.

Wa pe toto (Da kota ), "gr eens" (wa pe , lea ves; toto , gr een).

Ki tsar ius (Pawnee), "green juice" (k i t s , from ki tsu , water, juice;k i da r i us , gr een).

This plant is naturalized from Europe, but appears to be so longesta blished t ha t the fa ct of i ts introduction seems now unknow n t o theIndians. Among the Teton Dakota and the Omaha this plant, while

young a nd tender, wa s cooked a s pott a ge. A P a w nee informa nt sa id tha ti t is so used now by t he P a w nee, not in former t imes. I t w a s used in oldtimes by the Pa w nee for paint ing bow s a nd a rrow s green.






NYCTAGINACEAE

ALLIONIA NYCTAGINEA [M ir abi l i s nyctaginea ] Michx. Wild Four-o'clock.

Poípie (Da kota ).

Maka n -wasek (Omaha-Ponca), "strong medicine" (maka n , medicine;wasek , st rong).

Kahtstakat (Pawnee), "yellow medicine" (kahts , from kahtsu , medicine;ta ka t, yellow ).

B y t he Teton Da kota th e root w a s boiled t o ma ke a decoction to drink incase of fever. Togeth er w ith root s of Echi nacea an gust i fol i a i t w a s boiled

to make a vermifuge. The prescription for this purpose required thedrinking of i t four nights at bedtime, af ter which, at the nextevacuation, the worms would be voided. My informant, Fast Horse, ofthe Oglala tribe, said, "If one has a big worm [tape worm?], it comesa w a y, too." Roots of A l l i on i a an d Echinacea were also boiled together tomake a remedy for swellings of arms or legs. When applied, this mustalways be rubbed downward on the affected parts to reduce theswelling. Among t he P onka the root w a s used a s a remedy for w ounds,for t his purpose being chewed a nd blow n int o th em. Among th e P a w neeth e dried root, ground fine, w a s a pplied dry a s a remedy for sore mouth

in babies. A decoction of the root was drunk by women after childbirthto reduce abdominal swelling.

P HYTOLACCACEAE

PHYTOLACCA AMERICANA L. P okeberry, I nkberry, Redweed.

The plant seems to be unknow n to the Oma ha , P onca , an d Da kota , an dknown only in recent t imes to the Oto and Pawnee. I t is a lateintroduction from the Eastern States and is reported only from the

extreme southeastern part of the State. I t is rather common inOklahoma, whither the Oto, the Pawnee, and most of the Ponca havebeen removed. So fa r a s I w a s a ble to lea rn, they ha ve there used it onlyfor decorative purposes, a red stain obtained from the fruit beingemployed in pa inting h orses a nd va rious a rt icles of use or a dornment.






NYMPHAEACEAE

NYMPHAEA ADVENA [Nuphar lutea ssp. advena ] Soland. LargeYellow P ond L ily.

There is some dialectic variation in the speech of the four tribes of theP a w nee Na tion, a nd by one tr ibe, the Skidi , this plant is ca l led t u kaw i a ;by another, the Chawi, i t is cal led tu t . I t is said the seeds were cookedfor food. This was the information given, but my informants may havemista ken this pla nt for t he next one.

[NELUMBONACEAE ]NELUMBO LUTEA (Willd.) Pers. Yellow Lotus, Water Chinquapin.(P L 10.)

Tewape (Da kota ).

Tethawe (Oma ha -P onca).

Tsherop (Winnebago).

Tukaw i u (P a w nee).

This is one of t he plan ts considered to be invested w ith myst ic pow ers. Itis an important native food plant, both the seeds and the tubers being

used. The plant was much sought and highly prized by the tribes livingw ithin it s ra nge. The ha rd, nut like seeds were cra cked an d freed of theirshells a nd used w ith m eat for ma king soup. The tubers, a lso, a fter beingpeeled, were cut u p a nd cooked wit h mea t or w ith h ominy. It cont ributesa delicious fla vor, unlike a ny oth er.

The tubers were harvested by wading into the pond to search for themin the mud w ith t he toes. When found, the mud w a s w orked a w a y fromthem with the feet, and they were pulled out by means of a hookedstick. In shape and general appearance they much resemble a small

banana. This resemblance between the banana and Nelumbo tuberswa s rema rked by the Omaha when bana na s were f irs t brought to their

notice, so they were called tethawe ega n , " the things that look liketethawe " which is now the Omaha na me of the ba na na . Nelumbo t ubersmight be cooked when first harvested, but to preserve them for winteruse th ey w ere dried, being first peeled a nd cut int o pieces a bout a n inch






long. An anatomical feature of the plant body is a r ing of tubular airspaces extending longitu dina lly thr oughout t he stem. This cha ra cterist icalso pertains, naturally, to the tubers and gives rise to a droll notion inregard to them. The Indians say that one who is digging these tubersmust be careful to refrain from snuffing through the nostrils, else the

cavities of the tubers which he digs will become filled with mud and sospoiled. Another notion held in regard to this plant is that the tubersgathered by a tal l man wil l be long, while a short man wil l get shorttubers.

The Osa ges a nd oth er w estern na tives employ th e roots [sic] of t his pla nt , . . . for food,prepa ring t hem by boiling. . . . Fully ripe, aft er a considera ble boiling, t hey become asfar ina ceous, a greeable, an d w holesome a diet a s th e pota to. . . . This sa me species . ..is everyw here mside use of by th e na tives, w ho collect both t he nut s a nd roots. 18

RANUNCULACEAE

THALICTRUM DASYCARPUM Fisch. & Lall. Meadow Rue. (Pl. 11,a .)

Wazimna (Dakota); wazi , "pine" ; mna , " to smell. " The name seems tosignify pinelike odor.

Nisude-hi (Oma ha -P onca ), " flute-plan t " (nisude , flut e).

Skadiks or skar iks (P a w nee).

B y t he Teton D a kota the fruits on a pproa ching ma turit y in August a rebroken off an d st ored a w a y for t heir pleasa nt odor; for t his purpose theya re rubbed a nd scat tered over the cloth ing. The India ns sa y t he effect isenha nced by da mpness. This, like a ll oth er odors used by I ndia ns, is ofslight, evanescent fragrance. They used no heavy scents; all are.delicate and give a suggestion of whole-someness and of the freedom ofth e uncont a mina ted outd oors.

The hollow stems were used by small boys to make toy flutes (nisude ).

The Ponca sometimes used the tops as love charms. Bachelors rubbedthe tops with sal iva in the palms of the hands to give them power tocapture the affections of the desired maidens by shaking hands withthem. My informants said the plants of this species growing inMinnesota a re bett er tha n t hose found in Nebra ska.

18 Nut ta ll, Flora of Arka nsa s Territory, p. 160.U ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 40






The P a w nees used this plant a s a st imulan t for horses, ca using them tosnuff it into the nostrils when obliged to make forced marches of threeor four days' duration in order to escape from enemies. For this purposeit w a s a dministered by rubbing it m ixed with a certa in white clay on the

mu zzle of th e horse.

PULSATILLA PATENS (L.) Mill. P a sq ue Flow er, Tw in-flow er. (P l. l,a .)

H okshi -chekpa wa cha (Dakota), "Twin-flower."

As a counter-irritant for use in rheumatism and similar diseases theleaves of Pulsatilla were crushed and applied to cause a blister. Thisinforma tion w a s given by a n old ma n of the Omah a tr ibe.

The people of the Dakota Nation call this plant by a name in theirlanguage which means " twin-flower, " because usually each plant bearsjust two flowering scapes. Indians generally are keenly observant of allthings in nature and reverent toward them. They have reverence andaffection for the living creatures, the birds and beasts, the trees andshrubs a nd flow ering pla nt s. They ha ve stories and songs a bout m ost ofthe pla nt a nd a nima l forms of l ife w ith w hich t hey a re acqua inted. Theybelieve that each species has its own particular song which is theexpression of its life or soul. The Song of the Twin-flower here given istra nslat ed from t he Da kota langua ge by D r. A. McG . B eede.

" I w ish to encoura ge the childrenOf oth er flow er na tions now a ppea ringAll over th e face of th e eart h;So while they a w a ken from sleepingAnd come up from t he hear t of the ea rthI a m sta nding here old and gra y-headed."

Pulsat i l l a is the very earliest bloomer in the spring, often appearingbefore the snow has disappeared. This fact explains the allusion in thewords "I wish to encourage the children of other flower nations." The

entire plant is hairy, and when ripe the head is white and bushy,ha ving the appea ra nce of a full and heavy growt h of very w hite ha ir onthe hea d of an old ma n. This a ppeara nce explains t he a l lusion in " I a msta nding here gra y-head ed."

When a n old D a kota first finds one of th ese flow ers in th e springt ime it






reminds him of his childhood, when he wandered over the prairie hillsat play, as free from care and sorrow as the f lowers and the birds. Hesits down near the flower on the lap of Mother Earth, takes out his pipeand fills it with tobacco. Then he reverently holds the pipe toward theearth, then toward the sky, then toward the north, the east , the south,

and the west. After this act of silent invocation he smokes. While hesmokes he meditates upon all the changing scenes of his lifetime, hisjoys a nd sorrows, h is hopes, his a ccomplishment s, his disa ppointm ents,and the guidance which unseen powers have given him in bringing himthus far on the way, and he is encouraged to believe that he wil l beguided t o t he end. After finish ing his pipe he rises a nd plucks th e flowerand carries it home to show his grandchildren, singing as he goes, TheSong of th e Tw in-flow er, wh ich he lea rned a s a child, a nd w hich he nowin turn t eaches to his gra ndchildren.

The ment ion of " reverent ly holding th e pipe" is a n a llusion t o a religiousact of worship. Tobacco was used ceremonially and the pipe might beconsidered as a kind of censer. The earth was poetically and mysticallyregarded a s Mother of al l l iving things, a l l pla nts , a nima ls , a nd huma nbeings. The Sky l ikewise was regarded as Father, and the CardinalP oints a s the P a ths of a pproa ch of the P ow ers which a re al l about us inthis w orld. Ma n is not a part from nor above na ture but a part of nat ure.All good things in nature are his friends and kindred, and he should befriendly w ith a ll.

In the Omaha tr ibe, and probably also in other tr ibes, Pulsati l la hadmedicinal use. In cases of rheumatism and neuralgia the fresh leaves ofP ulsat i lla a re crushed a nd a pplied on t he surface over t he a ffected pa rt .I t acts as a counter-irr i tant and wil l cause a blister i f left on the skinlong enough. My informa nt especia lly ca ut ioned me th a t it must be usedexterna lly, as i t w ould be da ngerous a nd ha rmful if ta ken interna lly.

ANEMONE CANADENSIS L. Anemone, Wind Flow er.

Te-zhinga-maka n (Omaha-Ponca), "little buffalo medicine" (te , buffalo;

zhinga , lit t le; maka n , medicine).

The root of this plant was one of the most highly esteemed medicines ofthe Omaha and Ponca. I do not know whether i ts value rested more onreal physiological effects or on the great mystic powers ascribed to it ;however, it was prescribed for a great many ills, especially wounds, by






those who had the r ight to use i t . I t was applied externally and takeninternally, and was used also as a wash for sores affecting the eyes orother parts. The right to use this plant belonged to the medicine-men ofthe Te-sinde gens. To touch a buffalo ca lf wa s t a boo to this gens; hencethe name of the plant, "little buffalo medicine." My informant, Amos

Walker, of the Te-sinde gens of the Omaha , sa id tha t the pla nt is maleand female, and that the f lower of the male plant is white and that ofth e fema le red.

ANEMONE CYLINDRICA A. G ra y. Long-fruit ed Anemone.

Wathibaba-maka n (Ponca), "playing-card medicine." Some Ponca usedthe woolly fruits of this plant as charms for good luck in playing cards,rubbing their hands in the smoke arising from burning some of thefruits and also rubbing the palms with the chewed fruit when about to

enga ge in a card ga me.

AQUILEGIA CANADENSIS L. Wild Columbine. (Pl. 11, b.)

I n ub t ho n -kithe-sabe-hi (Omaha-Ponca), "black perfume plant"

(i nub t ho n , fr a gran t ; k i t he , to ma ke, to ca use; sabe , bla ck; h i , pla nt ).

Ska l i ka t i t or Skar ika t i t (Pawnee), "black-seed" (skal i , seed; kat i t ,black).

The seeds are used by Omaha and Ponca, especially by bachelors, as aperfume. To obtain the odor the seeds must be crushed, a result whichthe Omaha commonly get by chewing to a paste. This paste is spreadamong the clothes, where i ts fragrant quali ty persists for a long time,being perceptible whenever dampened by dew or rain. Among thePawnee the seeds are used for perfume and as a love charm. In cases offever and headache the seeds are crushed with an elm-wood pestle in amorta r h ollow ed out of t he sa me w ood. The resulting pow der is put intohot water and the infusion is drunk. For use as a love charm thepulverized seeds are rubbed in the palms, and the suitor contrives to

shake hands with the desired one, whose fancy it is expected will thusbe ca ptivat ed. Oma ha gir ls w ere somewha t in fear of the plant beca useof th is supposed propert y a nd because, furt her, too str ong a w hiff of th eodor was thought to cause nosebleed. On this account Omaha swainstook delight in play fully fright ening girls by suddenly t hrust ing some ofth e pow der under t heir noses.






B E R B E R I D A C E A E

CAYLOPHYLLUM THALICTROIDES (L.) Michx. B lue Cohosh.

Zhu-nakada- tanga-maka n (Oma ha -P onca)," grea t fever medicine " (zhu ,flesh; nakada , hot; tanga , great ; maka n , medicine). Zhu-nakada ,l i terally " hot flesh," is the Omaha word for "fever." A decoction of theroot was given for fevers. This was considered the most effectualfebrifuge know n t o th e Omah a .

MEN ISPERMACEAE

MENISPERMUM CANADENSE L. Moonseed.

Ingthahe-hazi - i - ta (Omaha-Ponca), " thunder grapes" (i ng thahe ,thunder; hazi , grapes; i , they; ta , genitive sign). Another name of

Menispermum among the Ponca is Wana n ha hazi etai , "grapes of the

ghosts " (wana n ha , ghost or sha de or spirit; hazi , gra pes).

Wanaghi -haz (Winneba go), litera lly " ghost fruit , " or " fruit of the ghostsor sha des."

H akaku t (Pawnee), "sore mouth" (hakau , mout h; ku t , sore). The s evera ltriba l nam es suggest t he sinister cha ra cter a scribed to this plan t.

P APAVERACEAE

SANGUINARIA CANADENSIS L. B loodroot . (P l. 12.)

M in igathe maka n wau (Omaha-Ponca), "woman-seeking medicine."

Pe -hi shu j i (Winnebago). The first member of this compound means"gourd," and the second, "to make red"; hence the name probably refersto the use of the plant for reddening gourd rattles in ancient time,

th ough I h a ve never seen a ra t tle of modern t ime so decora ted.

For the purpose of dyeing red the root of this plant was boiled with thematerials to be dyed. For a love charm a bachelor of the Ponca afterrubbing some of the root on his palm would contrive to shake handswith a girl he desired; if successful in this, after five or six days she






would be found willing to marry him. From this use comes the Omaha-Ponca name of the plant. I t was said to be used sometimes also as adecorative skin stain.

S AXIFRAGACEAE

GROSSULARIA MISSOURIENSIS (Nutt.) Cov. & Britt. WildGooseberry.

Wi cha deshk a (Dakota); Yankton dialect, wichaknaska ; Teton dialect,wichagnashka .

Pezi (Oma ha -P onca).

H az-ponopono (Winnebago), "crunching fruit" (haz , fruit; ponopono ,

crunching).

The berries of this pla nt w ere used for food in th eir sea son. A children'sgame was described among the Omaha in which the children werecounted off into two parties. Each individual of both parties was given aport ion of t he a cidulous unr ipe berries wh ich he must tr y t o eat w ithoutmaking a grimace. The party less successful in this ordeal had to pay aforfeit to the victorious party or to execute some performance for theira musement , as for insta nce, to hop on one foot so ma ny st eps ba ckw a rd.

RIBES AMERICANUM Mill. Wild B la ck Curr a nt .

Chap-ta-haza (Dakota), "Beaver-berries," from chapa-ta-haza (chapa ,beaver; haza , berry; ta , genit ive sign).

Pezi n uga (Omaha-Ponca); pezi , gooseberry; nuga , ma le.

An Omaha said a strong decoction of the root is made to drink as aremedy for kidney trouble. A Winnebago medicine-man said the root ofth e bla ck curra nt is used by w omen for ut erine tr ouble.

ROSACEAE

FRAGARIA VIRGINIANA Duchesne and F. AMERICANA (Porter)B ritt on. Wild S tr a w berry. (P l. 13, a .)






Wazhushtecha (Dakota). Wazhushtecha-hu , s trawberry vine.Washusht echa sha w i , the moon w hen stra w berries a re r ipe, J une (sha ,red; w i , moon, luna r m ont h).

Bashte (Oma ha -P onca). Bashte-hi , s tra w berry vine.

H az-shchek (Winn eba go); haz , fruit.

Aparu -huradu (Pawnee), "ground berry " (aparu , berry; hu r adu ,ground).

All the tribes were fond of wild strawberries and luxuriated in them intheir season, but the fruit was too juicy to lend itself to the process ofdrying successfully for winter use. Young leaves of the plant wereinfused to ma ke a bevera ge like t ea by t he Winneba go.

RUBUS OCCIDENTALIS L. and R. STRIGOSUS [Rubus id aeus ssp.strigosus ] Michx. Wild Ra spberr y.

Taka n hecha (Da kot a ). Taka n hecha-hu , ra spberry bush.

Agthamu n gi (Oma ha -P onca).

Aparu (P a w nee), berry .

All the tribes used the berries for food, fresh in season, or dried forw inter use. Young leaves w ere steeped t o ma ke a drink like tea .

According to an Omaha informant the root was used medicinally, forwhich purpose it was scraped and boiled; the decoction was given tochildren a s a remedy for bow el trouble.

ROSA PRATINCOLA [Rosa ar kan sana var . suf fu l ta ] Greene. WildRose.

O n zh i n zh i n t ka (Da kota ). O n zh i n zh i n t ka-hu , rosebush .

Wazhide (Omaha'-Ponca).

Pahatu (P a w nee), red.






There are several species of Rosa . in Nebra ska , the most comm on beingRosa pr ati ncol a t he pra irie rose. The fruits a re sometimes ea ten t o tideover a period of food scar city. An a musing inst a nce is told in th e Oma hatr ibe of a time w hen t he people w ere wit hout food a nd n o ga me could befound. A man had been laboriously gathering for his family a supply of

wild rose fruits . After he had a considerable quanti ty a man was seenretur ning w ith t he ca rcass of a d eer he ha d been a ble to kill . At once th erose fruits were cast away in prospect of the much more excellent foodw hich ha d come to ha nd.

I t is said that the inner bark of the rosebush was sometimes used forsmoking, eith er a lone or m ixed w ith t oba cco.

The Pawnee say there are sometimes large, brown hypertrophiedgrow ths on th e low er pa rt of the stems, wh ich, wh en cha rred by f ire a nd

crushed t o pow der, were a pplied a s a dressing to bums.

A wash for inflammation of the eyes was made by steeping the fruits ,a ccording t o informa tion from the Oma ha .

THE SONG OF THE WILD ROSE

The follow ing is a tra nslat ion int o English out of the Da kota langua ge,by D r. A. McG . B eede, of a n old Da kota song. The people of t he D a kotaNation, and other tr ibes also, think of the various plant and animal

species as having each their own songs. With these peoplemusic—song—is an expression of the soul and not a mere artisticexercise.

Where the word "Mother" appears in the following song it refers to' 'Mother Earth," a living, conscious, holy being in Indian thought. Theearth was truly venerated and loved by these people, who consideredthemselves not as owners or potential owners of any part of the land,but as being owned by the land which gave them birth and whichsupplied t heir physica l needs from h er bount y a nd sa tisfied their love ofth e bea utiful by the beaut y of her face in t he landscape.

The trilled musical sylla bles a t t he close of th e la st t w o sta nza s expressth e spont a neous joy w hich comes t o a person w ho ha s " life-a pprecia tionof Holy E a rth , "






The first s tanza is an introduction by the narrator , not a part of the" Song of the Wild Rose." The rema ining st a nza s a re th e song of the WildRose itself:

I w ill tell you of somet hing I know,

And you can't ha lf Ima gine how good;It 's th e song of w ild roses tha t gr owIn th e land th e Da kota -folk love.

From th e heart of the Mother w e come,The kind Mother of Life a nd of All;And if ever you think sh e is dumb,You should know th a t flow ers ar e her songs.

And a ll creat ures tha t live are her songs,And a ll crea tur es tha t die are her songs,And t he w inds blowing by a re her songs,

And she w a nt s you to sing a ll her songs.

Like th e purple in Da yda w n w e come,And our hea rt s a re so brimfu l of joyTha t w hene'er we're not singin g we humTi-li-li-li-i, t a -la -la -loo, ta -la -la -loo!

When a ma iden is ready t o wedP in wild roses all over her dress,And a rose in the ha ir of her head;P ut new m occa sins onto her feet.Then t he hea rt of th e Moth er will giveH er the songs of her ow n hea rt t o sing;And sh e'll sing a ll the moons she ma y live,Ti-li-li-li-i, t a -la -la -loo, ta -la -la -loo!

MALUS IOENSIS (Wood) Brit ton. Cr a b Apple.

She (Omaha-Ponca); she-hi , apple tree; she-zho n , applewood; she-si ,a pple seed.

The crab apple was used for food by tribes having acquaintance with it .

The Omah a a nd P onca knew it a s being found in t he Oto count ry a longthe Missouri, in the southeast part of Nebraska. They said it is foundnowhere west or north of this except on one creek which flows into theNiobra ra River from t he south a t a bout the l ine betw een K nox an d H oltCounties, 150 or 200 miles from any other locality where trees of thisspecies grow. This would seem to indicate a case of plant migration by






hum a n a gency, t he occa sion being t he dropping in ca mp, in some pla cefavorable for germination, of fruits or viable seeds brought with campsupplies obtained on a trip of considerable but not at all unusualdista nce to th e south east .

CRATAEGUS CHRYSOCARPA Ashe. Red Ha w .

Taspa n (Oma ha -P onca).

Chosa n wa (Winn eba go).

The fruit w a s sometimes used for food, but commonly resorted t o only a sa fa mine food.

AMELANCHIER ALNIFOLIA Nutt . J une Berry, Sa ska toon.

Wipasuka (Da kota ).

Zho n uda (Oma ha -P onca). "gra y w ood" (zho n , w ood; uda , gra y).

Haz-shutsh (Winn eba go), " red-fru it" (haz , fruit; shutsh , red).

The berries w ere prized for food. The w ood wa s used for a rrow -sha fts .19

PRUNUS AMERICANA Ma rsh. Wild P lum.

Ka n te (Da kot a ), plum; ka n te-hu , plum tree.

Ka n de (Oma ha -P onca ), plum; ka n de-hi , plum t ree.

Kantsh , (Winn eba go), plum ; kantsh-hu , plum tr ee.

N iwaha r i t (P a w nee), plum; Niwahar i t - nahaap i , plum tr ee.

The fruit was highly valued for food, being eaten fresh and raw or

cooked as a sauce. The plums were also dried for winter use. They werecommonly pitted before drying, but the Pawnee say they often driedth em wit hout r emoving the pits.

The Omaha planted their corn, beans, and squashes when the wild19 B iggs, Da kota -En glish Dictiona ry, p. 578.






plum came int o bloom.

A broom for sweeping the floor of the dwelling was made by bindingtogether a bundle of plum twigs. The plum was used because of itstoughness a nd ela sticity.

An Oma ha informa nt sa id the ba rk of the roots , a f ter being scra ped a ndboiled, w a s a pplied a s a remedy for a bra sions of th e skin.

Sprouts or young growths of the wild plum are used by the Teton

Dakota in making wau n ya n pi . This is an offering or form of prayer,consisting of a wand, made preferably from a wild-plum sprout peeleda nd pa inted. I f painted, the design a nd color a re emblema tic. Near t hetop of the wand is fastened the offering proper, which may take theform of anything acceptable to the higher powers. A small quantity of

smoking t oba cco is a n a rt icle very frequent ly used for t his purpose. Noma tt er how sma ll a portion of the thing offered is used, the imma terialself of the substance is in it . Such offerings are usually made for the

benefit of the sick. Wau n ya n pi may be made by anyone at any place i fdone with appropriate ceremony, but the most efficient procedure is toprepare an al tar with due ceremony and there set the wand uprightw ith t he offering fast ened nea r t he top. 20

PRUNUS BESSEYI [Prunus pumi l a ssp. besseyi ] B a i ley. Sa nd Cherry.(P l. 14.)

Ao n yeyapi (Dakota). The Dakota have a saying that i f a persongathering cherries moves in the direction contrary to the wind thecherries will be good a nd sw eet, but on t he oth er ha nd if he moves with

the w ind the cherries w ill be bitter a nd a str ingent. The na me ao n yeyapi expresses this idea.

No n pa tanga , (Oma ha -P onca), " big cherry ."

Kus apaaru kaaruts (Pawnee), "cherry-sitting-hiding" (kus , cherry;

apaaru , sitting; kaaru ts , hid ing).

Prunus besseyi is peculiarly indigenous to the Sand Hills area of

20 For this informa tion I a m indebted to Dr. J . R. Wa lker, G overnment physicia n a tP ine Ridge, wh o ha s ma de very careful research into the ceremonies a nd ritu a ls of theTeton Da kota .






Nebraska. The bush is small , varying in height as the si tuation is

favorable or unfavorable to vegetation from less than 1 foot to 21/2 feet.

The fruits are purplish-black, 1.5 to 2 cm. in diameter, exceedinglyproli f ic and varying in quali ty, some bushes bearing fruit somewhat

a stringent , oth ers very desira ble fruit.

All the t ribes to w hom t he sa nd cherries w ere a ccessible ma de full use ofthem for food as a sauce during their fruiting season and laid up storesof them for w inter by drying a s they did t he plums. An Oglala sa id thesecherries produce fruit only a bout once in t w o year s.

PADUS NANA [Prunus vi rg in iana var . v i rg i n i ana ] (Du Roi) Roemer.Chokecher ry . (P l. 13, b.)

Cha n

pa (D a kota ).

No n pa-zhinga (Oma ha -P onca), "litt le cherry" (no n pa , cher ry ).

Nahaapi nakaaru ts (P a w nee); nakaaruts , cherr y; nahaapi , tr ee.

The fruit has long been highly esteemed by all the tribes for food;certain preparations of the cherry enter into old-time ceremonies andrituals as well as into stories, songs, and myths. In certain sleight-of-ha nd performa nces a lso th is cherry is used. It is so highly esteemed a s t o

give the name to one of the months in the Dakota calendar, Ca n

pa- sapa-wi , "The-month-when-cherries-are-ripe" (literally, "black-cherry-moon").

The fruit was eaten with much relish while fresh and was dried forw inter use. The ga thering a nd dry ing of the fruit m a de a busy t ime fort he comm unit y. The people tra veled for miles to th e strea ms a long w hichthe cherries were abundant. There they went into camp and worked atpreparing th e cherries w hile they la sted, or unti l as grea t a qua nt i ty a swas required could be made ready. Since the pits were too small to beremoved by any practicable method, the cherries were pounded to apulp, pits and al l , on stone mortars , and after being shaped into smallca kes, w ere la id out to dry in th e sun. A fa vorite food prepara tion of th eDakota is wasna , a sort of pemmican or mincemeat, the dried cherryforming th e fruit for t he compound.






The time of the Sun dance was determined by the ripening of thecherries. It began on the first day of the full moon when cherries wereripe.

A P onca informa nt told me tha t a decoction of cherry ba rk w a s ta ken a s

a remedy for diarrhea. Another informant of the same tr ibe said aspoonful of the dried fruit very finely pulverized and infused in hotw a ter wa s used a s a remedy for the sam e a ilment.

According to the latter informant, trappers washed their traps withwater in which this bark had been boiled, in order to remove the scentof form er capt ures.

PADUS MELANOCARPA [Prunus vi rg in iana var . melanocarpa ] (A.Nelson) Sha fer. Western C hokecherry.

All tha t h a s just been sa id of Padus nana a s to tr iba l nomenclat ure anduses a pplies equa lly t o Padus melanocar pa .

MIMOSACEAE

[FABACEAE]

ACUAN ILLINOENSIS [Desmanthus i l l inoensis ] (Michx.) Kuntze.Spider-bean.

Pezhe gasatho (Omaha-Ponca), " ratt le plant" (pezhe , plant, herb;

gasatho , ra tt le).

Atikatsatsiks (Pawnee), " spider-baan " (at i t , bean; tsatsiks , spider; ka ,inside). Ati (t)ka tsatsik s . Another na me given is ki ts i t -sar is , "bad p la n t "(k i t s , plant; ts i tsar is , bad). Kitsi ( ts i ) tsar is . When mature the entirepla nt w ith i ts persistent pods f i lled w ith seeds w a s used by l it t le boys a sa ra tt le when in pla y t hey mimicked some of th e da nces of th eir people.

The P a w nee boiled the lea ves to ma ke a w a sh t o apply a s a remedy forth e itch.

C AESALPINIACEAE

[FABACEAE]

GYMNOCLADUS DIOICA (L.) Koch. K ent ucky C offee-t ree.

Wa na na (D a kota ).






A Santee Dakota said the root was sometimes used for making a blackdye, but that i t was not very good for the purpose. I t was used as adyestuff together with some component unknown to my informant. Hesaid t he root a lone wa s w ithout va lue.

The seeds are used by the Winnebago for counters or tally checks ingambling.

FABACEAE

BAPTISIA BRACTEATA E ll. B la ck Ra tt le-pod.

Tdika shande nuga (Omaha-Ponca), male td ika shande ; also calledgasatho , ratt le.

Pira-kar i (P a w nee); from pi rau , children, an d kar i , many.

The first Omaha-Ponca name refers to the likeness of this plant toGeopr um non cr assicarpum [Astragal us crassi car pus] , which is calledtd ik a shande . B a ptisia , being classed as similar t o tha t but larger , morerobust, is considered male. The second name refers to its use by smallboys a s a ra t t le w hen they pla y a t ha ving a dance. Pa wnee boys used i tin the same way. The Pawnee after pulverizing the seeds mixed thepow der w ith buffa lo fa t a s a n oint ment to be applied for colic by rubbingon t he a bdomen.

THERMOPSIS RHOMBIFOLIA (Nut t.) Richa rds. Fa lse Lupine.

The flowers of this plant were dried and used in fumigation, that is, thesmoke treat ment, for rh eumat ism, especial ly infla mma tory rheuma tism.The method of treatment was to mix the dried f lowers with hair andburn t he mixture under t he a ffected pa rt , confining t he smoke and heatwith a close covering. I t is said that this treatment, with this remedy,reduces the sw elling a t once a nd r elieves the pa in.

MELILOTUS ALBA Desv. and M. OFFICINALIS (L.) Lam. SweetClover.

Wacha n ga iyechecha (Dakota); wacha n ga , sweet grass; iyechecha ,similar.






Mel i lo tus was introduced by the Europeans. Seeds probably came fromth e ea st a mong the effects of the ea rly missiona ries, for it first a ppea redon t he grounds of the P resbyt eria n m ission on th e Oma ha Reserva tion,w hich w a s built in 1856-57. The Oma ha coming t o the m ission observedthis plant, which had newly found i ts way into their country with the

white men. They noticed that its odor resembled that of Savastana [Hierochloe ] odorata , which they venerated and used in religiousceremonies. They were pleased with its odor, and since it was perhapsassociated in their minds with the white man's religion, owing to itspresence at the mission, they gathered bunches of it because of itspleasant odor, which they carried to their homes. Thus the plant wasscattered all over the reservation, so that there is a more thoroughdis tr ibut ion of it in tha t county t ha n in a ny other par t of the Sta te tha tI ha ve seen. The Da kota a lso a re fond of the plant 's odor an d liken it toSavastana , hence th eir n a me for it . They ga th er bunches of Mel i lo tus t o

ha ng in t heir houses for i ts fra gra nce.

ASTRAGALUS CAROLINIANA [Astragalus canadensis var .canadensis ] L. L itt le Ra t tle-pod.

Ga n satho (Oma ha -P onca), rat tle.

When ripe, th e sta lks wit h t heir persistent pods w ere used by sm a ll boysas ratt les in the games in which they imitated the tr ibal dances, hencethe Omaha-Ponca name signifying "ratt le. " No other use was found for

the plant except to serve as a kind of mat on which was laid the freshmea t in course of but chering on th e pra irie, so tha t it m ight be-kept freefrom dirt .

A decoction of th e root w a s used a mong t he Teton Da kota a s a febrifugefor children.

GEOPRUMNON CRASSICARPUM [Astr agal us cr assi car pus] (Nut t .)Rydb. Buffalo P ea, Gr ound P lum.

Pte ta wote (Dakota), "food of buffalo " (pte , buffalo; wote , food; ta ,genit ive sign).

Td ika shande (Omaha-Ponca); called also wam id e weni gthe from a usetha t w a s made of it . Wamide mea ns " seed" in t he sense of seed designedfor plant ing; wenigthe mean s "something to go w ith."






Both the Omaha and the Ponca in the old t ime gathered the fruits ofthis plant, which are formed just at corn-planting t ime, and put themwith the seed corn. When the latter had been sufficiently soaked it waspla nt ed, but t he G eoprumnon fruits w ere thr ow n a w a y. No one in either

tr ibe w a s a ble to give a ny rea son for t his process in prepar a tion of seedcorn; it w a s a n old custom, t he origin of which is forgotten.

Astr agalu s cr assicarpu s 21 was used as an ingredient of "war medicine"a mong the Chippew a .22

GLYCYRHIZA LEPIDOTA P ur sh. Wild Licorice.

Wi-nawiz i (Da kota ), " jea lous w oma n" (w i , woman; nawiz i , jea lous). Thena me is said to ha ve been suggested by the burs, which " ta ke hold of a

man. "

Pithahatusaki tstsuhast (P a w nee).

Among the Teton Dakota a poultice for sore backs of horses is made bychewing the leaves of this plant. For toothache the sufferer chews theroot a nd holds i t in the mouth. The Indian s sa y, " I t t a stes strong at f irst ,but after a while it becomes sweet. " The leaves after being steeped areapplied to the ears for earache. A decoction of the root is used as aremedy for fever in children.

PSORALEA ESCULENTA Pursh. Pomme Blanche, Tipsin. (Pls. 15,16.)

Tipsi n or t i ps n na (D a kota ); Teton dia lect , t ipsi n l a .

Nugthe (Oma ha -P onca).

Tdokewih i (Winn eba go), hun gry .

Patsuroka (P a w nee).

The roots of this plan t w ere an import a nt item of th e vegeta l diet of th eP lains tr ibes. After being peeled th ey w ere ea ten fresh a nd u ncooked or

21 Astral agus crassicarpus is a synonym of Geoprumnon crassi car pum (Nutt.) Rydb.22 Densmore, Chippewa Music—II, pp. 63-64.






cooked. La rge qua nti t ies were dug in J une and early J uly to peel an ddry for the winter food supply. The peeled roots were braided in longstr ings by the ta pering ends, as str ings of gar lic a re bra ided by th e tops.

The root is both farinaceous and glutinous and seems to form a

desira ble food wit h a pa lat a ble ta ste cha ra cteristic of the bean fa mily.

G row ing as t his plant does, on t he dry prair ie in ha rd ground, w ith t heenlargement of the root several inches below the surface, it is no easytask to harvest it . The top of the plant breaks off soon after ripening,and is blown away, scattering the seed, so the root is then almostimpossible to find; hence it m ust be ha rvest ed before t his occurs. The t opusua lly ha s t hree or four bra nches. When t he w omen a nd children go tothe prair ie to gather the roots , on f inding a plant the mother tel ls thechildren to note t he directions in wh ich t he severa l bra nches point a nd a

child is sent in t he genera l direction of ea ch bra nch to look for a notherpla nt , for th ey say th e pla nt s "point t o each oth er."

Psoralea has so important a place in the economy of the Plains tribesand has had for so long a t ime that i t enters into their mythology,folklore, stories, and sleight-of-hand tricks. In the story "How the Big

Turtle Went to War," as told in the Omaha tribe, it is said Núg ¢ eúha n - b iamá , "P sora lea he cooked, th ey say ." 23

PSORALEA TENUIFLORA P ursh .

Tichan icha-hu (Da kot a ).

Among the Teton Dakota the root of this plant, with two others, thena mes of wh ich I d id not lea rn, w ere boiled t ogether t o ma ke a m edicineto be ta ken for consum ption. G a rla nds w ere ma de of the t ops, to be w ornfor protection of the hea d from the hea t of the sun on very h ot d a ys.

AMORPHA FRUTICOSA L. Fa lse Indigo, Wa t er-st ring.

Kitsuhast (P a w nee), "w a ter-str ing" (ki tsu , wa ter ; hastu , str ing).

Whenever possible to obta in it nea r t he but chering pla ce on t he pra iriethis shrub was gathered and spread on the ground to receive the piecesof meat a nd keep them clean.

23 Dorsey, ¢egiha La ngua ge, p. 256U ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 57






AMORPHA CANESCENS P ursh. Lead P lant , Shoestr ing.

Te-hu n to n -h i (Omaha-Ponca), "buffalo bellow plant" (te , buffalo; hu n to n ,bellow; h i , plant). The name is derived from the fact that its time of

blooming is synchronous w ith t he rut ting season of th e buffalo, being a tthat season the dominant blooming plant on the prairie of the loessplain.

The stems were used by the Omaha for a moxa in cases of neuralgiaa nd rh euma tism. The sma ll stems, broken in short pieces, w ere a tt a chedto th e skin by m oistening one end w ith t he tongue. Then t hey w ere fireda nd a l low ed to burn dow n t o the skin.

An Ogla la sa id the lea ves were sometimes used to ma ke a hot drink like

tea, and sometimes for smoking material. For this purpose after beingdried a nd crushed f ine they w ere mixed w ith a l it t le buffalo fat .

PAROSELA ENNEANDRA [D al ea enn eand r a] (Nut t.) B ritt on.

An Ogla la informa nt sa id t he root is poisonous. From her description ofth e effect I should th ink it must ha ve a st rong na rcotic effect. I h a ve nothad a n a na lys is made .

PAROSELA AUREA [D al ea au r ea] (Nut t.) B ritt on.

Pezhut a pa (Da kota ), "bit ter m edicine."

An Oglala informant said a decoction of the leaves is used for colic anddysentery.

PETALOSTEMUM PURPUREUM [Dal ea pu r pur ea var . purpurea ](Vent.) Rydb. Purple Prairie Clover, and P. CANDIDUM [Daleacand ida var . cand ida ] (Willd.) Michx. White Prairie Clover.

Wana cha (Da kota ).

Maka n ski the (Omaha-Ponca). This is one of several plants designated

a s maka n ski the , sweet medicine.

Ki ha pi l i wus hawastat (Pawnee), "broom weed" (k iha , room; p i l i wus ,






broom; hawastatu , weed). Also called kahts-p id ipatsk i , small medicine(kahts , from kahtsu ).

An Ogla la sa id the lea ves were sometimes used to ma ke a drink like tea .According to a Ponca its root was commonly chewed for its pleasant

taste. Although the word maka n appears in the Omaha-Ponca name,no.medicinal property is ascribed to this plant by these tribes so far asknown now. The Pawnee name is derived from the use of the tough,elastic stems to make brooms with which to sweep the lodge. The plantwas used in old time by the Pawnee as a prophylactic. The root,pulverized, wa s put into hot w a ter . After the sediment sett led t he wa terwas drunk to keep away disease. The sediment was collected in thedrinking-shell a nd car ried to a pla ce prepar ed for it , w here it w a s buriedw ith r espect.

GLYCINE APIOS [Ap i os amer i cana ] L. India n P ota to. (P l. 17.)

M do (D a kota ); Teton dia lect , bl o .

Nu (Oma ha -P onca).

Tdo (Win neba go).

I ts (P a w nee).

The tubers of this pla nt w ere utilized for food by a ll the tr ibes w ithin it sra nge. These tubers w ere prepar ed by boiling or roast ing.

Ap ios tu ber osa on the banks of strea ms a nd in a l luvial bott oms is the t rue pomm e deterre of the Fr ench an d th e modo or w ild pota to of the S ioux India ns, a nd is extensivelyused a s a n a rt icle of diet. . . . It should not be confounded w ith t lie ground-nut of th eSouth.24

Many explorers and early sett lers of Virginia, New England, and NewFra nce ma ke mention of the use of Apios 25 a s food by th e va rious tribesin eastern North America, and not a few Europeans had recourse to i t

a lso for food. Le J eune say s:

They eat, besides, roots, such as bulbs of the red lily; a root which has a taste oflicorice; an oth er tha t our Fr ench people ca ll "Rosar y," beca use it is distinguished by

24 Report of Comm issioner ot Agricult ure for 1870, p. 405.25 Glycin e api os wa s formerly called Ap ios tu ber osa .






tu bers in the form of beads; a nd some oth ers.26

The Sw edish bota nist, P eter Ka lm, in his journa l, sa ys:

Hopniss , or Hapniss , was the Indian name of a wild plant which they ate. . . . The

Sw edes in New J ersey an d P ennsylvan ia st i l l ca l l i t by tha t na me, and i t grows in themea dows in a good soil. The roots resemble pota toes, and were boiled by th e India ns. .. . Mr. B a rtra m told me tha t t he Indians w ho live far t her in the country do not onlyeat these roots, which are equal in goodness to potatoes, but likewise take the peasw hich lie in the pods of th is pla nt a nd prepar e them like common peas. 27

FALCATA COMOSA [Am phi car paea br acteata] (L.) Kuntze. GroundB ean . (P l. 18.)

Maka ta omnicha , or o n mnicha (Dakota), "ground beans" (maka ,

ground; onmnicha , beans; ta , genit ive sign).

H i n th i -abe (Oma ha -P onca), "bea ns" ; h i n t h i - h i , bea n-vines.

H on i n k-boi je (Winnebago).

At i - ku ra ru (Pawnee), "ground beans" (at i t , beans; u ra ru , earth,ground; ku , genit ive sign).

Falcata grows in dense masses of vines over shrubbery and othervegetation in some places, especially along banks and the edge oftimber. It forms two kinds of branches, bearing two forms of flower,producing two different fruits. Leafy branches climb over shrubbery,but under t hese, in the sha de, prostra te on t he ea rth , s ta rting out fromthe base of the main stem, are leafless, colorless branches, forming anetwork on the surface of the ground. On these colorless, leaflessbranches cleistogamous flowers form, which push into the earth andthere produce each a single bean closely invested by a membranaceouspod. Each of these beans is from 10 mm. to 17 mm. in long diameter,inclined to be flat, and from 5 mm. to 10 mm. thick. The pods producedfrom the petaliferous flowers on the upper leafy branches of the vine

are 15 mm. to 20 mm. long and contain four or five dark, mottled,diminutive beans about the size of lentils. No attention is paid to thesesmall aerial beans, but the large subterranean beans were eagerlysought as an article of food on account of their agreeable taste and

26 Le J eune's " R elat ion," in J esuit Rela tions, vol. vi, p. 273.27 P eter K a lm, Tra vels int o Nort h America , vol. i, pp. 385-386.






nutritive value. From these qualities they contributed a considerableitem in the dieta ry of the tribes.

Voles dig them a nd ga rner t hem int o hoar ds of a pint or more in a place,and the women would appropriate part of the voles' stores to their own

use. The Pawnee formerly inhabited the larger part of Nebraska withvillages on the Loup, the Platte, and the Republican Rivers. In 1875they w ere removed to Okla homa , w here they now reside. Mr. J a mes R.Murie, of that tribe, in a letter of February 15, 1913, referring toFalcata , a specimen of wh ich ha d been sent h im, sa id:

We ca ll them at i ku ra ru . . . The P a wn ees a te th em. In w inter t ime the w omen robbedrats' [sic] nests and got big piles of them. Nowadays when the old women see limabeans th ey sa y t hey look like at i ku ra ru in Nebraska .

Women of the Da kota Na tion sa y t ha t t hey not only obta ined t he la rgeground bea ns of this species, ga rnered by th e voles, or " w ood m ice," butthat they also gathered the small beans produced in large quanti ty onthe upper branches of the same vine from petaliferous blossoms. Thesesmaller beans are about the size of lentils. The large beans, producedfrom cleistogam ous blossoms on lea fless bra nches sprea ding prostra t e onth e ground u nder t he cover of th e upper bra nches, a re a bout t he size ofl ima beans, and grow at a depth of an inch or two under the ground inthe ma nner of peanut s.

A most interesting item in connection with this food plant is thesta tement of the women of the Da kota Na tion tha t t hey did not t a ke theground beans from t he stores of the l i t t le a nima ls which ga th ered t hemwithout giving some food commodity in return. They said it was theircustom to carry a bag of corn with them when they went to look for thestores of beans gathered by the animals , and when they took out anybeans they put in place of them an equal quanti ty of corn. They saythat sometimes instead of corn they put some other form of foodacceptable to the animals in place of the beans which they took away.They said it would be wicked to steal from the animals, but theythought tha t a fa i r excha nge wa s not robbery.

Fa ther D e Smet, the indefat igable Christian m issiona ry t o th e tr ibes oft he upper Missouri, ma kes the follow ing observa t ion:

The ea rt h pea a nd bea n a re a lso delicious a nd n ourishing r oot s [sic], found commonlyin low a nd a lluvia l lan ds. The a bove-na med roots form a considera ble port ion of the






sustenance of these Indians during winter. They seek them in the places where themice and other little animals, in particular the ground-squirrel, have piled them in

heaps.28

PHASEOLUS VULGARIS L. Ga rden B ea n."

O n mnicha (Da kota ).

H i n bth i n ge (Oma ha -P onca).

H on i n k (Winnebago).

At i t (P a w nee).

The ga rden bean in a ll its ma ny t ypes and va rieties is one of the gifts of

the Western Hemisphere to the world. The earliest explorers tell offinding them in cultivation among the tribes of North America fromQuebec southward through Mexico and Central America into most ofSouth America . Dr. D. V. Ha va rd sa ys:

The common kidney bean (Phaseolu s vul gari s Savi) is a South American plant . . .The finding of seeds of this species by Prof. Witmack in the prehistoric graves ofArizona, not only completed the demonstration of its American origin but likewise

proved the a nt iquity of its culture in our oyvn count ry.29

In considering the cultiva ted plant s grow n by the t r ibes of Nebra ska a tthe time of the advent of Europeans it is of interest to discover theprobable region or regions of their origin and first domestication. Wefind the most advanced civilization on the continent prior to Europeaninvasion was in Mexico and southward. In that direction also we f indth e w ild plant s most nea rly relat ed to th e species a borigina lly cultiva tedboth there and in what is now the United States, facts suggesting theprobable area inhabited by their wild prototypes. Doctor Coulter 30 reports nine species of the genus Phaseolus indigenous to westernTexas, some or all of which, judging from their size as he describesth em, seem to ma ke promising cand ida tes for domesticat ion, a nd w e ca nconjectu re th a t some of th ese or others fa rt her south w ere the origina l ofth e cultiva ted va rieties found h ere.

28 De S met, Lite a nd Tra vels, vol. n, p. 655.29 Ha va rd, Food P lant s of North America n I ndian s, p. 99.30 Coult er, B ota ny of Western Texas , pp. 80-90






B efore the coming of w hite men th e Omah a cultivat ed ma ny va rieties ofbean s of different sizes a nd colors, both bush bea ns a nd climbing bea ns.

The pole beans they called h i n b th i n ge amo n h i n (h i n b th i n ge , bean;

amo n h i n , walking). Bush beans were called h i n bth i n ge mo n th i n azhi ,"bean not walking" (azhi , not). Since their old order of life andindustries have been broken up by tlie incursion of Europeans theyhave lost the seed of a number of varieties which they formerly grew,but I have found four varieties sti l l grown by them, and they canremember and describe the following fifteen: 1. Black-spotted; 2. White-spot t ed; 3. Yellow -spot t ed; 4. Red-spot t ed; 5. G ra y-spot t ed; 6. Very red; 7.Very bla ck; 8. A sort of da rk-red ; 9. Whit e; 10. A sort of da rk-blue; 11. Asort of dark-yellow; 12. White with red around the hilum; 13. Whitew ith bla ck a round th e hilum; 14:. Blue, somew ha t spotted; 15. "L ike th eha ir of a n elk, " somewha t yellow -gra y.

LESPEDEZA CAPITATA Michx. Ra bbit -foot .

Te-hu n ton-hi nuga (Omaha-Ponca), "male buffalo bellow plant" (te ,

buffalo; hu n to n , bellow; nuga , male). Amorpha. canescens w a s

considered te-hu n to n -h i m i ga , fema le te-hu n to n -h i .

Parus-as (P a w nee); parus , ra bbit ; as , foot .

The Pawnee name will be recognized as an appropriate descriptivename. The Omaha and Ponca used the stems as they did those ofAm orpha canescens for moxa. Amorpha they found in the sandy loamsoil of va lleys a nd L espedeza on th e hills of t he loess plain.

LATHYRUS ORNATUS [L athyr us brachycalyx ] Nutt . Wild S w eet P ea.

H i n bthi -s i - tanga (Omaha-Ponca), large-seeded h i n bth i bean (si , seed;tanga , la rge). '

My informa nt s could describe it a nd t ell in w ha t loca lity it is to be found.They remembered i t as they formerly saw i t in the Sand Hills whenthey went there on the hunt. Children sometimes gathered the pods,which they roasted and ate in sport. The plant was not considered ofa ny importa nce, a l though noted a nd na med.






OXALIDACEAE

OXALIS VIOLACEA (L.) Sma ll. Sh eep Sorrel, Violet Wood Sorrel, a ndOXALIS STRICTA (L.) Small. Yellow Wood Sorrel.

ade-sathe (Oma ha -P onca ), " sour h erb" ( ade , herb, gra ss; sathe , sour).

Pawnee: Various names were given. Sk idad iho r i t , a name havingreference to its ta ste, w hich t hey describe as " sour like salt " ; some ca lledit ka i t , sal t ; another name given was aski rawiyu ; as , foot; k i r a , water ;wiyu , stands. Another name given is kisosit . The Pawnee say that thebuffalo was very fond of Oxalis str icta . Children ate both species,especially Oxal i s violacea , leaves, flowers, scapes, and bulbs. The bulbsw ere pounded a nd fed t o horses to ma ke them fleet.

LINACEAE

LINUM LEWISII P ursh. Wild Flax.

The seeds of the w ild blue fla x w ere gat hered a nd u sed in cookery bot hbecause of their highly nutritive value and for the agreeable flavorw hich t hey a dded to tha t w ith w hich t hey were cooked.

RUTACEAE

ZANTHOXYLUM AMERICANUM Mill. P rickly Ash.

Hakasi ts (P a w nee), thorn.

Omaha young men used the fruits of this shrub as a perfume. By thePawnee the fruits were used as a remedy for horses in case of retentionof ur ine.

MELIACEAE

MELIA AZEDERACH L. China B erry.

Maka n zhide sabe (Omaha-Ponca), "black 'red-medicine.' " Introducedinto the Southern St a tes early in t he nineteenth centur y, i t ha s becomenaturalized, growing freely along the streams of Oklahoma. I t haslarge, smooth black seeds inclosed in the waxy, yellow translucent






The people knew and dreaded the poisonous effects of this plant, but Idid not lear n of an y use for it , nor of a ny a nt idot e for its poison.

ACERACEAE

ACER SACCHARUM Mar sh. Ha rd Maple.

Cha n -ha sa n (Da kota ), "pa le-ba rk" (cha n -h a , bark; sa n , pale or wh itish).

Na n -sa n k (Winnebago), "pure or genuine wood " (na n , wood; sa nk, real,genuine).

This species was used in Minnesota by the Santee Dakota. Since theirremova l to Nebra ska in 1866 they h a ve ma de use of t he next species.

ACER SACCHARINUM L. Soft Ma ple.

Tahado (Da kota ).

Wenu-shabethe-hi (Oma ha -P onca), " tr ee to dye bla ck."

Wissep-hu (Winneba go), " t ree to dy e bla ck."

All the tribes made sugar from the soft maple. The Dakota word for

sugar is cha n ha n pi , l i terally "wood" or "tree juice" (ha n pi , juice). The

Omaha word is zho n n i (zho n , w ood or t ree; n i , w a ter). The P a w nee wordfor sugar, nak i ts , is also compounded of their words for "tree" (nak is )an d "wa ter " (k i i t su ). From these exa mples it a ppea rs th a t t he ety mologyof the w ord for " suga r" in th e la ngua ges of the severa l tribes is evidenceof the aboriginal source of the article, for if they had first gotten sugarfrom t he tra ders' stores it w ould not h a ve been a ssocia ted in th eir mindsw ith t he sap of trees.

Prince Maximilian of Wied, in his journey up the Missouri River in thespring of 1832, observed the process of sugar making. In his journal of

the latter part of April of that year he says, "Auch die freien Indianerbenutzt en jenen Ahorn zur B ereitu ng des Zuckers." 31

The Omaha and Winnebago names of this tree are given from the use

31 Ma ximilian , Reise in da s In nere Nord-America , vol. 1, p. 279. " All the free India nsemploy t ha t m a ple for suga r-ma king."






of ma ple tw igs to ma ke a bla ck dye. The tw igs and ba rk of new growt hwere boiled. A certain clay containing an iron compound, foundinterstratified with the Pierre shales exposed along the Niobrara River,was mixed with grease and roasted. This roasted clay and the water inwhich the bark was boiled were then mixed, and the tanned hides

w hich w ere t o be dyed were soa ked for t w o or t hree day s to get t he rightcolor. Treatment for a short time made them brown, and for a longertime bla ck.

ACER NEGUNDO L. B oxelder.

Tashkada n (Da kota ). In t he Teton dialect it is called by eith er th e na me

tashkada n or cha n -shushka .

Zhaba-ta-zho n (Omaha-Ponca), beaver-wood (zhaba , beaver: shon ,wood; ta , genit ive sign).

Nahosh (Winn eba go).

Ósako (P a w nee).

This tree was used also for sugar making by all tlie tribes. The Dakotaa nd Oma ha a nd probably t he other t r ibes used boxelder w ood t o makecha rcoa l for ceremonia l paint ing of th e person a nd for ta tt ooing.

Previous information as to the making of sugar from the sap of this treeper ta ined, among the Pawnee and Omaha, only to t imes now manyyears in t he pa st ; but i t ha s been found t ha t a mong some tr ibes sugar isstill made from this source. In September, 1916, the writer found agrove of trees on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, ofw hich every t ree of a ny considera ble size showed scar s of ta pping w hichha d been done th e previous spring in suga r ma king.

B ALSAMINACEAE

IMPATIENS PALLIDA Nut t . and I. BIFLORA Wa lt . Wild Touch-me-not.

The stems and leaves of this plant were crushed together to a pulp anda pplied to th e skin a s a remedy for ra sh a nd eczema by the Oma ha .






RHAMNACEAE

CEANOTHUS AMERICANUS L. Red Root , Ind ia n Tea .

Tabe-hi (Oma ha -P onca).

The lea ves were used by a ll the tr ibes to ma ke a dr ink like tea . The ta steis something l ike tha t of the Asiat ic tea a nd is much better t ha n t ha t ofthe South American yerba mate. On the buffalo hunt when timber wasscarce, the great gnarled woody roots of this shrub, often much largerth a n t he part a bove ground, w ere used for fuel.

VITACEAE.

VITIS CINEREA E ngelm. a nd V. VULPINA L. Wild G ra pe.

Hasta n ha n ka (Dakota); Teton dialect Cha n wi yape . The Teton name

simply mea ns vine (cha n , tr ee; wiyape , tw ine, tree-t w iner).

Hazi (Omaha-Ponca). Grape vine, hazi -h i .

Hapsintsh (Winn eba go).

Kisúts (P a w nee).

The fruit was used for food, either fresh or dried for winter use. APawnee said he had seen people tap large grapevines in spring andcollect th e sa p to drink fresh. He sa id it t a sted like gra pe juice.

PARTHENOCISSUS QUINQUEFOLIA (L.) Planch. VirginiaCreeper, Fa lse G ra pe.

I n gtha hazi i ta i (Oma ha -P onca), ghost gra pes (hazi , gra pes).

CELASTRACEAE

EUONYMUS ATROPURPUREA J acq . Burn ing B rush .

Wana n a- i -mo n th i n (Oma ha -P onca), " ghost w a lking-stick."

A Winnebago medicine-man said women drink a decoction of the innerU ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 69






ba rk for uterine t rouble.

CELASTRUS SCANDENS L. B itter-sweet.

Zuzecha-ta-wote (Dakota), "snake-food" (zuzecha , snake; wote , food; ta ,

genit ive sign).

An Ogla la ca lled it sn a ke-food a nd held the n otion th a t it is poisonous.

TILIACEAE

TILIA AMERICANA L. (P l. 19, b.)

H i n ta-cha n (D a kota ).

H i nd e-hi (Oma ha -P onca).

H i n shke (Win neba go).

The inner bark f iber was used by the Omaha and Ponca for makingcordage and ropes. The Pawnee say it was employed also for spinningcorda ge a nd w eaving mat t ing.

MALVACEAE

CALLIRRHOE INVOLUCRATA (T. & G .) A. G ra y. P urple Ma llow .

Short Bull , a half Brule, half Oglala, cal led this plant Pezhuta

na n t iaz i l ia , "sm oke treat ment m edicine " (pezhuta , medicine; na n t i az i l i a having reference to its use to produce smoke for medical use). FastHorse, a n Oglala , ca l led i t peshuta , " medicine."

Among the Teton D a kota th is plant w a s used for t he smoke treat ment.The dried root having been comminuted and fired, the smoke wasinhaled for cold in the head, and aching parts were bathed in it . The

root w a s boiled, t he decoction being drunk for int erna l pa ins.

MALVASTRUM COCCINEUM [Sphaeralcea coccinea] (Pursh) A.G ra y. Red Fa lse Mallow.

Heyoka ta pezhuta (Dakota), "medicine of the heyoka " (pezhuta ,






medicine; heyoka , a dra ma tic order a mong the Da kota ; ta , the genitivesign).

This plan t possesses t o a lar ge degree the mucila ginous property w hichis in some degree common t o a ll species of t his fa mily. On a ccount of t his

property the Dakota heyoka utilized it by chewing it to a paste, whichwas rubbed over hands and arms, thus making them immune to theeffect of scalding water, so that to the mystification and wonderment ofbeholders these men were able to take up pieces of hot meat out of thekett le over t he fire.

The pla nt w a s a lso chewed a nd a pplied to inflamed sores an d w ounds a sa cooling an d hea ling salve.

VIOLACEAE

VIOLA sp.

Among the Omaha children violets were used in playing a game. Inspringtime a group of children would gather a quantity of violets; then,dividing into two equal parties, one party took the name of their ownnation and the other party took another, as for instance Dakota. Thetw o pa rties sat dow n fa cing each oth er, and each pla yer sna pped violetswith his opponent till one or the other had none remaining. The partyha ving the great er number of violets rema ining, each pa rty ha ving had

a n equa l number a t t he beginning, wa s the victor and pla yfully ta untedth e oth er a s being poor fight ers.

LOASACEAE

NUTTALLIA NUDA [M entzel i a nu da ] (P urs h) G reene.

Toka hu pepe (D a kota ).

The st ems, a fter being st ripped of t heir lea ves, were pounded t o extra ct

tlie gummy yellow juice. This was applied externally as a remedy forfever a f ter i t ha d been boiled a nd st ra ined.






C ACTACEAE

OPUNTIA HUMIFUSA Ra f. P rickly P ear . (P l. 20, a .)

U n chela (D a kota ). The fruit s a re ca lled u n chel a taspu n .

Pidahatus (P a w nee).

An amusing summer game played by small boys of the Dakota Nationwas the "cactus game." Boys gathered on tl ie prair ie where the cactusabounded. One boy who was a swift runner was chosen " to be i t , " aswhite children say in games. This boy would take a cactus plant andimpale it on a stick. The stick served as a handle by which he held upthe plant for the other boys to shoot with their bows and arrows. Whena boy hit the target the target holder ran after him and would str ike

him with the spiny cactus; then he would return to the goal and receivethe shots of other boys. Thus the game continued indefinitely at thepleasur e of t he play ers.

The fruits were eaten fresh and raw after the bristles had beenremoved, or they were stewed. They were also dried for winter use.Sometimes from scarcity of food the Indians had to resort to the stems,which they roasted after first removing the spines. The mucilaginousjuice of the stems was utilized as a sizing to fix the colors painted onhides or on receptacles made from hides. It was applied by rubbing a

freshly peeled stem over the painted object. On account of thismucilaginous property the peeled stems were bound on wounds as adressing.

LOPHOPHORA WILLIAMSII (Lem.) Coulter. P eyote.

Maka n (Oma ha -P onca ). The m edicine.

The religious cult a ssocia ted w ith t his pla nt ha s been int roduced a mongthe Nebraska tr ibes from others to the southward. The plant is

indigenous to the Rio Grande region, where its cult arose. Thence itspread from t ribe to tribe, even t o our north ern na tiona l bounda ry. Thispla nt is often popula rly bu t erroneously ca lled mesca l. The use of peyot ea nd t he religious observa nces connect ed w ith it w ere int roduced a mongthe Omaha in the winter of 1906-07 by one of the tribe who returnedfrom a visit to the Oto in Oklahoma. He had been much addicted to the






use of alcohol and had heard among the Oto that this religion wouldcure him. The cult had already been introduced into the Winnebagotribe, whose reservation adjoins that of the Omaha, so when he reachedhome he sought the advice and help of the leader of the Peyote Societyin that tr ibe. A society was soon formed in the Omaha tr ibe, and

although at first much opposed it grew till it absorbed half the tribe. Atth e present t ime its influence ha s somewh a t w eakened.

The peyote pla nt a nd it s cult a ppeal st rongly to the I ndia n's sense of th emysterious and occult. The religious exercises connected with it areattended by much circumstance of ceremony and symbolism. Theaverage Indian, with his psychic inheritance and his physical andpsychic environment, naturally attributes to the peyote most wonderfulmyst ic pow ers. As t he S emitic mind could conceive, a nd t he Arya n m indcould accept the Semitic conception, that deity may be incarnated in an

animal body—that is , a human body—so to the American Indian mindit seems just as reasonable to conceive that deity may dwell in a plantbody. So he pays the plant divine honors, making prayers to it or inconnection w ith it , a nd ea t ing it or drinking a decoct ion of it in order t oappropriate the divine spirit—to induce the good, and exorcise the evil.In brief, the use of peyote by the Indian corresponds to the Christianuse of brea d a nd w ine in t he eucha rist .

The body of doctrine and belief connected with this cult is a curiousblending of aboriginal American religious ideas with many imbibed by

the Indians from Christian missionaries. In the meeting places thew orshipers ga th er in a circle about a fireplace in t he center of the lodgeor t ent. A fire is kept up th roughout th e meeting. At th e west side of th efire sits the leader. In front of him is spread a cloth like an altar cloth;on this lies a peyote top, and at the edge nearest to the leader an openBible. At his r ight hand stands a staff symbolically decorated withfeather ornamentation. In his hand he carries a fan made of 12 eaglefea thers sym bolizing the 12 Chr istian a postles. A w a ter drum is bea tenwith a low insistent thrumming sound, accompanied by a gourd ratt le,while songs are chanted, and the people gaze into the fire or sit with

bowed head. Owing to the hypnotic effect of the firelight, thecommunity of thought, abstraction from all extraneous affairs , thedroning chant, the thrumming of the drum, and the mental att i tude ofexpect a ncy induced by t he w ords of t he speakers, w ho discourse on t hevisions w hich sha ll be seen, combined w ith t he physiological effect of th edrug, w hich st imula t es the opt ic center, t he people fa ncy th ey rea lly see






most w onderful visions of spirit s. As a n exa mple, the vision described bya certa in Omaha ma y be relat ed. I t w ill be observed tha t his vision w a sthe result of the juxtaposition of a number of experiences and mentalprocesses reca lled a nd immedia tely indu ced by t he circumsta nces of themeeting and the physiologic action of the drug. He was an ordinary

reservation Indian, who had had some schooling and had been inWashington and other eastern cities. On this occasion the openingreading from t he B ible ha d been t he story of the H ebrew prophet t a kenup to heaven in a chariot of fire. The Indian fell into a trancelike statea nd a fterwa rds described his vision. He relat ed tha t J esus had come forhim in an automobile and had taken him up to heaven, where he hadseen God in His glory in a splendid city, and with God he had seenma ny of th e grea t m en of all time, more tha n he could remember.

E LAEAGNACEAE

LEPARGYREA ARGENTEA [Shepherdia argentea] (Nutt.) Greene.B uffa lo-berry . (P l. 20, 6.)

Masht i n cha-puté (Dakota), "rabbit-nose" (masht i n cha , rabbit ; puté ,nose).

Zho n -koje-wazhide (Oma ha -P onca ), or wazhide uta , g ra y wazhide ,

Haz-shuts (Winn eba go), " red-fru it " (haz , fruit; shuts , r ed).

Lar i t s i t s (P a w nee).

The fruits are used fresh in season and are dried for winter use. Thefruit was ceremonially used in feasts given in honor of a girl arriving atpuberty. Padus nana was ordinari ly used, but Lepargyrea might besubstitut ed. This wa s a custom a mong th e Da kota .32

ARALIACEAE

PANAX QUINQUEFOLIUM L. G inseng.

A Pawnee gave the information that ginseng roots in composition withcertain other substances were used as a love charm. From variousindividuals the information was gathered bit by bit severally and

32 Dorsey, Sioua n C ults, p. 483.U ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 74






adduced, showing that the four species of plants used in compoundingthis love charm were Aquilegia canadensis , Lobel ia cardinal is ,Cogswell ia daucifol i a [L omati um foeni cul aceum ssp. dauci fol i um ] , andPanax qui nquefol i um or possibly a species of Ligust icum . Specimens ofthe la tt er were not in ha nd, but informa nts spoke of i t a s Angelica . They

had become acquainted with Angelica of the phar ma cists a nd proba blymistook it for their own native Ligust icum . I t is possible that variouscombinations of four plants might have been used, but it appearscer ta in that Aquilegia canadensis an d Cogswell ia daucifol ia wereconsidered most potent. The parts used were seeds of Aqui legia an dCogswell ia , dr ied root s of Panax , and dried roots and flowers of Lobel iacard ina l i s . With these vegetal products was mingled red-earth paint.The possession of these medicines was supposed to invest the possessorw ith a property of a tt ra ctiveness to a l l persons, in spite of a ny na tura la ntipat hy w hich m ight otherwise exist . When to these were a dded ha irs

obtained by stealth through the friendly offices of an amiably disposedthird person from the head of the woman who was desired, she wasuna ble t o resist th e at tr a ction a nd soon yielded t o th e one wh o possessedthe cha rm.

U MBELLIFERAE

WASHINGTONIA LONGISTYLIS [Osmorhiza longistyl is] (Torr.)B ritton. Sw eet Cicely.

Cha n -pezhuta (Da kot a ); cha n , wood; pezhuta , medicine.

Sha n ga-maka n (Oma ha -P onca ), h orse-medicine.

Kahtstaraha (Pawnee), "buffalo medicine" (kahtsu , medicine; ta raha ,buffalo).

The Omaha and Ponca say that horses were so fond of the roots ofWashingtonia that if one whistled to them, while holding out the bag ofroots, the horses came trotting up to get a taste, and so could easily be

caught. An Omaha said that the roots were pounded up to makepoultices to apply to boils. A Winnebago medicine-man reported thesa me trea tm ent for w ounds. A P a w nee sa id tha t a decoction of the rootsw a s ta ken for w eakness a nd genera l debil ity .






HERACLEUM LANATUM Michx. Cow P a rsnip, B ea ver Root . (P l. 21.)

Zhaba-maka n (Oma ha -P onca), " beaver medicine " (zha ba , beaver;

ma ka " , medicine).

A Winneba go medicine-ma n sa id th e tops of th is pla nt w ere used in t hesmoke treatment for fainting and convulsions. According to a Pawnee,the root, scraped or pounded fine and boiled, was applied as a poulticefor boils . I t was learned from an old Omaha woman that the root wasboiled and the decoction taken for intestinal pains and as a physic. Anold Omaha medicine-man said the dried roots were pounded fine andmixed with bea ver dung, a nd t ha t t he mixture w a s pla ced in t he hole inw hich t he sacred pole w a s pla nt ed.

COGSWELLIA DAUCIFOLIA [Lomatium foeniculaceum ssp.dauc i fo l ium] (Nut t.) M. E. J ones. Love Seed.

Pezhe bthaska (Oma ha -P onca), " f la t h erb" (pezhe , herb; bthaska , f lat ).

Seeds of this a roma tic plant w ith seeds a nd va rious part s of other plant swere used as a love charm by men of all tribes in the Plains region. AP a wnee sta ted tha t t o ca rry seeds of Cogswell ia rendered the possessorattractive to all persons, so he would have many friends, all peoplewould serve him well, and if used in connection with certain other

pla nts w ould ma ke him w inning to w omen, so he might w in an y w oma nhe might d esire.

C ORNACEAE

CORNUS AMOMUM Mill. Red D ogwood, Kin nikinn ick. (P l. 22.)

Cha n -shasha (Dakota), "red wood" (cha n , wood; shasha , a reduplica tionof sha , red). So ca lled from t he w int er colora tion of its ba rk.

N in i gah i (Omaha-Ponca). Contracted from n i n i , pipe, and i gah i , tomix; t o mix [w ith t obacco] for th e pipe.

Ru i -shu tsh (Win neba go).

Rapahat (P a w nee), " red-stick" (r a , stick; pahat , red).






The outer bark was removed, af ter which the inner bark was scrapeda nd dried for smoking. I t is fragra nt, a nd a l l the tr ibes were very fond ofit .

CORNUS STOLONIFERA Michx. Red Brush, Kinnikinnick.

Cha n -shasha-hi n chake (D a kota ), rea l cha n -shasha (h i n chake , rea l, very,indeed).

N in i gah i té (Oma ha -P onca), rea l n i n i gah i .

This species is preferred for smoking. It is said to be the best of all, butthe India ns describe a nd na me an other w hich w a s a lso used, but w hichI did not succeed in seeing or identifying. The Omaha and Ponca call it

ni n i gahi gthezhe , " spott ed n i n i gah i .”

CORNUS ASPERIFOLIA Michx. Rough D ogw ood.

Ma n sa- te-hi (Omaha-Ponca), "real arrow tree'' (ma n sa ; arrow; te , real;h i , plant body).

Ma n si-hotsh (Winn eba go).

Nakip is tatu (Pawnee), "real arrow tree" (nahaapi , tree; k ip i s , arrow;

ta tu , real).

This wa s the favorite wood for a rrow sha fts.

E RICACEAE

UVA-URSI UVA-URSI [Arctostaphylos uva-ursi] (L.) Britton.Bearberry.

Nakasis (P a w nee), "litt le tr ee," " short t ree" (nakas , tr ee; kasis , short).

The lea ves w ere used for sm oking like toba cco.






OLEACEAE

FRAXINUS PENNSYLVANICA Ma rsh. Ash.

P se t in (D a kota ).

Tashnánga-h i ( Oma ha -P onca).

Rak (Win neba go).

K id i t ako (P a w nee).

Ash wood was universally used for making pipestems; it was used alsofor making bows, and young stems furnished arrow shafts . The ash isone of th e trees to which myst ic pow ers a re a scribed. J . Owen D orsey

says: "The Omaha have two sacred trees, the ash and the cedar . Thea sh is connected w ith t he beneficent na tura l pow ers. Pa rt of th e sacredpole of the Omaha and Ponca is made of ash, the other part being ofcotton-wood." 33

The stems of the two principal symbolic objects used in the Wawa n ceremony of th e Oma ha a nd t he corresponding ceremony of the H a ko ofthe P a w nee w ere ma de of ash w ood.

G ENTIANACEAE

DASYSTEPHANA PUBERULA [Gent i ana saponar ia ] (Michx.) Sma ll.Gent ian .

Maka n chahiwi-cho (Winnebago), "blue-blossom medicine" (maka n ,medicine; chah iw i , blossom; cho , blue).

Pezhuta-zi (Dakota), "yellow medicine" (pezhuta , medicine; zi , yellow).S o ca lled beca use of the color of th e root s.

A decoction of t he root is ta ken a s a tonic; it is so used a lone a nd a lso incombina tion w ith oth er medicina l pla nt s.

33 Sioua n C ults, p. 390.U ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 78






ASCLEPIAD ACEAE

ASCLEPIAS TUBEROSA L. B ut t erfly Weed, P leurisy Root.

Maka n saka (Omaha-Ponca), "raw medicine"; (saka , raw; maka n saka

thata i , medicine they eat raw). Another name given is k iu maka n ,wound medicine. The name raw medicine was given because this rootw a s used w ithout boiling.

The root was eaten raw for bronchial and pulmonary trouble. I t wasalso chewed and put into wounds, or pulverized when dry and blowninto wounds. It was applied as a remedy for old, obstinate sores. In theOma ha tr ibe t his medicine an d its r ites belonged t o th e Shell Society . Acertain member of the society was the authorized guardian or keeper ofthis medicine. It was his prerogative to dig the root and distribute

bundles of it to the members of the society. The ceremonials connectedwith the digging, preparation, consecration, and distribution occupiedfour da ys. In th is connect ion it m a y not be out of pla ce to note t ha t fouris the domina nt number in al l r i tua l an d in a l l orienta tion in space a ndtime am ong t he P lains tr ibes, just a s the number seven is dominan t withsome other peoples. Whether four or seven be the dominant numberdepends on whether the four cardinal points of the horizon are givenpreeminence or w hether equ a l pla ce is given a lso to th e thr ee rema iningpoints , the Zenith, t he Na dir , an d t he Here.

ASC LE P IAS SYRI ACA L. Milkw eed. (P ls. 23, 24.)

Wa tha (Oma ha -P onca).

Mah i n ́t sh (Winn eba go).

Kar ípi ku (P a w nee).

This plant is used for food at three stages of its growth—the youngsprouts in early spring, like asparagus sprouts; the clusters of floral

buds; and the young fruits while f irm and green. I t is prepared byboiling. Small boys used the fiber of the mature stalks of this plant forpopgun w a ds, chew ing it for t he purpose.

When the Omaha f irst saw cabbage and noted i ts use boiled, as theyboiled wa tha , they l ikened i t to that , and so named cabbage wa tha






wa e , "white man's wa tha . " Likewise the Pawnee named cabbagekar ipiku tsahiks-taka , "white man's ka r i p i ku " (tsahiks , person; taka ,white).

ASCLEPIAS EXALTATA (L.) Muhl. Ta ll Milkw eed.

Wa tha -ska (Omaha-Ponca), white wa tha (ska , white; wa tha , assta ted before, is t he Oma ha -P onca na me of Ascl epi as syr i aca ).

The root w a s ea ten ra w a s a r emedy for stoma ch tr ouble.

C ONVOLVULACEAE

IPOMOEA LEPTOPHYLLA Torr. B ush Mornin g-glory. (P ls. 25, 26.)

Kahts- tuw i r i k i (P a w nee), " w hirlwind medicine" (t uw i r i k i , wh irlwind).

So called because of the peculiar twisted nature of the fibrovascularsystem.

Among the Pawnee the large, perennial storage root of this xerophyticpla nt is highly prized as a remedy for nervousness a nd ba d drea ms. Forthis purpose the smoke treatment was used. For alleviation of pain thepulverized root w a s dusted on t he body w ith a deer t a i l or w ith a fea therbrush. I t w a s a lso used t o revive one wh o ha d fa inted.

CUSCUTA PARADOXA [Cu scut a compacta] Ra f. Dodder, Love Vine.

Hakastahkata (P a w nee); ''yellow vine" (hakastah , vine; kata , yellow ).

The dodder vine was used by Pawnee maidens to divine whether theirsuitors were sincere. A girl having plucked a vine, with the thought ofth e young m a n in mind t ossed th e vine over her shoulder into th e weedsof host species of this dodder. Then, turning round, she marked theplant on which the vine fell . The second day after she would return to

see whether th e dodder ha d a tt a ched itself a nd w a s grow ing on i ts host .If so, she went away content with full assurance of her lover's sincerityand fai thfulness. I f the dodder had not twined and attached i tself , shetook it a s a wa rning not t o trust him.

Dodder was said to be used as a dyestuff to give an orange color to






feat hers. For this purpose the vines w ere boiled a nd t he ma teria ls to bedyed were dipped. A Mexican Indian now living at Pine Ridge said hispeople ca ll i t ra tt lesna ke food a nd sa y t ha t r a tt lesna kes ta ke i t into theirden s for food.

B ORAGINACEAE

LITHOSPERMUM CANESCENS (Michx.) Lehm.

Bazu-hi (Oma ha -P onca).

Children used the root of this plant in sport to chew with their gum(gum of Si lph ium lacin i a tum ) to make it of a red color. The flowers ofth is pla nt w ere likew ise used t o color gum yellow .

VE R B E N A C E A E

VERBENA HASTATA L. Wild Verbena .

Cha n ha l oga pezhut a (D a kota ); pezhuta , medicine.

Pezhe maka n (Omaha-Ponca); pezhe , herb; maka n , medicine.

Among the Teton Dakota the leaves were boiled to make a drink as aremedy for stomach ache. Among the Omaha, the leaves were steeped

merely t o ma ke a bevera ge like tea .

MENTHACEAE [L AB I ATAE /LAMIACEAE ]

MONARDA FISTULOSA L. Wild Berga mot, Horsemint.

e aka ta pezhut a (Dakota), "elk medicine" ( e aka , elk; pezhuta ,medicine; ta , genitive sign); or e aka ta w ote , food of the elk (wote ,food).

Pezhe pa (Oma ha -P onca), “bitt er herb" (pa , bitt er; pezhe , her b).

Tsusahtu (P a w nee), ill smelling.

By the Teton Dakota the flowers and leaves are boiled together to makea medicine which is drunk t o cure a bdomina l pains.






The Winneba go used for pimples an d other d erma l eruptions on t he fa cea n a pplica tion ma de by boiling t he lea ves.

MONARDA FISTULOSA VAR. Washtemna. [ ?]

Wa pe washt emna (Dakota), " fragrant leaves" (wa pe , leaf; washte ,good; mna , odorous). This form is one of the plants connected with theSu n da nce, according t o J . Ow en Dorsey. 34

Izna-kithe-iga hi (Oma ha -P onca), referring to its use in compounding a

pomade for the hair. Sometimes called pezhe-pa mi n ga in distinctionfrom the other pezhe-pa , in reference to its finer essence and more

delica te plan t body (m i n ga , fema le; fema le pezhe-pa ).

Tsostu (P a w nee), mean ing, if a ny, not found.

In addition to these two forms, the Pawnee, as said before, recognizeand name two other forms. All these four forms are included in ourtaxonomy under the name Monarda f istulosa . The two remainingforms, according to the Pawnee classification and nomenclature, aretsakus tawirat an d parakaha . The latter name, parakaha , signifies" f r agran t " ; tsakus tawi r at , "shot ma ny t imes sti ll fighting" (tsakus , shotmany t imes ; taw i ra t , still fighting). In the order of decreasingdesirability for fragrance the Pawnee classify the four forms in this

order: parakaha , tsakus tawi r at , tsostu , and tsusahtu , which last na me,meaning ill smelling, shows that it is undesirable, according to theirsuspectibilities, for this purpose. One or more of the other forms mayoften be found wherever the last, tsusahtu , the common type form ofMonarda fistulosa, is found. The Pawnee characterize them thus:tsusahtu , wit h st i ff s trong stems; tsostu , w ith w eaker stems an d sma llerlea ves; the next tw o w ith w eak stems, the most fra gra nt one, parakaha ,wi th s tems "as weak as s traw. " But they a lso f ind di f ferences in theroots, and they say these must be compared in order to makeidentification certain.

The differences noted by the Indians among these varieties, if we maybe al lowed to call them varieties, are f ixed and hereditary and notaccidental or dependent on season or situation. Of this I am assured bymy own experience with living specimens of the two forms designated

34 Sioua n C ults, p. 454.U ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 82






by the Dakota e aka ta pezhut a an d wa pe washtemna . I havetra nspla nted specimens of these tw o forms from the w ild st a te a nd ha vehad them under observation at al l seasons for f ive years. I have alsonoted these two forms in the wild state standing in close proximity toeach other.

I give this extended discussion because I have found taxonomistsreluctant to admit the possibil i ty of this distinction; at the same timeth ey did not put it t o the proof. 35

HEDEOMA HISPIDA P ursh. Bough P ennyroya l .

M aka chi aka (Da kota ).

An infusion of the leaves was used as a remedy for colds. It was used

a lso a s a flavor a nd t onic a ppetizer in diet for t he sick.

MENTHA CANADENSIS L . [M ent ha ar vensis] Wild Mint.

Chiaka (Da kota ).

Pezhe nubth o n (Oma ha -P onca ), " f ra gra nt herb" (nub tho n , fragr a nt).

Kahts-k iwahaaru (Pawnee); "swamp medicine" (kahts , from kahtsu ,medicine; k iwahaaru , sw a mp).

Wild mint was used by all the tribes as a carminative, for this purposebeing steeped in water for the patient to drink and sweetened withsugar . Sometimes this infusion was used as a beverage, l ike tea, nota lone for its medicina l property but for it s plea sing a roma tic fla vor.

The Dakota used mint as a flavor in cooking meat. They also packed itwith their stores of dried meat, making al ternate layers of dried meatand mint .

A Winneba go informa nt sa id tha t tra ps were boiled wit h m int in orderto deodorize them so that animals might not be deterred by the scent ofblood from enterin g t hem.

35 In th e sout hern r ockies, M . fistul osa , var . menthaefolia forms a t least threedistinct “va rieties” as w ell, ba sed on scent a nd m orphology, often gr ow ing t ogether foryea rs w ithout a ny sign of cross-pollinat ion, yet completely ignored by bota nist s. - MM






AGASTACHE ANETHIODORA [Agastache foeniculum] (Nutt.)B utt on. Fra gra nt G iant Hyssop, Wild Anise.

The leaves of this plant were commonly used to make a hot aqueous

drink l ike tea to be taken with meals . I t was also used as a sweeteningfla vor in cookery .

S OLANACEAE

PHYSALIS HETEROPHYLLA Nees. Gr ound C herry.

Tamanio pe (D a kota ).

Pe i gatu sh (Oma ha -P onca); pe , forehead; igatush , to pop. The na me ha s

reference to t he use by children of the infla ted persistent ca lices w hichth ey pop on t he forehea d in play .

Nikaki tspak (P a w nee); n i kako , forehea d; ki tspak , to pop.

The fruits of the edible species, P. heter ophyll a , are made into a saucefor food by all these tribes. When a sufficient quantity of them wasfound they were dried for winter . When the Dakota f irst saw figs theylikened them to Physal is (Tamanio pe ), and called them Tam anio pe

washichu n , " w hite man 's tamani o pe ."

PHYSALIS LANCEOLATA Michx.36 P ra ir ie G round Cherry.

Maka n bashah o n -sho n (Omaha-Ponca), "crooked medicine" (bashaho n -

sho n , crooked, referr ing t o the r oot of th is species).

H a n pok-hischasu (Winnebago), "owl eyes" (ha n pok , owl; hischasu ,eyes).

The root of this plant was used in the smoke treatment. A decoction of

the root was used for stomach trouble and for headache. A dressing forwounds wa s a lso made from it .

36 This I s t he species w hich is int ended by th e reference on p. 584 of The Oma haTribe, Tw enty -seventh Rep. B ur. of Amer. E th n. The reference here na mes Physalisviscora , no doubt a n error for P. v i scosa . Bu t P. v i scosa is nat ive to the Atla nt ic coa sta nd is not found in t he territory of the Omaha .






NICOTIANA QUADRIVALVIS P ur sh . Toba cco. (P l. 27, 6.)

Cha n d i (D a kota ); Teton dia lect , cha n l i .

N i n i - h i (Oma ha -P onca).

This species of Nicot iana was cultivated by al l the tr ibes of Nebraska.Since the advent of Europeans tobacco is one of the crops whose culturehas been abandoned by these tribes, and they have all lost the seed ofi t , so tha t the oldest l iving Omaha ha ve never seen i t growing; but t heysometimes receive presents of the prepared tobacco from other tribes tothe north, w ho are sti l l grow ing i t . From a n old ma n, Long B ear , of theHidatsa tr ibe in North Dakota, who was then 73 years old, I obtainedspecimens and seed in 1908, by which I was able to determine the

species. I planted the seed and have had it growing every year since.The plant, when full grown, is only about 60 cm. or 70 cm. in height. Itis very hardy and of quick maturity, so that ripe seed will be found inabout 60 or 65 days after coming up, and fruit bearing continues tillfrost comes.

According to Nuttall, N icot iana quadr ivalv is was cul t ivated by a l l thetr ibes a long t he Missouri.37

A Pawnee informant said that his people in the old t ime prepared the

ground for plant ing this tobacco by ga th ering a qua nt i ty of dried grass,which was burned where the patch was to be sown. This kept theground clear of weeds, so that nothing grew except the tobacco whichwas planted. The crop was allowed to grow thick, and then the wholeplant—leaves, unripe fruit capsules, and the tender, small parts of thestems—was dried for smoking. The unripe seed capsules, driedseparately, were specially prized for smoking on account of the flavor,pronounced by the Indians to be like the flavor now found in theimported Turkish tobacco.

A Winneba go informa nt told me t ha t his people prepa red t he t oba cco bypicking off the lea ves a nd la ying them out t o dry. Next da y t he part ial lydry leaves, limp and somewhat viscid, were rolled like tea leaves anda ga in laid t o dry. When fully dry th e leaves w ere rubbed f ine a nd st oredaway. In this finished state the tobacco looks somewhat like gunpowder

37 P ickering, Chr onologica l H istory of P lan ts, p. 741.U ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 85






tea. The Indians said it was of very pleasant odor for smoking. Thespecies of tobacco which was cultivated by the Winnebago, as well asthe other tribes of the eastern woodland region, was N icot ian a r ust i ca L. I t appears that this species was cultivated by al l the tr ibes from theMississippi River eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. I t is said that the

woodland tribes eagerly accepted presents of prepared tobacco of thespecies N icot iana quadr ivalv is from the tribes of the plains region andsought to obtain seed of the same, but the plains tribes jealouslyguarded against allowing the seed to be exported to their woodlandneighbors.

S CROPHULARIACEAE

PENTSTEMON GRANDIFLORUS Nut t . Wild Foxglove.

A Pawnee informant said that he uses this plant as a remedy for chil lsand fever, but it is not of common knowledge and use. The preparationis a decoction of th e lea ves, ta ken interna lly.

P LANTAGINACEAE

PLANTAGO MAJ OR L. P lanta in .

Sini e maka n (Oma ha -P onca).

A Ponca gave me the information that a bunch of leaves of this plantma de hot a nd a pplied t o th e foot is good t o dra w out a th orn or splinter.

RU B I A C E A E

GALIUM TRIFLORUM Michx. Fra grant B edstraw , La dy's B ouquet .

Wau-pezhe (Oma ha -P onca), woma n's herb, or wau- i nu -maka n , woma n'sperfume (wau , woma n).

The plant was used by women on account of its fragrance, a delicateodor given off in withering, which resembles the odor of sweet-grass, aha ndful of th e pla nt being t ucked under th e girdle.






CAPRIFOLIACEAE

SAMBUCUS CANADENSIS L. Elderberry.

Chaputa (Da kota ); chaputa-hu elder bush .

Wagathahashka (Omaha-Ponca); wagathahashka-hi , elder bush .

Sk i ra r i u (P a w nee).

The fruits w ere used for food in th e fresh st a t e. The la rger st ems of thebush were used by small boys for making popguns. A pleasant drinkw a s ma de by dipping the blossoms into hot w a ter.

VIBURNUM LENTAGO L. Bla ck Ha w, Na nnyberry.

M na (Da kota ); mna-hu , bla ck ha w bush.

Na n shama n (Oma ha -P onca).

Wuwu (Winnebago).

Akiwasas (P a w nee); nam ing na mes.

The fruits w ere eat en from t he han d, not ga thered in qua nt i ty.

VIBURNUM OPULUS L. " H igh-bush Cra nberry, " P embina .38

In the north, where Sambucus canadensis is not found, boys madepopguns from stalks of Viburnum opulus a fter r emoving t he pith. Theymade the piston from a piece of Amelan chi er aln i fol ia or of the young

38 The na me pembina is herewith proposed a s a popular n a me for t his shrub becauseof the atrocious ineptness of the name "high-bush cranberry," since the berry ofViburnum is nothing l ike a cranberry, and also because of the fact that the namepembina is already commonly applied to this shrub and its fruit by the people of

northern North D a kota a nd Ma nitoba . The word pembina is a whit e ma n's corruptionof the na me of this berry in the Chippewa lan gua ge, which is nepin-mina n, summ er-berry; nepin, summ er; an d mina n, berry. The pronuncia tion of pembina is indica tedthus: p m'-b -na . This name wa s applied to a r iver an d mounta in in North D a kota ,and subsequently to a town and county of that State. The Chippewa cal l the r iverNepin-minan Sipi (Summer-berry River), because of the abundance of these berriesgrowing a long th e course of tha t st ream.






growth of Quercus macrocarpa . The fibrous inner bark of Ulmusamericana and of U . fu lva was used for popgun wads. In the north,where Betu l a papyri fer a is found, its papery bark was chewed to a pulpand used for this purpose, while on the western prairie the tops ofArtemisia w ere chew ed a nd so used.

SYMPHORICARPOS SYMPHORICARPOS (L.) [Symphoricarposorbiculatus] MacM. Coral Berry, and S. OCCIDENTALIS Hook. WolfB erry, B uck B rush.

Zuzecha-ta -wote sapsapa (Dakota); black snake food (zuzecha , snake;mote , food; ta , genitive sign; sapsapa , reduplica t ion of sapa , bla ck).

I n sh toga t e-hi (Oma ha -P onca), eye-lotion pla nt (i n shta , eye). The lea vesw ere steeped t o ma ke an infusion used for w eak or inflam ed eyes.

C UCURBIT ACEAE

PEPO FOETIDISSIMA [Cucurbita foetidissima] (H. B. K.) Britton.Wild G ourd. (P l. 27, a.)

Wagamu n pezhut a (Dakota), pumpkin medicine (wagamu n , pumpkin;pezhuta , medicine).

Niashiga maka n (Omaha-Ponca), human-being medicine (niash iga ,

human being; maka n , medicine). They say it is male (niash iga maka n nuga .) a nd fema le (ni ashi ga mak a n mi ga ).

This is one of th e pla nt s considered t o possess specia l my st ic propert ies.People were afraid to dig it or handle it unauthorized. The properlyconst itut ed a ut horities might dig it , being ca reful to ma ke the prescribedoffering of tobacco to the spirit of the plant, accompanied by the properprayers, and using extreme care not to wound the root in removing itfrom the earth. A man of my acquaintance in the Omaha tr ibe essayedto take up a root of this plant and in doing so cut the side of the root.

Not long a fterw a rd one of his children fell , injuring it s side so th a t d eat hensued, which was ascribed by the tribe to the wounding of the root bythe fa t her.

This plant is one which is held in particularly high esteem by all thetr ibes a s a m edicina l agent . As its ra nge is restricted to th e drier pa rt s of






the Great Plains, i t happens that s ince the tr ibes are confined toreservations they can not get it as easily as they did in old times. Thisexplains why, when I have exhibited specimens of the root in seekinginformation, the Indians have asked for it . While they fear to dig itth emselves, a fter I h a ve assum ed the risk of so doing t hey a re willing to

profi t by my temerity; or i t may be that the white man is not held toa ccount by t he Higher P ow ers of th e India n's w orld.

The root is used medicinally according to the doctrine of signatures,simulating, it is believed, the form of the human body, and thought tobe male and female. As a remedy for any ailment a portion of the rootfrom the part corresponding in position to the affected part of thepatient's body is used—for headache or other trouble in the head someof t he t op of t he root is used; for a bdominal t rouble a bit of th e middle ofth e root; a nd so on.

A number of species of Cucurbitaceae were of undoubted aboriginalAmerican culture, as attested by the writings of the earliest explorers,missionaries, and sett lers , as well as by the stories, traditions, myths,and religious ceremonies of the various tribes. From all the evidence Ihave i t appears that the tr ibes of Nebraska prior to European contactcerta inly cultiva ted squ a shes an d pumpkins of severa l varieties, gourds,a nd possibly w a term elons. (P l. 28.)

When we seek the region in which may possibly be found the original

prototypes of the cultivated species grown by the tribes of Nebraska,na tu ra lly we must look to the region of th e Rio G ra nde or beyond.

CUCURBITA LAGENARIA L. Dipper G ourd.

Wamnuha or wakmu (D a kota ).

Pe e (Oma ha -P onca).

Among the tribes generally the gourd was grown in order to provide

shells of which to make rattles. For this purpose the gourd wasindispensa ble, as ra tt les ma de therefrom w ere essent ia l for a ll ritu a listicmusic. In order to fashion a rattle, the contents of the gourd wereremoved and a handle was attached. Seeds of Ar i saema tr iphyl l um orsma ll gravel w ere placed in t he shell.






PEPO PEPO [Cu cur bi ta Pepo] (L.) P umpkin.

Wamnu (D a kota ); Teton dia lect , wagamu n .

Wata n (Oma ha -P onca).

Since the advent of Europeans and the consequent disturbance of theaboriginal activities the tribes have lost many of the varieties of theirold-time cultivated plants. Some varieties lost by one tribe are stillreta ined by some oth er tr ibe, w hile the lat ter probably n o longer enjoysplants still in possession of the former. Of their old-time squashes theOmaha can describe the following eight varieties, al though they havelost the seed of most of them. They do not distinguish between pumpkin

a nd squa sh, but call them both wata n w ith descriptive modifiers a ffixed.

1.Wata

n

t i , " real squash" (

t i , real). This term would seem to indicate

tha t this va riety ha s been longest know n by t he tr ibe. I t is described a sbeing spherical in form, yellowish in color, "like a cottonwood leaf in thefall . "

2. Wata n m i a , sma ll, spherica l, spot t ed black an d green.

3. Wata n ni de bazu , la rge ova l, pointed a t th e ends, greenish in color.

4. Wata n kuku ge ; speckled.

5. Wata n m i a snede , long wata n m i a .

6. Wata n m i a ska , white wata n m i a .

7. Wata n m i a saba , black wata n m i a ,.

8. Wata n m i a zi , yellow wata n m i a ,.

These last four squa shes, ca lled wata n m i a , were sma ll summ er or fa llsquashes.

The Oma ha plant ed their squa shes at th e time of blossoming of th e wildplum.

Cucurb i ta max ima of Tropical or Subtropical America. The pumpk in , called inB raz i lian " ju r umu " (Ma rcgr. 44), in Ca rib "jujuru" or " ba bora " (Desc.), a nd cultiva ted

from early times: "pompions" were seen by Columbus in 1493 on Guadalope (F.Columb. 47) . . . C. ma xima w a s observed by De S oto in 1542 in Florida, a nd is known

to have been cult ivat ed by the North America n t r ibes a s far a s the S t . La wrence.39

April 12, 1528 (Ca beza de Vaca , a nd C hur chill Coll.), a rriva l of exped. of P a mphilo deNarvaez on north side of Gulf of Mexico, west of Mississippi R. Landed, proceeded39 Pickering, Chronological History of Plants, pp. 709—710.






inland, a nd observed pumpkins a nd beans cultiva ted by t he na tives.40

About th eir how ses they h a ve commonly sq ua re plott s of cleered grownd, w hich servethem for gardens, some one hundred, some two hundred foote square, wherein theysowe their tobacco, pumpons, and a fruit like unto a musk million, but lesse and

worse, which they call macock gourds, and such like, which fruicts increaseexceedingly, and r ipen in t he beginning of J uly, a nd cont ynue unt il September; theyplant a lso th e field apple, the ma ra cock, a w yld fruit like a kind of pomegra nett , wh ichincrea seth infinitlye, a nd ripens in August , cont ynuing u nt ill th e end of October, whenall the other fruicts be gathered, but they sowe nether herb, flower, nor any other

kynd of fruict.41

PEPO MAXIMA [Cucur b i ta m axim a] (Du ch.) P eterm. Sq ua sh.

This species is found in tropical and subtropical North America.

The squash , cal led by the New England tr ibes " askutasquash " (R. Will.), andcultiva ted from ea rly t imes:—observed un der cultivat ion by th e na tives by W. Wood,R. William s, an d J osselyn; is know n t o ha ve been cultiva ted t hroughout our middlea nd southern S ta tes; by the na tives in th e West Indies, as a ppears from D a lecha mp

pi. 616, a nd w a s seen by Cha nva lon on Mar tiniqu e (P oiret diet. na t. xl, 234.) 42

To th e Southw est, w hence ca me t he crop plant s of a borigina l cultur e inNebra ska, t he rema ins in ruins sometimes revea l the identi ty of pla ntsof a ncient cultur e there.

The occurrence of squash seeds in some of the mortuary bowls is important,

indicating the ancient use of this vegetable for food. It may, in this connection, beborne in mind tha t one of the southern clans of the Hopi Indian s wa s cal led th e P a tuñ

or Sq uash family .43

Pepo pepo , Dr . J . H. Coulter says , "H a s a na tura l ized var iety in southerna nd w estern Texas, . . . . (C. texana G ra y). " 44

P umpkin seeds ha ve been found in old P a w nee gra ves in Nebraska .

The squa sh is mentioned in the Ononda ga creat ion my th, showing th a t

i t has been in cultivation by that tr ibe from ancient t imes, and this is

40 Ibid., p. 86941 William St ra chey, Hist oric of Tra va ile into Virginia B rita nnia , p. 72 (1612).42 Pickering, op. cit., p. 747.43 Few kes, Tw o Sum mers ' Work in P ueblo Ruins, p. 101.44 Coulter, B ota ny of Western Texas, p. 124.






evidence of its w ide distribut ion from th e ar ea of its origin. 45

Religious expression is one of the most conservative elements and doesnot rea dily ta ke up an y new th ing, hence the religious songs of a peopleindicate those things which have been for a long time familiar to that

people. Allusion is made to the squash in some of the oldest religioussongs of the Pima tr ibe in the Southwest. One of the most ancienthym ns t o bring ra in is the follow ing.

H i-ilo-o ya -a -a ! H e the All-seeingSees the tw o sta lks of corn st a nding;H e's my young er broth er. H i-ilo-o ya -a -a !H e the All-seeing sees th e tw o squa shes;H e's my young er brot her. H i-ilo-o ya -a -a !On th e summit of Ta -a tuka m sees the corn st a nding;H e's my young er broth er. H i-ilo-o ya -a -a !

On the summit of Ta -a tuka m sees the squa sh sta nding;H e's my younger br other. H i-ilo-o woiha !

Another P ima ra in song:

H i-ihiya na iho-o! The blue light of eveningFa lls as w e sing before the sacred âm na .About u s on a ll sides corn t a ssels are w a ving.Hitciya ya hina! The white light or day da wnYet finds us singing, wh ile corn t a ssels a re wa ving.H itciya ya hina -a ! The blue light of evening

Fa lls as w e sing before the sacred âm na .About u s on a ll sides corn t a ssels are w a ving.

Yet finds us singing, while the squa sh lea ves a re wa ving.46

CUCURBITA FICIFOLIA B ouche. (C. melanosperma , A. B r.)

The specimens correspond closely w ith th e description of this species (hit hert o know nonly as cultivated in European gardens and conjectured to be from the East Indies)excepting in th e sha pe of th e leaves, wh ich h a ve the lobes (often sh ort) a nd sinu sesacute instead of rounded. Guadalajara, cultivated ; September (620).—-The fruit,called "cidra cayote " or " chila cayote," is about a foot in length, resembling a

wa termelon in a ppeara nce, with a ha rd outer shell, the contents w hite a nd f ibrous,a nd seeds black. It keeps for ma ny m ont hs w ithout decay . A preserve is ma de of theinner fibrous portion. The name “cayote," given to this and other cucurbitaceousspecies in Mexico, may be the equivalent of the "chayote" of Cervantes and the

45 H ewit t, Iroquolan Cosmology, p. 174.46 Russell, The P ima Ind ia ns, p 332






"cha yotli" of Herna ndez.47

CITRULLUS CITRULLUS (L.) Ka rst . Wa termelon. (P is. 29, 29A.)

Saka yutapi (Dakota), Santee dialect , eaten raw (saka , raw); Yankton

and Teton dialect, shpa n shni yutapi , eaten uncooked (shpa n shni ,uncooked).

Saka thi de (Oma ha -P onca ), or saka th ata , ea ten raw (saka , raw ).

Wathaka ratd she (Oto).

When I f irst inq uired of the Oma ha in regard to their a ncient cultivat edcrops, they named watermelons as one of the crops grown from timeimmemorial . They sa id they ha d a kind of w a termelon w hich w a s sma ll,

round, and green, having a thin r ind and red f lesh, with small , black,shining seeds; that it was different from the melons now grown fromseed introduced since the coming of white men. I read the statementmade by an early explorer coming up the Missouri River that the Otobrought presents of wa term elons t o the boa t. I received from t he P onca,the P a w nee, an d th e Cheyenne a n a ccount w hich w a s perfectly uniformw ith t ha t I ha d from t he Omah a , even t o the gestura l description of themelon. Lastly, I was told by a white man who was born in northernTexa s a nd ha d been fa milia r a l l his l ife w ith t he na tura l cha ra cteristicsof northern Texas and southern Oklahoma, that he had often found

and eaten wild watermelons on the sand bars and banks of Red River,Pecos River, and other streams of northwestern Texas. He said furtherthat his father had told him of f inding them on sti l l other streams ofthat region. This man described the wild watermelons to me exactly asa ll th e tribes before ment ioned ha d described th eir cultiva t ed melons.

This hitherto unthought of probability of the presence on the Americancontinent of an indigenous species of Citrullus caused me to makesearch through the literature and to make inquiry by correspondence,with the results I have here appended. The more I searched into the

matter the more unlikely it seemed to me that even so desirable a fruita s th e wa termelon, should i t be gra nted t o have been introduced by th eSpaniards at the t ime of their very f irst sett lement, could have beendissemina ted w ith such a stonishing ra pidity a nd t horoughness as t o befound so common a mong so ma ny tr ibes of ea stern North America from

47 Wa tson, C ont ributions to America n B ota ny, p. 414.U ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 93






th e Gu lf of Mexico to the G rea t L a kes, a nd from the Atla nt ic coa st t o th eGreat Plains. Such a result would be al l the more astonishing,considering the barriers to be passed in its passage from tribe to tribe;barriers of racial antagonism, of diverse languages, of climaticadaptation, and the ever-present barrier of conservatism, of

unwillingness of any people to adopt a new thing. But if none of thesebar riers ha d intervened, and i f each tr ibe ha d zealously propaga ted a nddistributed as rapidly as possible to its neighbors, it can scarcely bebelieved tha t t ime enough ha d elapsed for t his to be a ccomplished a t t hefirst contact of the French and English explorers. The watermelonsgrown by the various tribes seem to be of a variety distinct from any ofth e ma ny known va rieties of Europea n intr oduction.

I append here some quotations from literature which I have found inva rious sources bea ring on t he subject.

J . M. Coulter (Cont. U . S. Na t. H erb., vol. n, p. 123, B ot a ny of WesternTexas), after describing adds: "Said by Dr. Havard to be found wild inma ny pla ces west of th e P ecos."

Concerning its origin, C. Conzatti , in "Los Géneros VegetalesMexica nos," p. 348, sta t es:

. . . E s genero intr oducido del " Viejo Mun do, y de él se cult iva ent re nosotr os una de las

dos especies qu e conpren de: C. vulgari s Schra d., ó "C idra -cayote." 48

According t o De B ry t he w a termelon is—

U ne plant e dont l 'origine est incert a ine d'a près les au teurs. Linn é (Sp ., p. 1435) dit:"Habitat in Apulia, Calabria, Sici l la . " Seringe (Prodr ., III, p. 301) dit: "in Africa etIndia." Puts il ajoute une variété décrite au Brésil par Marcgraf, ce qui compliqueencore la quest ion. . . .

La pla nche et Ie texte de Marcgrat (Bras . , p. 22) me pa ra issent bien s'a ppliquer à , laPastèque. D'un autre côté, rien ne prouve que la plante n'eût pas été apportée auB résil pa s les Européens, si ce n'est le fa it d'un nom vulga ire Jaee , ma is l'a rgumentn'est pa s fort. Ma rcgraf cite a ussi des noms européens. I l ne dit pas qiie l 'espèce fûtspontanée, ni très genéralement cultivée. Sloane l'indique comme cultivée a laJ a ma íque (I, p. 226), sa ns prétendre q 'elle fût a mérica ine, et a ssurément le silencedes premiers a uteurs, sa uf Ma rcgra f, le rend bien peu proba ble49

48 Conza tt i, Los Géneros Vegeta les Mexica nos, p. 348.49 De C a ndolle, G eogra phie B ota niq ue, Tome 2, p. 908






J e conclus de ce qui précède que tout es les espêces de Ci t ru l lus ênumerêes dans lasynonymie que j'ai donnée ci-dessus n'en font qu'une; que cette espèce, toujoursa nnuelle, et par là facile à dist inguer de la Coloquint e officina le, est essent iellenienta fricain e; qu'elle existe encore à l'ét a t sa uva ge en Afriqu e, et q u'elle est cultivée depuisun t emps immémoria l da ns la va llee du Nil, d'où elle a passé, même a nciennement ,chez la plupa rt d es peuples civilises du ba ssin m éditerr a néen Aujourd 'hui, elle existe

dans tous les pay chauds de la terre, et comme les graines en sont jetées au hasard,par tout ou on la consomme, il n'y a rien, d'étonna nt qu'on la retrouve à demi-sa uva ge

da ns bea ucoup de cont rées ou elie n'exista it cert a inement pa s primitivement .50

Sa ka¢ide uke¢in , the common watermelon, was known to the Omahas before thecoming of th e whit e men. It ha s a g reen rind, which is genera lly striped, a nd t he seedsa re bla ck. I t is never dr ied, but is a lwa ys eat en raw , hence the na me. They ha d no

yellow saka ¢ide till the whites came; but t hey do not eat them.51

The Mahas [ Omahas 1 seem very friendly to the whites, and cultivate corn, beans,

melons, squashes, and a small species of tobacco [Nicotiana quadrivalvis].52

Watermelons are cultivated in great plenty in the English and French-Americancolonies, an d t here is ha rdly a pea san t h ere who has n ot a f ield plant ed with them. . . .The Indians plant great q ua nti t ies of wa termelons a t present, but w hether they ha vedone it of old is not easily det ermined. For a n old Onidoe Ind ian (of th e six IroqueseNations) assured me that the Indians did not know watermelons before theEuropeans came into the country and communicated them to the Indians. TheFrench, on the other hand, have assured me that the I l l inois Indians have hada bundan ce of this fruit , when t he French f irst came to them, a nd t ha t t hey declare,th ey ha d plant ed them since times immemorial. However, I do not remember havingread t ha t t he Europeans, w ho first came to North America , mention th e wa termelons

in spea king of the dishes of the India ns of th a t t ime.53

After severa l miles of ma rching a long extensive a nd w ell-cultiva ted fields of squa shes,pumpkins, bea ns, melons, a nd corn t he Dra goons rea ched the villag e.

Here th en wa s the Toya sh or Pa w nee Pict villa ge, the ma in goa l of this expedition. . . ..Col. Dodge encam ped in a fine position about a mile from the villa ge, an d th e hungryDragoons were soon enjoying the Indian hospitalities. Dishes of corn and beansdressed with buffalo fat were placed before them. For dessert the soldiers enjoyed

liberal supplies of wa termelons a nd w ild plums .54

When Garces was among the Yumas in 1775 they were raising "countless"50 Na udin, Revue des Cu curbita cees, Anna les des Sciences Nat urelles, 4e Serie,Tome xii, pp. 107-108.51 Dorsey, Om a ha S ociology, p. 306.52 B ra dbury, Tra vels in t he In terior of America, p. 77.53 Ka lm, Tra vels int o Nort h America, vol. 2, p. 385.54 P elzer, Henry Dodge, p. 100.






pound s. Their rind is of a pa le green colour, inter spersed w ith la rge w hit e spot s. Thesubstan ce tha t a dheres to the r ind is whit e, crude, a nd of a disa greea ble ta r tness, andis therefore never eaten. The space within that is filled with a light and sparklingsubsta nce, th a t m a y be called for its properties a rose-coloured snow. It melts in t hemouth a s i f i t were actua lly snow, a nd lea ves a ta ste l ike tha t of the wa ter preparedfor sick people from currant jelly. This fruit cannot fail, therefore, of being very

refreshing, and is so wholesome that persons in all kinds of distempers may satisfytheir appetite with it , without any apprehension of being the worse for it . Thew a term elons of Africa a re not nea r so refreshing a s those of Louisia na .

The seeds of watermelons are like those of French melons. Their shape is oval andfla t , being as thick at the ends a s towa rds th e middle; their length is a bout six l ines,a nd th eir breadth four . Some are bla ck a nd others red; but th e bla ck ar e the best , a ndit is those you ought to chuse for sowing, if you would wish to have the best fruit;which you can not fail of if they are not planted in strong ground where they woulddegenerat e an d become red.

MELONS G ROWN BY INDIANS OF VIRG INIA B EF ORE THE COMING OFWH ITE ME N

. . . but none of the Toils of Husbandry were exercised by this happy People, exceptthe ba re pla nting a l it t le Corn a nd Melons, . . . And indeed a l l tha t the E nglish ha vedone since their going th ither, ha s been only t o make some of these Na tive P leasures

more sca rce. . . . hardly ma king Improvements equivalent to tha t D a ma ge.59

MEL ONS F OU ND B Y LA SALLE IN TEXAS I N 1687

This inst rum ent [w ooden h oe] serves th em inst ead of a h oe, or spa de, for t hey h a ve no

iron t ools. When t he lan d ha s been t hus t illed, or broken up, the w omen sow a nd pla ntthe Indian corn, beans, pompions, watermelons and other grain and garden ware,

w hich is for t heir sus tena nce. [Account of t he C enis, (Ca ddos), 1687.] 60

. . . we met a company of Indians, with axes, going to fetch barks of trees to coverth eir cott a ges. They w ere surprised to see us, but h a ving ma de signs to th em to drawnea r, they cam e, ca ressed and presented us wit h some wa termelons they ha d . . . Wehalted in one of their cottages, . . . There we met several women who had broughtbread, gourds, bea ns a nd w a term elons, a sort of fruit proper to quench thirst , the pulp

of it being no bett er tha n w a ter.61

WATER MEL ONS AMONG TH E ILL INOI S

We continu ed some time in Fort Louis [on th e Mississippi a mong t he Illinois] w ith outreceiving any news. Our business was, af ter having heard mass, which we had the

59 B everley, H ist ory of Virgin ia (1705), B ook n, p. 4060 Cox, J ourneys of La Sa lle, vol. n, p. 139.61 Ibid. , pp. 190-191.






good fortu ne to do every da y, t o divert ourselves th e best w a y w e could. The In dianwomen daily brought in something fresh; we wa nted not for w a termelons, brea d ma deof India n corn, baked in th e embers, an d other such t hings, and we rewa rded them by

little presents in retur n.62

The natives of the country about (among the Poutouatannis [Pottawatomies] whichis half wa y to Michilima quina y) till the land a nd sow India n corn, melons a nd gourds.63

MEL ONS AND OTH ER CU LTIVATE D P LANTS AMONG TRI B ES OF WES TE RNP R A I R I E S

The sa va ge peoples w ho inha bit t he pra iries ha ve life-long good-fort une; a nima ls a ndbirds are found there in great numbers, with numberless rivers abounding in fish.Those people a re na tu ra lly very industr ious, a nd devote themselves to the cultivat ionof th e soil, which is very fertile for I ndia n corn. I t produces a lso beans, squa shes (bothsmall and large) of excellent flavor, fruits, and many kinds of roots. They have inespecia l a certa in method ot prepar ing squa shes wit h th e India n corn cooked while in

its milk, which they mix and cook together and then dry, a food which has a verysweet taste. Finally, melons grow there which have a juice no less agreeable than

refreshing.64

The relation of Marquette's first voyage, 1673-1677, mentions "melons, which are

excellent, especially t hose th a t h a ve red seeds," a mong th e Illinois.65

Thence w e ascended to Mont real. . . . The lat itude is a bout th a t of B ordea ux, but t heclima te is very a greeable. The soil is excellent, a nd if t he G a rdener but th row someMelon seeds on a bit of loosened earth among the stones they are sure to growwith out a ny a tt ention on his pa rt . Sq ua shes are raised there with st i l l great er ea se,

but differ much from ours—some of them having when cooked, almost the taste ofa pples or of pear s.

66

WATER MEL ONS AMONG C U LTIVATE D C ROP S OF VIRG INI A IND IANS

Several Kinds of the Creeping Vines bearing Fruit, the Ind ians planted in theirG a rdens or Fields, beca use they would have P lenty of them alwa ys at ha nd; such a sMusk-melons, Watermelons, Pompions, Cushaws, Macocks and Gourds.

1. Their Mu sk-melons resemble t he la rge I t a l i an Kind, a nd genera lly fill Four or FiveQuar ts .

62 Ib id., p. 222.63 Ib id., p. 229.64 P errot, Memoire, in B la ir, Ind ia ns of th e Upper Mississippi, vol. I, p. 113. (Writ tenproba bly d ur ing 1680 t o 1718.)65 J esuit R elat ions, vol. 59, p. 129.66 Rela t ion of 1662-1663, in J esuit Rela t ions, vol. 48, p. 169.






2. Their Wa ter-melons were m uch more la rge, a nd of several K inds, dist inguished bythe Colour of their Meat and Seed; some are red, some yellow, and others whitemea ted; a nd so of th e Seed; some a re yellow , some red, a nd some bla ck; but t hese ar enever of different colours in t he sa me Melon. This Fr uit t he Muscovi tes call Arpus ; theTu rks and Tartars Karpus , because they are extremely cooling: The Persians callthem Hindannes , because they had the first Seed of them from the Indies . They are

excellent ly good, a nd very plea sa nt to the Ta ste, a s a lso to the E ye; ha ving th e Rindof a lively green colour, streak'd and water'd, the Meat of a Carnation and the Seedblack an d shining, w hile it lies in the Melon.

3. Their P ompions I n eed not describe, but mu st sa y th ey a re much lar ger a nd finer,tha n an y I ever heard of in Engla nd.

4. Their Cushaws a re a kind of Pompion, of a bluish green colour, st rea ked wit h White,when they are f i t for Use. They are larger than the Pompions, and have a long,na rrow Neck. Perha ps this may be the Ecushaw of T. H arr i ot .

5. Thei rMacocks

are a sort ofMelopepones

, or lesser sort of Pompion or cushaw. Ofthese they have great Variety ; but the I nd ian Name Macock serves for all , whichNam e is st i ll retain'd a mong them. Yet the Clypeatae a re sometimes called Cymnels ,(a s a re some oth ers a lso) from t he Lenten Cake of that Name, which many of themvery much resemble. Squash , or Squanter-Squash , is their Name among theNorthern Ind ians , a nd so they a re ca ll 'd in New-York and New-England . These b eingboil'd w hole, when t he Apple is young, a nd t he Sh ell tender, a nd dished w ith C ream orButter, relish very well with all sorts of Butcher's Meat, either fresh or salt. Andwhereas the Pompion is never eaten till it be ripe, these are never eaten after theyare ripe.

6. The Ind ians never eat th e G ourds, but plant th em for other uses . . . [They] use the

Sh ells, instea d of Fla gons and Cups. . . .

7. The Maracock , which is the Fruit of wha t w e ca ll th e Pa ssion-Flower, our Na tivesdid not ta ke the P a ins to pla nt , h a ving enough of it growing everywhere; tho' they ea tit ... this Fruit is a bout t he Size of a P ullet's Egg.

Besides al l these, our Natives had originally amongst them, I nd ian Corn, Peas,B ean s, P ota toes, an d Toba cco. This I nd i an Corn was the Staff of Food, upon whichthe Ind ians did ever depend. ...

There a re Four S orts of I nd i an C orn: Tw o of w hich a re ear ly ripe, and Tw o, la te ripe,a l l growing in t he sam e ma nner ; every single G ra in of this w hen plant ed, produces a

ta ll , upright S ta lk, w hich has several E a rs ha nging on the Sides of it , from Six to TenInches long. Each Ear is wrapt up in a Cover of many Folds, to protect it from theInjuries of the Weather. In every one of these Ears are several rows of Grain, setclose to one another , with no other Par ti t ion, but a very thin Husk. So thatoftentimes th e Increase of this G ra in a mounts t o above a Thousand for one.

The Two S ort s w hich a re ear ly ripe, are distingu ish'd only by t he S ize, w hich showsU ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 99






itself a s well in th e Gra in as in t he Ea r a nd th e Sta lk. There is some Difference a lso inthe Time of ripening .

The lesser Size of Ea rly ripe Corn yields an E a r not much lar ger tha n th e Ha ndle of aCa se Knife, a nd grows upon a St a lk betw een Three and Four Feet high. Of this a recommonly ma de Tw o Crops in a Yea r, a nd, perha ps, there might be H eat enough inEngland to ripen it.

The lar ger Sort differs from th e former only in La rgeness, the E a r of this being Sevenor E ight I ndies long, a s th ick a s a Ch ild's Leg, an d growing upon a S ta lk Nine or Tenfeet high. This, is fit for eat ing a bout t he lat ter E nd of Ma y, wh ereas t he sma ller Sort(genera -lly spea king) a ffords E a rs fit t o roa st by th e middle of Ma y. The gra ins of boththese Sorts a re as plump and sw eli'd a s if the Skin were rea dy to burst.

The lat e ripe Corn is diversify'd by th e Sha pe of th e Gr a in only, wit hout a ny Respectto t he a ccident a l Differences in colour, some being blue, some red, some yellow , somewhite, and some streak'd. That therefore which makes the Distinction, is theP lumpness or Sh riveling of the G ra in; the one looks as sm ooth , an d a s full a s the ea rlyripe Corn, and this they call Flint-Corn; the other has a larger grain, and looksshriveli'd, wit h a Dent on t he B a ck of th e Gr a in, as if it ha d never come to Perfection;a nd t his th ey ca ll She-Corn. This is esteem'd by t he P lan ters a s th e best for Increase,and is universal ly chosen by them for planting; yet I can't see but that this alsoproduces th e Flint-Corn, a ccidenta lly am ong the other.

All these Sorts a re plant ed a like, in Rows, Three, Four or Five Gr a ins in a Hill ; thelar ger sort a t F our or Five feet Dista nce, th e lesser Sort nea rer. The Ind ians used t ogive it On e or Tw o Weedings, a nd m a ke a H ill a bout it , a nd so the la bour w a s done.They l ikewise plant a Bean in the same Hil l with the Corn, upon whose Stalk i tsusta ins i tself.

The Ind ians sow'd Peas sometimes in the Intervals of the Rows of Corn, but moregenerally in a Patch of Ground by themselves. They have an unknown Variety ofthem (but all of a Kidney-Shape), some of which I have met With wild; but whencethey had their I nd ian Corn I can give no Account; for I don't believe that it wasspont a neous in those par ts.

Their Potatoes are either red or white, about as long as a Boy's Leg, and sometimesas long and as big as both the Leg and Thigh of a young Child, and very muchresembling i t in Shape. I take these Kinds to be ths same with those, which arerepresented in t he Herba ls to be Spanish P ota toes. I a m sure, those ca ll 'd English orI r i sh P ota toes ar e nothing like th ese, either in Sh a pe, Colour, or Ta ste. The Wa y of

proga gat ing P ota toes th ere, is by cutt ing the sma ll ones to P ieces, and plant ing theCuttings in Hills of loose Earth; but they are so tender, that it is very difficult topreserve them in the Winter, for the least Frost coming at them, rots and destroysthem, and therefore People bury 'em under Ground, near the Fire-Hearth all theWinter un til th e Time comes, th a t t heir Seedings a re to be set.

How the Ind ians order'd t heir Toba cco I a m not certa in, t hey n ow depending chieflyU ses of P lan ts by the I ndia ns of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 100






upon t he English for w ha t t hey smoa k; but I a m inform'd th ey used to let i t a l l run toSeed, only succouring the Leaves to keep the Sprouts from growing upon, andsta rving them; a nd w hen i t w a s r ipe, they puli'd off the Lea ves, cured them in t heSun, a nd la id them up for U se. But the P lanters make a heavy B ust le wi th i t now,

a nd can't please the Ma rket n either.67

CU LTIVATED CROP S, I NDIANS OF VIRG INIA; MEL ONS

P a ga towr a kind of graine so ca l led by the inhabita nts ; t he sam e in the West Indies iscalled Mayze; En glishmen call it G uinney-w hea te or Turkie whea te, a ccording t o th ena mes of th e count rey from w hence th e like ha th been brought. The gra ine is aboutth e bignesse of our ordinar y E nglish peaze a nd not mu ch different in forme a nd sha pe:but of divers colours: some wh ite, some red, some yellow a nd some blew . All of th emyeelde a very w hite a nd sw eete flow re being a ccording t o his kin'de, at ma keth a verygood brea d. Wee made of the sa me in th e count rey some ma ult, w hereof wa s brued a sgood ale a s w a s t o bee desired. S o likew ise by th e help of hops thereof ma y bee ma dea s good B eere. . . .

Okindgier, called by us beanes, because in greatnesse and partly in shape they arelike to the Bea nes of Englan d, saving tha t t hey are flatt er. . . .

Wickonzow r, called by us pea ze, in respect of th e bean es for dist inction sa ke, becau seth ey a re much lesse; a lthough in forme they litt le differ. . .

Ma cocqwer, a ccording to t heir severall formes, called by us, P ompions, Mellions, a nd

G ourdes, beca use they a re of the like formes a s th ose kindes in E ngla nd.68

I have also seen, once, a plant similar to the Melon of India, with fruit the size of a

sma ll lime.

69

He does not s t a te a t w ha t s ta ge of growt h he saw i t " the s ize of a smal llime." H e mentions pumpkins in t he sa me Relation .

They [the Illinois Indians as seen by him on his first visit] " live by game, which isabundant in this country, and on Indian corn [bled d'inde], of which they alwaysga th er a g ood crop, so th a t t hey ha ve never suffered by famine. They a lso sow beansa nd m elons, w hich ar e excellent , especia lly those wit h a red seed. Their squa shes a re

not of the best; they dry t hem in the sun to ea t in t he winter a nd spring.70

DE SC RIP TION OF DOMES TIC LIF E OF VIRG INIA INDIANS I N 1585;67 B everley, H istory of Virginia , B ook n, p. 26 et seq.68 H a rlot, A Br iefe an d True R eport , pp. 13-14.69 B ressa ni's R elat ion. 1652-1653, I n J esuit Rela tions, vol. 38, p. 243.70 Na rra tive of Fa ther Ma rquett e, In F rench, H istorica l Collections of Louisiana , pt.iv, p. 33.

U ses of P lan ts by the I ndia ns of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 101The S outhw est S chool of B ota nical Medicine ht t p://w w w .sw sbm .com





MENTION OF MEL ONS.

From De B ry:

"Some of their towns . . . are not inclosed with a palisade, and are much more

pleasant; Secotan, for example, here drawn from nature. The houses are morescat tered, an d a gr eat er degree of comfort, an d cultiva tion is observed, w ith ga rdensin w hich tobacco .. . is cultiva ted, w oods filled w ith deer, an d fields of corn. In th e fieldsthey erect a sta ge .. . in w hich a sentry is sta t ioned to guard a gainst the depreda tionsof birds a nd t hieves. Their corn t hey plan t in rows . . . , for it grows so large, w ith th icksta lk and broad leaves, tha t one plant would st int the other and i t would never arr iveat maturity. They have also a curious place . . . where they convene with theirneighbors a t t heir fea sts, . . . an d from w hich they go to the fea st. On t he opposite sideis th eir pla ce of pra yer . . . , a nd n ear to it t he sepulcher of their chiefs . . . They ha vega rdens for melons . . . a nd a place . . . wh ere they build their sa cred fires. At a little

distan ce from t he town is th e pond . . . from w hich t hey obta in wa ter."71

In the l ight o f what I had heard from the Indians and what I found inthe w rit ings of the f irst w hite men wh o ca me in conta ct w ith t he tr ibes, Iwrote to several persons, whose replies follow; these are self-explanatory.

. . . As to Shawnees raising watermelons before the advent of our white brethren, Idoubt it ; I ha ve never hea rd of th eir raising a ny m elons except those whose seed wa sfirst given them by th e ea r ly J esuit fa thers w hen they l ived on t he Wa pakoneta inOhio. However , they did ra ise a sma ll pumpkin, w hich t hey cal led by a na me mean ing" l it t le pumpkin," from w hich I deduce tha t they probably ra ised a larger va r iety , butof wh ich t hey seem to ha ve lost th e seed.

DE CE MBE R 4, 1914. P IE RRE P ONT ALFORD,Econtu chka, Okla .

I regret that I can not give you anything worth while about watermelons in NorthAmerica . I ha ve met t he plant throughout t he ea stern U nited Sta tes, pa r ticula r ly inthe Southern St a tes, but only a s an escape.J ANU ARY 12, 1914. J . K. SMALL,

New Yor k B otani c Garden,

Br onx Park, New York Ci ty.

We ha ve the sma ll round m elon w ith t he sma ll bla ck seed. We sell it und er the na me

of the P icka ninny. . . . I don't know a nyt hing a bout t he origin of this va riety; we got itfrom a w oma n in Ka nsas.J ANU ARY 13, 1914. HE NRY FIE LD SE ED Co.,

By HEN RY FIELD , President .

71 De B ry, q uoted by Thoma s, Mound E xplorat ions, p. 622.U ses of P lan ts by the I ndia ns of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 102






We have your favor of the 8th instant, and in reply mall you a copy of Burpee'sAnnual for 1914, and for small fruited variety of watermelon refer you to the BabyDelight, described on page 21. We also have offered for several seasons seed ofB urpee's H unga rian Honey wa termelon, w hich is ear ly , small in size, a nd ha s deep-red flesh of finest qua lity. . . . The seed of B a by D elight , you will note, is not bla ck, butof a light brown . . . .

J ANU ARY 14, 1914. W. ATLE E B U RP E E & Co.,Phil adelphi a, Pa.

Your letter received. I did not answer at once because I wished to confer with Prof.Thoburn, who has been absent from the university investigating some moundssupposed t o be of hist orical int erest.

He a grees with me tha t t he wa termelons to which you refer in your lett er are w ha tare popular ly known as the " volunteer melon." I have a ranch in an Indianneighborhood and the so-called "pie melon" or citron is almost a pest. The "volunteermelons" are not unusual and they often hybridize . with the "pie melon." This may

account for the fact that the "volunteer melon" differs from the ordinary melon ofcommerce. While I ha ve no proof to susta in my st a tement , I do not believe tha t t hemelon is indigenous to Okla homa .

Sh ould there develop an y furt her informa tion in regard t o th e subject I sha ll be gla d tocommunicate with you further. I shall be much interested in the results of yourinvestiga tion a nd hope to keep in touch w ith t he w ork w hich you a re doing in t his line.J ANU ARY 23, 1914. A. H . VAN VLE E T,

Professor of B iology and D ean of the Graduat e

School, the Uni ver sit y of Okl ahoma .

MICRAMPELIS LOBATA [Echinocystis lobata] (Michx.) Greene.Wild Cu cumber.

Wa na nahecha (D a kota ).

Wata n gtha (Omaha-Ponca), from wata n , squash or melon, and i n gtha ,ghost; ghost melon.

An Ogla la sa id the seeds w ere used for bea ds.

C AMPANULACEAE

LOBELIA CARDINALIS L. Red Lobelia, Ca rdina l Flow er, Red Bet ty .

This species is peculiar in its sit ua tion in Nebra ska , in th a t it is found insome isolated areas, al l within the ancient domain of the Pawnee






Na tion. These a reas a re far dista nt from a ny other region in w hich t hespecies is found. It is listed among "Species peculiar to the RepublicanDistrict.”72 Aga in "L obel i a, card in al i s an d L . in f la ta , which are knownfor one or t w o sta tions in III [Sa nd H ill region] a long t he sout hern edgeof the St a te." 73

In another part of the present work the suggestion is made that thepresence of this species in the Pawnee country may be due tointr oduction by P a w nee medicine-men. This expla na tion is suggested inview of th e value placed on th e myst ic, pow ers a tt ributed t o th e speciesby that people. One use of this plant was in the composition of a lovecharm. The roots and flowers were the parts used. Other plantscombined w ith Lobel ia , in compounding th is cha rm w ere roots of Panaxquinquefol ium an d Angelica 74 a nd the seed of Cogswel l i a dau ci fol i a .

C OMPOSITAE

HELIANTHUS ANNUUS L. Sun flow er.

Wa cha-zizi (Dakota), "yellow flower" (wa cha , flower; zizi ,reduplica t ion of zi , yellow ).

Zha-zi (Oma ha -P onca), " yellow w eed" (zha , weed; zi , yellow ).

Kir ik- tara-kata (Pawnee), "yellow-eyes" (k i r i k , eye; ta ra , having; kata ,

yellow).

I can not f ind that the sunflower was ever cultivated by any of theNebraska tr ibes, al though i ts culture among eastern tr ibes is reportedby explorers, a nd i t w a s a nd st i ll is cultivat ed by the Arikara , Man da n,and Hidatsa in North Dakota . P . de Char levoix , in a le t ter wr i t ten inApril, 1721, mentions sunflowers as one of the crops of the tribes ofea s tern Ca nada .

The soleil is anoth er very common plant in the fields of the Ind ian s, an d wh ich rises toth e height of seven or eight feet. It s flow er, which is very thick, has m uch the sa me

figure with tha t of the ma rigold, and t he seed is disposed in t he sam e ma nner ; theIndia ns extra ct an oil from it by boiling, wit h w hich th ey an oint t heir hair.75

72 Clements a nd P ound, P hyt ogeogra phy of Nebraska , p. 81.73 Ib id, p. 297.74 See discussion of P a na x.75 Ch a rlevoix, J ourna l of a Voya ge to North America, vol. i, p. 250.






Champlain observed the sunflower cultivated by Indians in Canada in1615.76

All the count ry w here I w ent [vicinity of La ke Simcoe, Onta rio] cont a ins some tw enty

to thirty leagues, is very fine, and situated in latitude 44° 30'. It is very extensivelyclear ed up. They plant in it a gr eat qua nt ity of Ind ian corn, which grow s there finely.They plan t likewise squa shes, a nd sun flow ers, from t he seed of wh ich t hey ma ke oil,with which they anoint the head. . . . There are many very good vines and plums,.wh ich a re excellent , ra spberries, stra w berries, litt le wild apples, nut s, an d a kind offruit of the form and color of small lemons, with a similar taste, but having- aninterior which is very good and almost like that of figs. The plant which bears thisfruit is two a nd a ha lf feet h igh, with but three or four leaves at most, w hich a re of theshape of those of the fig tree, and each plant bears but two pieces of fruit.

[Podophyl l um pelt atum , Ma y a pple?]

Among the Teton D a kota a remedy for pulmona ry t roubles w a s ma de byboiling sunflower heads from which the involucral bracts were firstremoved. The Teton had a saying that when the sunflowers were talland in full bloom the buffaloes were fat and the meat good. A Pawneesa id tha t the seeds pounded up wit h certa in roots , t he identi t y of whichis not yet ascertained, were taken in the dry form, without furtherpreparation, by women who became pregnant while still suckling achild. This was done in order that the suckling child should not becomesick. The sunflow er is ment ioned in t he Onondag a crea tion myt h.77

HELIANTHUS TUBEROSUS L. J erusa lem Art ichoke. (P l. 30, b.)

Pa n ge (Oma ha -P onca).

P a nhi (" Winn eba go).

Kisu-sit (P a w nee) ; kisu , tapering; si t , long .

The people of all the Nebraska tribes say they never cultivated thisplant, though they used i ts tubers for food. The Pawnee say they atethem only raw, but the others, according to their own statement, ateth em either ra w or boiled or roa sted.

Champlain reports seeing Helianthus tuberosus under cultivation by

76 Ch a mpla in's Voya ges, vol. in, p. 119.77 H ewit t, Iroquolan Cosmology, p. 174.






India ns nea r C a pe Cod in 1605 and a ga in a t G loucester in 1606.78

RATIBIDA COLUMNARIS [Rat i b ida columni fer a] (S ims) D. D on.

Wa cha-si chi kal a (Dakota), little wa cha-zi (ch ika la , lit t le).

An Ogla la sa id the leaves a nd cylindrica l heads of th is pla nt, w ere usedto ma ke a bevera ge like tea .

ECHINACEA ANGUSTIFOLIA DC. Narrow-leaved Purple ConeFlow er, Comb P lant . (P l. 30, a .)

I cha pe-hu (Da kota ), "w hip pla nt " (icha pe , whip).

Mika-h i (Omaha-Ponca), "comb plant" (mika , comb); also called

i k i gaha i , to comb; also called i n shtoga te-hi referring to its use for aneye-w a sh (i n shta , eye).

Ksapi takako (Pawnee), from iksa , hand; pi tahako , to whirl. The namerefers to i ts use by children in pla y w hen they t a ke tw o sta lks of i t a ndwhirl one round the other, the two stalks touching by the two heads.Also ca lled Sapar idu kahts , mush room m edicine, so called from t he formof th e head, compa red t o a mushr oom (sapar idu ).

This plant w a s universa lly used as a n a ntidote for sna ke bite and other

venomous bites a nd st ings a nd poisonous condit ions, Echinacea seems tohave been used as a remedy for more ai lments than any other plant. I twas employed in the smoke treatment for headache in persons anddistemper in horses. It w a s used also as a remedy for t ooth a che, a piecebeing kept on the painful tooth until there was relief, and for enlargedgla nds , as in mumps. I t w a s said tha t jugglers bat hed their hands a nda rms in t he juice of th is pla nt so th a t t hey could ta ke out a piece of mea tfrom a boil ing kettle with the bare hand without suffering pain, to thewonderment of onlookers. A Winnebago said he had often used theplant to make his mouth insensible to heat, so that for show he could

ta ke a live coa l int o his mouth. B urns w ere ba th ed wit h t he juice to giverelief from t he pa in, a nd t he plant w a s used in the stea m ba th to renderthe grea t heat endurable.

78 Ch a mpla in's Voya ges, pp. 82, 112.U ses of P lan ts by the I ndia ns of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 106






SILPHIUM PERFOLIATUM L. C up-plan t, S qu a re-st em, Angle-st em.

Zha tanga (Omaha-Ponca), big-weed, because of its size; ashude-ki the beca use of th e use of root stocks in th e smoke trea tm ent; a nd zha-baho- h i , weed with angled stem (zha , weed; baho , having corners; h i , plant

body).

Rake-ni-ozhu (Winnebago), weed that holds water (rake , weed; n i ,wa ter ; oshu , in, full or containing). Another name is rake-paraparatsh ,squa re-w eed (paraparatsh , squa re).

The root stock of this plant was very commonly used in the smoketrea tm ent for cold in th e hea d, neura lgia , and rh eumat ism. I t w a s useda lso in t he va por ba th . A Winneba go medicine-ma n sa id a decoction w a smade from the root stock which was used as an emetic in preparatory

cleansing and lustration before going on the buffalo hunt or on anyother important undertaking. I t was thus used also for cleansing fromceremonial defilement incident to accidental proximity to a womanduring her menst rua l period.

SILPHIUM LACINIATUM L. P ilot Weed, Compass P la nt , G um Weed,Rosin Weed.

Cha n sh i n sh i n l a (D a kota ), Teton dia lect , cha n sh i l sh i l ya .

Zha-pa (Omaha-Ponca), bitter weed (zha , w eed; pa , bitter), and maka n - tanga , big m edicine, or root.

Shoka n wa-hu (Winneba go), gum pla nt (shoko n wa , gum ).

Kahts-tawas (Pawnee), rough medicine (kahtsu , medicine; tawas ,rough) ; also called nak isok i i t or nak isu-k i i t su (nakisu , pine; k i i t su ,water) .

The children gathered chewing gum from the upper parts of the stem,

w here the gum exudes, forming la rge lumps. The Oma ha a nd P onca sa ythat where this plant abounds l ightning is very prevalent, so they wil lnever make camp in such a place. The dried root was burned duringelectr ical s torms th a t i ts smoke might a ct a s a cha rm t o a vert l ightningstroke. According to a Pawnee a decoction made from the pounded rootw a s ta ken for general debility. This prepara tion wa s given t o horses a s a






tonic by the Omaha and Ponca, and a Santee Dakota said his peopleused it a s a vermifuge for horses.

AMBROSIA ELATIOR L . [Ambrosia artemisi i fol ia var . elatior ]Ragweed.

White Horse, a n Oma ha medicine-ma n, said tha t t his plant w a s an Otoremedy for na usea. In t he trea tm ent t he surface of the a bdomen of thepat ient w a s f irst scarif ied a nd a dressing of the bruised lea ves w a s laidthereon.

BOEBERA PAPPOSA (Vent.) Rydb. [Dyssodia papposa] FetidMa rigold, P ra irie-dog Food.

Pizpiza-ta-wote (Dakota), prairie-dog food (pispiza , prairie dog; wote ,

food; to, genitive sign).

Pezhe piazhi (Omaha-Ponca), vile weed, referring to its odor (pezhe ,herb; piazhi , ba d, mea n, vile).

Askutstat (P a w nee).

The Teton Dakota say that this plant is always found in prair ie-dogtowns, and that these animals eat i t . A decoction of Boebera togetherwi th Gutierrezia is used a s a medicine for cough s in horses.

According to the Omaha it will cause nosebleed and they use it for thatpurpose to relieve headache. The leaves and tops, pulverized, weresnuffed up t he nostrils.

GUTIERREZIA SAROTHRAE (P ursh ) B rit t on & Rusby . B room-w eed.

A decoction of the herb was given to horses as a remedy for too lax acondition of the bowels. They were induced to drink the bitterprepa ra tion by prevent ing them a ccess to an y oth er drink.

GRINDELIA SQUARROSA (P ursh) Duna l . Sticky H ead.

Pte-ichi-yu a (Dakota), curly buffalo (pte , buffalo; ichi , together; yu a ,curly, fr izzly).






w ith shelled corn w ere fed to horses to ma ke them sw ift a nd put t hem ingood condition.

ACHILLEA MILLEFOLIUM L. Ya rrow , Milfoil.

H a n k-sintshi (Winnebago), woodchuck tail (ha n k , woodchuck; sintsh ,ta il). Na med from t he a ppear a nce of the leaf.

An infusion of this herb w a s used by t he Winnebag o t o ba th e swellings.For ea ra che a w a d of the lea ves, also the infusion, w a s put into the ear .

ARTEMISIA DRACUNCULOIDES P ursh. Fuzzy-w eed.

Thasata-hi (Oma ha -P onca).

Rake-hi n shek (Winnebago), bushy weed, or fuzzy weed (rake , weed;h i n shek , bushy , fuzzy).

K ihap i l iwus (P a w nee), broom (k i ha ru , broom; p i l i wus , t o sweep).

Among t he Winnebag o the chew ed root w a s put on t he cloth es a s a lovecharm and hunting charm. The effect was supposed to be secured bygett ing to w indw a rd of the object of desire, allow ing the w ind to wa ft t heodor of the herb thither. The Omaha ascribed the same powers to thisspecies a nd used i t in t he sa me w a ys a s t hey did th e gray species of this

genus next mentioned. It was used also in the smoke treatment. AWinnebago medicine-man said a handful of the tops of this speciesdipped into warm water served as a sprinkler for the body to relievefevers. According to a Pawnee informant a decoction made of the topsw a s used for ba thing a s a remedy for rheuma tism. B rooms for sw eepingthe lodge floor were made by binding together firmly a bundle of thetops. From t his use comes its P a w nee na me. The pla nt w a s liked for t hispurpose beca use of its a greea ble, wh olesome odor.

ARTEMISIA FRIGIDA Willd. Litt le Wild S a ge.

Wia-ta-pezhihuta (Dakota), woman's medicine (w i a , woman; ta ,genitive sign; pezhihuta , medicine). The name refers to its use asexpla ined fart her on.

Peshe- ota zhi nga (Omaha-Ponca), little gray herb (pezhi , herb; ota ,






gr ay ; zhinga , lit t le).

Ki wo k i (P a w nee).

A decoction of this species was used for bathing and was also taken

internally by women when menstruation was irregular ; hence theDa kota name.

ARTEMISIA GNAPHALODES Nut t . [Artemisia ludoviciana ssp.ludovic iana] Wild S a ge. Est a fia te

Pezhi i ota bl aska (Da kota ), f la t pezhihota .

Pezhe- ota (Oma ha -P onca), gra y herb.

H a n w i n ska (Winneba go), w hit e herb (ha n w i n , herb; ska , w hite).

K iwau t (P a w nee).

All that is said of this species applies in general to all species ofArtemisia .

A bunch of Artemisia was sometimes used for a towel in old times. Adecoction of the plant was taken for stomach troubles and many otherkinds of ailments. It was used also for bathing. A person who had

unwittingly broken some taboo or had, touched any sacred object mustba the wi th Artemisia . The immaterial essence or to use the Dakota

word, the to n , of Artemisia was believed to be effectual as a protectiona ga inst ma leficent pow ers; therefore it w a s a lwa ys proper t o begin a nyceremonial by using Artemisia in order to drive away any evilinfluences. As an example of the use among the Omaha of Artemisia t oavert calamity i t is related that two horses ran wild in the camp,knocking down the Sacred Tent. Two old men, having caught thehorses, rubbed them all over with wild sage, and said to the young sonof their owner, "If you let them do that again, the buffaloes shall gore

them."79

In the ceremonies of the installation of a chief among the Omaha wildsage was used as a bed for the sacred pipes.80 One of t he persona l

79 Dorsey, Om a ha S ociology, p. 235.80 Ib id., p. 359.






na mes of men in t he Te-sinde gens of the Oma ha tr ibe is Pezhe-hota .81

I t has already been mentioned that the various species of Artemisia were used in old times as incense for the purpose of exorcising evilpowers. I t has also been stated that cedar twigs or sweet grass, ei ther

one, were used as incense to attract good powers. Some ChristianIndians also still employ all these species as incense for these specificpurposes, in church services, especia lly a t C hrist ma s, Ea ster, P entecost,a nd on occa sion of funera ls. The w riter ha s seen t he use of Artemisia a san incense before a church door just before the body was carried intothe church. A small fire was made before the steps of the church,Artemisia t ops being used t o ra ise a cloud of smoke.

ARCTIUM MINUS Schk. B urdock.

This plant is a European introduction, probably not earlier than thetime of the first overland traffic by horses, mules, and oxen. It is evennow found commonly only along or near the old military roads. It hasbeen adopted by the Indians for medicinal use. White Horse, of theOmaha, gave information, which he had obtained from the Oto, of adecoction of the root b eing used a s a remedy for pleurisy.

LYGODESMIA J UNCEA (P ursh ) D . D on. S kelet on Weed.

The Oma ha a nd P onca ma de an infusion of the stems of Lygodesmia for

sore eyes. Mothers having a scanty supply of milk also drank thisinfusion in order t o increase t he flow .

In the north where Si lph ium lacin i a tum is not found Lygodesmia w a sused for producing chew ing gum. The stems w ere gat hered a nd cut int opieces to cause the juice to exude. When this hardened it was collecteda nd used for chew ing.

ANCI E NT AND MOD E RN P HYTOCU LTU RE B Y THE TRIB E S

In former t imes t he pla nts cultivat ed by t he tr ibes inha biting the regionwhich has become the State of Nebraska comprised maize, beans,squashes, pumpkins, gourds, watermelons, and tobacco. I have notfound evidence of more than one variety each of tobacco andw a termelons. B y disturba nce of their industries and inst itut ions incident

81 Ib id., p. 244.U ses of P lan ts by the I ndia ns of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - P a ge 112






to the European incursion they have lost the seed of the larger numberof the crop plants they formerly grew. By search among several tribes Iha ve been a ble to collect seed of ma ny m ore va rieties tha n a ny one tribecould furnish at the present time of the crops once grown by all thesetribes. Of maize (Zea mays ) they cultivated all the general types, dent

corn, flint corn, flour corn, sweet corn, and pop corn, each of these inseveral varieties. Of beans (Phaseolu s vul gari s ) they had 15 or morevar ieties, a nd a t lea st 8 va rieties of pumpkins a nd sq ua shes (Pepo sp.).

After diligent inquiry , the only cultivat ed crop plant s of w hich I a m a bleto get evidence are corn, beans, squashes and pumpkins, tobacco, andsunflow ers. These ar e all of na tive origin in t he South w est, ha ving comefrom Mexico by way of Texas. But a large number of plants growingwild, either indigenous or introduced by human agency, designedly orundesignedly, were utilized for many purposes. No evidence appears

that any attempt was ever made looking to the domestication of any ofthese plants. The reason for this is that the necessary incentive waslacking, in that the natural product of each useful native plant wasalways available. In their semiannual hunting tr ips to the outlyingparts of their domains, the Indians could gather the products belongingto each phytogeographic province. The crop plants which theycultivated, however, were exotics, and hence supplemented theirnatural resources, thereby forcing a distinct adjunct to the supply ofprovision for their needs.

But since the advent of Europeans the incentive is present todomesticate certain native plants which were found useful. Thisincentive arises from the fact that the influx of population has greatlyreduced or a lmost extermina ted cert a in species, an d, even if the na tu ra lsupply sh ould suffice, the present r estriction in ra nge a nd movement s ofthe Indians would prevent them from obtaining adequate quanti t ies .This restriction results from the changed conditions of life andoccupation, which necessitate their remaining at home attending to thestaple agricultural crops or working at whatever other regularemployment th ey ha ve chosen. As a consequence, I ha ve found in every

tr ibe the incipient sta ge of domesticat ion of certa in w ild fruits, r oots, a ndother plant products for food or medicinal use, for smoking, or perfume.I have thus been privileged to see the beginnings of culture of certainpla nts w hich in future t ime may yield sta ple crops. In t his wa y a l ivelyconception can be formed of the factors which in prehistoric timebrought a bout th e domesticat ion in E urope a nd Asia of our present w ell-






known cultivated plants.

CONCLUSION

From this partial survey of the botanical lore of the tribes of the region

under consideration we may fairly infer, from the general popularknowledge of the indigenous plants, that the tribes found here at theEuropean advent had been sett led here already for many generationsand that they had given close attention to the floral life of the region.From the number of species from the mountain region, on one hand,and the woodland region, on the other, and also from the distantsouthwestern desert region, which they imported for various uses, weknow they m ust ha ve tra veled extensively.

The several cultivated crops grown by the tribes of Nebraska are all of

southwestern origin, probably all indigenous to Mexico. From this factwe can see that there was widely extended borrowing of culture fromtr ibe to tribe.

The present study suggests the human agency as the efficient factor inthe migration of some species of wild plants, or plants growing withoutcultivation. If this be the true explanation it affords the key to theheret ofore puzzling isola t ion of a rea s occupied by cert a in species.

From the f loral nomenclature of each tr ibe we f ind that they had at

least the meager beginning of taxonomy. The names applied to plantsshow in many instances a faint sense of relationship of species tospecies.

My informants generally showed keen powers of perception of thestructure, habits , and local distr ibution of plants throughout a widerange of observation, thus manifesting the incipiency of phyto-geography, plant ecology, and morphology. The large number of speciesused and their many uses show considerable development of practicalpla nt economy , or economic bota ny .

All these considerations of the relations between the aboriginal humanpopulat ion a nd t he flora of the region a re instru ct ive to us a s indica tiveof w ha t must ha ve been the ear ly sta ges in t he development of our ownpresent highly differentiated botanical science. In this study of ethnicbotany we have opportunity to observe the beginnings of a system of






natural science which never came to maturity, being cut off in itsinfancy by the superposition of a more advanced stage of culture by analien race upon the people who had attained the degree of culture weha ve here seen.






U ses of P lan ts by the In dian s of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - chart s - P a ge 2The S outhw est S chool of B ota nical Medicine htt ://ww w.sw sbm.com





U ses of P lant s by t he India ns of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - chart s - P a ge 10The S outhw est S chool of B ota nical Medicine htt ://ww w.sw sbm.com





U ses of P lant s by t he India ns of the Missouri River Region - G ilmore - chart s - P a ge 11The S outhw est S chool of B ota nical Medicine htt ://ww w.sw sbm.com



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