364. PLANTS USED BY INDIANS OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CAL. 
say, attach themselves to the eyes and gills and make them frantic. 
If these should become thus attached, they would undoubtedly cause 
great distress, but the chemical qualities of the plant may easily 
account for the effect. Not only is the odor very strong, but the 
taste is exceedingly acrid, as it is in most of the members of the spurge 
family to which it belongs. A cursory examination of the eyes and 
gills of fish caught by means of the plant would probably settle the 
question, for the stellate hairs are exceedingly characteristic of the 
plant. 
The Concow are particularly acquainted with the plant, and use it 
for medicinal purposes as well as for catching fish. The fresh leaves 
are bruised and applied to the chest as a counterirritant poultice for 
internal pain; a decoction of the plant, or some of the fresh leaves, is 
put into warm water which is used as a bath in typhoid and other 
fevers, and a weak decoction is taken internally as a cure for chills and 
fever. White people sometimes use it for the latter purpose, but so 
far as known it has not yet been widely used in sucha way. The Yuki 
name is hé-chil! wi-0-in dk" 
ANACARDIACEAE. Sumac Family. 
Rhus diversiloba Torr. & Gray. 
Ma-ti'-ya"'-ho (Pomo), ~The shrub commonly known as poison oak, 
which is common in yalleys and on hillsides everywhere throughout 
the county. It is much less vine-like than the eastern poison ivy, 
but is equally as poisonous to the touch. The older full-blooded 
Indians are not readily poisoned by it, and in fact several of them use 
it for various household purposes, and have even been seen to eat a 
dozen leaves or more without distress, but the half-breeds are often 
badly affected by handling it. According to Dr. Hudson, m-fi’ means 
doctor. )@ is the Pomo name for south, and 46 means tire. The bush 
is therefore the southern fire doctor, Its principal medicinal use is 
to burn out and remove warts from the hands. The practice is car- 
ried out by cutting the wart off to the quick and then applying the 
juice. T was told that after a few applications the root is totaily 
removed inside of one or two days. It is used in a similar manner to 
remove ringworms. One Indian,» Wailaki, informed me that if the 
fresh leaves were quickly bound to the wound made by a rattlesnake 
the effect of the venom would be counteracted. The fresh leaves were 
formerly used by the older squaws not only to wrap’ up acorn meal 
for the baking process, but, as the late Dr. Charles Mohr informed the 
writer, from personal observation among the Concows near Marysville, 
to mix with it. The object was not ascertained. The slender stems 
are still occasionally used for circular withes in basket making. The 
fresh juice turns black rapidly on exposure to the air, and is some- 
