378 PLANTS USED BY INDIANS OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CAL. 
handsome plant, and in this region, where it is daily bathed with foe, 
it yields large quantities of sweet black berries about the size of a pea. 
In July and August the Calpella and some of the other Indians travel 
20 to 30 miles to gather large quantities of berries, which they consume 
immediately or make into pies. 
PRIMULACEAE. Primrose Family. . 
Dodecatheon hendersoni (ray. 
[lun"-mol'-ish (Yuki).—The common shooting star or mosquito bill. 
Its flat, succulent radical leaves, and its umbellate clusters of curiously 
shaped rose-purple flowers make the plant very conspicuous in early 
spring. The roots and leaves used to be roasted in the ashes and eaten 
by the Yukis. The flowers are used by women to ornament themselves 
at dances. The Yokian name of the plant is Ad-dtéch'-hdeh"'-do. 
OLEACEAE. Olive Family. 
Fraxinus oregana Nutt. 
Pk (Yuki). —The Oregon ash is rather common in the low, moist soil 
of Round Valley, and is valued by the Yukis chiefly for fuel and for 
making tobacco pipes. It will burn while still green. Straight pipes 
are made out of a section of limb about a foot long and a couple of 
inches thick by whittling it down to a small diameter except at the end, 
which is left intact. The bowl is dug out with a knife or burned out 
with a red-hot iron, and a red-hot wire is forced through the pith, 
which, being quite scanty, adapts the wood specially to this purpose. 
Ash pipes were observed both in the valley and around Ukiah. As 
the bowl is not at right angles with the stem, but in the same line, it 
is suitable for use only when the smoker is lying down, the position in 
which it is actually used. The ash leaf is a favorite food of a little 
black army worm which has white spots on its back. The worm is 
consumed in large quantities as food by several of the tribes in Round 
Valley. The fresh roots of the ash when mashed used to be partic- 
ularly valued by the Yokias for the cure of wounds received in bear 
fights. The wood is valuable for canes and for making handles and 
small tools. The Yokian name is gé-ldém’, 
APOCYNACEAE. Dogbane Family. 
Apocynum cannabinum IL. 
Mé (Yuki).—This is the common Indian hemp (fig. 75), so called from 
its use for fiber by the Indians, a light green, milky-juiced plant 
2 to 4 feet high, with small elliptical leaves and rather inconspicuous 
green flowers. It grows quite commonly along ditches and in wet 
