390 PLANTS USED BY INDIANS OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CAL. 
remain on the shrub throughout the greater part of the winter. The 
shrub is especially prized for its wood, which, while very light on 
account of the large quantity of pith which it contains, is yet very 
strong and durable. The slenderest twigs are bound together and 
used by the Yokias as a broom for sweeping; the medium-sized 
branches make first-rate arrows, and less than a century ago they 
were, according to Dr, Hudson, of Ukiah, used for pipestems. This 
was at a time when the use of stone pipe bowls was more universal 
than at present. The Pomo name of the plant is sd-/é' Az, the first 
two syllables of which constitute the particular name for the wild 
tobacco (Wieotiana bigelovi/) of the region. //7 may be translated 
roughly as ‘*the wood for.” The English equivalent for the word 
may be taken simply as ‘*tobacco wood.”’ The branches which are a 
trifle larger are, on account of the appropriate diameter of the pith 
and the firmness of the wood, especially valued for making the revoly- 
ing shafts of the drill commonly used by the Indians of this region for 
making their shell money. The Yuki name for the plant is @-lén- 
go'-bl, the signiticance of which could not be determined. 
CUCURBITACEAE. Cucumber Family. 
Micrampelis marah (S. Wats.) Greene. 
Zhil-zhoi'-é (Yuki).-A long, trailing, or high-climbing vine, com- 
monly called ** big root,” which is rather common along streams and 
on open northward slopes throughout the county. It is sometimes 
known among botanists as Megarrhiza marah S. Wats. As the com- 
mon name indicates, the characteristic feature of the plant is its root, 
which is spherical and fleshy, often a foot or more in diameter. On 
account of its resemblance in size and shape to a man’s head, it is not 
infrequently called ‘*man root.” The leaves are palmately lobed and 
are from 3 to 6 inches wide by a little over one-half as long. The long 
racemes of white bell-shaped flowers are for the most part sterile, but 
a few develop into fleshy, oblong-oval, and weak-spiny fruits 3 inches or 
more in length, and these contain several orbicular, nut-like seeds an 
inch or so in length by about a half-inch in thickness. In form they 
resemble the seed from which strychnine is derived. They are nearly 
as bitter, but in addition they are exceedingly acrid. The root is also 
very bitter and acrid. Both are poisonous when taken internally, and 
are, according to one informant, used by some Indians for the pur- 
pose of suicide. It is worth noting in this connection that Wilkes in 
his United States Exploring Expedition states! that a decoction of the 
root or seeds of a species (indeterminable) of the same genus called 
wild cucumber is used by Indian medicine men to poison aged people 
when they become sick and decrepit. The root was formerly used 
Vol. 4, p. 362. 1845. 
