3802 PLANTS USED BY INDIANS OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CAL. 
Achyrachaena mollis Scheuer. 
CWo'-me (Yuki).—A small annual + to 14 inches high, which is 
densely covered throughout with fine soft hair and has large cylin- 
drical clusters of inconspicuous flowers which eradually develop by 
the expansion of the feathery pappus into very conspicuous and 
pretty globular seed clusters. The plant grows in great profusion in 
low ground throughout the county. The seed is only a quarter of an 
inch or so in length, is very hard and sharp, like an awl, and is more- 
over very abundantly supplied with a chaffy pappus, yet in May and 
June it is gathered in large quantities even at the present time for 
pinole, The pappus is either rubbed off between the palms of the 
hands or knocked off by tossing the seeds about with rocks and after- 
wards winnowing in a shallow basket, or by combining this process 
with that of roasting by tossing the seeds about with elowing coals. 
It is then generally mixed with buttereup seeds, which ripen at about 
the same time, and the whole is ground into a fine meal for pinole. 
The Yokia name for the plant is ye-A0’, and the Pomo, ché-bdi'. 
Anthemis cotula I. 
Po'-muk (Yuki). ~The common dog fennel or mayweed, an ill-smell- 
ing annual, about a foot in height, with finely dissected leaves and 
numerous white flowers, The Numlaki Indians call the plant yé-ma- 
dos'-il-sla, which means ** trail weed.” It was evidently introduced 
into Round Valley at an early date, for it is now a troublesome gar- 
den weed. The Yuki name given above has reference to the acrid 
effect of the herbage upon the eye, for the juice is exceedingly irri- 
tating to the skin. After playing with the dog fennel, children very 
frequently suffer from the poison for several hours. On this account 
the plant is known to some of the Indians hy the name of tireweed 
or fire grass. 
Notwithstanding this acrid quality, the juice is occasionally used as 
an eye wash, but it is too harsh to be recommended for such a pur- 
pose. The fresh plants are sometimes placed in bath water, which is 
then used as a wash both for severe colds and for rheumatism. White 
residents make an ointment by frying the older blossoms with lard, 
and this is used for sore throat and to some extent for rheumatism. 
Artemisia heterophylla Nutt. 
Komp'-li'-1i (Pomo).—A slender aromatic plant, generally known 
as wormwood. It grows 3 to 5 feet high, and has soft lance-shaped 
leaves, which are woolly beneath and of irregular outline, and it bears 
loose terminal panicles of inconspicuous flowers. The taste of the 
leaf is exceedingly bitter, but the odor is most agreeably aromatic. 
It is very common in rich land throughout the entire district, being 
especially common in valleys. No native plant is more highly 
esteemed for its medicinal value. A decoction of the leaves is con- 
