3896 PLANTS USED BY INDIANS OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CAL. 
plant. Hedged in from the sea by enemies, this tribe, together with 
the Wailakis, formerly used the ashes of various plants, but more 
especially of this one, for the salt which they contain, and being 
essentially a herbivorous people, salt was as prime a necessity for 
them as it is for cows and other herbivorous animals. I was told that 
frequent battles were fought for the possession of a certain salt supply 
on Stony Creek in Colusa County. To obtain the ash the stem and 
leaves were first rolled up into balls while still green, and after being 
carefully dried they were placed on top of a very small tire on a rock 
and burned, It was a very acceptable ingredient for their pinole, but 
no kind of salt is or ever was used in their acorn bread or soup. The 
Indians about Ukiah have never used this plant for such a purpose 
because the sea has always been more accessible to them, but its use 
for salt is also known to some of the Little Lake people, who call it 
be-dit'-shii-tel’., The young stems and leaves are used for food by the 
Concow, who call the plant ¢é-td-te’ or mél-é-me’. The root, which 
they call pe’-we, is valued medicinally in the first stages of consumption 
and for grippe; when dry, and coarsely grated like nutmeg, it is applied 
to boils and running sores to dry them up. The Wailaki name for the 
plant is ¢e/-dink’-o. 
Wyethia longicaulis Gray. 
Bish'-nén (Yuki).—The most common short-stemmed sunflower of 
the mountainous part of the county, a perennial plant 2 feet in height, 
with a profuse tuft of broad lanceolate leaves 12 to 18 inches long, and 
a half dozen or more sparingly leafy flower stalks which bear one or 
several heads of flowers 2 to 4 inches in diameter. All parts of the 
plant, especially the root, are pervaded with a balsamic oil, which is 
warmly aromatic in flavor and taste. The plant often completely covers 
whole acres of valley land in Round Valley, and is common every- 
where in grassy openings in forests. The lower part of the fresh 
young leaves and the stem, taken before flowering time, is eaten for 
food in the field and occasionally at home, and the seed is very much 
used, along with parched wheat, for pinole. 
The large resinous woody root is most highly esteemed as medicine, 
being used chiefly in the form of a decoction as an emetic. In some 
stomach complaints it is taken repeatedly, with copious amounts of 
hot water, until finally a thick yellowish fluid is vomited. The patient 
then goes to bed to recuperate. Asa cure for rheumatism the roots 
are baked in hot ashes and applied in the form of a poultice; and 
when dried, powdered, and again moistened they are used as a poul- 
tice for running sores and burns. The decoction is also used as a wash 
to relieve headache and to allay inflammation in sore eyes. 
The Wailaki name for the plant is cAéd-/d’, the Little Lake cA/-lém’ 
and the Yokia de-wish’-d-liam”. 
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