144 NATURE STUDY. 



Cherokee Plant Lore. 



Writing of plant lore among the Cherokee Indians for 

 the nineteenth annual report of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnolog}', Mr. James Mooney gives an account of Indian 

 botanical fancies that, stripped of the technical terms in 

 which it abounds, may be of interest to the 3'outhful read- 

 ers of Nature Study. 



The Cherokee have alwaj'S been an agricultural people, 

 and their old country is a region of luxuriant flora, with 

 tall trees and tangled undergrowth on the slopes and 

 ridges, and myriad bright-tinted blossoms and sweet wild 

 fruits along the running streams. The vegetable kingdom 

 consequenth^ holds a far more important place in the myth- 

 ology and ceremonial of the tribe than it does among the 

 Indians of the treeless plains and arid sage deserts of the 

 West, most of the beliefs and customs in this connection 

 centering around the practice of medicine, as expounded 

 by the priests and doctors in every settlement. In gener- 

 al it is held that the plant world is friendly to the human 

 species, and constantly at the willing service of the doc- 

 tors to counteract the jealous hostilit}^ of the animals. 

 The sacred formulas contain many curious instructions for 

 the gathering and preparation of the medicinal roots and 

 barks, which are selected chiefly in accordance with the 

 theor}" of correspondences. 



The Indians are close observers, and some of their plant 

 names are peculiarly apt. Thus the mistletoe, which nev- 

 er grows alone, but is found alwa5-s with its roots fixed in 

 the bark of some supporting tree or shrub from which it 

 draws its sustenance, is called by a name which signifies, 

 "it i^ married." The violet is still called by a plural 

 name, "they pull each other's heads off," showing that 

 the Cherokee children have discovered a arame not un- 



