CHEROKEE PLANT LORE. I45 



known among our own. The bear-grass, with its long, 

 slender leaves like diminutive blades of corn, is called 

 " greensnake," and the larger grass known as Job's tears, 

 on account of its glossj', rounded grains, which the Indian 

 children use for necklaces, is called, " the mother of corn." 

 The black-ej-ed Susan of our children is the "deer-eye" 

 of the Cherokee, and our lady-slipper is their "partridge 

 moccasin." The May-apple, with its umbrella-shaped 

 top, is called " it wears a hat," while the white puff-ball 

 fungus is " the little star," and the common rock lichen 

 bears the musical, if rather unpoetic, name of utseleta^ 

 " pot scrapings." Some plants are named from their real 

 or supposed place in the animal economy, as the wild rose, 

 " the rabbits eat it " — referring to the seed berries — and 

 the shield fern, " the bear lies on it." Others, again, are 

 named from their domestic or ceremonial uses, as the flea- 

 bane, called " the fire maker," because its dried stalk was 

 anciently employed in producing fire by friction, and the 

 bugle-weed, called " the. talkers," because the chewed 

 root, given to children to swallow, or rubbed upon their 

 lips, is supposed to endow them with the gift of eloquence. 



Some few, in addition to the ordinary term, in use among 

 the common people, have a sacred or sj-mbolic name, used 

 only b}' the priests and doctors in the prayer formulas. 

 Thus ginseng, or " sang," as it is more often called by the 

 white mountaineers, is known to the common people as 

 " the mountain climber," but is addressed in the formulas 

 as " the little man," while corn is invoked under the name 

 of " the old woman." 



The division of the trees into evergreen and deciduous 

 is accounted for by a myth, or ancient story, which relates 

 that some trees lose their leaves in winter time as a pun- 

 ishment for their failure to endure an ordeal, or test of 

 fidelity and fortitude, to the end. 



With the Cherokee, as with nearl}- all other tribes east 



