•^"■MHUKl TAXONOMIC LIST OF PLANTS 7^ 



LlI.IACEAE 



Allium mutabile Mithx. Wild Onion. 



Pshi" (Dakota). 



Ma"zho"ka-nmntaiwha ( Omalia-Ponca ) . 



Shi" hop ( AVinnebago ) . 



Osidiwa (Pawnee). 



Since the introduction of the cultivated onion the wild onion is 

 known to the Pawnee as Osidiwa t.slfschiks, " native oak/iwa.'' 



All the species of wild onion found within their habitat were used 

 for food by the Nebraska tribes, commonly raw and fresh as a relish, 

 sometimes cooked as a flavor for meat and soup, also fried. 

 Ervthronium JiESoimoREUM Kucrr and E. aliudum Nutt. Spring 

 Lily. Snake *Lily. (PI. 6.) 



Iledte-shutsh (Winnebago) . 



I was informed by Winnebago that children ate them raw with 

 avidity when freshly dug in springtime. 



LiLIUSI ITMBELLATUM Pursh. 



The flowers of this plant, pulverized or chewed, were applied by 

 the Dakota as an antidote for the bites of a certain small poisonous 

 brown spider. It is said to relieve the inflammation and swelling 

 immediately. 



Yucca glauca Nutt. Soapweed, Spanish Bavonet, Dagger Weed. 

 (Pis. 7, 8.) 



Hupeshila (Dakota). 



Duioadu ira-hi (Omaha-Ponca). 



Chakida-kahtsu or Chakila-hahtsH. (Pawnee). 



The root was used by the Pawnee and Omaha in the smoke trejit- 

 ment. By all the tribes the root was used like soap, especially for 

 washing the hair. On the high treeless plains the Teton Dakota, 

 for want of wood for fire-drills, utilized yucca. The hard, .sharp- 

 pointed blades were bound together with sinew to make the drill, and 

 the stem, peeled and dried, was used as the hearth of the fire-making 

 apparatus, just as punk was used in the timbered regions. 



Yucca leaves were macerated till the fibers were cleared, and, 

 with the sharp, hard point of the leaf .still attached, were twined 

 into thread. The sharp point was used as a needle. 



Smilax herbacea L. Jacob's Ladder. 



Toshvnuk ahunshke (Winnebago), "otter armlet" (foshunuk. 

 otter; ahunshke, armlet). 



The fruits were eaten at times by the Omaha for their pleasant 

 taste. Thev were said to be effectual in relieving hoarseness. 



