«7g USES OF PL.VNTS BY INDIANS (eth. ann. 33 



Ulmi s KiLVA Michx. Slippery Elm or Red Elm. 



Pe htfutu/m (Dakota), or in Teton dialect pe tutuHu ""pa. 



Ezhu" zhklc (Oniaha-Ponca), "red elm" {zMde, red) or ezJw 

 zhide (jthlgtlwlf, "slippery red elm" {gthigthidc, slippery). 



Wakidikidik ( Winnebago) . 



Taitsako pahat (Pawnee), "red elm" {pahat, red). 



The Imrlc, when weathered for several years till it glows with 

 l-liosiihorescence in the darkness, was used to catch the spark in fire- 

 making. The fresh inner bark was boiled and the resulting decoction 

 was drunk as a hi.xative. The Omaha used to cook the inner bark 

 with buffalo fat in rendering out the tallow. They considered that 

 tlie hark gave a desiral)le flavor to the fat and added a preservative 

 rinaiity. preventing it from becoming rancid. When the rendering 

 was finished the children always asked for the pieces of cooked 

 bark, which they prized as titl)its. 



Tlie inner bark fiber was also used for making ropes and cords. 



Celtis occidf.ntalis L. Tlackberr^'. 



Yammimnufjapi (Dakota), from ynmtiunmiiga, "to crunch," be- 

 cause animals crunch its berries. 



Cube (Omaha-Ponca). 



Wake-warutsh (AVinnebago), "raccoon food" {wake, raccoon; 

 warutsk, food). 



Kaapsit (Pawnee). 



Omaha informants say the berries were eaten only casually, but the 

 Dakota used them as a flavor for meat. For this purpose they 

 pounded them fine, seeds and all. When they first saw pepper corns 

 of black pepper, and their use as a condiment when ground, they 

 likened them to yammimnugapi and so they called black pepper 

 yamnumnugapi washichii", "white man's i/ammwinugapi." 



The Pawnee say they pounded the berries fine, added a little fat, 

 and mixed them with parched corn. They described the combination 

 as very good. 



MORACEAE 



Tox^xoN poMiFERiTji Raf. Osage Orange, Bois d'Arc. 



Zho'^-zi-zhu (Omaha-Ponca). "yellow-flesh wood" (zho", wood; 

 2/, yellow; zku, flesh). 



Nakitsku (Pawnee). 



This tree was not native to Nebraska, but its wood was used for 

 making bows whenever it could be obtained. It was gotten whenever 

 .southern trips were made into its range, which is in the southern 

 part of Oklahoma: or it was obtained by gift or barter from the 

 tribes of that region. 



