GILMOREl TAXONOMIC LIST OF PLANTS 93 



is no easy task to harvest it. The top of the ijhmt breaks of[ soon 

 after ripening, and is blown away, seatteriiior the seed, so the root 

 is then ahnost impossible to find ; hence it must be harvested before 

 this occurs. The top usually has three or four branches. When the 

 women and children go to the prairie to gather the roots, on finding a 

 plant the mother tells the children to note the directions in which the 

 several branches point and a child is sent in the general direction of 

 each branch to look for another plant, for they say the plants " point 

 to each other." 



Psomlea has so important a place in the economy of the Plains 

 tribes and has had for so long a time that it enters into tiieir my- 

 thoh)gy, folklore, stoi-ies, and sleight-of-hand tricks. In the story 

 "How the Big Turtle Went to War," as told in the Omaha tribe, it 

 is said lYug^euhW-hlamd, "Psoruha he cooked, they say." ' 



PsoRALEA TENTJIFLORA Pursh. 



T ichanichn-hu ( Dakota ) . 



Among the Teton Dakota the root of this plant, with two others, 

 the names of which I did not learn, were boiled together to make a 

 medicine to be taken for consumption. (Jarlan<ls were made of the 

 tops, to be worn for protection of the head from the heat of the sun 

 on very hot days. 



Amokpha fruticosa L. False Tndigo, AVater-string. 



Kifsuhast (Pawnee), "water-string" (k/t><u. water; fuistu, string). 



Whenever possible to obtain it near the butchering place on the 

 prairie this shrub was gathered and spread on the ground to receive 

 the pieces of meat and keep them clean. 



Amorpha caxescens Pursh. Lead Plant, Shoestring. 



T('-hu"fo"-hi (Omaha-Ponca). "butfalo iiellow plant" (/e, bull'alo; 

 huHo", bellow; hi, plant). The name is derived from the fact 

 that its time of lilooming is synchi'onous with the rutting season 

 of the buffalo, being at that season the dominant l)looming ])lant 

 on the prairie of the loess plain. 

 The stems were used by the Omaha for a moxa in cases of neuralgia 

 and rheumatism. The small stems, broken in short pieces, were at- 

 tached to the skin by moistening one end with the tongue. Then they 

 were fired and allowed to burn down to the skin. 



An Oglala said the leaves were sometimes used to make a hot 

 drink like tea, and sometimes for smoking material. For this jmr- 

 pose after being dried and crushed fine they were mixed with a little 

 buffalo fat. 



• Dorsey 0eglha Language, p. 256. 



