44 ETHNOBOTANY OF THE ZUNI INDIANS (eth. ANN. 30 



Aftiplex canescens (Pursh) James. Salt-bush. Chenopodiace,e. 



Goosefoot family. 

 Ke'mawe, 'salt weed' (ke, weed; ma'we, salt). 

 The di-ied root and blossoms are ground separately and the two 

 powders combined. Moistened with saliva, this mixture is employed 

 externally to cure ant bites. Wlien the powder is not at hand the 

 fresh blossoms, bruised, are applied. 



Bahia woodhousei Gray. Cakduace^. Thistle family. 

 Ha'pali, 'bitmg leaf (ha<ha'li, leaf; pa'li, biting, like pepper). 

 The entire plant is steeped in water and the tea drunk while hot 

 for sick stomach; copious vomiting ensues. 



This medicine belonged only to the Shu'maakwe fraternity imtil 

 given by the Shu'maakwe' to the Great Fh-e fraternity. 



Berula ereda (Huds.) Coville. Water Parsnip. Apiace^. 



Carrot family. 

 Pi'tklaia, 'spring plant'. This plant is found around the si)rings. 

 The leaves and blossoms of the plant constitute an ingredient of the 

 medicinal pats of the Shu'maakwe fraternity.^ 



Campanula parryi A. Gray. Bluebell. Campanulace^. Bell- 

 flower family. 

 TJ'tea Wanna, 'blue flower' (u'tea, flower; Wanna, blue). 

 The l)lossoms are chewed and the saliva is applied to the skin to 

 render it depilous. According to the statements of the Zuni this 

 medicine removes only young hair. It belongs to the people in 

 common. For reducing bruises the chewed root is applied with 

 bandages. When employed for this purpose the remedy belongs 

 only to the fraternities. 



Carduus ocTirocentrus (A. Gray) Greene. Thistle. Cakduace.^. 



Thistle family. 



Ko'wakdtsi, a name supposed to have been given this plant by 



Ko'mokatsi, mother of the anthropic gods, after her own 



name, which signifies 'old dance woman.' ^ 



The entire plant is placed over night in a vessel of cold water. 



The water is drunk morning, noon, and at sunset as a cure for 



syphilis {su'tovx).* Immediately after taking each dose the patient, 



if a man, rvms rapidly to promote perspii-ation and to accelerate action 



■ Since her work on the 5nni Indians was published (IM Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethn.) the writer has 

 learned the full meaning of Shu'maakwe ishu'maK^shu'minne^ spiral shell; kwe, people of a fraternity). 

 This fraternity was named hy the Shu'maikoli, certain anthropic gods; Iiut the gods had no shells to give 

 to the fraternity. When the Great Fire fraternity learned that the Shu'maakwe did not possess the spiral 

 shells for which the latter were named, the directors of the Fire fraternity shared with them the shells which 

 they had brought from the undermost world. 



* See 23d Ann. Rep. Bur. Amn. Ethn., p. 545. 

 ■'Ibid., p. 33. 



* Syphilis is quite common among the Zuni, having increased greatly since these people came intocloser 

 contact with the white race. When the writer first visited Zuiii, in 1S79, it was rare to find a girl who was 

 not virtuous, and the finger of scorn was always pointed at one who had departed from the path of rectitude; 

 but at the present time immorality is common and syphilis is spreading in the tribe. 



