60 USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 33 
Acorus calamus and Lobelia cardinalis are both found in certain re- 
stricted areas within the old Pawnee domain. Acorus is exceedingly 
highly prized by the Pawnee, and also by the other tribes, for medici- 
nal use, and by the Pawnee especially for ritualistic religious use. 
Also its seeds were used for beads. Seeds obtained originally at a 
place far distant might have been lost in the margins of streams, and 
so have been introduced unwittingly. Moreover, seeds or living roots 
might have been brought purposely and set by the priests and doctors 
without the knowledge of the laity. Thus this plant may have been 
introduced to the few places where it is now to be found in Nebraska 
either with or without design. At all events it appears most probable 
that it was introduced by human agency. It is significant that the 
isolated areas where it is found are comparatively near old Pawnee 
village sites. Lobelia was a plant to which mystic power in love af- 
fairs was attributed. It was used in making love charms. Of course 
the methods and formule for compounding love medicines were not 
known to everyone, so a person desiring to employ such a charm must 
resort to some one reputed to have knowledge of it and must pay the 
fees and follow the instructions of his counsellor. In order to have the 
medicine convenient the wise ones might very naturally think of try- 
ing to introduce it to grow in their own country. Quite naturally, 
too, its introduction, if accomplished, would be secretly effected. Ad- 
vertising is contrary to the professional code. 
In another place the recent dissemination of Jfeléilotus is discussed. 
When the Pawnee were removed from Nebraska to Oklahoma they 
carried with them seeds from Nebraska, their mother country, to the 
land, foreign to them, which circumstances they had no power to con- 
trol caused them to colonize. Besides the seeds of their cultivated 
crops they carried stores of dried fruits as part of their food supply. 
Among these were quantities of dried plums, often dried entire with- 
out pitting. At the present time there are thickets of Prunus ameri- 
cana wherever are seen the lodge rings of the original earth lodges 
which they first occupied when they went to Oklahoma. This fact I 
observed when I visited that tribe in pursuit of information in their 
plant lore. From consideration of such facts as are here demon- 
strated I am of the opinion that human occupation and activities 
were more or less efficient factors in the distribution of plants in Ne- 
braska as found by the first comers of the European race. 
The most casual observer can perceive that Europeans, since their 
advent, have greatly changed the flora by introducing new species 
and depleting the numbers of some and augmenting the numbers 
of certain other species. A very great depletion has occurred in the 
grassland flora by reason of the large areas in which the original 
flora has been completely exterminated by the plow. Other areas 
