GILMORE] TAXONOMIC LIST OF PLANTS 79 
used it only for decorative purposes, a red stain obtained from the 
fruit being employed in painting horses and various articles of use 
or adornment. 
NyMPHAEACEAE 
Nymewara ADVENA Soland. Large Yellow Pond Lily. 
There is some dialectic variation in the speech of the four tribes 
of the Pawnee Nation, and by one tribe, the Skidi, this plant is 
called tukawia; by another, the Chawi, it is called tut. It is said the 
seeds were cooked for food. This was the information given, but my 
informants may have mistaken this plant for the next one. 
Netumeo tures (Willd.) Pers. Yellow Lotus, Water Chinquapin. 
(Pl. 10.) 
Tewape (Dakota). 
Tethawe (Omaha-Ponca). 
Tsherop (Winnebago). 
Tukawiu (Pawnee). 
This is one of the plants considered to be invested with mystic 
powers. It is an important native food plant, both the seeds and the 
tubers being used. The plant was much sought and highly prized by 
the tribes living within its range. The hard, nutlike seeds were 
cracked and freed of their shells and used with meat for making 
soup. The tubers, also, after being peeled, were cut up and cooked 
with meat or with hominy. It contributes a delicious flavor, unlike 
any other. 
The tubers were harvested by wading into the pond to search for 
them in the mud with the toes. When found, the mud was worked 
away from them with the feet, and they were pulled out by means 
of a hooked stick. In shape and general appearance they much re- 
semble a small banana. This resemblance between the banana and 
Nelumbo tubers was remarked by the Omaha when bananas were first 
brought to their notice, so they were called tethawe ega", “ the things 
that look like tethawe,” which is now the Omaha name of the banana. 
Nelumbo tubers might be cooked when first harvested, but to pre- 
serve them for winter use they were dried, being first peeled and 
cut into pieces about an inch long. An anatomical feature of the 
plant body is a ring of tubular air spaces extending longitudinally 
throughout the stem. This characteristic also pertains, naturally, 
to the tubers and gives rise to a droll notion in regard to them. The 
Indians say that one who is digging these tubers must be careful to 
refrain from snufling through the nostrils, else the cavities of the 
tubers which he digs will become filled with mud and so spoiled. 
Another notion held in regard to this plant is that the tubers gath- 
ered by a tall man will be long, while a short man will get short 
tubers. 
