80 USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS [PTH. ANN. 33 
The Osages and other western natives employ the roots [sic] of this plant, 
. .. for food, preparing them by boiling. ... Fully ripe, after a considerable 
boiling, they become as farinaceous, agreeable, and wholesome a diet as the 
potato. ... This same species . .. is everywhere mide use of by the natives, 
who collect both the nuts and roots... 
RANUNCULACEAE 
THALICTRUM DASycARPUM Fisch. & Lall. Meadow Rue. (PI. 11, a.) 
Wazimna (Dakota); wazi, “pine”; mna, “to smell.” The name 
seems to signify pinelike odor. 
Nisude-hi (Omaha-Ponea), “ flute-plant” (nésude, flute). 
Skadiks or skariks (Pawnee). 
By the Teton Dakota the fruits on approaching maturity in Au- 
gust are broken off and stored away for their pleasant odor; for 
this purpose they are rubbed and scattered over the clothing. The 
Indians say the effect is enhanced by dampness. This, like all other 
odors used by Indians, is of slight, evanescent fragrance. They used 
no heavy scents; all are delicate and give a suggestion of whole- 
someness and of the freedom of the uncontaminated outdoors. 
The hollow stems were used by small boys to make toy flutes 
(nisude). The Ponca sometimes used the tops as love charms. 
Bachelors rubbed the tops with saliva in the palms of the hands to 
give them power to capture the affections of the desired maidens by 
shaking hands with them. My informants said the plants of this 
species growing in Minnesota are better than those found in Ne- 
braska. 
The Pawnees used this plant as a stimulant for horses, causing 
them to snuff it into the nostrils when obliged to make forced 
marches of three or four days’ duration in order to escape from 
enemies. For this purpose it was administered by rubbing it mixed 
with a certain white clay on the muzzle of the horse. 
Puusatitia patens (L.) Mill. Pasque Flower, Twin-flower. (PI. 
las) 
Hokshi-chekpa walicha (Dakota), “Twin-flower.” 
As a counter-irritant for use in rheumatism and similar diseases 
the leaves of Pulsatilla were crushed and applied to cause a blister. 
This information was given by an old man of the Omaha tribe. 
The people of the Dakota Nation call this plant by a name in their 
language which means “ twin-flower,”’ because usually each plant 
bears just two flowering scapes. Indians generally are keenly ob- 
servant of all things in nature and reverent toward them. They 
have reverence and affection for the living creatures, the birds and 
beasts, the trees and shrubs and flowering plants. They have stories 
and songs about most of the plant and animal forms of life with 
1 Nuttall, Flora of Arkansas Territory, p. 160. 
