GILMORE] TAXONOMIC LIST OF PLANTS 87 
Crararcus curysocarpa Ashe. Red Haw. 
Taspa" (Omaha-Ponca). 
Chosa"wa (Winnebago). 
The fruit was sometimes used for food, but commonly resorted to 
only as a famine food. 
AMELANCHIER ALNIFOLIA Nutt. June Berry, Saskatoon. 
Wipazuka (Dakota). 
Zho" Kuda (Omaha-Ponea), “gray wood” (zho", wood; Huda, 
gray). 
Haz-shutsh (Winnebago), “ red-fruit” (haz, fruit; shutsh, red). 
The berries were prized for food. The wood was used for arrow- 
shafts." 
Prunus AMERICANA Marsh. Wild Plum. 
Ka'te (Dakota), plum; ka"te-hu, plum tree. 
‘Kade (Omaha-Ponea), plum; ka"de-hi, plum tree. 
Kantsh (Winnebago), plum; hantsh-hu, plum tree. 
Niwaharit (Pawnee), plum; Niwaharit-nahaapi, plum tree. 
The fruit was highly valued for food, being eaten fresh and raw or 
cooked as a sauce. The plums were also dried for winter use. They 
were commonly pitted before drying, but the Pawnee say they often 
dried them without removing the pits. 
The Omaha planted their corn, beans, and squashes when the wild 
plum came into bloom. , 
A broom for sweeping the floor of the dwelling was made by bind- 
ing together a bundle of plum twigs. The plum was used because of 
its toughness and elasticity. 
An Omaha informant said the bark of the roots, after being scraped 
and boiled, was applied as a remedy for abrasions of the skin. 
Sprouts or young growths of the wild plum are used by the Teton 
Dakota in making wau"ya"pi. This is an offering or form of prayer, 
consisting of a wand, made preferably from a wild-plum sprout 
peeled and painted. If painted, the design and color are emblematic. 
Near the top of the wand is fastened the offering proper, which may 
take the form of anything acceptable to the higher powers. A small 
quantity of smoking tobacco is an article very frequently used for this 
purpose. No matter how small a portion of the thing offered is used, 
the immaterial self of the substance is in it. Such. offerings are 
usually made for the benefit of the sick. Wauw"ya"pi may be made by 
anyone at any place if done with appropriate ceremony, but the most 
efficient procedure is to prepare an altar with due ceremony and there 
set the wand upright with the offering fastened near the top.’ 
1 Riggs, Dakota-English Dictionary, p. 578. 
2For this information I am indebted to Dr. J. R. Walker, Government physician at 
Pine Ridge, who has made very careful research into the ceremonies and rituals of the 
Teton Dakota. 
