130 USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 33 
ComPposITak 
Henrantuus annuus L. Sunflower. 
Wakcha-zizi (Dakota), “ yellow flower ” (wadicha, flower ; Zizi, re- 
duplication of 27, yellow). 
Zha-zi (Omaha-Ponca), “ yellow weed” (zha, weed; 2, yellow). 
Kirik-tara-kata (Pawnee), “ yellow-eyes” (kirik, eye; tara, hav- 
ing; kata, yellow). 
T can not find that the sunflower was ever cultivated by any of the 
Nebraska tribes, although its culture among eastern tribes is re- 
ported by explorers, and it was and still is cultivated by the Arikara, 
Mandan, and Hidatsa in North Dakota. P. de Charlevoix, in a 
letter written in April, 1721, mentions sunflowers as one of the crops 
of the tribes of eastern Canada. 
The soleil is another very common plant in the fields of the Indians, and 
which rises to the height of seven or eight feet. Its flower, which is very 
thick, has much the same figure with that of the marigold, and the seed is 
disposed in the same manner; the Indians extract an oil from it by boiling, 
with which they anoint their hair. * 
Champlain observed the sunflower cultivated by Indians in Canada 
in 1615.” 
All the country where I went [vicinity of Lake Simcoe, Ontario] contains 
some twenty to thirty leagues, is very fine, and situated in latitude 44° 30’. 
It is very extensively cleared up. They plant in it a great quantity of Indian 
corn, which grows there finely. They plant likewise squashes, and sunflowers, 
from the seed of which they make oil, with which they anoint the head. . . . 
There are many very good vines and plums, which are excellent, raspberries, 
strawberries, little wild apples, nuts, and a kind of fruit of the form and color 
of small lemons, with a similar taste, but having an interior which is very 
good and almost like that of figs. The plant which bears this fruit is two and 
a half feet high, with but three or four leaves at most, which are of the shape 
of those of the fig tree, and each plant bears but two pieces of fruit. [Podo- 
phylum peltatum, May apple?] 
Among the Teton Dakota a remedy for pulmonary troubles was 
made by boiling sunflower heads from which the involucral bracts 
were first removed. The Teton had a saying that when the sunflowers 
were tall and in full bloom the buffaloes were fat and the meat good. 
A Pawnee said that the seeds pounded up with certain roots, the 
identity of which is not yet ascertained, were taken in the dry form, 
without further preparation, by women who became pregnant while 
still suckling a child. This was done in order that the suckling child 
should not become sick. The sunflower ,is mentioned in the Onon- 
daga creation myth.* 
1Charleyoix, Journal of a Voyage to North America, vol. 1, p. 250. 
2Champlain'’s Voyages, vol. 111, p. 119. 
8 Hewitt, Iroquoian Cosmology, p. 174. 
