248 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



Thistledown was commonly used in feathering blowgun arrows. 



A low shrub called the "buckbush" was one source of blowgun 

 arrow shafts. 



The red root {Sanguinaria canadensis) was a principal source of 

 red dyes and was the "scarlet root" imported into Virginia as a hair 

 dye. This was known to the Indians of Virginia as "pocone" or 

 "puccoon," often contracted to "coon," but the name covered two 

 other plants, the Lithospermum vulgare^ the original puccoon of 

 Virginia, and the yellow root {Hydrastis canadensis), from the 

 second of which a yellow dye was extracted. 



Another plant called "yellow leaves" by the natives is mentioned 

 as a source of yellow dye. 



The "dog tail weed" is given as a source of a dark red dye. 



"Achetchy" is given by Du Pratz as the native, presumably 

 Mobilian, name of a plant yielding a red dye. 



"Barks" are mentioned vaguely as employed in making fish nets, 

 fishlines, and headdresses for the inland Siouans of Virginia, for 

 bowstrings, wrist-guards, shields, and trumpets. 



Cords from the pawpaw (Asimina triloba) have been identified by 

 Whitford. 



Textiles from the button-snakeroot {Eryngium yuccaefolivm) 

 were found in two bags obtained from Arkansas by the same in- 

 vestigator. 



Textile material from the moosewood {Dirca palustris) was identi- 

 fied by him in a mat from the same region. 



"Creepers" are mentioned employed as cords. 



"Leaves" sometimes provided a makeshift clothing. 



"Seeds" were used in headdresses. 



"Flowers" were placed by women on their heads by way of 

 ornament. 



"An herb" is the indefinite word used in one case for a stain used 

 in tattooing, and something equally indefinite, besides tobacco, in 

 staining the teeth. 



Implements made of "wood" of unspecified kinds were: Clubs, 

 shields, swords, armor, carved images, paddles, counters, beads, 

 rollers upon which to wrap the hair, points of arrows, pipe stems. 

 To these we may add stockades and bridges. 



Among Old World plants introduced at an early period may 

 be mentioned: Peaches, apples, oranges, watermelons, muskmelons, 

 figs, the canna, okra, passiflora, rice, and sorghum. Peanuts and po- 

 tatoes were introduced from South America. 



A very wide range of plants was drawn upon in medical prescrip- 

 tions. In this connection, consult Plants Used as Curatives by Certain 

 Southeastern Tribes, by Lydia Averill Taylor (1940). 



