Navajo Names for Flants. 
NAVAJO NAMES FOR PLANTS. 
BY DR. W. MATTHEWS, U.S.A. 
aie plant-lore of the Navajo Indians compared with that 
of white men who are not specially versed in botany, is 
remarkable for its extent and accuracy. There are few species 
of phenogamous plants, among the varied flora of their country, 
for which they have not distinct, well-chosen names, and of whose 
physical properties they have not made some observation. True 
all do not possess such knowledge, and one is sometimes in dan- 
ger of being deceived by the uninformed who will coin a name 
for the occasion rather than confess ignorance. This knowledge 
is, however, pretty well diffused, and there are many grades. of 
Proficiency in it. The better informed, in widely distant parts of 
the Navajo country, agree closely as to the names and properties 
(of the great majority of species. My best informant was an old 
woman, probably over seventy years old. My next best in- 
formant was a very intelligent man of about thirty-five years of- 
age. An old priest or so-called medicine-man, over sixty, who 
knew the Shamanistic rites and the elaborate mythology of the 
tribe perfectly, knew less of plant-lore than many others. It 
Would seem that it is not the oft-quoted wise old medicine-man — 
of the Indian tribe who knows the most of nature. I have heard _ 
from many Navajos of a wise man dwelling in the far north-west- — 
rn part of the Navajo country who knew most about the vege- 
table kingdom of all the Navajos. I regret that I never hadan — 
°pportunity of meeting this man. He seems to be their highest _ 
authority in botany. z 
Not only do the Navajos discriminate all the more important 
Species, but they are not devoid of generalization among allied 
Species. In some cases this generalization agrees with our own. 
For instance, there are three species of juniper growing in the Zuni 
Mountains; each has its own appropriate name, yet the generic 
name for juniper (oth) appears in all. The most common kind 
of sunflower bears the name of indigili; as with ourselves, this 
eak čen as a type or foundation species of plants in the sub- 
_ tribe Heliantheæ, and we have indigilt nilchini, strong-scented 
4 Sunflower (Verbesina enceloides), and indigili nilchinitso, great 
A j 
‘Strong-scented sunflower (Helianthus.nuttallii). os 
Of a class of plants so rank and showy as the sunflower 
