Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region

What it is

A plant-by-plant list of how the peoples of the Missouri River valley used the plants of the prairie as food, medicine, fiber, dye and fragrance, with each plant's name in Dakota, Omaha-Ponca, Winnebago and Pawnee. First printed in the Bureau of American Ethnology's Thirty-third Annual Report.

Whose knowledge it records

The knowledge of the Dakota, Omaha, Ponca, Winnebago and Pawnee peoples, with some Arikara, Mandan and Hidatsa, written down by a Nebraska botanist in the early 1900s. He names some of the people who told him, such as White Horse and Amos Walker of the Omaha and Fast Horse of the Oglala Dakota, and records when someone chose not to say what a plant was used for.

Passages transcribed

• ACORUS CALAMUS L. Sweet Flag, Calamus. (pp. 69–70)
• CAULOPHYLLUM THALICTROIDES (L.) Michx. Blue Cohosh. (p. 83)
• ECHINACEA ANGUSTIFOLIA DC. Narrow-leaved Purple Cone Flower, Comb Plant. (p. 131)
• HUMULUS AMERICANA Nutt. Hops. (p. 77)
• MONARDA FISTULOSA L. Wild Bergamot, Horsemint. (p. 111)
• ROSA PRATINCOLA Greene. Wild Rose. (p. 85)
• SAMBUCUS CANADENSIS L. Elderberry. (p. 115)
• ULMUS FULVA Michx. Slippery Elm or Red Elm. (p. 76)
• URTICA GRACILIS Ait. Nettle. (p. 77)
• UVA-URSI UVA-URSI (L.) Britton. Bearberry. (p. 108)
• VERBENA HASTATA L. Wild Verbena. (p. 111)
• YUCCA GLAUCA Nutt. Soapweed, Spanish Bayonet, Dagger Weed. (p. 71)
• ZEA MAYS L. Maize, Indian Corn. (pp. 67–68)