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1990

Oglala Sioux use of Medical Herbs

George Robert Morgan Chadron State College

Ronald R. Weedon

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Morgan, George Robert and Weedon, Ronald R., "Oglala Sioux use of Medical Herbs" (1990). Great Plains Quarterly. 506. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/506

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 18 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1990

FIG. 1. Po ipiye, Wild Four O'Clock, Mirabilis nyctaginea (Michx.) MacM. OGLALA SIOUX USE OF MEDICINAL HERBS

GEORGE ROBERT MORGAN, COMPLETED BY

RONALD R. WEEDON

Despite the turmoil of Sioux cultural losses Since 1889 the home of the Oglala Sioux has since contact with Anglo-European culture, the been the Pine Ridge country of southwestern Oglala Sioux have maintained an interest in South Dakota, east of the Black Hills. The Pine herbal medicines, although with each passing Ridge Reservation, one of the largest in the generation the number of plants actively used United States, is remote from any major pop­ for curing has diminished. Fewer people have ulation centers or highways. Its mostly scenic been learning the identification of plant medi­ but semiarid grasslands are largely given over cines and their uses, the procedures for prepar­ to cattle ranching. A 1984 census showed 16,500 ing plants, and the techniques of herbal cures. Oglalas at Pine Ridge, of whom about 45 per­ Many of the older Sioux blame reservation cent are under 18 years of age and another 35 boarding schools for the disruption of cultural percent between the ages of 21 and 55. This age transmission, but other factors have been at work composition, a growing youthful population with as well. few elders, is characteristic of developing coun­ tries, as is the abounding poverty and an un­ employment rate of more than 70 percent. Alcoholism has been prevalent since 1953, along George R. Morgan was professor of geography at Chad­ with "white man's diseases" such as cirrhosis ron State College at the time of his death in 1985. His of the liver and diabetes. For some people, the primary research interests included peyote as an Indian move away from the land began in the 1960s, ceremonial plant and the ethnobotany of sweet flag. An excellent scholar, Dr. Morgan was also a beloved and when the government began building housing respected teacher, advisor, and friend, who is sorely missed communities and many Sioux sold their land to by the Chadron State College community. This paper non-Indians. The gap between the people and was completed after Dr. Morgan's death by Ronald R. the land has been widened by ration issues, com­ Weedon, director of the Chadron State College Herbar­ modity distributions, and foodstamps, all of ium, which now houses the Dr. George R. Morgan Me­ morial Archive. which removed the necessity for Indians to gather their native food plants. Some food and medic­ inal plants have become scarce or disappeared [GPQ 10 (Winter 1990): 18-35] as overgrazing on the reservation has reduced

19 20 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1990

FIG. 2. Wagmu l'eju ta, Wild Gourd, Cucurbita foetidissima H. B. K. OGLALA HERB USE 21 the floristic composition and biomass of upland healing powers that may include the revelation prairie and bottomland. The refuge of some me­ of new medicinal plants or new uses for well dicinals is along the roadsides. known medicinals. This study attempts to list With all these changes, the use of medicinal ordinary uses of common medicinal herbs rather plants among the Oglala has noticeably de­ than those specific to individual medicine men. creased, as it has in most twentieth-century so­ cieties, but it has not entirely disappeared. In PO fPIYE(REMEDY FOR SWELLING) some cases it has even increased, for although Indians usually seek "white man's medicine" Po tpiye means literally "a remedy for swell­ for "white man's disease," some Oglalas claim ing," but informants identify it as wild four plants such as sweet flag and sage cure diabetes. o'clock [Mirabilis nyctaginea (Michx.) MacM.], The purpose of the following paper is to evaluate an herbaceous plant more frequently associated the pharmacopoeia of today's Oglala Sioux and with medicine men than with the populace. Many to note the uses of medicinal plants within con­ people fear the plant and indicate that it should temporary Pine Ridge culture. Melvin Gil­ be harvested only by medicine men, who must more's 1914 thesis, "Uses of Plants by the gather it carefully in the spring months before Indians of the Missouri River Region," pro­ the arrival of the' 'Thunder Beings." Otherwise vides a baseline against which to measure how misfortune will befall the harvesters and their such uses have changed during this century. Al­ kin. The appropriate procedure for anyone har­ though his work also reviews uses of plants by vesting plant medicines is to place a pinch of the Omahas, Poncas, Winnebagoes, and Paw­ tobacco offering at the place where the plant is nees, it is the only comprehensive study of cures removed. According to Melvin Gilmore, the among the Oglala. Gilmore's baseline is aug­ popular use of po tpiye was to boil the roots and mented and clarified by reference to Father Eu­ drink the tea to alleviate fever (Gilmore, 1914). gene Buechel's studies of plants on Pine Ridge While some contemporary Sioux' tell only of and the neighboring Rosebud Reservation, con­ external use of the plant, others use the tea to ducted in the 1920s and recently made available cure stomach discomfort and to alleviate swell­ by Dilwyn J. Rogers (l980a, 1980b). ing (Afraid-of-Bear, 1989). William Conquer­ Sioux use of medicinal herbs cannot simply ing Bear, an elderly Oglala informant, stated be generalized, however, because much depends that the roots were boiled and the tea was used on the practice of the individual medicine man on the skin as a lotion for sores. According to (wakaiJ wicasa). Many Sioux traditionally ex­ Paul Vestal, the Ramah Navajo also used a tea pect in a medicine man a certain eccentricity from the root as a lotion for swellings (Vestal, that is reflected in the unique assortment of me­ 1952). The Sioux consider the plant holy and dicinal plants stored within his medicine bag. powerful; mystery prevails about the po tpiye Some of the plants a healer uses are common and its various uses among Oglala medicine men. medicinals used by the populace, but others are surrounded by professional secrecy. The Oglalas WAGMU PEJUTA (PUMPKIN OR GOURD generally acknowledge that only the "right man" MEDICINE) can successfully use certain plants; unqualified persons, including other medicine men, will not The wild gourd (Cucurbita foetidissima be able to cure with the same plants because H.B.K.) is another plant with mystic, powerful healing powers are said to come from the spirit properties, more within the ken of the medicine world. A medicine man obtains his knowledge man than the ordinary Oglala. One Oglala con­ about plants and their uses from elder medicine sidered the plant to be dangerous and said that men and through his own visions while fasting it should be used by a medicine man (Red Cloud, in the wilderness. Oglala religious belief holds 1984). The root of the plant resembles the hu­ that visions endow the beholder with special man form; there are recognized female and male 22 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1990

FIG. 3. Ca17si17sila, Compass Plant, Silphium laciniatum L.

TABLE 1 CONTEMPORARY OGALALA MEDICINAL HERBS

Lakota Name Literal Translation Common English Names Scientific Names po ffiiye remedy for swelling wild four o'clock Mirabilis nyctaginea (Michx.) MacM. wagmu pejuia pumpkin or gourd medicine wild gourd Cucurbita foetidissima H.B.K. ca1]si1]sila plant form which gum oozes compass plant Silphium laciniatum L. ptefciyu/ia u1]ma translation undetermined stickyhead, curly cup gumweed Grindelia squarrosa (Pursh) Dun. icdlipe hu translation undetermined coneflower, purple coneflower, Echinacea angustifolia DC. black sampson windwizi cik' ala translation undetermined wild licorice Glycyrhiza lepidota Pursh lia1]ie cedar cedar Juniperus virginiana L. waca-rJka sweet grass sweet grass Hierochloe odorata (L.) Beauv. waca'ljga iyececa like sweet grass sweet clover Melilotus officinalis (L.) Lam. and Melilotus albus Dest. jJejfli6ta ape blaskaska flat leafed sage wild sage Artemisia ludoviciana N utt. fiejfli6ta waStemna women's sage little wild sage Artemisia f'rigida Willd. ceydRa mint wild mint Mentha arvensis L. hokSfcekpa baby's navel puffball Lycoperdon gemmatum Batsch. ca1]lil6ga1] hollow stem sunflower Helianthus annuus L. walicdzizi yellow flower llTlihiii1]tKa rose, rose hip wildrose, rose hip Rosa arkansana Porter pejuia naifyazilya incense medicine for the head purple mallow Callirrhoe involucrata (T.&G.) A. Gray hey6ka tapejuta heyoka's medicine red false mallow Sphaeralcea coccinea (Pursh) Rydb. si1]kjje tawoie muskrat's food sweet flag Acarus calamus L. peyote peyote peyote Lophophora wiUiamsii Lem. OGLALA HERB USE 23 fonns. Because cures are based on the "Doc­ gumweed [Grindelia squarrosa (Pursh) Dun.] trine of Signatures," the shape of the root in­ were used as a remedy for children with colic dicating the cure, wagmu pejuia is a general (Gilmore, 1914). A tea from the whole plant medicine. A Sioux related that Joe Bear Nose was consumed for kidney problems, especially had warned him that the plant should be care­ to arrest frequent urination; the plant was also fully harvested: because it is very holy, it must used for many other ailments, such as bronchial be pulled slowly from the ground, and it cannot problems (Walks, 1985). Buechel notes that the be left in the house because it may attract snakes blossoms of ptefciyuha U7}ma, boiled with pis­ (Walks, 1983). In fonner times all medicine was jJfza tawate (prairie dog food or fetid marigold) left outside to retain its purity and power, as are a remedy for spitting blood (B uechel, 1970). medicine in the house (or tipi) would be influ­ enced by evil thoughts, words, and aCtions (Long Visitor, 1984). Wagmu pejuia must be cultivated IcAHPE HU (TRANSLATION and it is grown less frequently than it was in the UNDETERMINED) past (Walks, 1983). Keller thinks some of the A commonly used medicinal has been icahpe curative powers of the plant may be derived hu, coneflower, purple coneflower, black samp­ from the rattle made then and now from dried son (Echinacea angustifolia DC). The roots of gourds with seeds (Keller, 1989). this late summer upland prairie plant have re­ portedly been a cure-all among the Sioux. Gil­ CA7}SI"SILA (PLANT FROM WHICH GUM more listed several uses. The plant may have OOZES) been used as an antidote for snake bite; a smoke treatment was used for headaches, and the root Buechel suggests ca7}si7}sila is chamomile; was used for toothaches. Furthennore "Jug­ ca7}si7} is gum or resin and is used to mean pine glers" rubbed the juices of the plant on their resin, which was chewed by children (Keller, hands to keep them from being scalded (Gil­ 1989). Gilmore, however, identified ca7}si7}sila more, 1914). The jugglers of Gilmore are better with compass plant (Silphium laciniatum L.), known as heyokas, the sacred clowns. During the root of which was considered to have mag­ the heyoka ceremony, the heyoka dances around ical properties. The dried root was burned dur­ a pot of boiling dog meat then plunges his hand ing electrical stonns as a protection (Gilmore, into the pot to fish out the dog's head (Blind­ 1914). A contemporary Sioux, Jonas Walks, man, 1989). Gilmore also !l0ted that a tea made stated that the powdered root was burned over by boiling the roots of icahpe hu with the roots charcoal for headaches and as a soporific (Walks, of po fPiye was used to expel intestinal worms 1983). Beatrice Weasel Bear noted that, in 1933, or to ru~ on swelling limbs. Present day Oglalas she had witnessed powdered bark of the plant use icahpe hu for skin problems (Red Cloud, placed on an open wound (Weasel Bear, 1985). 1984), for washing away poison ivy (Weasel Weasel Bear also stated that ca7}si7}sila was used Bear, 1985), and most commonly, to alleviate at yuwipi ("to tie") ceremonies, religious se­ toothaches. The root is lodged next to the area ances with the spirit world. A medicine man of pain. The fresh root was also used to treat perfonns a yuwipi ceremony at night in a dark­ hydrophobia, septic conditions, tonsillitis, pain ened room, summoning the grandfather spirits in the bowels, and more than one hundred types to enter our plane of reality to assist in healing, of cancer (Foster, 1985). Early settlers learned interpreting, and predicting the future (Blind­ the. uses of the plant from the Indians and used man, 1989). icahpe hu in a variety of ways, including spring tonics. Extravagant claims and the resulting PTEiCIYUilA U."MA (TRANSLATION controversy over its use gradually led to its de­ UNDETERMINED) cline in the American medical scene. In the last The leaves and tops of sticky head, curlycup several years, however, the results of research, 24 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1990

FIG. 4. Icahpe Hu, Purple Coneflower, Echinacea angustifolia DC. OGLALA HERB USE 25 particularly in Germany, have vindicated many valued for purifying participants in religious cer­ of the earlier claims made for the therapeutic emonies. Waca~ga is braided in one- or two­ value of this plant, including its antibiotic, anti­ foot lengths and tied at the ends with string. The inflammatory, and anti-exudative activity (Fos­ braids are burned for incense at sweat bath cer­ ter, 1985). Researchers have identified a wide emonies, which many people hold throughout range of compounds with ~iverse pharma­ the year. The plant is also burned at yuwipi cological activity, making icahpe hu a substan­ ceremonies, at fasting ordeals, and at the Sun tial success story as a native medicinal plant. Dance ceremony. The sweet odor of the grass is due to an essential oil of coumarin, similar WlNAWlZI CIKALA (TRANSLATION to vanilla. Waca~ga rarely grows at Pine Ridge, UNDETERMINED) so Oglalas obtain it from tribes of Wyoming and Montana. Throughout the northern plains, many The root of winawizi cik I ala has also re­ medicinal plants are exchanged during the sum­ portedly been used for toothaches (Gilmore, mer powwows. Sweet clover [Melilotus albus 1914). The leaves of this plant, wild licorice Desr. and Melilotus officinalis (L.) Lam.] also (Glycyrhiza lepidota Pursh), were steeped and contains coumarin. Known among the Oglala applied to the ears for earache, and a poultice as waca~ga iyececa, the plant occasionally has of the leaves was used for sore-backed horses been hung in the house because of its odor (Gilmore, 1914). For quick delivery, a woman (Walks, 1983) and is one of the many aromatics in labor was given a concoction of the roots that are burned as incense for pleasure, purifi­ (Walks, 1983). The whole plant is also boiled cation, or curing (Keller, 1989). for kidney troubles (Weasel Bear, 1985). The sweet, fragrant smoke of the root (winawizi hut­ PEliilOTA APE BLASK4SKA (FLAT ka~) when dried and burned is used as a sleep LEAFED SAGE) AND PEliilOTA aid (Blindman, 1989). WASTEMNA (WOMEN'S SAGE) Wild sage (Artemisia ludoviciana Nutt.) has ifA.,/rE (CEDAR) also been consistently used at religious cere­ Ha'T]ie, the cedar (Juniperus virginiana L.), monies. Pejz1z6ta ape blaskaska commonly grows is an important medicinal and religious plant on the reservation. The plant is not used for among today's Sioux. The leaves are commonly matting during the winter months because the burned at religious ceremonies and the smoke scent and freshness of the leaves are missing. purifies the body, mind, and spirit. The steam For medicinal purposes the leaves are boiled; of boiling cedar berries is said to cure tuber­ the tea is used for colds and upset stomach culosis (Weasel Bear, 1985). Gilmore indicated (Walks, 1984). In the past few years, sage tea that the fruits and leaves were boiled and taken has been used by an increasing number of di­ internally for coughs; twigs were burned and the ·abetic women, who claim that the bitterness of fumes inhaled for colds (Gilmore, 1914). Cedar the tea lowers their blood sugar (Weasel Bear, leaves and shavings of the plant were infused 1985). A lotion of the plant has also been used for a weak tea to cure stomach troubles (Con­ for skin problems (Red Cloud, 1984). quering Bear, 1984). Pejfh6ta wastemna is little wild sage (Artem­ isia Jrigida Willd.). Gilmore indicates that women consumed the plant internally when their WACA~GA (SWEET GRASS) AND menstruation was irregular (Gilmore, 1914). WACA~GA IYECECA (LIKE SWEET Contemporary Oglala women bathe with the GRASS) plant after monthly menstruation. It is also used The smoke of sweet grass [Hierochloe odor­ as a sop for perspiration, a mild deodorant, and ata (L.) Beauv.], or waca~ga, continues to be possibly as a sanitary napkin (Keller, 1989). 26 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1990

FIG. 5.Ha17te, Cedar, Juniperus virginiana L. OGLALA HERB USE 27

FIG. 6. Wacai]ga, Sweet Grass, Hierochloe odorata (L.) Beauv. 28 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1990

FIG. 7. Pejih6ta Ape B1askaska, Wild Sage, Artemisia ludoviciana Nutt. OGLALA HERB USE 29

Some Lakotas still believe that a woman who is menstruating may suffer a uterine hemorrhage Ur)JI~IT/TkA (ROSE, ROSE HIP) if she comes near an area where any other me­ dicinal plant is being prepared or used. The pre­ Gilmore did not mention the wild rose (Rosa pared plant will be rendered powerless and must arkansana Porter) as a medicinal plant among then be thrown away in a remote area where no the Oglala. A contemporary Sioux stated that one will step over it (Blindman, 1989). the roots of the plant were used for stomach ailments (Red Cloud, 1984). CEyAkA (MINT)

Although wild mint (Mentha arvensis L.) PEJUTA NAi'/YAZILYA(INCENSE continues to be infused. to make a popular tra­ MEDICINE FOR THE HEAD) ditional beverage, ceyaka is occasionally used An important plant for smoke treatment has as a medicine. Gilmore noted that mint tea was been purple mallow [Callirrhoe involucrata (T. sweetened and used to expel gas (Gilmore, & G.) A. Gray], known among the Oglala as 1914). Mint tea has been used for colds (Bear pejut"a nat'fyazilya. Gilmore noted that when the Killer, 1984) a~d f

FIG. 8.Pejuia Naiiyazilya, Purple Malluw, Callirrhoe involucrata (T.&G.) A. Gray. OGLALA HERB USE 31

,,\ .... I 1..• , : " I ~ ,

I

FIG. 9. SiTJkpe Tawote, Sweet Flag, Acorus calamus L. 32 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1990

FIG. 10. Peyote, Lophophora williamsii Lern. OGLALA HERB USE 33

SI11KPt TAWOTE (MUSKRAT'S FOOD) Sioux peyotists must obtain their supply by jour­ neying to south Texas or by mail order. Peyote The most important traditional panacea me­ is a powerful hallucinogenic plant that the In­ dicinal plant among the Oglala is sweet flag dians consider a holy medicine, a gift to the (Acorus calamus L.). The Sioux call the plant Indian from the Great Spirit. The plant is called sirkpe tawoie, but some of the elders refer to pejuta, "medicine," by those who consume it; the plant by the English name, "bitter root." It is often called, uTJhdla "cactus," by those This plant of the Arum family grows in the who do not. shallows of lakes and rivers and is valued for The Native American Church has formalized its aromatic and pungent tasting rhizome. Al­ use of the plant into an all-night ceremony dur­ though the plant has been used to cure almost ing which participants normally consume fifteen every known ill, its dominant uses are for cold, to twenty plant tops in a powdered form or as congestion, throat problems, and upset stom­ a porridge. Peyote tea always accompanies the ach. The rhizome is chewed or made into tea. powder or porridge. Members of the church claim At powwows singers place pieces of si."kpe ta­ that the "holy herb" will save one's soul and woie in their mouths to keep clear voices. will cure any sickness. Other plants associated Sirkpe tawoie is also used as a tonic and with the peyote ceremony are sage and cedar. stimulant, the Sioux often placing pieces in their Different kinds of cedar from diverse geograph­ mouths in order to combat fatigue. The plant is ical areas are tribally exchanged. Peyote prayer also used externally for sores. The Oglala give meetings are normally held every Saturday night, two or three doses of tea from the boiled or and on some weekends several meetings occur masticated rhizome to puppies so that they will simultaneously on the reservation. Members of grow up to be mean watchdogs. The plant is the Church are predominantly full-blood tradi­ also burned to keep away night spirits. Many tional Sioux whose first language is Lakota. Tra­ elderly Sioux carry a small piece of sirkpe ta­ ditional Indians who are non-members often wOle with them as an amulet. Si."kpe tawote is disapprove of peyote because it is not a tradi­ an important plant in the medicine man's bag, tional plant and the ceremony originated else­ and it is also commonly used by the people. where. Many medicine men do not use or In South Dakota, the plant usually grows in approve of peyote, and only about 2 percent of the glacial lake country in the northeast, the the Pine Ridge Oglalas are Peyotists. Many home of the Sisseton Sioux. The Oglalas have members of the church visit other tribes to attend attempted to grow sweet flag on their reserva­ meetings of this pan-Indian religion with ad­ tion, notably during the 1930s when it was herents in more than thirty tribes in the United planted in a lake east of the Pine Ridge Agency, States and Canada. but none remains today, although the plant is known to grow along Bordeaux Creek in the Pine Ridge of northwestern Nebraska, where it CONCLUSION is believed to have been planted by Indians (Red Although it is difficult to generalize, it seems Cloud, 1984). The Oglalas obtain most of their that the most frequently used medicinal herbs supply of sirkpe tawoie at powwows. among the Oglala Sioux are sage, cedar, sweet flag, sweet grass, and peyote. All except peyote PEYOTE are highly aromatic and all except peyote have Peyote (Lophophora williamsii Lem.) is not been continuously used by the Oglalas since a traditional plant of the Sioux but was intro­ considerably before they were settled at Pine duced into Pine Ridge between 1904 and 1912. Ridge. Two of the traditional plants, like pey­ Since the small, spineless, subtropical cactus ote, do not grow on the reservation and must will not grow in climates colder than its native be obtained by trade. The continuing trade in range in northern Mexico and southern Texas, medicinals and the efforts to establish sweet flag 34 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 1990 on the reservation indicate considerable cultural an oral language, spellings are not as regularized stability during a period of great stress and as they are in English. In this article we have change. The common use of the smoke treat­ followed the most generally used orthography, ment for healing also represents cultural contin­ that developed by the Reverend Eugene Buechel uance. While some Sioux associate plant teas and edited by the Reverend Paul Manhart as A and poultices with the chemistry of healing as Dictionary of the Teton Dakota Sioux Language implied by the Euro-American tradition of med­ (1970). The diacritical marks indicate pronun­ icine, purification by smoke is associated with ciation and thus distinguish between words that spiritual healing. Thus the most frequently used might be confused if transliterated more simply. traditional plants, the aromatics, which are com­ Some diacritical marks commonly used by La­ monly burned as incense, demonstrate a cultural kota linguists in 1990 have been added to those continuity more significant than just the ongoing Buechel used. use of herbs in a generally curative context. Symbols include the acute accent (') over a Amidst Oglala cultural change, the threads vowel, which marks an accented syllable; the of tradition have persisted. Since the 1960s there straight accent (') after a consonant, which marks has been a nationwide revitalization of Indian a glottal stop; the eta (1']), which marks a nasal values among Indians, including a resurgence vowel preceding; and the dot (') or ligature (') of traditional religion at Pine Ridge. The con­ over a letter, which usually marks gutturaliza­ tinuing use of medicinal plants among the Sioux tion. The following table indicates how letters seems assured, for plants are an integral part of used in the Lakota words in this article diverge Indian religious life locked into the cultural pat­ from the sounds they usually represent in En­ terns of religious ceremonies. The traditional glish: fires of the Oglala Sioux have not been extin­ c sounds ch as in chair guished; religious ceremonies have been rekin­ g sounds ch as in mach en (German) dled from the embers. Indian people still possess iz sounds h as in hog (gutturalized) knowledge of medicinal plants, where they are 7J sounds n as in ink found, how and when they are gathered, and p sounds b as in bill how they are used. Many of them are not med­ p sounds p as in pill (gutturalized) icine men, but like the medicine men, they un­ s sounds sh as in ship derstand the mystical essence of the medicinal t sounds d as in day plant world. These people are now increasing in number and they are more actively seeking ACKNOWLEDGMENTS information. At the same time medicine men are using a relatively large number of plants for The research and illustrations for this article both pharmaceutical and spiritual cures. To the were funded in part by the Chadron State Col­ extent the latter are considered sacred, they can­ lege Research Institute. We thank Denise Kruger, not be shared with non-Indians, and this writer Mary Waldron, and Paige Wolken of Chadron has tried to avoid trespassing on such beliefs. State College for assistance in preparing the This paper has tried to show that contemporary manuscript and James Gibson and Ann Keller uses of medicinal herbs among the Oglala Sioux of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for ver­ are one aspect of a culture that is both revital­ ifying the spellings and translations of Lakota izing tradition and, like any other living culture, names of herbs. Finally we thank Bellamy Parks growing and adapting. Jansen for her expert botanical illustrations.

NOTE ON LAKOTA SPELLINGS BIBLIOGRAPHY

Because Lakota has, until very recently, been Afraid-of-Bear, Rita R. 1989. Conversations with OGLALA HERB USE 35

Nathaniel Blindman. __ . 1983. "Hispano-Indian Trade of an Indian Bear Killer, Ralph, Sr. 1984. Chadron, Nebraska. Ceremonial Plant, Peyote (Lophophora william­ Interview with George Morgan. September. sii), on the Mustang Plains of Texas." Journal of Blindman, Nathaniel. 1989. Chadron, Nebraska. In­ Ethnopharmacology 9: 319-2l. terviews with Ronald Weedon. -_. 1983. "The Biogeography of Peyote in Buechel, Eugene. 1970. A Dictionary of the Teton Texas." Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard Dakota Sioux Language, ed. Paul Manhart. Pine University 29(2):73-86. Ridge, South Dakota: Red Cloud Indian School, --, and Orner C. Stewart. 1984. "Peyote Trade Inc. in South Texas," Southwestern Historical Quart­ Conquering Bear, William. 1984. Pine Ridge, South erly 87(3):269-96. Dakota. Interview with George Morgan. Septem­ Red Cloud, Bernard. 1984. Pine Ridge, South Da­ ber. kota. Interview with George Morgan. June. Foster, Steven. 1985, 2nd ed. Echinacea Exalted! Rogers, Dilwyn J. 1980a. Lakota Names and Tra­ The Botany, Culture, History and Medicinal Uses ditional Uses of Native Plants by Sicangu (Brule) of the Purple C oneflowers . Brixey, Missouri: People in the Rosebud Area, South Dakota, A Ozark Beneficial Plant Project. Study Based on Father Buechel's Collection of Gibson, James. 1989. Lincoln, Nebraska. Notes of Plants of Rosebud Around 1920. St. Francis, South interview with Ann Keller. November. Dakota: Buechel Memorial Lakota Museum. Gilmore, Melvin Randol ph. 1913. "Some Native Ne­ __ . 1980b. Edible, Medicinal, Useful, and Poi­ braska Plants with their Uses by the Dakota." sonous Wild Plants of the Northern Great Plains­ Collections of the Nebraska State Historical So­ South Dakota Region. St. Francis, South Dakota: ciety 17:358-70. Buechel Memorial Lakota Museum. __ . 1914 (thesis). Uses of Plants by Indians of Vestal, Paul A. 1952. "The Ethnobotany of the Ra­ the Missouri River Region. Reprint 1977. Lincoln: mah Navajo." Papers: Peabody Museum Ameri­ University of Nebraska Press. can Archeology and Ethnology XL:4. Harvard Keller, Ann. 1989. Lincoln, Nebraska. Interview with University. James Gibson. November. Walks, Jonas. 1983-85. Chadron, Nebraska. Inter­ Long Visitor, Rex. 1984. Pine Ridge, South Dakota. views with George Morgan. Nov. 1983, Jan. 1984, Interview with George Morgan. June/July. Jan. 1985. Morgan, George R. 1980. "The Ethnobotany of Sweet Weasel Bear, Beatrice. 1983-85. Chadron, Nebraska. Flag Among North American Indians." Botanical Interviews with George Morgan. Nov. 1983, Jan. Museum Leaflets, Harvard University 28(3):235- 1985. 46.