Violet—The Onondaga name signifies “two heads entangled,” referring, we are told, to “the way so often seen where the heads are interlocked and pulled apart by the stems” (W. M. Beauchamp, in Journal of American Folk-Lore, October, 1888).
Cedar—For references to the sacred character of the cedar among the plains tribes, see the author’s Ghost-dance Religion, in the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, part 2, 1896.
Linn and basswood—The ancient Tuscarora believed that no tree but black gum was immune from lightning, which, they declared, would run round the tree a great many times seeking in vain to effect an entrance. Lawson, who records the belief, adds: “Now, you must understand that sort of gum will not split or rive: therefore, I suppose the story might arise from thence” (Carolina, pp. 345–346, ed. 1860). The Pawnee claim the same immunity for the cedar, and throw sprigs of it as incense upon the fire during storms to turn aside the lightning stroke (Grinnell, Pawnee Hero Stories, p. 126).
Ginseng—For more concerning this plant see the author’s Sacred Formulas, above mentioned.
[1] Asher & Co., Berlin, 1895. [↑]
[2] Antiquities of the Cherokee Indians, compiled from the collection of Reverend Sabin Buttrick, their missionary from 1817 to 1847, as presented in the Indian Chieftain; Vinita, Indian Territory, 1884. [↑]
[3] Buttrick, Antiquities of the Cherokee Indians, pp. 9–10. [↑]