Pueblo Culture

PUEBLO CULTURE ETHNOBOTANY

Wild Plant/ Domesticated Plant	Scientific Name	Use
Alligator Juniper	Juniperus deppeana Steud.	Food	Large fruit boiled and eaten as food, berries boiled for food.
American Plum	Prunus americana Marsh.	Food	Fruit eaten for food.
		Dye	Root bark, alder root bark and mountain mahogany root bark used to make a red dye for buckskin.
Apache Plume	Fallugia paradoxa (D. Don) Endl. ex Torr.	Tools	Branches bound together & used as a broom for outdoor sweeping & to separate chaff from the wheat.
		Weapons	Straight sticks used for arrow shafts.
Banana Yucca	Yucca baccata Torr.	Food	Fruit baked, seasoned and used for food, sun dried fruit used for winter storage, fruit eaten fresh or boiled, cooled and the skin peeled off with a knife, flesh cooked, made into pats, sun dried and eaten as a conserve, fruit made into conserves and used as a sweetener before the introduction of coffee and sugar.fruit often eaten by deer which left few for the Isletans.
		Basketry	Fibers used to make baskets, split leaves used to make winnowing baskets, baskets for serving food & for transporting materials, interlaced leaves used to make baskets, used to make sifting baskets.
		Tools	Fibers used to make small brushes for pottery decoration.
		Cordage	Fibers used to make cords and ropes, leaves boiled, chewed and made into a double-stranded cord.
		Decorations	Fibers used to make plaques.
		Soap	Roots pounded, made into suds in cold water and used for washing, roots bruised, placed in water and used to wash woolens, cotton fabrics, feathers and hair.
		Ceremony	(Tewa) Infusion of root used as a wash in adoption and name-giving ceremonies. (Zuni) Leaf fibers made into cords used to tie prayer plume offerings together & for other ceremonial uses, narrow leaf bands worn around the head by personators of anthropic gods, plant used ceremonially for a great variety of purposes.
		Cloth	Leaves boiled, chewed and fiber woven into skirts and kilts, leaf fibers used in weaving fabrics.
		Misc.	Leaves split and plaited into mats to cover various vessels, dried leaves split, plaited and made into water-carrying head pads.
Beans (Note: Most dry beans grown in North America are of the same species)	Phaseolus vulgaris L.	Food	Cultivated beans used for food, beans boiled & fried or crushed, boiled beans mixed with mush, baked in corn husks & used for food, boiled and fried beans used for food, beans formerly ground into flour and prepared as mush.
Bearded Flatsedge	Cyperus squarrosus L.	Food	Tubers eaten.
Birchleaf Mountain Mahogany	Cercocarpus montanus var. glaber (S. Wats.) F.L. Martin	Tools	Wood used to make implements.
Black Chokecherry	Prunus virginiana var. melanocarpa (A. Nels.) Sarg.	Food	Fruits eaten fresh, fruits dried for winter use.
		Weapons	Wood, backed with sinew, made into bows.
Blue Grama	Bouteloua gracilis (Willd. ex Kunth) Lag. ex Griffiths	Food	Used as an important forage grass.
		Basketry	Used as the fill of coiled basketry.
Blue Lettuce	Lactuca tatarica var. pulchella (Pursh) Breitung	Food	Gummy substance from the root used for chewing gum.
Blunt Tastymustard	Descurainia obtusa (Greene) O.E. Schulz	Food	Young plants boiled as greens.
Bluntseed Sweetroot	Osmorhiza depauperata Phil.	Drink	Roots and stems boiled to make a beverage.
Bottle Gourd (Note: Many gourds are of the same species)	Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.	Ceremony	Used as prayer sticks, covered with a cord net to be used as water containers in ceremonies and buried with the dead, used as trumpets or megaphones to represent the bellowing of the plumed serpent in ceremonies.
		Containers	Used as containers for sacred honey, cups, seed bottles and medicine holders.
		Cooking	Used as dippers, canteens and spoons.
		Decorations	Used to make noses, horns and flowers for masks.
		Hunting	Used in hunting to imitate the sound of a deer.
		Music	Used as rattles.
		Tools	Used as pottery scrapers.
Boxelder	Acer negundo L.	Ceremony	(Keres) Twigs made into prayer sticks.
Broadleaf Cattail	Typha latifolia L.	Food	Roots and tender shoots salted and eaten as food, shoots ground, mixed with corn meal and used as food.
		Ceremony	(Keres) Ripened cattails shaken in the rain dance to produce clouds, fuzz used ritually like prayer meal or pollen.
		Building	Cattails used to support the mud of thatched roofs.
		Misc.	Used to make sleeping mats.
Broom Snakeweed	Gutierrezia sarothrae (Pursh) Britt. & Rusby	Ceremony	Used as prayer stick decorations.
		Soap	Infusion of leaves used as pleasant and refreshing bath.
Bulbil Onion	Allium geyeri var. tenerum M.E. Jones	Food	Bulbs used largely for seasoning.
Bulbous Springparsley	Cymopterus bulbosus A. Nels.	Food	Eaten like celery.
Canyon Grape	Vitis arizonica Engelm.	Food	Fruit considered an important part of the diet.
Cactus Apple	Opuntia engelmannii Salm-Dyck	Food	Ripe tunas eaten fresh, tunas split, dried, ground and the meal mixed with corn meal to make a mush for winter use, seeds ground with white corn and meal eaten as mush.
		Cooking	Tunas used as a red dye for corn mush.
		Paint	Tunas used for red paint.
		Tools	Thorns used for needles.
Canada Cockleburr	Xanthium strumarium var. canadense (P. Mill.) Torr. & Gray	Food	Seeds ground, mixed with corn meal, made into pats and steamed, seeds ground with corn meal, made into cakes or balls, steamed and used for food.
		Ceremony	(Zuni) Chewed seeds rubbed on body prior to cactus ceremony to protect from spines.
Carruth's Sagewort	Artemisia carruthii Wood ex Carruth.	Food	Ground seeds mixed with water, made into balls, steamed and used for food, Seeds considered among the most important food plants when the Zuni reached this world.
Cayenne Pepper	Capsicum annuum L.	Food	Dried peppers crushed and used as flavoring for food, fruits strung and dried for winter use, cultivated and eaten almost daily or sometimes at more than one meal per day.
Cinchweed Fetidmarigold	Pectis papposa Harvey & Gray	Ceremony	(Zuni) Chewed blossoms used as perfume before a dance in ceremonies of the secret fraternities.
Clark Valley Larkspur	Delphinium geraniifolium Rydb.	Ceremony	Plant used ceremonially (Hopi)
Cliff Fendlerbush	Fendlera rupicola Gray	Ceremony	Used in religious ceremonies.
Club Cholla	Opuntia clavata Engelm.	Food	Stems and fruits roasted and eaten in times of food shortage, joints roasted and eaten during famines.
Colorado Four O'Clock	Mirabilis multiflora (Torr.) Gray	Ceremony	Root chewed by medicine man to induce visions while making a diagnosis.
		Hunting	Heavy root used to anchor the bird trap string.
		Smoking	Dried leaves used as tobacco.
Colorado Rubberweed	Hymenoxys richardsonii var. floribunda (Gray) Parker	Food	Roots used as chewing gum.
Common Dunebroom	Parryella filifolia Torr. & Gray ex Gray	Basketry	Pleasantly fragrant plant used for weaving baskets.
		Ceremony	Plant used to weave kachina masks.
Common Hackberry	Celtis occidentalis L.	Food	Berries used extensively for food.
Common Mullein	Verbascum thapsus L.	Ceremony	Leaves used as a ceremonial tobacco.
Common Plaqntain	Plantago major L.	Food	Tender shoots used for food.
Common Reed	Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.	Weapons	Plant used to make arrows.
		Ceremony	Associated ceremonially with the bow and arrow.
		Toys/Games	(Tewa) Plant used to make game sticks for the canute game.
		Misc.	Used for roofing, tubular pipes, pipe stems and weaving rods.
Common Sunflower	Helianthus annuus L.	Ceremony	Petals dried, ground, mixed with yellow corn meal and used as a face powder in women's basket dance, pith used to light the ceremonial cigarettes. (Zuni) Blossoms used ceremonially for anthropic worship.
Cooper's Rubberweed	Hymenoxys cooperi (Gray) Cockerell	Drink	Used to make tea.
		Dye	Used for a dye.
Copper Globemallow	Sphaeralcea angustifolia (Cav.) G. Don	Ceremony	Root sap rubbed on the skin and used as glue for feathers and cotton during dances.
		Paint	Root skin pounded into powder, water added and used as face paint for dances.
Corn (Note: All corn is of the same species and descended from a grass called teosinte.	Zea Mays	Food	(Hopi) Seeds ground into meal and used to make wafer bread, pit baked, husked, strung and sun dried, grains soaked in water with juniper ash, boiled and washed to make hominy, made into hominy and other dishes, plant constituted the main food supply, ground into meal, ears pit-baked, husked, strung, sun dried and used as a sweetener in the winter, pit baked and eaten immediately. (Isleta) Corn meal used to make various breads, parched corn eaten as a confection, corn meal used to make a mush, parched corn eaten as a staple, evaporated liquid from crushed, soaked stalks used to make sugar, corn husks used to wrap tamales, corn meal used to make mush, dried and stored for winter use. (Pueblo) Cornmeal used ceremonially. (Keres) Corn meal used as one of the main foods, roasted corn ears eaten warm for food, roasted corn ears dried and stored for winter use. (Zia) Corn and wheat, the most important foods, used for food. (Tewa) Corn ground on a metate, formed into cakes, rolled and baked, husks, stalks and leaves used for stock winter forage, used as a staple food. (Zuni) Toasted or untoasted corn ground into a flour and used to make bread, corn used to make gruel, corn used to make popcorn, toasted or untoasted corn ground into a flour and used to make bread eaten as a staple on journeys, corn ears carried or secretly worn in dances by personators of anthropic gods, ribboned corn husks used as hair decorations in ceremonies, corn meal wrapped in husks given to theurgists visiting the sick, white corn meal made into a mush and used ceremonially during the death of a rain priest, balls of husks covered with woven cotton used ceremonially to insure bountiful crops, ribboned corn husks used as hair decorations in ceremonies.
		Drink	(Isleta) Ground corn used to make a slightly intoxicating beverage, (Tewa) Corn ground and sifted into boiling water to make a gruel formerly drunk in the morning, Corn meal mixed with cold water and drunk as a nourishing drink. (Zuni) Popped corn ground as fine as possible, mixed with cold water, strained and used as a beverage.
		Ceremony	(Hopi) Used in almost all ceremonies either as corn meal, as an actual ear of corn or as a painting, ceremonially associated with the northeast direction, whole ears boiled and given as presents during the winter ceremonies, ceremonially associated with the nadir. (Isleta) Corn husks used as cigarette papers for the ceremonial cigarettes, corn silks used in the "Corn Dances," pollen used in the "Corn Dances," (Keres) Corn pollen and corn meal used for many ceremonial purposes, corn meal sprinkled by everyone before eating and prayer repeated. (Tewa) Husks twisted and used to make the framework and mounts for feathers in ceremonial ornaments.
		Funeral	(Isleta) Corn meal smeared on the body in the burial ceremony.
		Cash Crop	(Tewa) Formerly bartered with the Comanche for prepared buffalo hides.
		Smoking	(Tewa) Husks made into cigarettes.
		Tools	(Tewa) Cobs used to make handles and holders.
Coyote Tobacco	Nicotiana attenuata Torr. ex S. Wats.	Smoking	Dried leaves and other plant parts smoked in pipes and cigarettes. (Zuni) Leaves smoked ceremonially.
Creeping Barberry	Mahonia repens (Lindl.) G. Don	Ceremony	Yellow root and leaves used for ceremonial purposes in the Home Dance (Hopi).
Crested Pricklypoppy	Argemone polyanthemos (Fedde) G.B. Ownbey	Ceremony	Plant used to whip children during initiation.
Crispleaf Buckwheat	Eriogonum corymbosum Benth.	Food	Boiled stalks pressed into cakes, dried and eaten with salt.
Crookneck Squash	Cucurbita moschata (Duchesne ex Lam.) Duchesne ex Poir.	Food	Meat boiled or baked, meat cut spirally, wound into long bundles, tied in pairs and dried for winter use, flowers used to make special foods, seeds roasted and eaten.
		Cooking	Seeds used to oil the "piki" stones.
		Container	Dried shell used by children to carry parched corn.
		Music	Shell dried and used as a sounding board for musical rasps.
Cutleaf Nightshade	Solanum triflorum Nutt.	Food	Ripe fruit boiled, ground, mixed with ground chile & salt & eaten as a condiment with mush or bread, berries eaten in times of famine.
Datura or Jimson Weed or Sacred Thornapple	Datura wrightii Regel	Narcotic	Hallucinogen (Deadly poisonous) Root chewed to induce visions by medicine man while making a diagnosis, plant well known for the narcotic properties.
		Ceremony	Powdered root used by rain priests in a number of ways to ensure fruitful rains.
Deergrass	Muhlenbergia rigens (Benth.) A.S. Hitchc.	Ceremony	(Zuni) Grass attached to sticks of plume offerings to anthropic gods.
Desert Princesplume	Stanleya pinnata (Pursh) Britt.	Food	Boiled plant used for greens in the spring.
Desert Tobacco	Nicotiana obtusifolia var. obtusifolia	Smoking	Wild tobacco smoked.
Douglas Fir	Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirbel) Franco	Ceremony	Plant sometimes used in ceremonies.
Dwarf Mentzella	Mentzelia pumila Nutt. ex Torr. & Gray	Smoking	Plant used as a substitute for tobacco.
Erect Spiderling	Boerhavia erecta L.	Misc.	Sticky leaves and stem hung in house to catch flies.
Falsepennyroyal	Hedeoma nana (Torr.) Briq.	Soap	Infusion of plant used as a hair wash and body bath.
		Food	Leaves chewed for the mint flavor.
Fendler's Horsenettle	Solanum fendleri Gray ex Torr.	Food	Potatoes eaten raw or cooked with clay to counteract the astringency.
Fendler's Springparsley	Cymopterus acaulis var. fendleri (Gray) Goodrich	Food	Plant eaten much as celery.
Field Pumpkin	Cucurbita pepo L.	Domestic Food	Fresh squash cut into spiral strips, folded into hanks and hung up to dry for winter use, blossoms cooked in grease and used as a delicacy in combination with other foods, fresh squash, either whole or in pieces, roasted in ashes and used for food.
		Ceremony	Gourds worn in phallic dances symbolizing fructification or made into ceremonial rattles.
		Containers	Gourds made into receptacles for storing precious articles.
		Cooking	Gourds made into cups, ladles and dippers and put to various uses.
Fineleaf Hymenopappus	Hymenopappus filifolius Hook.	Food	Leaves boiled, rubbed with cornmeal and baked into bread, root used as chewing gum.
		Ceremony	Compound containing plant used as a ceremonial emetic.
		Drink	Used to make tea and coffee.
		Dye	Used for dye.
Fendler's Groundcherry	Physalis hederifolia var. fendleri (Gray) Cronq.	Food	Fruit boiled in small quantities of water, crushed and used as a condiment.
Fendler's Horsenettle	Solanum fendleri Gray ex Torr.	Food	Raw tubers used for food.
Fetid Goosefoot	Chenopodium graveolens Willd.	Food	Seeds ground, mixed with corn meal and made into small dumplings wrapped in corn husks.
Fourwing Saltbush	Atriplex canescens (Pursh) Nutt.	Cooking	Ashes used as alkali to maintain blue coloring of piki bread, ashes used as baking soda
		Ceremony	(Hopi) Plant used to make pahos (prayer sticks), plant used for kiva fires. (Zuni) Twigs attached to prayer plumes and sacrificed to the cottontail rabbit to ensure good hunting.
Fremont's Goosefoot	Chenopodium fremontii S. Wats.	Food	Ground seeds used to make mush, leaves cooked alone as greens or boiled and eaten with a number of other foods, leaves used as flavoring with meat or other vegetables, leaves packed around yucca fruit when baked in earth oven.
Fremont's Mahonia	Mahonia fremontii (Torr.) Fedde	Tools	Wood used to make various tools.
		Ceremony	Crushed berries used as purple coloring for the skin and for objects employed in ceremonies.
Fringed Sagewort	Artemisia frigida Willd.	Food	Used with sweet corn when roasting.
		Ceremony	Sprig attached to the prayer emblem and regarded as efficacious in petitions for water, plant used to make pahos (prayer sticks).
Galleta	Pleuraphis jamesii Torr.	Basketry	Grass used by the women to make coil trays, used as the fill of coiled basketry.
		Tools	Culms used as a floor and hair brush.
		Ceremony	Used as the artificial arm worn by the manipulator of the serpent effigy.
		Decoration	Stems used to form the base of the coils for manufactured plaques.
Gambel's Oak	Quercus gambelii Nutt.	Food	Acorns ground into meal, acorns boiled and eaten.
		Sewing	Wood used to make embroidery stretchers.
		Tools	Woods used to make digging sticks, wood used to make rabbit sticks and other utensils.
		Weapons	Woods used to make bows and war clubs.
Geyer's Onion	Allium geyeri S. Wats.	Food	Used for flavoring before the introduction of the cultivated onion, eaten raw with cornmeal dumplings or fresh piki bread.
Geyer's Smooth Aster	Symphyotrichum laeve var. geyeri (Gray) Nesom	Food	Flowers mixed with parched corn and eaten.
		Dye	Flowers mixed with white clay and used to dye wool or eggs.
Giant Dropseed	Sporobolus giganteus Nash	Food	Seeds threshed, ground with corn into fine meal and used to make a mush, seeds used as flavoring for corn meal.
		Ceremony	(Hopi) Stems used to make pahos (prayer sticks), bundles of plant used to cover kiva entrance during Bean Ceremonial, pollen used in the hunting ceremony.
Giant Goldenrod	Solidago gigantea Ait.	Basketry	Stems made into rough baskets.
Giant Sandreed	Calamovilfa gigantea (Nutt.) Scribn. & Merr.	Ceremony	Plant used in the Flute ceremony, plumes used to decorate masks, plumes used to decorate mask of kachina, plant used to make a carrying case for a part of the wedding garments, plant used to make prayer sticks.
		Weapons	Plant used to make bows and arrows.
Gilia Beardtongue	Penstemon ambiguus Torr.	Ceremony	Plant, associated with east direction, used in the Po-wa-mu ceremony.
Golden Mariposa Lily	Calochortus aureus S. Wats.	Food	Bulbs and flowers eaten, roots eaten raw.
		Ceremony	Ceremonially used as the Yellow Flower associated with the northwest direction.
Golden Tickseed	Coreopsis tinctoria var. tinctoria	Food	Plant formerly used to make a hot beverage until the introduction of coffee by traders.
		Dye	Blossoms used with other flowers as a mahogany red dye for yarn.
Graceful Buttercup	Ranunculus inamoenus Greene	Food	Roots used for food.
Green Rabbitbush	Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus (Hook.) Nutt.	Food	Plant used as a herb.
		Dye	Blossoms used as a yellow dye for wools and cotton yarn.
		Ceremony	Plant used for ceremonies, used as prayer stick decorations.
		Cooking	Plant used for roasting corn.
Greene's Rabbitbush	Chrysothamnus greenei (Gray) Greene	Ceremony	Used as prayer stick decorations.
Green Indian Paintbrush	Castilleja miniata ssp. miniata	Ceremony	(Acoma) Plant held by women for decoration during the harvest dance.
Greenstripe	Amaranthus acanthochiton Sauer	Food	Cooked with meat and eaten as greens.
		Famine Food	Used numerous times to ward off famines.
Hollyleaf Barberry	Mahonia aquifolium (Pursh) Nutt.	Prophylactic	(Acoma & Laguna) Plant chewed for sickness that occurred during hunting when approached by a dying deer.
Heartleaf Four O'Clock	Mirabilis nyctaginea (Michx.) MacM.	Smoking	Leaves used as tobacco.
Honey Mesquite	Prosopis glandulosa Torr.	Food	Beans eaten raw or cooked as string beans, beans ground into a flour, made into a mush and used for food, beans toasted and eaten as a confection by sucking out the juice, beans formerly ground into flour and prepared as mush.
		Weapons	Limbs used to make shafts for hunting arrows.
Hooker's Buckwheat	Eriogonum hookeri S. Wats.	Food	Boiled with mush for flavor.
Hopi Tea Greenthread	Thelesperma megapotamicum (Spreng.) Kuntze	Beverage	Infusion of plant used as a beverage.
Howard's Rabbitbush	Ericameria parryi var. howardii (Parry ex Gray) Nesom & Baird	Ceremony	Plant used in initiatory ceremonials, dried plant used as one of the four prescribed kiva fuels,