Herba Cana - Northeastern Illinois University

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Packera/Senecio 

(Packera: Named in 1976 by Askell and Doris B.M. 

Löve for Canadian botanist John G. Packer; Senecio: 

From Latin senex, an old man, alluding to the white 

pubescence of many species, or the white pappus) 

Packera aurea. a. Plant in flower. b. Ray flower. c. Disk 

flower. d. Longitudinal section. e. Seed. From Buchholtz 

1968. 

a˚kersvineblom (field-wine-bloom, Senecio vulgaris, 

Norwegian) 

bualan [am bualan] (Gaelic) 

cardo morto (dead thistle, S. vulgaris, Portuguese) 

erba calderugia (bowl herb, maybe from the 

resemblance of the involucre to a bowl or 

volcanic caldera, S. vulgaris, Italian) 

gemeines Kreuzkraut (common cross-herb, 

S. vulgaris, German) 

Greiskraut (gray [aged] herb, German) 

groundsel (derived about A.D. 700 from Anglo- 

Saxon grundeswelgiae, pus-absorber; perhaps, 

but less convincingly, from grundeswylige, 

ground-absorber, because of its rapid spread) 

P 

herba cana (white-haired herb, S. vulgaris, 

Spanish) 

lus Phara léith (gray-headed Patrick’s herb, Gaelic) 

ragweeds (a name applied to Senecio since ca. 

1658, and expanded to Ambrosia ca. 1866) 

ragwort (probably applied because of the ragged 

leaves; used in English by A.D. 1450; applied at 

least by John Gerarde in 1597 to St. James wort, 

S. jacobaea) 

sciopeti (Venetian dialect for ‘‘little exploders’’ 

because you can take the bracteal cup and hit 

the back of your hand and it will make a noise 

like a little explosion, Italian) 

séneçon (old one, French); suzón (S. vulgaris, 

Spanish) 

tasneirinha (diminutive of tasneira or taneceto, 

from Tanacetum, alluding to the resemblance 

between that member of the Asteraceae and S. 

vulgaris, Portuguese) 

Packera anonyma (nameless) ( /Senecio 

anonymus) 

Small’s ragwort (Nathaniel L. Britton tried to 

name this species S. smallii, for John K. Small, 

but he proposed that name in 1890, and 

Alphonse W. Wood had already named the plant 

in 1861) 

Packera aurea (golden) ( /Senecio aureus) 

butter weed (unexplained by Williams [1837] 1962; 

perhaps for the butter-yellow flowers) 

false valerian (the name alludes to Valeriana, a 

widely used medicinal herb) 

female regulator (alluding to use in controlling 

fertility or use during childbirth?) 

fireweed (usually given to Onagraceae, formerly 

Epilobium, and to Asteraceae, Erechtites) 

golden ragwort 

golden senecio (book name) 

Goldenes Kreuzkraut (golden cross-herb, German) 

hanatcuwi·’hare (make [child] come quick, Catawba) 

life-root [liferoot]; life-wort [lifewort] 

squaw-weed (‘‘squaw’’ from the Narragansett 

squaws, Massachusetts squa, woman, with related 

forms in other Algonquian languages; 

combined with ‘‘weed’’ by 1847 by Darlington 

who wrote that it ‘‘had been denounced ... as 

being poisonous to sheep’’) 

477


478 Florida Ethnobotany 

unkun (English? a name unexplained by Millspaugh 

1892) 

When Wunderlin (1998) published his Guide to the 

Vascular Plants of Florida, he used the long-established 

genus Senecio, based on the Latin name of a plant 

used by Pliny. The name alludes to the white pubescence 

of many species or to the white hairs of the 

pappus. Later, Wunderlin and Hanson (2002) accepted 

several changes in the genera of Asteraceae and began 

using the genus Packera for a group of 60 to 65 

species, mostly in North America, with 16 in Mexico, 

and others in Siberia. Kartesz (1994) continued using 

Senecio in the broad sense, so both options are given 

here. 

Regardless of the name, the species contain potent 

pyrrolizidine alkaloids (e.g., senecionine), which cause 

liver damage if ingested (Lewis and Elvin-Lewis 1977, 

Lampe and McCann 1985). That damage occurs 

through acute venous occlusions in the liver (Budd- 

Chiari syndrome), and can lead to cirrhosis and, in 

some cases, death (Lampe and McCann 1985, Foster 

and Duke 1990). 

In spite of their toxic properties, some species were 

still being used externally in Europe in the 1970s as 

poultices for wounds and abscesses (OED 1971). 

Bown (1995) found that P. aurea still is grown in 

Belorussia, central Russia, and the Ukraine for the 

pharmaceutical industry. 

Plants in this group of Asteraceae have been used 

by people for thousands of years in both hemispheres. 

Famous species in Europe are S. cineraria, S. jacobaea, 

and S. vulgaris (Polunin 1969). Vickery (1995) 

found people still applying S. vulgaris to cuts, treating 

ague with it, and using it as a laxative. Senecio 

jabocaea was associated with witches and fairies 

in the British Isles and is known in Gaelic as 

buadhghallan buidhe [buaghallan, boholàun, boholàun 

buidhe] (buadh, virtuous, ghallan, branch, buidhe, 

yellow). 

In the Americas, the Catawba used P. anonyma to 

treat consumption (Moerman 1998). The Cherokee 

used P. aurea as a contraceptive and for heart trouble 

(Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). The Iroquois used P. 

aureus for the blood, as a diaphoretic, to reduce fever 

in children, and to treat broken bones (Moerman 

1998). 

Porcher (1863) wrote, ‘‘It is said by [David] 

Schoepf to have been a favorite vulnerary with the 

Indians; the juice of the plant in honey, or the seeds in 

substance, are employed.’’ Millspaugh (1892) knew 

that the plants had been used by indigenous people to 

stop bleeding, as an abortivant, and a vulnerary. It was 

recommended for controlling bleeding in the lungs, for 

uterine problems, as a diuretic, pectoral, diaphoretic, 

and tonic. 

Bown (1995) still maintained that P. aurea is a 

bitter, astringent herb that is diuretic, stimulates the 

uterus, and controls bleeding. However, she added that 

it should be used by ‘‘qualified practitioners only,’’ 

and that it is subject to legal restrictions in some 

countries. Duke et al. (2002), who typically give levelheaded 

recommendations, list P. aurea as ‘‘XXX’’*/ 

not to be used (think of each X ‘‘as a skull and 

crossbones’’). Hocking (1997) noted that P. anonyma 

has been said to have antitumor properties, but gives 

no reference. 

Moerman (1998) found ten other species of 

Senecio and Packera being used by different tribes 

within North America. Thus, it would be surprising if 

other species (P. glabella, P. obovata, and P. paupercula) 

had not been used by indigenous tribes. However, 

of these, P. glabella has an enormous range in 

North America and no records have been found of 

anyone using it. 

Panicum 

(From the classical Latin name of bread, panis, or 

millet, panus; related to Akkadian panu, Italian pane, 

bread) 

cockspur (originally the spur on a cock or male 

chicken, used since at least the 1590s; awns on 

some grasses led to the comparison with the 

fowl) 

Hirse (German) 

millet (from Latin millium, having a thousand 

grains, French); miglio (Italian); milho (Portuguese) 

Panicum hemitomon (halved, from the somewhat 

one-sided spikes) 

cintha:câ:bî (snake tail replica, Mikasuki); 

cintha:cî (snake tail, Mikasuki) 

maiden-cane [maidencane] (perhaps meaning 

‘‘grass resembling harvest maiden,’’ from the 

old tradition of forming the last handful of 

wheat into the shape of a woman; harvest 

maiden also known as kirn-baby and kirn-doll, 

from the 1770s but surely much older as ‘‘kirn’’ 

dates to the 1300s, USA) 

pahitoɬ piɬ î (pahi, grass, toɬ piɬ l, knees, Mikasuki); 

[pahitóɬ piɬ ó:cî] pahitórpiró:cî (pahi, grass, toɬ piɬ l, 

knees, oci, small, Mikasuki)


The Ethnobotany 479 

Panicum hemitomon. From Institute of Food and Agricultural 

Sciences. 

Panicum laxiflorum (loosely flowered) (as 

P. xalapense) ( /Dichanthelium laxiflorum) 

open-flower witch-grass [openflower witchgrass] 

(Florida) 

soft-tufted panic-grass [soft-tufted panicgrass] 

Panicum strigosum (with appressed hairs) (as 

P. polycaulon) ( /Dichanthelium strigosum) 

cofimássi (cufe, rabbit, em, its, vsse, dried leaves, 

Creek); cokfimasí (cokfí, rabbit, im, its, híssi, 

leaves, Koasati); cokfímpatâ:kî [tcokfwimpataki] 

(rabbit’s bed, Mikasuki) 

cushion-tufted panic-grass [cushion-tufted panicgrass] 

rough-hair witch-grass [roughhair witchgrass] 

(Florida) 

Hogan (1978) found pollen of Panicum hemitomon 

in the coprolites of the Glades people that she studied. 

As they were living beside vast stands of the windpollinated 

plants, that is no clear indication that they 

used the grass. However, being in a pre-Columbian 

context and having historical documentation of use is 

provocative. The Seminoles too know these formerly 

abundant grasses (Sturtevant 1955), and at least use 

them to the extent of ‘‘reading’’ the landscape. Where 

there is pahitóɬ piɬ ó:cî, they know that the water 

remains near a certain depth. That constitutes part 

of their knowledge of the landscape. 

Because of doubtful identifications, Moerman 

(1998) placed all the grasses used by the Creeks, 

Natchez, and Seminoles under Panicum sp. However, 

the species recorded by Sturtevant (1955) are reliably 

known. Since Sturtevant (1955) indicated that a third 

species was similarly used, perhaps others were used 

by the Seminoles’ relatives, the Creeks. 

The Creeks and Natchez used a Panicum leaf 

infusion for fevers, especially malaria (Swanton 1928a, 

Taylor 1940). Symptoms of those diseases are close 

enough to the Seminole malady called ‘‘Gopher 

Tortoise Sickness’’ (cough, dry throat, noisy chest) 

to suggest that the Creeks and Natchez used the same 

grasses. The Seminoles also used cokfímpatâ:kî for 

‘‘Rabbit Sickness’’ (muscle cramps) (Sturtevant 1955). 

The Cherokee used some Panicum, possibly more 

than one species, for padding inside their moccasins 

(Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). 

Parietaria 

(Linnaeus based this on Latin parietis, a wall, in 

reference to its frequent occurrence there) 

bartram [bertram] (an English corruption of 

Greek pyrethrum, from pyros, fire; the name 

was originally given to Anacyclus pyrethrum or 

pellitory of Spain by at least 1578 with Henry 

Lyte’s translation of Dodoens’s Cruydeboek of 

1554; later the name became secondarily applied 

to Parietaria, because both were called pellitory) 

blidnesle (gentle nettle, Norwegian) 

Glaskraut (glass herb, German) 

lus a’ bhalla (wall herb, Gaelic) 

parietaria (from Latin parietis, Italian, Spanish); 

parietária (Portuguese); pariétarie (French); pellitory 

(from Latin parietis) 

Parietaria floridana (from Florida) 

herbe à murailles (wall herb, Haiti) 

herbe gras (fat herb, Haiti) 

paille à terre (country straw, Haiti)



Parietaria floridana. a. Section of plant. b. Flower, side view. 

c. Flower, longitudinally dissected. d. Fruit. e. Achene. 

f. Floral diagram. Drawn by Priscilla Fawcett. From Correll 

and Correll 1982. 

parietaria (pellitory, Dominican Republic); pariétarie 

(pellitory, Haiti); pariétarie capitee (pellitory 

with heads, Haiti); pariétarie sauvage (wild 

pellitory, Haiti); pellitory (Florida) 

thé del malheureux (tea for the unfortunate, Haiti) 

Newcomers to the New World were able to 

recognize this southeastern plant because they knew 

European ‘‘pellitory-of-the-wall’’ or ‘‘mind-your-ownbusiness’’ 

(Paritaria judaica in western and southern 

Europe and P. officinalis in central and southern 

Europe). Parietaria officinalis was famous and was 

known in 16th-century English as parietorior or 

pellitoire of the wall, in German as Tag und Nacht 

(day and night), Sanct Peterskraut (St. Peter’s herb), 

Glaszkraut (glass herb), or Dutch glascruyt (glass 

herb). Keeping closer to the Latin, the French said 

parietaire or laparitoire, the Italians and Spanish 

parietaria. Old World people took their use from 

classical authors Dioscorides (fl. A.D. 40 /80), Galen 

(ca. A.D. 129 /ca. 199), and Aëtius (A.D. 527 /565), and 

used it for kidney stones, as a diuretic, and to treat 

hemorrhoids (Meyer et al. 1999). Finding a similar 

plant in the Americas, they used it largely for the same 

problems. 

In Hispaniola, fresh P. floridana is diuretic and is 

also used for painful hemorrhoids (Liogier 1974). 

Haitians consider an infusion of the plant a diuretic 

for use in treating angina and gout (Morton 1981). 

Parietaria is also used for erysipelas and earache. 

Parthenocissus 

(Jules Emile Planchon, 1823 /1888, combined Greek 

parthenos, virgin, and kissos, ivy, perhaps alluding to 

the unisexual flowers) 

Parthenocissus quinquefolia. Drawn by P.N. Honychurch. 

Jungfraurebe (virgin vine, German); vigne-vierge 

(virgin vine, French) 

vite del Canadà (Canada grape, Italian) 

Parthenocissus quinquefolia (with five leaflets) 

American ivy 

false grape; parrita cimarróna (little wild grape) 

five-leaves; l’herb à cinq feuilles (five-leaved herb, 

Houma, Louisiana)



ifá imittó (ifá, dog,im, its, ittó, tree, Koasati) 

ingtha hazi itai (ghost grapes; hazi, grapes, 

Omaha-Ponca) 

manido’bima’kwud (manido, spirit, Ojibwa) 

omakaski’bag (toad weed, Potawatomi) 

sa-tai-al-go (paint berries, Kiowa) 

vfala omat [afala oma] (vfala, poison ivy, omat, 

like, Creek) 

vigne-vierge (virgin vine, Quebec); Virginia [Virginian] 

creeper (‘‘creeper’’ is another word for 

climber or twiner) 

woodbine [woodbind, wild wood-vine] (originally 

a European term for Convolvulus and Hedera, 

dating to about A.D. 875, and alluding to the 

tendency of the climbers to wrap around others, 

USA) 

The first record of these vines in the New World is 

Jacques Philippe Cornutus’s Edera quinquefolia canadensis 

(five-leaved Canadian ivy), published in his 

book Canadensium plantarum ... historia of 1635. 

Linnaeus knew this and several other sources. He had 

studied live plants at the Hortus Cliffortianus. Perhaps 

because he was influenced by Cornutus and others, he 

called the vines Hedera quinquefolia. 

Probably the first report of interaction of the plant 

and people was left by Capt. John Smith in 1624. He 

wrote that, in Virginia, there was a ‘‘kind of woodbind 

...which runnes vpon trees, twining it self like a 

Vine: the fruit eaten ... worketh ... in the nature of a 

purge.’’ In spite of Smith’s report, Yanovsky (1936) 

said that the fruit could be eaten raw, and the stalks 

were peeled and boiled for food. He reported those 

uses in Minnesota, Montana, and Wisconsin. One of 

them is wrong, and I doubt that it was Smith. 

Native people in the New World had long been 

familiar with the twiners. The plants were used by the 

Cherokee, Creeks, Houma, Iroquois, Jemez, Keres, 

Kiowa, Meskwaki, Montana tribes, Navajo, and 

Ojibwa (Densmore 1928, Moerman 1998). Most of 

these people used the plant as medicine, but they also 

made dye from it, and some claim to have eaten the 

roots. In the southeast, the Cherokee used an infusion 

against jaundice (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). The 

Houma used a hot decoction of stems and leaves to 

reduce swelling, to treat wounds, and against lockjaw 

(Speck 1941). The Creeks used it against venereal 

disease (Taylor 1940). Snow and Stans (2001) published 

a picture of the vine (p. 80), but gave no 

common name, or included it in the text. Some 

Seminoles still use this medicine. 

In Mexico, the bark has been used as an alterative, 

tonic, expectorant, and against dropsy; crushed leaves 

are a counterirritant, producing blisters when applied 

to the skin (Standley 1920 /1926). Early American 

physicians also used a tincture, which was sometimes 

called Decoctum ampelopsis or Infusum ampelopsis, 

reflecting an old scientific name, Ampelopsis quinquefolia 

(Millspaugh 1892). Not much seemed to be 

known about its chemistry in the 1890s, and the 

same is true today. Foster and Duke (1990) cryptically 

wrote, ‘‘Berries reportedly toxic,’’ although Capt. John 

Smith wrote the same in the 1620s. The leaves 

contain calcium oxylate and cause dermatitis in 

some people (Foster and Duke 1990, Foster and Caras 

1994), compounding the difficulty people have distinguishing 

between this and poison ivy (Toxicodendron 

radicans). 

Paspalidium 

(Diminutive of Paspalum, Greek paspalos, for millet; 

the genus was separated from Paspalum by Otto Stapf, 

1857 /1933) 

Paspalidium geminatum (twins or double) ( /P. 

paludivagum) 

akkotó:ɬ ka [akkotó:rka] (akkotorkv, usually Nelumbo, 

Creek; a comparison or a misuse) 

ciktohacî (cekto, snake, hvce, tail, Creek) 

Egyptian panicum (some consider the species 

native, like Allen 2003, while others think it 

was introduced from Egypt) 

kissimmee grass (‘‘kissimmee’’ was rendered as 

Cacema on the Moll Map of 1720 and Casseeme 

on William’s Map of 1837; the locality was not 

mentioned by Swanton in either 1939 or 1946; 

language and meaning unknown) 

pahitóɬ piɬ î [pahitórpirî] (pahi, grass, toɬ piɬ l, knees, 

because the stem is jointed, Mikasuki; this name 

is also used for Panicum hemitomon, which 

see) 

water panic grass (Florida) 

Pehr Forsska˚l called plants he found in Egypt 

Panicum geminatum in 1775. However, it was not until 

1919 that the species was transferred to Paspalidium in 

the Flora of Tropical Africa. Godfrey and Wooton 

(1979) considered the species native, while Crins 

(1991), Wunderlin (1998), and Diggs et al. (1999) 

thought it introduced. The problem is considered 

unsolved by Gerald Guala (personal communication, 

Oct. 2003). 

The Seminoles use a decoction of the plant to treat 

‘‘Snake Sickness’’ (itchy skin) (Sturtevant 1955).



Paspalum 

(From Greek paspale or paspalos, meal or millet) 

Paspalum conjugatum. Drawn by Mary Wright Gill. From 

Hitchcock and Chase 1950. 

Paspalum conjugatum (joined together) 

ahan toom (elote-roasting ear grass, Huastec) 

bed grass (Bahamas) 

cañamazo amargo (big sour cane, Cuba); cañamazo 

[hembra] ([female] big cane, Dominican 

Republic) 

capim de marreca (mallard hen grass, Marajó, 

Brazil); capim gorda (fat grass, Marajó, Brazil) 

gengibrillo (little ginger) 

grama (grass, Dominican Republic); grama de 

antena (antenna grass, Central America); grama 

comun (common grass) 

herbe sûre [z’herbe sûre] (sour herb, Haiti); 

Jamaican sour grass (Jamaica); sour-grass; yerba 

agria (sour-herb) 

horquilla (little hairpin, Central America); horquetilla 

[blanca] ([white] little hairpin, Puerto Rico); 

pasto horqueta (hairpin grass) 

paja de panela (sugar grass) 

sarataya (Siona, Ecuador) 

sour paspalum (a book name) 

tarurco [torurco, toro-urco] 

trencilla (Central America) 

turvará (indigenous name, Costa Rica, western 

Ecuador) 

Around the edges of wetlands where it is neither 

wet enough to be marsh nor dry enough to be 

pinelands, there is an intermediate zone locally known 

as wet prairie. These areas dominated by graminoid 

plants are where Paspalum conjugatum most often is 

encountered. The flowering scapes stand above the 

mostly prostrate stems and leaves, and the twobranched 

inflorescences have reminded people of 

horquillas (hairpins). Occasionally in Paspalum we 

find a dark mass of mycelia that has replaced the 

seeds, and we know that an ergot fungus (Claviceps) 

has infected the grass. Those fungi contain LSD-like 

chemicals and can cause problems or be used to relieve 

maladies. I must wonder if these grasses were used for 

medicines because of this fungal infection. 

Judging from the names of this species throughout 

its range, people have had strong feelings either for or 

against this grass. Some pastoral groups dislike the 

grass because it does not provide good forage for their 

animals*/ostensibly because of its sour taste. Others 

praise it highly as food for their animals. For people, 

though, the grass is sometimes important in remedies. 

In Cuba, cañamazo amargo is used as a bath for 

patients with malaria (Roig 1945). People in Trinidad 

use a decoction to relieve fever, flu, pleurisy, pneumonia, 

and fatigue (Wong 1976). The Bahamians make a 

medicine for tuberculosis with prickly pear (Opuntia) 

and wood ashes (Eldridge 1975). The grass is also 

medicinal in Belize (Balick et al. 2000). 

Passiflora: Passion-Flower 

(Linnaeus reversed the Latin Flos passionis; crucifixion 

flower, originally used by Nicolas Monardes) 

Virtually every discussion about passion-flowers 

tells of the comparison between the passion of the 

crucifixion of Christ and the flowers. Jesuit priests 

made that analogy in their efforts to convert the New 

World people. Presumably, the ‘‘leaf symbolizes the 

spear. The five petals and five sepals the ten apostles 

(Peter who denied, and Judas who betrayed, being 

omitted). The five anthers, the five wounds. The 

tendrils, the scourges. The column on the ovary, the 

pillar of the cross. The stamens, the hammers. The 

three stigmas, the three nails. The filaments within



Passiflora suberosa. Drawn by P.N. Honychurch. 

the flower, the crown of thorns. The calyx, the glory 

or nimbus. The white tint, purity. The blue tint, 

HEAVEN’’ (Coffey 1993). What most accounts do 

not add is the historical sequence behind that story. 

Nicolas Monardes was perhaps the first to use the 

Latin term Flos passionis (flower of the crucifixion) in 

1582. Since that story and the plant were not part of 

John Frampton’s ([1577] 1925) translation, Englishspeaking 

people were rarely aware of Monardes’s role. 

Supposedly, the same species was brought to Europe 

by Jac Boccio in 1610, and that introduction may have 

been the source of cultivated plants in England, 

Holland, and Sweden (Svanidze et al. 1974). 

The same passion-flower, later named P. incarnata, 

was mentioned by Strachey ([1612] 1953) on the James 

River of Virginia: ‘‘Here is a Fruict by the Naturalls 

called a Maracock this groweth generally lowe and 

creepeth in a manner amongest the Corne ... yt is of 

the bignes of a Queene-apple, and hath many azurine 

or blew kernells, like as a Pomegranett, and it 

bloometh a most ssweet and delicate flower, and yt is 

a good Sommer Cooling fruict, and in every field 

where the indigenous people plant their Corne be 

Cart-loades of them.’’ His original notes on the 

Powhatan used maracah (Harrington 1955). That 

same year Capt. John Smith reported that the 

indigenous people planted ‘‘Maracocks, a wild fruit 

like a lemmon, which also increase in fruit’’ (Coffey 

1993). Subsequently, herbalist Gaspar Bauhin recorded 

the species in 1623. Parkinson ([1629] 1976) 

wrote that the plant ‘‘Maybe called in Latine, Clematis 

Virginiana; in English, the Virgin or Virginia Climer; 

of the Virginians, Maracoc; of the Spanish in the West 

Indies, Granadillo, because the fruit ... is in some 

fashion like a small Pomegranate on the outside.’’ 

However, it was the name Granadilla hispanis, flos 

passionis italis (little Spanish pomegranate, Italian 

passion flower) published by Francisco Hernández in 

his book of 1651 that was the earliest firsthand record 

Linnaeus had as the basis for Passiflora in 1753. Not 

only did Linnaeus have the description and drawing 

from Hernández, but he also knew that the plants had 

been cultivated in England from the 1600s. Indeed, 

Linnaeus had studied the live plants at the Hortus 

Cliffortianus (Holland) and Hortus Uppsaliensis (Sweden). 

All these names had been applied to the species 

that Linnaeus called P. incarnata (flesh-colored). He 

was mistaken about the flower color because they are 

blue. 

The Latin Flos passionis became flor de la pasión 

(Spanish), fleur de la passion (French), flor da paixão 

(Portuguese), and passion-flower as generic equivalents 

of the genus Passiflora. The apparent lone 

exception to these names is in Puerto Rico where the 

genus is called parcha (from palcha, Quechua). Today 

parcha is mostly associated with the introduced South 

American P. edulis. Probably the plant and its name 

were introduced at the same time from Peru where 

now P. edulis is called maracuya. 

The names maricock and maracocks gave rise to 

maracoc, maycock, maypop (Alabama, North Carolina), 

mayapple (Alabama, North Carolina), Mollypop 

(Alabama, North Carolina), pop-apple (North 

Carolina), apricot (North Carolina), and apricot-vine 

(Texas). All of these names are supposedly derived 

from mahcawq [mäkak, mä’kâwk] (Powhatan), akin to 

machkak (Menomini), mäkäk (Cree, Ojibwa), and 

ma’ka’kwi (Fox). Although similar, there seems to be 

no relation to Tupí mboruku’ya or maraú-yá, in 

Portuguese maracujá, and maracuya in Spanish, 

names for P. edulis (Gerard 1907). 

Passiflora incarnata is also known as granadilla 

(little pomegranate, Texas, Florida fide Williams 

[1837] 1962), Holy-Trinity flower (Texas), pasionaria 

(of the crucifixion, Texas), passion-vine (North Carolina), 

and purple passionflower (Florida). Opako is 

the Alabama name, and it is almost identical to the 

Koasati apakó, Muskogee opvkv [opv’kv], and Miccosukee 

opakî. Probably belonging here is làanasi (laana, 

yellow, osi, suffix meaning extremely, Alabama). The 

plant designated by the Alabama name is described as 

having a ‘‘small sweet melon, smells like a honeydew, 

makes the mouth itchy, size of an orange; a vine with a 

fruit similar to passion fruit (if one eats too much of it, 

it will blister the tongue and mouth)’’ (Sylestine et al. 

1993). The species ranges from Virginia to Missouri, 

south to Florida and Texas and Bermuda, and it is 

introduced farther north in the United States. 

In addition to eating the fresh fruits (uwa’ga), the 

Cherokee made a social drink of them, mixing the



juice with cornmeal as a thickener. That would be a 

drink akin to horchata in Latin America. Most 

surprising is that the Cherokee also parboiled and 

then fried the leaves in hot grease as a potherb (Hamel 

and Chiltoskey 1975). 

The Cherokee and other indigenous people used P. 

incarnata as medicine. A compound infusion of the 

roots was used to treat boils, and roots were used to 

stop inflammation of wounds. Infants were given 

infusions of the roots to aid in weaning, and it also 

was used to relieve earache (Hamel and Chiltoskey 

1975). The Houma called it chassepareille incarnata 

(flesh-colored saw brier), and took an infusion of the 

roots as a blood tonic (Speck 1941). Whole plants have 

traditionally been used in a tea as an antispasmodic 

and as a sedative for neuralgia, epilepsy, restlessness, 

painful menses, insomnia, and tension headaches. 

Linnaeus ([1753] 1957) also published the Florida 

species P. lutea (yellow passionflower, Florida), P. 

multiflora (whiteflower passionflower, Florida; fruta 

de perro, dog fruit, Cuba; pasionaria vainilla, vanilla of 

the crucifixion, Cuba), and P. pallens (pineland 

passionflower, Florida). Similarly, Linnaeus named 

P. sexflora and P. suberosa, which are better known 

within the Caribbean. 

Passiflora sexflora grows in Florida, the Greater 

Antilles to Puerto Rico, and from Mexico to Panama 

and Colombia. In those areas the plant is known as 

ala de murcielago or bat wing (Jamaica), duck foot 

(Jamaica), duppy pumpkin (Jamaica), goat foot (Jamaica, 

Florida), and pasionaria de cerca (fence passion 

vine, Cuba). Guatemalans make a sedative 

preparation of the flowers for nerves, insomnia, and 

diarrhea. 

Even more noted is P. suberosa, native from 

southern Florida to southern Texas to northern South 

America and the West Indies, introduced into the Old 

World. That species like all the others has edible fruits, 

although they are smaller than most. The edible fruits 

gave rise to the names baleeyail an ’its’aamal (deer 

watermelon, Huastec, San Luis Potosí), huevo de gallo 

(rooster egg, Cuba), juniper berry (Bahamas), meloncillo 

(little melon, Cuba), morita (blackberry, Dominican 

Republic), parcha yedra (ivy passionfruit, Puerto 

Rico), parchita de culebra (snake’s little passion-fruit, 

Venezuela), and wild pumpkin (Caymans). Fruits are 

also used to make black ink as noted by the names 

indigo berry (Virgin Islands), ink berry (Virgin 

Islands), and ink vine (Barbados). 

There are always names that are at odds with 

others. Passiflora suberosa is called corky passionflower 

in Florida because some scholar simply translated 

the Latin name. In Yucatán, the Maya say 

kansel-ak (kants’il, like cotton, ak, vine). Supposedly, 

it is called that because it is covered with trichomes 

like cotton, but most Florida plants are glabrous. In 

Hispaniola it is leontafia (lion’s aguardiente or whiskey) 

or tidiane (little Diane). 

When I first experienced juice from maracujá in 

Belém, Brazil in 1969, I was told that it was good to 

drink with dinner because it aided digestion and 

calmed the nerves. At the time, I drank it because it 

tasted good, but I could not really notice the effects. 

Subsequently, I discovered that several species 

are considered calmants or even intoxicants (Fellows 

and Smith 1938, Speroni and Minghetti. 1988, Medina 

et al. 1990, Solbakken et al. 1997, Dhawan et al. 

2001a,b,c). Some experiments support the tranquilizing 

conclusion, while others do not (Coleta et al. 2001, 

Volz 2001). One other caveat is that the commercial 

extract is possibly toxic, at least in some individuals 

(Fisher et al. 2000). However, most results indicate 

that plant extracts are mildly sedative, reduce blood 

pressure slightly, and decrease motor activity. 

In addition to the supposed sedative effects of 

Passiflora, several others are known, including as an 

adjuvant agent in the management of opiate withdrawal, 

and as an antibacterial, anticonvulsant, antifungal, 

and antioxidant (Nicolls et al. 1973, Medina 

et al. 1990, Akhondzadeh et al. 2001, Murcia et al. 

2001, Taglioli et al. 2001). Perhaps the most surprising 

result was in neutralization of hemorrhage from the 

fer-de-lance (Bothrops atrox) venom (Otero et al. 

2000), although bleeding decreased only 25%. 

Chemicals have been identified from several species, 

including P. edulis, P. foetida, P. incarnata, and P. 

quadrangularis. Compounds found are the alkaloid 

passiflorine, benzylic beta-D-allopyranosides 1 and 2, 

which are representatives of a rare class of natural 

glycosides, flavonoids, cycloartane triterpenoids and 

six related saponins, harmane and harmine, oxygenated 

monoterpenoids, and passifloricins (polyketides 

alpha-pyrones) (Lutomski and Wrocinski 1960, Bennati 

1971, Morton 1981, Osorio et al. 2000, Yoshikawa 

et al. 2000a,b, Christensen and Jaroszewski 2001, 

Echeverri et al. 2001). Harmaline and harmine have 

been used to treat Parkinson’s disease (Swerdlow 

2000). 

In the 1960s, it was uncommon to find passionfruit 

juice in groceries, even in mixtures. Then a 

television commercial made ‘‘passion-fruit’’ an everyday 

word because it was an ingredient (minor) in 

‘‘Hawaiian punch.’’ The ad showed one cartoon 

character ‘‘punching’’ another when they said they 

wanted the drink. Everyone laughed at the catchy 

phrase, although few realized what a passion-fruit was. 

Botanists knew it was Passiflora, and somehow we felt 

smug knowing that bit of trivia.



Pavonia 

(Antonio José Cavanilles named this for José Antonio 

Pavón y Jimenez, 1754 /1844, a Spanish explorer who 

toured Chile and Peru with Hipolito Ruiz López and 

Joseph Dombey) 

Pavonia paludicola (swamp-loving) ( /P. spicata) 

cadillo de ciénaga (marsh sticker, Puerto Rico) 

cotton (Belize); wild cotton (Belize) 

gombo-mangle (mangrove okra, Guadeloupe, 

Martinique) 

kayuwaballi (kayuwa, mahoe or Hibiscus tiliaceus, 

balli, resembling, Arawak, Suriname) 

mahot mangle [mare] (mangrove [ocean] fiber tree, 

Taino and French, Guadeloupe, Martinique); 

mahuat (fiber tree, Taino, French Antilles); 

majagüilla (little fiber tree, Hispanized Taino, 

Cuba, Hispaniola); smaller mahoe (Jamaica) 

mangrove mallow (Guadeloupe, Martinique) 

sunabao (Guadeloupe, Martinique) 

swamp bush (Bahamas, Puerto Rico) 

Pavonia was created in 1786 by the director of the 

botanical garden in Madrid, Cavanilles (1745 /1804). 

However, it was not until 1989 that Dan Nicolson and 

Paul Fryxell described P. paludicola from the Lesser 

Antilles. That species brought the genus to a total of 

150 species found in tropical and warm regions of the 

world (Mabberley 1997). 

In the French Antilles, the leaves are applied to 

inflammations, boils, and abscesses (Morton 1981). In 

Haiti, an infusion is gargled for tonsillitis. Taken 

regularly, it is laxative. 

Pectis 

(From Latin pecten, pectinis, a comb, referring to the 

bristles along the margins of the leaves or the papus) 

Pectis prostrata (lying flat) 

cominillo [tomillo] (little dwarf, Venezuela); comino 

de piedra [de sabana, rústico] (stone [savanna, 

wild] dwarf, Venezuela) 

contra-yerba (herb against, typically meaning that 

it can be used to treat any malady) 

hierba de gallina (chicken herb); hierba de chinche 

(bedbug herb) 

romero macho (wild [male] rosemary, Puerto Rico) 

tebenque [tebenki, tebink, theebink] (probably 

Taino, Cuba); tebink moge (probably Taino, 

Cuba?) 

zacato-coche (car grass; probably because it is 

common on roadsides) 

Pectis prostrata has been reported from a number 

of places in the Caribbean, but there are indications 

that those are misidentifications. For example, the 

Flora of Cuba reported the plants from Jamaica, but 

Adams (1972) could not verify that they had ever been 

there. Similarly, Morton (1981) recorded medical use 

in Puerto Rico, but Liogier and Martorell (1982) do 

not include the species. TROPICOS lists specimens 

from Texas, Mexico (Chiapas, Tabasco, Yucatán), 

Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, 

Nicaragua, Panama, and Ecuador. 

Maybe the true distribution is less important for 

ethnobotanical comments because people often do not 

distinguish species. In Venezuela, for example, both P. 

ciliaris and P. prostrata have the same names (Pittier 

1926). Perhaps that is because the aromatic traits of 

both are similar. 

Pectis prostrata has been taken to stop diarrhea, 

dispel flatulence, as an emmenagogue, and for venereal 

diseases in Venezuela (Pittier 1926). In Jamaica and 

Puerto Rico, it is taken for colds and tuberculosis 

(Morton 1981). The species is used as a medicine in 

Belize (Balick et al. 2000). Hocking (1997) reported 

that it had been used to treat colds and tuberculosis, to 

expel flatulence, and as an emmenagogue. 

Pedicularis 

(Named from Latin pediculus, a louse, because Europeans 

believed that cattle or sheep feeding where P. 

palustris grew became covered with lice; also herba 

pedicularis, lousewort, because it was used to kill lice) 

kallgra˚s (kall, cold?, gra˚s, grass, Swedish) 

Läusekraut (louse herb, German) 

myrklegg (myr, bog,klegg, gadfly, Norwegian) 

pédiculaire (French); pediculare (Italian) 

riabhach (gray or grizzled, Gaelic) 

Pedicularis canadensis (of Canada) 

beefsteak-plant (Long Island) 

betony [betong, beton lousewort, head-betony] 

(‘‘betony,’’ from Latin betonica, which Pliny, 

A.D. 23 /79, said was a Gaulish name; betonica, 

from vettonica, derived from Vettones, people of 

Lusitania, originally applied to Stachys officinalis, 

New York); wood-betony (‘‘wood’’ meaning 

growing wild, as opposed to the cultivated 

betony, Stachys officinalis) 

cagacka’ndawesoanûk (flying squirrel tail, Potawatomi) 

chickens’-heads (Long Island)



Pedicularis canadensis. a. Habit. b. Flower. c. Stamen. 

d. Pistil. e. Fruit. Drawn by Vivian Frazier. From Correll 


[Canadian, common, early, early fern-leaf] lousewort 

(‘‘louse’’ from a Teutonic base-word, as Old 

English lús, with cognates in German Laus, 

Danish and Swedish lus; first applied to Helleborus 

in the 1540s by Leonard Fuchs, as 

Laüszkraut, and later to Pedicularis by John 

Gerarde in 1597); lousewort-foxglove 

snaffles (presumably from ‘‘snuffles’’ or ‘‘sniffles,’’ 

a nasal catarrh, used since the 1820s; a local 

name in England, usually applied to Rhinanthus, 

also in the Orobanchaceae, formerly Scrophulariaceae; 

cf. Coffey 1993) 

Linnaeus included Sweden’s Pedicularis in his 

Flora Oeconomica of [1749] 1979. When he published 

Species Plantarum in 1753, all of its 14 species were 

Old World plants. It was not until 1767 when Linnaeus 

published Mantissa Plantarum that he gave us P. 

canadensis, based on a collection by his student Peter 

Kalm in Canada. 

People of the northeastern United States had 

known about this Pedicularis and other species for a 

long time by the 1760s. About 1750, Jane Colden 

wrote concerning what is now P. canadensis: ‘‘This 

pedicularis is call’d by the country people Betony. 

They make a Thee [tea] of the leaves, et use it for the 

fever & ague et for sickness of the stomach’’ (Colden 

in Coffey 1993). Settlers may have known about 

medicines from Old World species, or they may have 

learned from the indigenous tribes. 

Moerman (1998) recorded use among eight tribes. 

The Catawba made an infusion of roots to treat 

stomach problems. The Cherokee treated dysentery, 

coughs, and stomachaches with it (Hamel and Chiltoskey 

1975). They and the Iroquois also rubbed an 

infusion of roots on sores. The Iroquois treated 

women’s menstrual problems, heart troubles, and 

bleeding tuberculosis with the plants. The Menomini 

used it as a love charm. The Meskwaki treated 

external sores and tumors, and also made a love 

medicine with it (King 1984). The Mohegans used an 

infusion of leaves to induce abortion. The Ojibwa used 

a root infusion to counteract anemia, to treat stomach 

ulcers, sore throats, and as a love potion. The Forest 

Potawatomi used the roots as a physic, while the 

Prairie Potawatomi used the roots to reduce both 

internal and external swelling (Smith 1933). 

The Menomini and Potawatomi mixed lousewort 

with other plants to fatten their horses. Both the 

Cherokee and Iroquois ate the leaves and stems, 

sometimes cooking and seasoning them with salt, 

pepper, and butter (Yanovsky 1936). 

In the 1750s some Europeans still believed that 

cattle or sheep feeding where P. palustris grew became 

covered with lice. By the 1900s, others had totally 

changed views. Vickery (1993) recorded that people in 

the Shetland Islands called P. vulgaris ‘‘bee-sookies’’ 

or ‘‘honey-sookies’’ because of its ‘‘nectar-filled 

flower-tubes,’’ which children sucked for their sweet 

flavor. 

Pediomelum 

(Per Axel Rydberg, 1860 /1931, segregated these 

plants from Psoralea with Greek pedion, field, and 

melon, an apple or fruit) 

Pediomelum canescens (grayish-pubescent) ( /Psoralea 

canescens) 

buck-horn [buck-thorn] (‘‘buck-thorn’’ is now 

applied to several genera, but was applied to 

Rhamnus catharticus by Dodoens in 1554; the



Latin cervi spina was applied to Rhamnus by 

Valerius Cordus, 1514? /1544) 

buckroot (known by this name in 1765 when John 

Bartram visited the Carolinas, Berkeley and 

Berkeley 1982) 

hoary scurfpea (‘‘scurf’’ is dry, scaly skin, especially 

on the head; probably from Old English 

scurf; akin to Swedish skorv, Danish skurv, 

Dutch schurft, and German Schorf) 

owá:lá:rî: ínsawá:kî (Sturtevant wrote ‘‘prophets’ 

[plural; singular, owá:lî] coconut,’’ Mikasuki; 

‘‘owá:lî’’ is also translated as ‘‘wise-man,’’ ‘‘magician,’’ 

or in Creek, as ‘‘knower’’); owa:lâlki 

insawkô (owalv, knower, em, his, svokv, rattle, 

Creek; the ‘‘coconut,’’ Cocos nucifera, is talasvokv) 

These herbs are restricted to parts of Virginia, 

Georgia, Florida, and Alabama (Radford et al. 1968). 

Because of their limited range, not much has been 

written about them, yet the Seminoles knew and used 

them as late as the 1950s (Sturtevant 1955). Moreover, 

they were familiar with the restricted range of the 

plants in Florida, noting that they did not grow south 

of Punta Gorda. They would make special trips into 

the area where the plants grew to obtain stocks of the 

roots to dry for use in medicine. Hedrick (1919) and 

Yanovsky (1936) say the roots have been eaten in the 

southern states. 

According to Josie Billie, one of Sturtevant’s 

collaborators, these legumes were analgesic when the 

warmed root was applied externally. To treat rheumatism, 

they took a root, dipped it in water, warmed it 

over the fire, and then pressed it against the sore spots. 

They considered it strong and expected the pain to be 

gone by the next morning. In addition, the roots were 

used in a medicine to treat colds and coughs. 

Sturtevant (1955) gave a lengthy account of his 

personal experience treating his own cold, and he 

was convinced it helped. 

Neither Foster and Duke (1990) nor Duke (2002) 

even mention the genus Pediomelum. Under Psoralea, 

Hocking (1997) says that this species has been used to 

treat gastric distress. 

Peltandra 

(Rafinesque named this with Greek pelte, a shield and 

andros, stamens) 

Peltandra virginica (from Virginia) 

[green] arrow [arum] (USA) 

ocfô (Creek); okõ:nî (Mikasuki) 

Peltandra virginica. a. Habit. b. Outline of leaf. c. Spadix. 

d. Berry (submersed). Drawn by Vivian Frazier. From Correll 


Pfeilaronstab (arrow arum stick, German) 

takwahahk (Capt. John Smith wrote the Powhatan 

name as tockwhogh, tocknough, and tockawhoughe. 

He said that it was the ‘‘chief root 

they have for food ... like a flag in low muddy 

freshes ... of the greatness and taste of potatoes 

...raw it is not better than poison ...roasted ... 

in summer they use this ordinarily for bread.’’ 

Strachey wrote in [1612] 1953 that it was a 

‘‘bread made of a wort called taccahoappoans.’’ 

Siebert 1975 considered the root to be /*takw-/, 

to pound fine, beat to a powder. The word 

written by Strachey includes the element appoans, 

which became ‘‘pone’’ in English; see also 

Zea); cognates include takáham (Delaware); 

takwaham (Cree); takwahamwa (Miami); takwham 

(Nipmuck-Pocumtuck); taw-ho [tawho, tawhim, 

tawhim, tuckah] (Delaware, New Jersey); 

tquogh (Mohegan); tukwhah (Shawnee); nitakhwa 

(‘‘I pound him for bread,’’ Shawnee); 

otakwaʔa·n (Ojibwa)



tuckahaw (according to Romans [1775] 1961, there 

was a Chickasaw town named for this plant, and 

using the Algonquian word) 

tuckahoe [tockwhogh, tockawhoughe, taw-ho] 

(from Powhatan, Virginia); coscúshaw (Carolina 

Algonquians; see also Geary 1955) 

[Virginian] wake robin (New England) 

Although there is considerable confusion about 

the original identify of tuckahoe, it has become 

associated with Peltandra since being discussed by 

Kalm ([1753 /1761] 1972), who had personal knowledge 

of the plants and the people using the name. That 

Powhatan word is related to petukqunneg (cake of 

bread, from petukqui, bread, pitikwah, made round, 

Cree). The distribution of the words presumably 

corresponds to part of the range of usage. However, 

most of these terms were transferred to maize when it 

was introduced, and that has complicated the situation. 

The first record of the indigenous use of these 

roots is in 1612 when Capt. John Smith wrote, ‘‘In 

Iune, Iulie and August they feede vpon the rootes of 

Tockwough, berries, fish and green wheat [maize]’’ 

(OED 1971). Strachey recorded the plant and name 

the same year. The Seminoles also use the plant for 

food (Sturtevant 1955). Tull (1999) indicated that long 

periods of drying (sometimes months) and baking are 

necessary to render the acrid roots palatable. Both 

roots and fruits were eaten after detoxification. 

Methods of preparing them are given by Fernald et 

al. (1958). 

Harriot ([1590] 1972) had recorded another name 

and use among his list of fruits. He called them 

sacqvenvmmener, and not long afterward Strachey and 

Capt. John Smith called them ocoughtanamins. Harriot 

([1590] 1972) wrote that sacqvenvmmener were ‘‘a 

kinde of berries almost like vnto capres [capers, 

Capparis] but somewhat greater which being grow 

together in clusters vpon a plant or herb that is found 

in shallow waters: being boiled eight or nine hours 

according to their kind are very good meate and 

holesome, otherwise if they be eaten they will make a 

man for the time franticke or extremely sicke.’’ Smith 

thought they should be boiled half a day (Swanton 

1946). 

Yanovsky (1936) may have confused Orontium 

with Peltandra. Still, he listed Peltandra as having been 

eaten in all the southeastern states, and in New York, 

Pennsylvania, and Virginia, a distribution agreeing 

with its Algonquian names. 

Moerman (1998) indicates that the Nanticoke of 

Delaware grated the roots in milk and gave it to babies 

for some unstated medical reason. 

Penstemon 

(From Greek pente, five, and stemon, stamen, referring 

to the four fertile stamens and one sterile 

staminode) 

Penstemon laevigatus (smooth) 

[eastern smooth, foxglove, hairy] beard-tongue 

Europeans were familiar with Digitalis when they 

arrived in the New World, but here they found plants 

somewhat different from that old medicinal herb. 

When Casimir Christoph Schmidel (1718 /1792), a 

German physician at Erlangen, was working with 

plants grown in Kew Gardens outside London, he 

decided that the American plants should have a 

distinct name. He called them Penstemon in 1763 

because of their androecial arrangement. The genus 

now has grown to 250 species, with all but one 

confined to North America (Mabberley 1997). 

One of the species discovered after Schmidel was 

P. laevigatus. This herb, also described from plants 

grown at Kew, was named by William Aiton in 1789, 

and the specimen he used to name the species is in the 

Fothergill collection at the British Museum of Natural 

History. Smooth beard-tongue ranges from New 

Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia south to 

Florida (Gadsden and Jackson Counties), and west 

into Alabama and Mississippi. 

Not much information is available about this 

plant. The Cherokee used an infusion of P. laevigatus 

to stop cramps (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). This is 

probably the same species used by the Creeks and 

Natchez for colds, coughs, consumption, and whooping 

cough (Swanton 1928a). 

Porcher (1863), Millspaugh (1892), Vogel (1970), 

and Foster and Duke (1990) do not mention the genus. 

However, other Penstemon species were used by the 

Iroquois, Kiowa, Lakota, Pawnee, and several tribes 

farther west. Moerman (1998) found records of 23 

other species being used. 

Some Penstemon contain iridoid glycosides, especially 

catapol, and both moths and butterflies have 

adapted to sequester and use those compounds. The 

inchworm and looper moths Neoterpes graefiaria and 

Meris alticola take catapol from Penstemon, and the 

Arachne checkerspot butterfly (Polydryas arachne) 

also uses it. 

Pentalinon 

(Friedrich S. Voigt, 1781 /1850, named this with Greek 

pente, five, and linon, rope, a reference to the elongated 

anther appendages)



Pentalinon luteum. a. Flowering branch. b. Node. c. Flower 

tube, longitudinally dissected. d. Floral diagram. e. Fruits. 

f. Seed with coma. g. Seed. Drawn by Priscilla Fawcett. From 

Correll and Correll 1982. 

Pentalinon luteum (yellow) ( /Urechites lutea) 

[bejuco] ahoga vaca (cow strangler [vine], Dominican 

Republic) 

barbeiro amarillo (yellow beard, Puerto Rico) 

bejuco marrullero (false? climber, Cuba) 

Catesby’s vine (Bahamas) 

clavelitos (little carnation, Cuba) 

corne cabrits (goat horn, Haiti) 

curamagüey (Taino?, Hispaniola) 

Dominican viper tail (Dominican Republic); hammock 

viper’s tail [viperstail] (Florida) 

Jamaica nightshade (Jamaica); yellow nightshade 

(Jamaica?); nightshade (Cayman Islands) 

wild allamanda (Florida) 

wild unction (unction /ointment, Bahamas) 

Linnaeus ([1753] 1957) called these climbers Vinca 

lutea. Then, for many decades, they were called 

Urechites lutea, a genus established in 1860 by the 

Swiss botanist Johannes Müller of Aargau. However, 

Bruce Hansen realized that Pentalinon, described from 

plants grown in the Calcutta Botanical Garden in 

1845, was an earlier and valid generic name (Hansen 

and Wunderlin 1986). Pentalinon now contains two 

species, both native to Florida, Central America, and 

the Caribbean. 

In the Dominican Republic Pentalinon is used to 

treat heart disease (cardiotonic), edema, fever, and 

colic, and as a purgative (Hocking 1997). Plants are 

used to treat headache in Guatemala (Rosatti 1989). 

However, doing so is dangerous because the latex is 

poisonous, having been used to poison arrows in 

tropical countries (Rosatti 1989). It is poisonous to 

cattle; people powder the leaves to kill destructive 

insects and animals (ants, dogs) (Liogier 1974). 

Among the poisonous compounds are the cardenolides 

oleandrin, urechitin, and urechitoxin (Gibbs 

1974). 

Penthorum 

(From Greek pente, five, and horos, a column or pillar, 

referring to the five-parted flowers) 

Penthorum sedoides. a. Top of plant. b. Part of procumbent 

stem of plant with roots. c. Cluster of flowers and fruits. 

Drawn by Vivian Frazier. From Correll and Correll 1972. 

Penthorum sedoides (like Sedum) 

[ditch, Virginia] stonecrop (from Old English 

stáncrop, combining ‘‘stone,’’ a rock, and



‘‘crop,’’ as gathered from the top of an herb for 

culinary or medical purposes; combined, the 

designator has been in use since about A.D. 

1000, first as the common name for European 

Sedum acre; modifiers were added later for other 

plants) 

Penthorum has been an oddity since it was 

discovered. Jan Gronovius first included it in his Flora 

Virginica of 1739 /1743. Linnaeus described it in 1744, 

and in Species Plantarum ([1753] 1957) said only of it 

that it had a ‘‘Habitat in Virginia.’’ 

Depending on how it is interpreted, the single 

American species either belongs in the Saxifragaceae 

along with one to three others that grow in Asia, or in 

its own isolated family, the Penthoraceae (Cronquist 

1981, Mabberley 1997). In some regards, the plants are 

transitional between the Saxifragaceae and Crassulaceae 

(Cronquist 1981). 

Penthorum sedoides grows from New Brunswick, 

southwestern Quebec, southern Ontario, Michigan, 

Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Nebraska south to Florida 

and Texas. Within that large range, only two tribes 

have been recorded as using the plants. 

In her 1975 master’s thesis at the University of 

Tennessee, Knoxville, Myra Jean Perry recorded that 

the Cherokee used the leaves as a potherb (Moerman 

1998). That is an odd use, indeed, because few to none 

of the other members of the family are considered 

edible. In Iowa, the Meskwaki made a cough syrup of 

the seeds (King 1984). 

Although the plants are not mentioned by Porcher 

(1863), they are discussed by Millspaugh (1892). He 

wrote, ‘‘It has always held a place in domestic practice 

as an astringent in diarrhoea and dysentery.’’ According 

to him, two physicians brought the plants to notice 

in 1875 as a remedy for irritation of the mucous 

membranes and to treat maladies like pharyngitis, 

vaginitis, and tonsillitis. In 1931, Maud Grieve’s book 

A Modern Herbal included the report that ‘‘this plant 

has of late attracted much notice ... as a remedy for 

catarrh, catarrhal inflammation of the larynx, chronic 

bronchitis ... and affections of the stomach and 

bowels. It has also been employed with success in 

treatment of diarrhoea, haemorrhoids and infantile 

cholera’’ (Coffey 1993). Foster and Duke (1990) echo 

the same information, but the species is not mentioned 

by Bremness (1994), Bown (1995), or Duke et al. 

(2002). 

Peperomia 

(Ruíz and Pavón combined Greek peperi, pepper, and 

homoimos, resembling) 

Peperomia obtusifolia (leaves blunt or round at 

apex) 

agronemia (of cultivated places?, Hispaniola) 

climbing pepper (Belize); wild pepper (Florida, 

Bahamas) 

cupeycito (little cupey, Clusia rosea; Hispanized 

Taino, Dominican Republic) 

lentejuela (applied to Lepidium virginicum in 

Morton 1981) 

pàrahá (Paya, Honduras) 

peperomia (Florida) 

tep-pim (tep, something adorned, pim, fat or large, 

Maya, Belize) 

The genus Piper was the only one that Linnaeus 

([1753] 1957) recognized, and he included 17 species. 

He called these plants Piper obtusifolium, and noted 

that they had been discussed previously by Charles 

Plumier in 1693 as Saururus repens, folio orbiculari 

nummulariae facie (prostrate lizard’s tail, with 

rounded leaves resembling coins). Then, after their 

exploration of Peru, Hipólito Ruiz López (1754 /1815) 

and José Antonio Pavón (1754 /1844) created the 

genus Peperonia in 1794 in their book Flora Peruvianae, 

et Chilensis Prodromus (Preliminary Flora of 

Peru and Chile). The genus now contains 1000 tropical 

species, mostly in Americas (Mabberley 1997). 

Several of the Peperomia are widely used as 

medicines. Peperomia pellucida is the most famous 

(Liogier 1974, Ayensu 1981, Morton 1981), but P. 

magnifoliifolia is more similar morphologically to P. 

obtusifolia; it has even been recorded in botanical 

literature under the latter name. Peperomia magnifoliifolia 

is used in Barbados as a remedy for coughs and 

colds (Morton 1981). In Veracruz, the Zoque-Popoluca 

treat erysipelas with it (Vásquez and Jácome 

1997). 

Persea: Red Bay 

(A classical name doubtfully from Persica; from 

Persian, or from Greek persis) 

Americans and Bahamians call Persea borbonia 

the red bay. They have used that name since at least 

the time of Mark Catesby (1731). Calling trees ‘‘bays’’ 

is obvious because they belong to the same family of 

plants (Lauraceae) called by that name since the time 

of the Greeks and Romans. ‘‘Bay’’ is derived from 

Latin baca. 

Until recently, it never occurred to me to ask why 

the plants were called ‘‘red’’ bays. When a colleague 

asked me why, I found that ‘‘red’’ in the name refers to 

the wood. Of the trees that he saw in Virginia and



Persea borbonia. a. Branch with flowers. b. Bud. c. Flower. 

d. Anther. e. Branch with fruit. Drawn by Vivian Frazier. 

From Correll and Correll 1972. 

Carolina, Catesby said, ‘‘The wood is fine-grain’ed, 

and of excellent use for Cabinets, etc. I have seen some 

of the best of this Wood selected, that has resembled 

Water’d Sattin, and has exceeded in Beauty any other 

Kind of Wood I ever saw.’’ Sargent (1905) wrote that 

the wood was ‘‘heavy, hard, very strong, rather brittle, 

close-grained, bright red.’’ The wood has been used 

from at least the time of Catesby for cabinets, and also 

on the interior finish of houses. Formerly, it was used 

in ship- and boatbuilding. Comparing its wood to 

mahogany with ‘‘Florida mahogany’’ is high praise 

indeed. 

Williams ([1837] 1962) also praised the wood. He 

wrote, ‘‘This tree produces timber inferior only to 

mahogany, which it closely resembles.’’ He then added, 

‘‘The young leaves are often used for tea, which is a 

most pleasant and healthful beverage.’’ 

The Flemish Charles de l’Ecluse, who became the 

king’s botanist to James I of England, was the first to 

apply the name Persea to these plants. Philip Miller 

picked up the name and continued its use. That Greek 

name originally was used by Theophrastus and 

Hippocrates for an unknown Egyptian tree. Of that 

tree, Pliny wrote, ‘‘Persea ... is far different from the 

Peach-tree Persica and beareth fruit like vnto Sebes- 

ten, of colour red’’ (from a 1602 translation). The 

derivation of Persea was thought by Pliny to be the 

same as Persica (from Persia), but that is dubious. 

Apparently, Persia is derived from Greek persis, which 

in turn was probably taken from Arabic fars. Some 

have speculated that the Old World plants called 

Persea were Cordia myxa (Boraginaceae), but their 

identity remains uncertain. 

Curiously, Linnaeus did not follow either l’Ecluse 

(alias Clusius) from 1601 or Gaspar Bauhin from 1623 

in keeping these plants distinct from Laurus. Instead, 

Linnaeus called the plants Laurus persea, which we 

now know as P. americana (avocado). Linnaeus’s 

reluctance to keep Laurus separate from Persea is 

reflected today in the chaotic status of genera in the 

family. 

Other names for red bay and its variations 

(including P. pubescens) are laurel-tree, shore bay, 

swamp bay, swamp red-bay, sweet-bay, and tiss-wood. 

The last name, ‘‘tiss-wood,’’ may be related to its use 

in tisanes for a beverage or medicine. The first record 

of it that I saw was by Vignoles ([1823] 1977) who 

spelled it ‘‘tiswood.’’ Almost certainly, this plant and 

sassafras (Sassafras albidum) have been used interchangeably 

since Europeans encountered people using 

them. Leaves of both have served as the basis of 

gumbos (from Choctaw, kumbo), especially those 

including crabmeat. 

The Miccosukee call these trees tó:lî, their relatives 

the Creeks say tó:la, and the Koasati say tolá. 

Surprisingly, because they were supposed to have a 

distinct language, the Timucua also said tola. Those 

are simple terms that cannot be translated. However, 

the Alabama call the tree ittoissi kosáoma (itto, tree, 

hissi, hair, kosooma, stinking). This may be what the 

Choctaw called iti chinisa (striped tree). 

William Bartram ([1791] 1958) recorded that the 

trees were called eto mico [itto micco, eto micco] (eto, 

tree, mekko, tree, Creek). Simmons ([1822] 1973) noted 

that the Seminoles were still using the name. This tree 

is perhaps the most important plant among modern 

and historic Seminoles. The Seminoles used the leaves 

to make a beverage like tea. They also used the dried 

leaves in cooking like their relatives the Choctaw, and 

they made spoons from the wood. They were not the 

first to use the plants in Florida, as the pollen of P. 

borbonia has been found in a pre-Columbian site near 

Lake Okeechobee (Hogan 1978). 

Red bay has been used by the Seminoles as an 

abortifacient, analgesic, antiemetic, diuretic, aphrodisiac, 

emetic, febrifuge, a laxative, a love medicine, a 

panacea, a psychological aid, in childbirth, to cure 

dreams, and to improve the appetite, as well as in a 

ceremonial context (Sturtevant 1955). The Creeks and 

their relatives the Seminoles diagnose diseases in ways



different from Europeans and Americans. Each series 

of symptoms is identified with a name as in our 

system, but their nomenclature involves an animistic 

worldview. Among the diseases they recognize, Persea 

has been used to treat ‘‘Bear Sickness’’ (fever, headache, 

thirst, constipation, and blocked urination), 

‘‘Bird Sickness’’ (diarrhea, vomiting, appetite loss), 

‘‘Buzzard Sickness’’ (vomiting in children), ‘‘Cat 

Sickness’’ (nausea), ‘‘Dead People’s Sickness’’ (grief, 

cough, appetite loss, vomiting; sometimes the same as 

‘‘Ghost Sickness’’), ‘‘Deer Sickness’’ (numb, painful 

limbs and joints), ‘‘Fire Sickness’’ (fever and body 

aches), ‘‘Ghost Sickness’’ (grief, cough, appetite loss, 

vomiting, dizziness, staggering, sometimes the same as 

‘‘Dead People’s Sickness’’), ‘‘Hog Sickness’’ (unconsciousness), 

‘‘Mist Sickness’’ (eye disease, fever, chills), 

‘‘Opossum Sickness’’ (appetite loss and drooling in 

babies), ‘‘Otter Sickness’’ (diarrhea and vomiting), 

‘‘Raccoon Sickness’’ (diarrhea in babies), ‘‘Rainbow 

Sickness’’ (fever, stiff neck, backache), ‘‘Scalping 

Sickness’’ (severe headache, backache, low fever), 

‘‘Sun Sickness’’ (eye disease, headache, high fever, 

diarrhea), ‘‘Thunder Sickness’’ (fever, dizziness, headache, 

diarrhea), ‘‘Turkey Sickness’’ (dizziness or ‘‘craziness’’), 

and ‘‘Wolf Sickness’’ (vomiting, stomach 

pain, diarrhea). 

Additionally, red bay has been used to treat 

sickness caused by adultery, including headache, 

body pains, and ‘‘crossed fingers.’’ As an aphrodisiac, 

the leaves are sung over to attain the love of a 

particular girl. If the aphrodisiac has worked, the 

leaves may be rubbed on the mother’s body during 

protracted labor. 

Sometimes red bay is even considered a panacea 

where the leaves are used for everything and can be 

added to any medicine. As a psychological aid, the 

leaves are used to cure fear in babies caused by dreams 

about raccoons or opossums. In addition, an infusion 

of leaves may be used to steam and bathe the body of 

an ‘‘insane’’ person. The plant may be burned to work 

the same cure. 

There are also particular ceremonial applications. 

A decoction is taken as an emetic by doctors to 

strengthen their medicine. That may be the use at any 

time, or particularly when a death has occurred. The 

leaves are used as emetics during funeral ceremonies, 

carried by every member of the burial party, placed on 

top of casket, and burned to keep the soul of the 

recently departed from returning home. Leaves are 

also added to food after a recent death. 

Some recognize a wetland form as a distinct 

species, calling it P. palustris. The Creeks have used 

the root of that form as a ‘‘hydrogogue’’ and alterant. 

The decoction is considered diaphoretic in ‘‘fevers of 

all descriptions’’ by the Choctaws (Bushnell 1909). 

Persea is notorious for having poisonous compounds 

although it provides food and medicine for 

humans and other animals. The red bay and its 

variations contain an array of essential oils, including 

camphor, cineol, eucalyptol, and p-cymene (Tucker et 

al. 1997). Those, and probably other chemicals yet to 

be identified, are responsible for the tight evolutionary 

relationship between the spicebush swallowtail butterflies 

and members of the Lauraceae. The spicebush 

swallowtail (Papilio troilus) and the Palamedes swallowtail 

(P. palamedes) are among the few insects that 

can detoxify or sequester the poisons, and they 

specialize on Persea (cf. Lederhouse et al. 1992, Carter 

and Feeny 1999). 

There are perhaps 200 tropical Asian and American 

species in Persea (Mabberley 1997). Many of 

them are part of local pharmacopoeias, but none is as 

famous as the avocado. Although most people know 

that species as the primary ingredient passed down 

from the Aztecs almost without change in the recipe 

for guacamole (Coe 1994), few realize that it is also 

medicinal. The leaves and other parts contain a variety 

of toxic compounds that are dangerous to vertebrates 

if consumed in quantity (Hargis et al. 1989, Grant et 

al. 1991, McKenzie and Brown 1991, Stadler et al. 

1991, Burger et al. 1994, Oelrichs et al. 1995). In spite 

of the toxic chemicals in the leaves, Latin Americans 

regularly use them in small quantities as a spice. They 

give foods an anise flavor (Hearon 1993). Those same 

compounds show potential as insecticides (Oberlies et 

al. 1998) and give some protection against Giardia 

(Ponce-Macotela et al. 1994). 

Avocado and other species in the genus show 

considerable dietary and medicinal potential (Zanobi 

et al. 1974, Meade et al. 1980, Mohan and Kekwick 

1980, De-Oliveira et al. 1985, Ballot et al. 1987, Ma et 

al. 1989, Sheldon et al. 1990, Guevara et al. 1994, 

Eccleston and Harwood 1995, Kimura et al. 1995, 

Koua et al. 1998, Castro et al. 1999, Chiapella et al. 

2000, Domergue et al. 2000, Kim et al. 2000, 

Kruthiventi and Krishnaswamy 2000, Caballero- 

George et al. 2001, Hashimura et al. 2001, Kawagishi 

et al. 2001, Kut-Lasserre et al. 2001, Schlemper et al. 

2001, Stucker et al. 2001, Lequesne et al. 2002). 

Therefore, their congener P. borbonia is showing the 

same patterns as its relatives. In spite of its extreme 

importance among indigenous people in the southeastern 

United States, red bay has never appeared in 

the journal Economic Botany (Kaplan 2001). 

Although modern southern culture owes as much 

to the Creeks as any group of people, their botanical 

heritage has been slighted (Hudson 1976). The Creeks 

and their relatives the Seminoles were aware of all the 

bays. Bartram ([1791] 1958) told us Creeks called P. 

borbonia the eto miko, and Magnolia grandiflora was



tolochlucco (big bay). By the 1950s, the Seminoles had 

shortened those names to to:li and to:lhátkí (white 

bay, M. virginica). What will be remembered in the 

next 200 years? 

Phalaris 

(Greek phalaris, phaleris, used by Dioscorides, fl. A.D. 

40 /80, for some kind of grass; presumably from 

phalaros, having a patch of white or crest, alluding to 

the inflorescence) 

alpiste (French) 

canaria (Italian); canary-grass (‘‘canary,’’ referring 

to the Canary Islands or Canariae Insula [Isles 

of Dogs], a name used by Pliny, A.D. 23 /79); 

kanarigras (kanari, canary, gras, grass, Norwegian) 

Glanzgras (glanz, shiny, gras, grass, German) 

phalaride (French) 

reed-grass (a name most often used for Phragmites) 

ror-flen (ror, reed, flen= ?, Swedish) 

scagliola (Italian) 

strandror (strand, seashore, rør, reed, Norwegian) 

Phalaris caroliniana (of Carolina) 

baabkam [papkam] (pl., baahpakam) (‘‘it has a 

grandfather,’’ Akimel O’odham [Pima]; Rea’s 

informants could not give him a reason for the 

name; he speculated it must be an ancient poetic 

allusion) 

Carolina canary-grass [canarygrass] 

may-grass [maygrass] (‘‘May-grass’’ was in use by 

1830, but applied to Panicum latifolium; apparently 

applied to Phalaris ca. 1974, originally by 

archaeologists) 

Europeans knew at least three species of Phalaris 

when they arrived in the New World. Reed canarygrass 

(P. arundinacea) and Harding grass (P. aquatica 

L.) were grown for hay, while seeds of canary grass (P. 

canariensis) were eaten by people. There are about 20 

species in Phalaris, with 7 native to Europe (Mabberley 

1997). Phalaris caroliniana was named by Walter in 

1788, and now grows from Florida to California and 

Mexico, north to Maryland, Tennessee, Missouri, 

Kansas, Colorado, and Oregon. 

May-grass is a starchy-seeded annual grass whose 

grains (caryopses) are dominant in Middle and Late 

Woodland archaeological sites (Crites and Terry 1984, 

Asch and Asch 1985). The grains have been associated 

with people in Illinois, dating 17009/70 B.P. in one site 

and 14009/70 B.P. at another site. It was already an 

important cultivated food in Kentucky in 1000 B.C. 

Fritz (2000b) concluded that it was a domesticated 

crop by 3000 B.P. 

Moerman (1998) found the species being used only 

by the Gila River Pima, based on a report by Amadeo 

Rea. Subsequently, Rea (1997) provided more information 

on may-grass use. While reading through a 

1908 report by Frank Russell, Rea noticed an unidentified 

grass the O’odham had called papkam. He 

realized that it was what modern people call baabkam. 

Russell wrote, ‘‘The heads are tied in bunches and 

dried in the sun. They are then shelled, screened, the 

seeds parched, ground on the metate, and eaten in 

pinole. They are ‘not sweet.’’’ One of Rea’s O’odham 

friends had told him the seeds were once eaten but did 

not taste good. These grasses are another member of 

the Eastern Agricultural Complex that was abandoned 

when maize agriculture became widespread. 

Phaseolus 

(From Greek phaseolos, a little boat, light vessel, 

referring to the similarity between the pod and the 

craft; used by Dioscorides, fl. A.D. 40 /80, for what 

Agnes Arber identified as Vigna unguiculata, cf. Meyer 

et al. 1999; known as faseolus or phaseolus to 

Romans) 

Phaseolus polystachios. From Britton and Brown 1897. 

Phaseolus polystachios (many-spiked) 

[thicket, wild] bean [vine] 

sacsac (Delaware) 

Phaseolus vulgaris (common) 

acayotle (maybe from acatl, cane, etl, bean, 

Náhuatl, recorded by Humboldt fide Hedrick 

1919)



aífi (Garífuna) 

añkonaki’ (Ofo) 

assentemmens (Strachey [1612] 1953 compared 

these beans with Italian fagioli, Powhatan, Virginia) 

a’teba’kwe (Abenaki, Maine) 

bala (Choctaw); bala’ (Chicksaw); palaná (Koasati), 

salá:lî (Mikasuki); tvlako [tala:ko] (Creek, 

Muskogee); tobi (Choctaw) 

[common] bean (‘‘bean’’ from Old English béan, 

perhaps cognate to Latin faba, but some think 

that doubtful); Bohne (German) 

bisoloma (Arawak, Suriname) 

cannellini (Italian name for a large white kidney 

bean) 

chin (Jicaque, Honduras) 

etl (bean, Náhuatl); exotl (green bean still in the 

pod, Náhuatl) 

fagiolo [fagiuolo] (from Latin faseolus, Italian); 

feijão (from Latin faseolus, with a change in the 

suffix, Portuguese); frijol (Spanish); phaséole 

(French) 

French-bean (called French or Roman beans in 

1632, probably because they were imported from 

the Mediterranean area into northern Europe) 

haricot (etymology uncertain, from French haricot, 

shortened in the 1600s from hericoq de 

mouton, of the 1300s, a stew usually of mutton, 

reapplied to the beans about 1653; in 1693, 

Joannes de la Quintyne used both aricos and 

haricauts in his book The Compleat Gard’ner) 

hon-bthin-ge (Osage) 

húce [nuntce’, yúce] (Catawba) 

hyni 3 (Chinantec, Oaxaca) 

kidney-bean (a reference to the similarity of shape 

between the beans and human organ; used by 

Turner in [1548] 1965 as ‘‘kydney beane’’) 

kima’t ta’l (kima’ti, middle, ta’l, inside, Atakapa) 

koje’s (Potawatomi) 

malachxil [malachxitall] (Delaware, New Jersey) 

mîskodi’ssimi (Potawatomi); mushaquissedes (Pequod, 

Rhode Island, Connecticut) 

navy bean (specifically meaning the dried, white 

haricot, in English by 1856) 

ogaressa (Huron, Ontario) 

okindgier (beans in pods, Carolina Algonquians); 

okinsher (Powhatan, Virginia) 

ossahèta (Onondaga) 

peccataas [peketawes] (recorded by Strachey in 

[1612] 1953, Powhatan, Virginia); peswe’min 

(Plains Cree) 

pinto bean (apparently first applied in English to 

the spotted beans of the southwestern United 

States in 1916) 

pònair Fhrangach (French beans, Gaelic) 

purutu (Quechua, Peru) 

sahe [sahu] (Micmac?, St. Laurence) 

si’hpari (Tunica) 

snap bean (in use since 1770 for the green pods 

that are broken into pieces and cooked as a 

vegetable while still young) 

tsodi’ (Yuchi) 

tantka (Biloxi) 

teppuhguam-ash (twiners, Algonquian) 

tuya (Cherokee) 

wickonzówer (pleasant when cooked, Carolina 

Algonquians) 

When I was growing up, beans were a part of each 

noon and evening meal. My mother varied the dishes; 

sometimes they were white beans, and sometimes 

brown or pintos. Seasonally, we had green beans. I 

always liked the beans the second time a dish was 

served because they were then cooked to mush. Little 

did I know that Algonquian people of coastal Virginia 

preferred them that way too in the 1580s when 

Thomas Harriot was there. 

Classical mention of ‘‘beans’’ and the early 

introduction of American plants into Europe caused 

confusion about their nativity for hundreds of years. 

Indeed, Columbus saw beans on his first voyage in 

1492, and brought them back to Spain in 1493. Of the 

plants he saw in Cuba, Columbus wrote of ‘‘fields 

planted with faxones and habas very different from 

those of Spain’’ (Hedrick 1919). Jane and Skelton 

(1960) corrected the name faxones to ‘‘beans,’’ and 

habas as ‘‘kidney beans’’ although Columbus thought 

the former was Vigna unguiculata and the latter Vicia 

faba. Their translation is what he saw, not what he 

thought he saw. 

Phaseolus vulgaris reached England in 1594 

(Hawkes 1998). Leonard Fuchs in 1542 thought 

what we now call P. vulgaris was the bean of classical 

Rome and Greece and called them Faselen. Similarly, 

Hieronymus Tragus in 1552 and Davidus Kyber in 

1553 thought the same as Fuchs. That view held until 

the late 1800s, but it has subsequently been confirmed 

that Phaseolus is a New World crop (Smartt and 

Simmonds 1995). Archaeological studies indicate 

beans in Mexico by 6000 /7000 B.P., and in Peru 

7000 /8000 B.P. (Smartt and Simmonds 1995, Kaplan 

and Lynch 1999, Lentz 2000). They reached eastern 

North America some time after those dates (Fritz 

2000b), apparently between 700 and 1000 B.P. 

Beans were widely cultivated among the northern 

Florida tribes before Europeans arrived (Hedrick 

1919). Pánfilo de Narváez found beans in western 

Florida in 1528, as did Hernando de Soto in 1539 

(Swanton 1936, 1946). Similarly, Jean Ribaut found



beans cultivated by the Timucua in northeastern 

Florida in 1562. 

Earlier explorers also found beans farther north 

(Hedrick 1919). Florentine navigator Giovanni da 

Verrazzano (alias John Verazanno) (1485 /1528) found 

them among the indigenous people of NorumBega, 

Maine, in 1524. As the first European visitor to the 

New England coast, he had never before seen kidney 

beans. He wrote of the people, presumably the 

Pequod, ‘‘Their ordinarie food is of pulse, whereof 

they have great store, differing in colour and taste 

from ours, of good and pleasant taste.’’ Later, Jacques 

Cartier found beans ‘‘of every color’’ among the 

Hurons at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River of 

Quebec in 1535. 

In the same region, Samuel de Champlain (1567 / 

1635) found the Abenaki of the Kennebec River on 

southern Maine eating multicolored beans in 1605, 

and Capt. John Smith (1580 /1631) knew them among 

the New England tribes in 1614 when the Pilgrims first 

landed. Before 1670, John Josselyn wrote of ‘‘French 

beans: or rather, American beans. The herbalists call 

them kidney-beans from their shape and effects: for 

they strengthen the kidneys. They are variegated 

much, some being bigger, a great deal, than others; 

some white, black, red, yellow, blue, spotted’’ (Hedrick 

1919). 

Harriot ([1590] 1972) wrote of North Carolina that 

the okindgier was ‘‘called by vs beanes, because of in 

greatnesse and partly shape they are like to the Beanes 

in England, sauing that they are flatter, of more divers 

colours, and some pide. The leafe also of the stemme is 

much different. In taste they are altogether as good as 

our English peaze.’’ 

Beans are documented as grown for food among 

the Abenaki, Algonquin, Apache, Aztecs, Cherokee, 

Choctaw, Creek, Delaware, Havasupai, Huron, Iroquois, 

Menomin, Navajo, Ojibwa, Onondaga, Papago, 

Pequod, Potawatomi, Santee, Seminoles, Sia, Tewa, 

Tuscarora, and Zuni (Romans [1775] 1961, Bartram 

1719, Hedrick 1919, Smith 1933, Swanton 1946, 

Berkeley and Berkeley 1982, Moerman 1998). All the 

agricultural tribes in the eastern United States surely 

made use of them. 

Harriot ([1590] 1972) wrote that the people of 

Virginia cooked corn and beans together to ‘‘make 

them victuall either by boyling them all to pieces into a 

broth; or boiling them whole vntill they bee soft and 

beginne to breake as is vsed in England, eyther by 

themselues or mixtly together: Sometime they mingle 

of the wheate with them. Sometime also beeing whole 

sodden, they bruse or pound them in a morter, & 

therof make loaues of lumps of dowishe bread, which 

they vse to eat for varietie.’’ Romans ([1775] 1961) 

found the Choctaw doing much the same by boiling 

corn and beans together, and calling it holhponi. We 

now call this mixture ‘‘succotash’’ (an Algonquian 

word akin to Narraganset msekwatas; in use by 1751). 

Capt. John Smith recorded for Virginia a dish of 

unripened corn, roasted in hot ashes, and eaten boiled 

with beans during the winter. He called it pausarowmena 

or pausarawmena. Le Page Du Pratz found the 

Natchez in 1758 cooking corn bread with beans, a dish 

they called co oëdlou (Swanton 1946). 

The Caddo of southwestern Arkansas, northwestern 

Louisiana, and adjacent Texas had a unique bean 

dish. Henri de Joutel wrote about 1615 that they ‘‘do 

not make much mystery in preparation of them.’’ 

These people cooked them in a big pot without any 

preparation and kept them covered with leaves until 

they were almost done. Then, they poured warm, 

salted water over them before serving. Those eating the 

pods were expected to eat strings, stems, and other 

parts or remove the pieces they did not want (Swanton 

1946). This tribe was also unusual in salting their food. 

By the time Bartram ([1791] 1958) was among the 

Seminoles of northern Florida in the 1770s, he found 

them growing ‘‘beans’’ (Phaseolus). They were also 

growing what he called ‘‘pease,’’ the introduced cowpea, 

Vigna unguiculata. Indeed, along with native 

produce, Bartram recorded a number of other introduced 

plants among these villagers. 

At Palatka (from Creek pilotaikita, crossing), in 

what is now Putnam County, Florida, Bartram visited 

a Seminole garden. The field was planted ‘‘chiefly with 

corn (Zea), Batatas [Ipomoea batatas], Beans [Phaseolus 

vulgaris], Pompions [Cucurbita pepo], Squashes 

(Cucurbita verrucosa) [C. pepo], Melons (Cucurbita 

citrullus) [Citrullus lanatus], Tobacco (Nicotiana) &c. 

are abundantly sufficient for the inhabitants of the 

village.’’ At the same village he later wrote, ‘‘The fields 

surrounding the town and groves were plentifully 

stored with’’ exotic crops including peas (Vigna 

unguiculata), potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), peaches 

(Prunus persica), figs (Ficus cairica), and oranges 

(Citrus sinensis). 

Later Bartram visited Cuscowilla (taska, warrior, 

weli, plunderer, Choctaw), near the northwestern 

corner of Tuscawilla Lake, and east of the present 

Micanopy, Alachua County, close to the Alachua 

savanna. There the Seminoles planted, ‘‘but little here 

about the town, only a small garden spot at each 

habitation, consisting of a little Corn, Beans, Tobacco, 

Citruls [Citrullus lanatus], &c.’’ Instead, they had their 

major crops elsewhere. 

Bartram also described an extensive maize field 

near Cowee (a Cherokee town formerly on the Little 

Tennessee River, Macon County, NC). He rode ‘‘near 

two miles through Indian plantations of Corn, which 

was well cultivated, kept clean of weeds and was well



advanced, being near eighteen inches in height, and 

the Beans planted at the Corn-hills were above 

ground.’’ 

Sturtevant (1955) found the southern Florida 

Seminoles growing what the Miccosukee called sala: 

lkitíscî (red bean), sala:lláknî (yellow bean), and sala: 

llákno:cî (small yellow bean). The beans were Phaseolus 

vulgaris. 

Fernald et al. (1958) indicate that P. polystachios is 

edible, and Freytag and Debouck (2002) concur. Both 

books, however, point out that there are few seeds 

borne on the plants and that they are small. Both 

Uphof (1968) and Hocking (1997), on the other hand, 

write that the seeds are a popular food, being dried 

and cooked. Uphof (1968) wrote they were ‘‘highly 

prized by North American Indians.’’ Since Moerman 

(1998) did not list the species I wonder where Uphof 

got his information. However, our expert on Phaseolus, 

Lawrence Kaplan, wrote me (Apr. 2003), ‘‘When I 

was trying crosses ... [i]t produced well in the greenhouse, 

certainly enough to warrant gathering.’’ 

Beans have been so important to Europeans and 

other settlers in the New World that expressions have 

grown up around them. Generally they have a good 

reputation, and that led to the saying that someone is 

‘‘full of beans.’’ That phrase means that the person is 

in an energetic, cheerful mood (Davidson 1999). The 

expression in Portuguese is cheio de feijão. 

There is an impolite rhyme dealing with the 

difficulties humans have digesting the proteins in 

Phaseolus. This incomplete digestion results in an 

unusually large amount of methane, and subsequently 

flatulence. As an ancient saying goes: 

Beans, beans, the wonderful fruit. 

The more you eat, the more you toot. 

The more you toot, the better you feel. 

That’s why I eat beans at every meal! 

Phlebodium 

(Greek phlebodes, full of veins; John Smith moved 

Robert Brown’s section Phlebodium to generic level) 

Phlebodium aureum (golden, in reference to the 

rhizome scales) ( /Polypodium aureum) 

avenca dourada (golden fern, Brazil) 

cabbage palm fern (Florida) 

calaguala [calahuala] (Cuba, Veracruz, Honduras, 

Panama) 

istimá:ha imanâ (este, person, im, his, aha, tuber, 

em, its, mahe, height, Creek); yá:tcáyhimá:hî 

(yá:tcáyh, tall person, im, his, á:hî, tuber, 

Phlebodium aureum. Drawn by P.N. Honychurch. 

Mikasuki); yaatchayhen taapente (tall person’s 

fern, Mikasuki) 

mano de léon (lion’s paw, Totonac, Veracruz) 

ni 23 za 3 (Chinantec, Oaxaca) 

[golden] serpent fern (Florida, Bahamas) 

Linnaeus ([1753] 1957) called this fern Polypodium 

aureum, following Charles Plumier’s Polypodium majus 

aureum (big red fern) of 1693. Many people still agree 

with him, but others segregate this and two to four 

other species into Phelbodium following John Smith 

(1798 /1888) and Nauman (1993). 

The name calaguala is widespread in Latin America 

for ferns famous as medicines (Duke and Vásquez 

1994, Gupta 1995a). While that name subsumes 

several species, the most famous has been Polypodium 

calaguala, a South American species. However, people 

from Cuba through Veracruz, Mexico, and south 

through Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama mostly 

use P. aureum (Gupta 1995a). Cubans consider the rhizome 

of P. aureum good to treat wounds, falls, and external 

sores (Roig 1945). They also consider P. aureum 

anthelmintic and sudorific, and use it to treat rheumatism, 

heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma, 

and colic. Totonacs in Veracruz use P. aureum to treat 

coughs, internal bruises, and the kidneys, and in medicinal 

baths (Vásquez and Jácome 1997). In northern 

South America, Duke and Vásquez (1994) comment 

that calaguala is the first plant mentioned when 

medicinal plants, particularly treatments for cancer, 

are discussed. Florida is the northern limit of this fern. 

A primary use of the fern among the Seminoles is 

for chronic sickness that had not responded to other 

treatments (Sturtevant 1955). Typically, the mixture 

for chronic sickness is a combination of many plants 

called ayikctanahkó:cí (small gathered medicine, 

Mikasuki) or atilo:kocí (vetelokv, gathered, oce, small, 

Creek). Phlebodium aureum is one of four ferns that 

might be included. Another mixture is given for



‘‘insanity,’’ any kind of confusion or odd behavior 

(Sturtevant 1955). Still another use is during childbirth. 

Gupta (1995a) reported that an ethanolic extact of 

cabbage palm fern showed activity against certain 

viruses. It has not been confirmed that the species has 

the same activity as others called calaguala. 

Phoradendron 

(Thomas Nuttall named this with Greek phoros, 

bearing, dendron, tree) 

Phoradendron leucosperma. From Britton and Brown 1896. 

Viscum album (although European mistletoe is 

placed in a genus distinct from the American 

plants, they differ in technical details; people 

familiar with the plants in Europe would have 

had no trouble recognizing the eastern North 

American species) 

druidh lus (druidh, Druid, lus, herb, Gaelic); gui 

(French); guis (sticky, Irish) 

mistletoe (a word from Old English in use by A.D. 

1100; from mistle, dung, and tan, twig; akin to 

Old High German mistil, mistletoe, and zein, 

twig; the name came into existence because 

people believed that the mistle thrush, Turdus 

viscivorous, excreted the seeds on limbs; it 

actually scrapes them off its bill; see Austin 

1998a); Mistel (German); misteltein (Norwegian); 

oak mistletoe (USA) 

muérdango (Spanish) 

uil’-ioc (all-heal, Gaelic) 

vischio (from Latin viscos, sticky, Italian); visco 

(Portuguese) 

Vogel-liem [Vogellym] (birdlime; cf. Turner [1548] 

1965) 

Phoradendron leucocarpum (white-fruited) ( /P. 

flavescens, misapplied) 

a:tilhiciksó imitto (a:tilhiciksó, elf, im, his, ittó,tree, 

Koasati) 

antcka’ nûta’wayi’ (Biloxi) 

fani shapha (fani, squirrel, shapha, flag, Choctaw); 

fanishapha’ (fani’, squirrel, im, its, shapha’, flag, 

Chickasaw); ipɬ iäsapha (squirrel’s flag, from 

ipɬ o, squirrel, im /sapha, its flag, Alabama) 

fani’ hasimbish (fani’, squirrel, hasimbish, tail, 

probably is this plant, Chickasaw) 

gui (mistletoe in French, Houma, Louisiana) 

hinɬ ímásókcî [hinrímásókcî, henle ’mashokche] 

(squirrel tea, Mikasuki) 

’to eleko [ito-iliko, toiliko, tuhiligu, eto-eleko, tóhelleko, 

tohiríkko, tohiɬ ikko, toheleko] (eto, tree, 

eleko, feet, Creek, Muskogee) 

uda’li (it is married, Cherokee) 

Mistletoe has a long association with native people 

throughout the eastern United States, much as it has 

among the Europeans. The Cherokee, for example, 

used it to treat headache, epilepsy, in ‘‘medicine for 

pregnant women,’’ to lower high blood pressure, and 

to cure vomiting (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). 

Among the Muskogean people, the Chickasaw made 

a remedy from it to treat ‘‘Red Squirrel Sickness’’ 

(toothache, swollen jaw, and sometimes nosebleed) 

(Swanton 1928a,b). The Houma made a decoction of 

the plant to aid debility and paralytic weakness, 

considering it something of a panacea (Speck 1941). 

The Yuchi use it to treat ‘‘Raccoon Sickness’’ (diarrhea, 

usually in babies) (Howard 1984). The Creeks 

made medicine from leaves and branches for lung 

troubles, including consumption (Swanton 1928a). 

The Florida Seminoles use it to treat ‘‘Deer Sickness’’ 

(numbness, painful limbs and joints), as an emetic 

during ceremonies, and as a medicine for chronically 

ill babies (Sturtevant 1955). The Oklahoma Seminoles 

make an infusion of leaves and berries for ringworm 

sores and to treat hemorrhoids, and give it to children 

for whooping cough (Howard 1984). Modern Florida 

Seminoles include it as part of the ‘‘Death Medicine’’ 

(Snow and Stans 2001). 

Phragmites 

(From Greek phragma, hedge, fence, or screen, 

plus /ites, resembling; the word was used by Pliny, 

A.D. 23 /79, for a reed) 

Phragmites australis (southern) 

abo’djigun (something turned out or over, Ojibwa) 

act (Atakapa)



Phragmites australis. Drawn by Mary Wright Gill and Agnes 

Chase. From Hitchcock and Chase 1950. 

aqraban (Bahrain) 

arrow [bamboo] grass 

atask (Strachey wrote attasqwas in [1612] 1953, 

and Capt. John Smith penned attasskuss for the 

Powhatan word; both called them ‘‘weeds’’ but 

Smith added ‘‘grasses’’; the root /*aTw-/ occurs 

in their word atons, for ‘‘arrow’’); cognates 

include assa·kanask (Ojibwa); asta·kanask 

(Cree) 

bennels (from Hedrick 1919, source not traced) 

caña de Indio (Indian cane, Panama, Puerto Rico); 

caña de pantano (marsh cane, Puerto Rico); cane 

grass [wild cane] (New Mexico); cañoto (wild 

cane) 

carrizo (Arizona, New Mexico, Sonora to Honduras, 

Hispaniola) 

chaume (more often applied to straw as for a 

thatch roof, from Latin calamus, French) 

hajna (Saudi Arabia) 

halal (cane like corn stalks, Maya, Yucatán) 

i’hya (Cherokee) 

kaneh [qáneh] (Hebrew) 

koha:ha:kâ (kohv, cane, vhake, replica, Creek); oɬ ã: 

nâ:bî [orã:nâ:bî] (cane replica, referring to 

Arundinaria, Mikasuki); kunshak (Choctaw); 

oskoba (from oski holba, resembling cane, Choctaw; 

a local synonym for kunshak) 

lók’aa’ (Navajo) 

pull reed (‘‘A long reed used for ceilings instead of 

laths’’; cf. Britten and Holland [1886] 1965); 

[common] reed [grass] (Florida to New Mexico, 

Bahamas, Puerto Rico Panama); riet [rietje, rif] 

(reed, Dutch) 

Rohr (from Gothic Raus, German); takrør (roof 

reed, Norwegian) 

roseau (from Old French ros, related to German 

Raus, French); roseau commun (Quebec); petit 

roseau (little reed, Guadeloupe, Martinique) 

saesgean (also an area dominated by moors or 

fens, Gaelic) 

sak-halal [zak-halal, zachalal] (sak, white, halal, 

cane-like corn stalks, Maya, Yucatán) 

soccos (‘‘seed’’ cane, for planting, Spanish) 

taa gui (taa, mat, matting, gui, cane, Zapotec) 

tibisí (reed, Taino, Cuba, Hispaniola) 

tlh’ogh elgha n nachel ghi n la (grass which is connected 

together, i.e., large nodes, Chipewyan, 

Canada) 

wa:pk [vaapk] (O’odham, Arizona, Sonora) 

xapij (Seri, Sonora) 

The next time you listen to orchestra music, 

remember that you owe many of the sounds to plants. 

Stringed instruments and woodwinds (oboes, clarinets, 

bassoons, etc.) are made partly or completely of wood. 

However, the topic here is the music coming from the 

woodwinds, due to plant parts called reeds. 

The word ‘‘reed’’ applies to several different 

plants, but three species are native to Florida. One is 

the musical reed source (Phragmites), one for fishing 

poles (wild cane; see Arundinaria gigantea), and the 

other is wild bamboo (see Lasiacis divaricata), which 

currently is not used by people in Florida. People 

elsewhere in the Americas use all three and distinguish 

between them with common names, while at the same 

time noting their similarities. 

Moreover, the words ‘‘reed,’’ ‘‘cane,’’ and ‘‘bamboo’’ 

are intermixed in current and historic usage. All 

originally had somewhat different meanings and 

origins, yet those words and ‘‘calumet’’ all came into 

English because of plants (see also Arundinaria; 

Lasiacis). 

The oldest of these terms is ‘‘reed.’’ That word is 

related to Old English hréod, Old Frisian (h)reid, Old 

Saxon hriad, and Old Teutonic hreundo, all meaning 

tall straight stems of grasses. Originally, reed applied



to either Phragmites or Arundo. ‘‘Reed’’ dates from ca. 

A.D. 725, being equated in a publication that year to 

harundo and canna. Although similar, harundo is not 

related to Latin hirundo, the swallow. 

Obviously, the concepts of reed, cane, bamboo, 

and pipe are all interrelated and applied to numerous 

plants. The first requirement is that the grasses are 

comparatively large and have either a woody stem or 

one that is somewhat lignified. The most useful part of 

the grasses is the stem, and that has served people 

throughout the world in many ways. 

Perhaps at least partly because Phragmites is most 

widely distributed, it is a well-known plant (e.g., 

Howard and Powell 1963, Kenk 1963, Baranov 1967, 

Core 1967, Johnston 1970, Morton 1970, Turner and 

Bell 1971, de la Cruz 1978, Heiser 1978, Bailey and 

Danin 1981, Wolverton 1982, Cunningham and Milton 

1987, Timbrook 1990). The species grows from 

southern Canada to the central United States, to 

California, Louisiana, Florida, the West Indies, and 

from Mexico to Chile and Argentina. Phragmites also 

grows widely in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. 

The genus Phragmites was created by French botanist 

Michel Adanson who called it that because the grass 

grows along streams and ‘‘fences’’ them from nearby 

areas. These are the plants called kaneh or qáneh in 

Hebrew versions of the Bible (Zohary 1982), and 

ancient Egyptians used the culms as ‘‘quill’’ pens. 

Phragmites was well known to the Europeans when 

they first arrived in the Americas. 

In the New World, Europeans continued their old 

names for the plants. Dutch speakers use a word 

closest to English, when they say riet [rietje, rif]. The 

Germans call the reed Rohr. The French borrowed that 

term and say roseau (from Old French ros). Speakers 

of French also have a Latin derivative, chaume (from 

Latin calamus), but this is more often applied to straw 

as for a thatch roof. Romance languages continued 

using their Latin-based words, in Portuguese cana, 

Spanish caña, and Italian canna. Gaelic speakers called 

it saesgean, which also means an area dominated by 

moors or fens. 

Europeans in the Americas also compared Phragmites 

with the Old World sugarcane (Saccharum 

officinarum), saying caña de Indio (Panama, Puerto 

Rico) and soccos. They use that comparison because 

both plants provide sweets. Fernald et al. (1958) 

described the process of Phragmites extraction. Stems 

are gathered before flowering, dried in the sun, and 

ground or beaten into flour. The finer parts are sifted 

out and moistened to make a gummy mass that is 

roasted by a fire until it swells and browns slightly. The 

material is eaten like taffy or marshmallows. 

There is also a sweet edible gum exuded from 

damage caused by insects (the mealy plum aphid, 

Hyalopterus arundinis). Although Hodgson (2001) 

suggested that the use of the sweet extract from 

Phragmites called manna by the Europeans and 

cadece (juice of the reed) by the Cochimis was 

originally restricted to the California area, its use 

seems to have been more widespread. It may be the 

abundance of historical documents from the California 

region that gives the impression of a focus there. 

Many people, including Akimel and Tohono O’odham 

(Pima and Papago), Paiutes, Panamints, Yavapais, 

Cocopas, and others certainly showed the Europeans 

the sweet material. Europeans then left behind written 

accounts. 

Other native American names compare Phragmites 

with cane (Arundinaria gigantea) or maize (Zea 

mays). The Seminoles say koha:ha:ká (Creek) and 

oɬ á:ná:bí (Mikasuki), referring to Arundinaria, which 

they call by the simple terms kohá (Creek), kóha 

(Muskogee), or oɬ á:ni (Mikasuki). In Yucatán, the 

Maya say it is halal (cane-like corn stalks), or sakhalal 

[zak-halal, zachalal] (sak, white, halal). 

From British Columbia through the western United 

States to Panama, the young shoots are served as a 

potherb (Fernald et al. 1958, Duke 1968, 1972, Moser 

and Felger 1985, Hodgson 2001). In the 1870s the 

English botanist Mrs. Phoebe Lankester noted that 

the young shoots, especially where protected from 

light, ‘‘made an excellent pickle’’ (Fernald et al. 1958). 

As late as 1942, Mr. and Mrs. Whittrock commented 

that indigenous people in New Jersey boiled the 

rhizomes like potatoes, and in the early spring they 

cooked the young shoots like asparagus (Fernald et al. 

1958). The rhizomes may be harvested during any 

season and eaten raw or ground into flour. 

The seeds are hard to extract from the chaff, but 

they were cooked and eaten by people from New 

England to Oregon and south to the Sonoran Desert 

and probably elsewhere (Fernald et al. 1958, Mabberley 

1997, Hodgson 2001). Sometimes the chaff was 

allowed to remain on the seeds. Again in New Jersey, 

the Whittrocks recorded that local indigenous people 

did not remove the hull, but cooked the whole grain 

into a reddish gruel, colored by the hull. They added 

that it was ‘‘wholesome as a food, though not too 

appetizing in appearance’’ (Fernald et al. 1958). 

People from the Thompson of British Columbia 

and the Okanagon of the Washington and Canada 

border to the Zapotecs of Oaxaca use Phragmites to 

prepare mats (Reko 1945, Mabberley 1997). Surely, 

people in the eastern parts of North America did the 

same although they made more use of cane (see 

Arundinaria). Some of the mats were used to dry 

food, while others were for sleeping and other 

purposes (Rea 1997, Moerman 1998).



In the southwestern United States and probably 

elsewhere in its range, Phragmites stems have been 

used to make many items. One of the most frequent 

applications before indigenous people obtained guns 

was as shafts of arrows and atlatl darts. There are 

records of at least the Apache, Aztecs, Havasupai, 

Hopi, Hualapai, Kawaiisu, Klamath, Navajo, Paiute, 

and Tewa making arrows from them (Elmore 1944, 

Ebeling 1986, Mabberley 1997). Some other uses 

include making baskets, boats, containers, flutes, 

nets, pipes (or ‘‘cigarettes’’), pipe stems, prayer sticks, 

roofing, screens, thatching, and weaving rods (Kearney 

and Peebles 1951, Felger and Moser 1985, Ebeling 

1986, Mabberley 1997, Hodgson 2001). Both stems 

and leaves were used to make cordage for nets and 

snares (Ebeling 1986). 

We can still purchase Phragmites reed ‘‘screens’’ to 

use as visual barriers along fences and other areas. In 

addition, the species is used commercially to make 

paper, cellophane, cardboard, synthetic textiles, fiberboard, 

fuel, alcohol, insulation, and fertilizer (Hocking 

1997). The Seminoles probably also used reed 

much as they did cane (see Arundinaria). 

In the southeast, only the Seminoles are recorded 

as using Phragmites as medicine. These people used 

the hollow stems as a tube to blow medicine into 

wounds or onto skin problems, and even as a 

medication for boils and carbuncles (Sturtevant 

1955). Similarly, the Navajo use lók’aa’ for stomach 

and skin problems (Mayes and Lacy 1989). The 

Apache made a medicine to treat diarrhea and other 

digestive problems (Moerman 1998). The Blackfoot 

made a decoction of the whole plant as an emetic. The 

Iroquois mixed Phragmites with bottle-brush grass 

(Elymus hystrix) to make ‘‘corn medicine,’’ a mixture 

in which they soaked corn kernels before planting 

them. In the Bahamas and Cuba, a root decoction of 

Phragmites is taken as a diuretic and antiseptic. On 

North Caicos the root is boiled with Chiococca alba to 

relieve ‘‘pain in the back’’ (kidneys) (Roig 1945, 

Morton 1981). 

Human alterations of landscapes have resulted in 

major changes in reed abundance. Formerly, when the 

land was wetter, people in the southwestern part of the 

United States and nearby Mexico named places 

because of the stands of Phragmites. Some examples 

include Carrizo, Carrizo Butte, Carrizo Mountains, 

Carrizo Ridge, and Carrizo Wash (Apache County, 

Arizona), Carrizo Creek (Catron County, New Mexico), 

Carrizozo (Lincoln County, New Mexico), Xapij 

an Hax (reedgrass inside water), and Hax Cáail or 

Pozo Carrizo (Kino Bay, Sonora). Now, drainage has 

resulted in near disappearance of the species. The 

alternate situation applies in the eastern states where 

the apomictic form has become a weed covering vast 

areas in monocultures. 

‘‘Reed’’ in woodwinds is a slightly different meaning 

from all the others. There, a segment of the stem is 

removed and thinned so that air moving over it in the 

confined space of the instrument will cause it to 

vibrate. Sounds from that vibration are amplified by 

the remainder of the instrument to produce the music. 

Occasionally, the reeds are made of Arundo donax, 

another reed; however, the preferred ‘‘reed’’ is from 

Phragmites. No other plant produces sounds as 

pleasing as it, and synthetic products are usually not 

acceptable to the musicians who demand excellence 

in sounds. An ancient grass used to make Greek 

panpipes is still the best. 

Phryma 

(Derivation unknown; possibly from Greek phryna, a 

toad) 

Phryma leptostachya. From Britton and Brown 1898. 

Phryma leptostachya (slender-spiked; an old generic 

name) 

[American] lopseed (‘‘lop,’’ to hang loosely, was in 

English by 1578; ‘‘lopseed’’ was recorded in a 

common name by 1850) 

Apparently, the first that Europeans learned of 

these herbs was from Jan Gronovius’s Flora Virginica. 

In 1739, he called the plants Verbena racemosa 

simplicissimo, flores sessilibus, calycibus fructus reflexis 

racemoque appressis (A verbena with a simple raceme, 

flowers sessile, the fruiting calyx reflexed and appressed 

to the raceme). In 1740, Adrian van Royen 

used the same phrase to describe plants growing in the



Netherlands. Not long afterward, in 1751, Linnaeus 

coined the generic name Phryma and left everyone 

wondering on what he based the name. Species 

Plantarum (Linnaeus [1753] 1957) states simply, 

‘‘Habitat in America septentrionalis’’ (Grows in North 

America). 

That problematic etymology of the generic name 

set the stage for trying to understand the relationships 

of these plants. They have been put in their own 

family, the Phrymaceae, or the Verbenaceae. The most 

recent molecular genetic studies support Phryma being 

removed from the other families and recognized as a 

distinct lineage (Wagstaff and Olmstead 1997). 

Although Linnaeus did not know it when he 

named the herbs, the genus is disjunct between Asia 

and North America. There has been a tendency to call 

the Old World plants a different species from the 

American, but the differences are minor (Hara 1969). 

Since the late 1960s, most have considered them a 

single, bicentric species in the monotypic Phryma. 

In North America, the plants are considered native 

from New Brunswick to Manitoba, south to Florida, 

Alabama, Louisiana, and eastern Texas (Fernald 1950, 

Steyermark 1963, Barkley 1986, Jones and Coile 1988, 

Diggs et al. 1999). These plants are widespread and 

important medicines in Asia, but few records exist of 

their application in the Americas. The Ojibwa chewed 

roots or gargled a root decoction to relieve sore throat, 

and drank the decoction when they had rheumatism 

(Densmore 1928, Moerman 1998). 

Hocking (1997) noted that the leaves and roots are 

insecticidal and have been used to kill houseflies in 

Japan and China. Elsewhere in Asia, the plants are 

used to treat fevers, ulcers, ringworms, scabies, boils, 

carbuncles, and cancers (Hsu 1986, Foster and Duke 

1990). The herbs contain phryumarol, a sterol (Hocking 

1997). 

Phyla 

(João de Louriero, 1717 /1791, used Greek phyle, a 

tribe or clan, an allusion to the many flowers in tight 

heads) 

fog fruit (in use for P. nodiflora in the Americas by 

1886; the old meaning of ‘‘fog’’ was for ‘‘grasses’’ 

that sprang up in fields immediately after the hay 

was harvested; that sense dates from the 14th 

century A.D.; the concept of moisture in the air 

did not appear until the 1500s, although it now 

precludes the older use); frog fruit (corruption of 

‘‘fog fruit’’) 

Phyla lanceolata. Drawn by Vivian Frazier. From Correll and 

Correll 1972. 

Phyla lanceolata 

lance-leaf fog-fruit 

Phyla stoechadifolia (leaves resembling those of 

the mint Lavandula stoechas) ( /Lippia stochadifolia) 

azulejo (little blue one) 

epazotillo (little epazote, Chenopodium ambrosioides, 

Totonac, Veracruz) 

guia huace [quie huace] (guia, flower, huace, smell 

of roses or sweet fruit, Zapotec, Oaxaca) 

kabalyaxmik [cabalyaxnic] (kabal, small plant, 

ya’ax, green, nik, joined to, in other words, small 

plant that grows with the ya’ax che’, Ceiba 

pentandra, the green tree that supports the world; 

Maya, Yucatán) 

marsh phyla (a book name) 

orozús (literally, ‘‘juicy-root,’’ a name usually given 

to a legume, Belize) 

poleo [poley] (a mint resembling ‘‘yerbabuena’’ or 

Mentha, Puerto Rico) 

southern fog-fruit (Florida)



té [cimarron, negro] ([wild, black] tea); té de 

Yucatán [del país] (Yucatán [country] tea, Yucatán) 

Linnaeus ([1753] 1957) had not seen living specimens 

of what he called Verbena stoechadifolia. Instead, 

he knew them from the reports of Charles Plumier 

from 1703, Sebastien Vailant in 1718 (1669 /1722), 

and Adrian van Royen in 1740. Presumably all three 

earlier authors had studied the plants in cultivation in 

France and then in the Netherlands. It was 1803 when 

André Michaux discovered and named the second 

species as Lippia lanceolata. Both species have been 

moved from genus to genus as understanding of their 

relationships evolved. Most of us still do not know the 

differences between Lippia and Phyla, but the latter 

genus contains about 11 tropical and warm region 

species around the world (Mabberley 1997). 

Little beyond the common names has been recorded 

for Phyla. The Mahuna of southern California 

used P. lanceolata to treat rheumatism (Moerman 

1998). The Houma used P. nodiflora (l’herbe à la 

tortue, turtle herb) as a bath to make lazy babies walk 

(Speck 1941). Numerous other uses are recorded by 

Ayensu (1981) and Morton (1981) for that species. The 

reverence accorded kabalyaxmik by the Maya summarizes 

attitudes generally toward several species (cf. 

Arvigo and Balick 1993, Vásquez and Jácome 1997). 

Phyla stoechadifolia is endangered in Florida (Coile 

2000). 

One of the problems with attributing uses to Phyla 

is its confusion with related genera Lippia and Aloysia. 

Standley (1920 /1926), for example, put them all in 

Lippia. Related L. umbellata is used as a remedy for 

colic. Lippia dulcis (hierba dulce), is a well-known 

sweetener, and L. graveolens (orégano), better known 

as A. graveolens, is a spice used like the mint that is its 

namesake (Oreganum). 

Phyllanthus 

(From Greek phyllon, leaf, and anthos, flower, because 

the flowers of some species are borne on leaflike 

dilated branches) 

Blattblume (leaf flower, German) 

cherek hantu (ghost’s diarrhea plant; P. frondosus, 

Malay) 

dukong anak (the child pick-a-back; P. urinaria, 

Malay) 

graines en bas feuilles (seeds below leaves, French 

Antilles) 

keezhu (below, a reference to the fruits being borne 

under the leaves, Malayalam) 

Phyllanthus caroliniensis. From Britton and Brown 1897. 

leaf-flower; phyllanthe (leaf flower, French) 

quebra pedra (stone breaker, Portuguese) 

Phyllanthus caroliniensis (of Carolina) 

cababesinixte (a reference to a plant with small 

fruits that resemble ants; cabal, small, bel, 

clothes, sinik, ants, te, toward, che’, plant, 

Maya, Yucatán) 

canastilla (little basket, Veracruz) 

Carolina leaf-flower (a book name) 

gale-of-wind 

[graines] en bas feuilles ([seeds] under the leaves, 

Martinique) 

rock phyllanthus (a book name, Bahamas) 

yerba de la muina (indisposition herb, Veracruz) 

The first time I saw Phyllanthus caroliniensis in 

Florida was in the herb layer of a pinewoods that had 

recently burned. The plants were abundant for a year 

after the burn, and added a lacy green to the ground. 

Then, as other plants grew up, they disappeared. Soon 

afterward, the whole region became a housing development 

and those small herbs were gone. It all 

happened so fast that I never was able to learn much 

about these curious ‘‘leaf-flowers.’’ 

Phyllanthus is a genus of about 800 species 

growing in the tropical and warm parts of the world 

(Mabberley 1997, Webster 2002). The genus ranges in 

life-form from large trees (e.g., P. acidus) to small 

herbs like P. caroliniensis. Linnaeus created the genus 

in 1753, although people had been using the word 

Phyllanthus for these plants long before then. The 

name was actually coined by Jan Commelin in 1697, 

and used by Catesby (1731 /1732) and Albert Seba in



1734 /1735. Linnaeus had adopted Phyllanthus beginning 

with Hortus Cliffortianus of 1738. 

In Species Plantarum, Linnaeus recorded the six 

species that he then knew: P. grandifolia, P. emblica, P. 

epiphyllanthus, P. maderaspatensis, P. niruri, and P. 

urinaria. Three species were based on specimens from 

India (P. emblica, P. maderaspatensis, P. urinaria), and 

the others from the Caribbean (P. epiphyllanthus, P. 

grandifolia, P. niruri). 

It was not until Thomas Walter published his 

Flora Caroliniana in 1788 that P. caroliniensis became 

known. These small herbs have now been found from 

Pennsylvania to Missouri and Kansas south to Brazil, 

Bolivia, and Argentina (Fernald 1950, Hocking 1997). 

These herbs are like P. niruri and P. urinaria in aspect. 

Vásquez and Jácome (1997) found people using P. 

caroliniensis to treat bronchitis, bruises, the heart, and 

skin problems. It is used as a diuretic in the French 

West Indies (Hocking 1997) and as a medicinal in 

Belize (Balick et al. 2000). The information available 

indicates that these herbs were used in the same ways 

as P. niruri and P. urinaria. 

However, the story becomes more complicated 

once those other two species are considered. Phyllanthus 

niruri was described by Linnaeus in 1753. He 

thought it was from India and cited both Rheede’s list 

of 1678 /1703 containing plants used on the Malabar 

Coast of India and John Martyn’s (1699 /1768) list of 

plants in cultivation in London in 1728. Although 

Linnaeus’s name continues in use, P. niruri has never 

been found in India (Webster 1955, 1956, 1970, 2002, 

personal communication 2003). 

The native range of P. niruri is from southern 

Texas, through Mexico to Argentina (Stevens et al. 

2001). The plants that are so famous for medicine in 

India are actually P. fraternus, not named until studied 

by Grady L. Webster (1955). Given the difficulty of 

identification of these small herbs, plus the prevalence 

of some widespread and weedy species, I suspect that 

the small native, and often rare, P. caroliniensis, has 

been relegated to a plant that is now neglected. 

However, P. caroliniensis contains several bioactive 

compounds that would have made it useful. Phytosterols, 

quercetin, gallic acid ethyl ester, and geraniin 

have been identified in it by Cechinel Filho et al. 

(1996a,b). These authors wrote, ‘‘Pharmacological 

analysis also revealed that quercetin, gallic acid ethyl 

ester and a semi-purified fraction of flavonoids (1 /100 

mg kg-1, i.p.) exhibited graded and significant antinociception 

against acetic acid-induced abdominal 

constriction. The mean ID50 values (mg kg-1) for 

these effects were: 18.8, 34.7 and 5.3, respectively. It is 

concluded that quercetin, gallic acid ethyl ester and 

some as yet unidentified flavonoids might account for 

the antinociceptive action reported for the HE [hydro- 

alcoholic extract] of P. caroliniensis.’’ Moreover, Santos 

et al. (1999) and Narayana et al. (2001) found that 

the bioflavonoids in P. caroliniensis were not only 

antinociceptive, but also anti-inflammatory. 

The plant of choice in most, if not all, of the 

Americas is now P. niruri. However, Caribs in Dominica 

made a tea of the Old World exotic P. tenellus to 

induce abortions, and it kills rabbits and guinea pigs if 

they eat it (Hodge and Taylor 1957, Honychurch 

1987). 

In Cuba, P. niruri is known as yerba de la niña 

(little girl’s herb). Elsewhere it is called niruri (Florida), 

gale of wind (Florida, English Antilles), peronilla 

del pasto (grass pear, Puerto Rico), viernes santo 

(Holy Wednesday, Puerto Rico, Colombia), erva 

[herva] pombinha (literally little dove herb, but slang 

for female genitals, Brazil). 

There are two main themes in the common 

names*/use to break up kidney stones and use as a 

quinine substitute. For the kidney stone theme, it is 

called arranca pedras [arrebenta pedras] (stone 

breaker, Brazil), malva pedra (probably a lapse for 

bad stones, Brazil), and quebra pedra (stone breaker, 

Brazil). Names that allude to reducing fever are 

feuilles la fièvre (leaves for fever, Haiti), quinina 

(quinine, Haiti), quinina créole (Creole quinine, Haiti), 

quinina criolla (Creole quinine, Dominican Republic), 

quininina [quinine du] pays (country quinine, Haiti), 

quininito (little quinine, Haiti), quinino de pobre (poor 

person’s quinine, Puerto Rico), and sulfate pays 

(country sulfur, Haiti). In Paraguay, the herbs are 

paraparai mí (from parapa’rá, Guaraní). 

Phyllanthus nirun has names noting seeds below 

the leaves. Those include des dos [de dou] (from the 

back[s], Haiti), derrière dos (behind the back, Haiti), 

and graines sur dos (seeds on [the] back, Haiti). 

In Cuba P. niruri is used to treat malarial fever, 

diabetes, liver problems, biliousness, and dysentery, 

and it is used as a diuretic. In Hispaniola, these bitter 

plants are used to treat malaria (Liogier 1978). In 

Brazil, the herbs are used against urinary disorders, 

diabetes, jaundice, and malaria (Mors et al. 2000). The 

fruit juice is considered antidiabetic. 

Phyllanthus contain flavonoids, lignans, and glycosides 

(Mors et al. 2000). Given the confusion about the 

taxonomy, the identity of the species reported as P. 

niruri is dubious, but the genus is nonetheless chemically 

bioactive. Experiments show significant increase 

in diuresis and sodium and creatine excretion (Mors et 

al. 2000, Barros et al. 2003). In humans, persistent 

ingestion of tea from the roots expels kidney stones. 

Phyllanthus extracts show lipid-lowering activity 

(Khanna et al. 2002). There are also indications of 

antimalarial activity (Tona et al. 2001) and inhibition 

of HIV (Qian-Cutrone et al. 1996).



Over 30 years after I first saw P. caroliniensis in 

Florida, I learned that they were dispersed by mourning 

doves (Zenaida macroura). I had wondered for 

years how that region was able to support so many of 

these doves, and a partial answer came in a study by 

Tyler and Jenkins (1979). Doves are opportunistic and 

feed on an array of seeds*/most of them small. The 

Oklahoma study found 17 species of plants in dove 

crops. So, the year of the burn in the pine flatwoods 

was also a good food year for the mourning doves. 

Now the few doves there are obliged to sustain 

themselves at feeders outside residents’ homes. 

Physalis: Ground Cherries 

(From classical Greek physa for a bladder, meaning 

the inflated calyx) 

Physalis walterii. Drawn by P.N. Honychurch. 

After spending years in Mexico, Francisco Ximénez 

published his book Naturaleza y Virtudes de las 

plantas (Nature and Virtues of Plants) in 1615. In that 

book was an herb called coztomatl (yellow tomato, 

Náhuatl). The herb is Physalis but no one is sure 

which of the species. The characteristic enlarged and 

inflated calyces growing over the tomato-like berry are 

obvious in the Ximénez drawings. Today we know and 

eat fruits of a Mexican species as tomatillo in salsas. In 

Ximénez’s time, people in Europe were already familiar 

with their native P. alkekengi and some others from 

elsewhere. 

Classical Greeks called the Old World plants 

halikakabon (bladder) or phusalis, and the Romans 

simply translated the Greek into Latin, vesicaria. Later 

people in southwestern Europe took their names from 

the Greeks, and said halicacabon comun (common 

bladder, French 1575) or halicacabo uolgare (common 

bladder, Italian 1551). This was also rendered Boberellen 

(bladders, German, 1536). The French sometimes 

said couile bobes (bobe’s testicles, 1549). 

By the mid-1500s, Europeans from Italy to Holland 

and Germany were familiar with plants now 

known as P. alkekengi. Each country had its own 

names for these plants. Many sources say the specific 

name, alkekengi, is an Arabic name. However, that 

does not appear to be correct. According to Pignatti 

(1982), ‘‘alkekengi corresponds probably to the Halikakabos 

of Dioscorides.’’ This name was picked up 

because of the similar sound in the medieval Arabic 

hab-kakeng e and then, in the Italian dialects, it 

became alchechengi, accatengi, arachengi, arcachenzi, 

chechingi, chichingi, chechingela. Other popular names 

in Italy now are coralli (coral) and palloncini (baloons). 

The name alkekengi was spread with the plants 

from southeastern Europe, and it also was spelled 

alkakinge (English, 1542), akcakeng (Turner [1548] 

1965), alquequanges (French 1549), and alkanges 

(French 1551). Others compared the fruits to cherries, 

calling them winter chirrir (1568), red winter cherries 

(1597), Judenkirsen (Jew’s cherry, German, 1542), and 

Schlutten (ground cherry, German, 1542). 

Some of the European names suggest that the 

plants were introduced comparatively recently. These 

allusions include otra especie de yerua mora (another 

species of blackberry herb, Spanish 1557), baguenaudier 

(comparison with the bladder mallow, Colutea 

arborescens, French, 1550), and criecken van over zee 

(foreign criecken, Dutch, 1549). 

The plants came to northern Europe from the 

Middle East. That route is suggested by the German 

names Judendocken (Jew’s bundle, 1542), and Judenhutlin 

(variant of Judenhütlein, Jew’s little hat, 1542). 

Those words are comparable with Jerusalem cherry 

still used in English. The name rot Nachtschatten (red 

night-shade or Solanum, 1542) may also indicate 

a comparison of a new plant with an old familiar 

one. 

Nine species of Physalis are native to Florida 

(Wunderlin 1998). If indigenous Americans had as 

much trouble distinguishing the different types as 

botanists have, they probably considered them all the 

same. With little regard for species, plants are called by



a number of generic common names. Those names 

include alkekengi [alquequenje] (USA, Puerto Rico), 

Barbados-gooseberry (USA, Europe), cherry tomato 

(New York), Chinese lantern (USA), ground-cherry 

(USA), husk-tomato (USA, Puerto Rico), Japanese 

lantern (USA), Jerusalem cherry (USA), strawberry 

tomato (USA in 1800s), tomatillo (Mexico), wild 

cherry (USA), and winter cherry (USA, Europe). 

One of the most widespread species in Florida is P. 

pubescens. That plant was first reported in Brazil by 

Marggraf in 1648, with the indigenous name camaru. 

The species is still known there as camapu (from Tupí 

kama’pu). A synonym is juá-poca (from Tupí yua’poca, 

yua’, fruit). The only other South American 

name found for the species is sousourouscorou (Carib) 

or pororu wokuru (Carib, Suriname). However, in 

Yucatán, the Maya say yooch ik bach (yooch, animal 

food, ik, chile, bach, the chachalaca, Ortalis vetula). 

Many names refer to the inflated fruits. These 

include bonnets de grandmaman (grandma’s bonnet, 

Louisiana), coque-molle (flabby shell, Hispaniola), 

herbe a cloques (blister herb, Hispaniola, Guadeloupe, 

Martinique), maman laman [maman lanman] (maman, 

mother, Haiti), vejiga de perro (dog bladder, Cuba), 

and poc (from French pouche, pouch, Guadeloupe, 

Martinique). 

Several names note the impact Physalis has when 

either eaten or taken as medicine. These are bate-testa 

(hits the stomach, Brazil), sacabuche [peludo] ([hairy] 

stomach emptier, Puerto Rico), coqueret de la Barbade 

(Barbados flirt, French Antilles), pantomima (pantomime, 

Cuba), and revienta caballos (horse breaker, 

Cuba). Other names denote edibility or inedibility, as 

in erva moura do peru (Peru blackberry, Brazil), hairyground-cherry 

(USA), tomate freadilla (damaging 

tomato, Sonora), tomatillo (little tomato, Belize), 

and yerba de sapo (toad herb, Venezuela). 

Joachim Camerarius recorded the foreign species 

P. angulata in European medical gardens in 1588. This 

species was known to African slaves when they arrived 

in the New World, and some brought their names with 

them. These words persist as topo-topo [topotopo] 

(Guyana, Trinidad), topatop (Jamaica), topeton (Panama), 

tope-tope, and tophe-tophe (Hispaniola). Variants 

are derived from the African Gold Coast, where 

the species is totototo or tutotuto (Twi), wotowoto 

(Ewe) or gbato-gbato (Ewe). Those names represent 

the sounds of children popping the inflated pods in 

play (Hutchinson and Dalziel 1937) and are related 

to poppers (Bahamas) and pops (Barbados). The 

Barbadian name has been in use at least since 

1750 (Hedrick 1919). In the Great Plains, Omaha- 

Ponca children called the fruits pe igatush, Pawnee 

children said nikakitspak (to pop, forehead), and both 

played a ‘‘popping’’ game similar to that of the 

Africans (Gilmore 1919). 

Some names for P. angulata are allied with those 

for P. pubescens. Those referring to the fruit are 

balãozinho (little balloon, Brazil), bucho-da-rã (frog’s 

mouth, Brazil), juá-da-capote (hooded fruit, Brazil), 

tomate (tomato, Sonora), tomate de cascara (husk 

tomato, Sonora), and winter cherry (Trinidad, Jamaica). 

Others voicing their like or dislike are 

sacabuche (stomach emptier, Puerto Rico) and matafome 

(hunger-killer, Brazil). 

Sometimes the Aztecs called this and other Physalis 

simply tomatl, now in Spanish tomate (tomato, 

Oaxaca). The plant we now call ‘‘tomato’’ (Lycopersicon 

esculentum) the Aztecs called xitomatl [jitomatl] 

(red tomato, Náhuatl). Spanish speakers in the New 

World generally call wild Physalis either tomatillo 

(little tomato) or tomate del campo (wild tomato). 

The only species with a Seminole name is P. 

walteri, formerly known as P. viscosa (Sullivan 1985). 

While the Miccosukee call that species ɬ alilsatoklicí:kî 

[ralilsatoklicí:kî, ɬ aliçatoklitcigi], Sturtevant (1955) 

made no comments. When Sheehan was among the 

Seminoles in 1919, he found them treating coughs and 

colds with the plants (von Reis and Lipp 1982). 

Physalis walteri was first recorded in Europe when 

Francisco Hernández published his Rerum Medicarum 

Nova Hispanae Theasurus in Rome in 1651. He called 

this herb miltomate (wild tomato, Náhuatl, Oaxaca), 

although people in Belize use the name for P. 

pubescens. In Spanish, this is rendered tomatillo de 

monte (wild tomatillo, San Luis Potosí). The Huastec 

say tuthay ch’ohool (tomato herb, Huastec, Veracruz), 

tuthay ts’ohool (tomato herb, Huastec, San Luis 

Potosí), its an t’ot (tomato herb, Huastec, San Luis 

Potosí), or tuthaayil an t’ot (buzzard tomato, Huastec, 

San Luis Potosí). To the Zapotecs, it is either bathus 

(Oaxaca) or bithus gihs (wild Physalis, Oaxaca). 

Other North Americans who use different species 

of Physalis are the Akimel O’odham, Apache, Cherokee, 

Dakota, Diegueño, Hualapai, Iroquois, Isleta, 

Keres, Meskwaki, Mohave, Navajo, Omaha-Ponca, 

Pawnee, Seri, Tarahumaras, Tohono O’odham, Winnebago, 

Yuma, and Zuni (Rea 1997, Moerman 1998, 

Hodgson 2001). All of these people ate the fruits 

and used the herbs as medicines (Yanovsky 1936, 

Curtin 1947, Felger and Moser 1985, Rea 1997, 

Moerman 1998, Yetman and Van Devender 2001). 

Some of the names they used for different species are 

hanpok-hischasu (owl eyes, Winnebago), kekel viipid 

(old man’s testicles, Akimel O’odham), makan bashahon-shon 

(crooked medicine, Omaha-Ponca), tamaniolipe 

(Dakota), tombrisi (Mayo), and tulumisi 

(Guarijío). The Seri recognize two they call xtoozp 

and insáacaj.



Fruits of most species are edible when ripe, either 

raw or cooked. They are fried, boiled, or stewed to 

make marmalade by cooking them with syrup. Leaves 

and green fruits are somewhat poisonous, as they are 

laxative and diuretic because of their solanine content 

(Morton 1981, Turner and Szczawinski 1991). 

Species are often used indiscriminately as medicines 

(Lipp 1971, Hussey 1974, Wong 1976, Bye 1979, 

Coe and Anderson 1996). In the Bahamas, Cuba, 

Jamaica, Hispaniola, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico, 

the fruits are considered febrifuge, and both leaves and 

fruits are used as diuretics. The leaves or sap are 

applied as emollient plasters, for rheumatic ailments, 

or as drops for sore eyes in children. Leaf teas are 

taken to dispel indigestion, cure nephritis, cystitis, 

otitis, jaundice, herpes, and bowel problems called 

bich. Leaf suppositories are also used for bich, and the 

roots are used to treat toothache. 

Some consider the genus narcotic and stimulant, at 

least partly because of its alkaloid, tannin, potassium 

chloride, and potassium citrate content. Berries contain 

acetylcholine, calystegines, ascorbic acid, and 

vitamin A (Zennie and Ogzewalla 1977, Morton 

1981, Mello and Afiatpour 1985, Asano et al. 1995, 

1997). Several species contain physalins, and the 

alkaloid hygrine is known from the roots (Willaman 

and Hui-Lin-Li 1970, Kawai et al. 2001). Withanolide 

glycosides have been found in Physalis peruviana 

(Sakurai et al. 1976, Lee et al. 1991, Ahmad et al. 

1999), and the alkaloid 3-alpha-tigloyloxytropane is 

known from P. alkekengi (Yamaguchi and Nishimoto 

1965). 

Aqueous extract of leaves is antimicrobial (Ayensu 

1981, Cáceres et al. 1991). Other laboratory studies 

indicate possible use against gonorrhea (Cáceres et al. 

1995), cancer (Chiang et al. 1992a,b), and diabetes 

(Roman-R. et al. 1992). Modulation of the pituitary 

and basomedial hypothalamic lysyl-aminopeptidase 

activities has been shown in P. alkekengi (Vessal et 

al. 1996). Nutritional and quality analyses have been 

made of tomatillos (P. ixocarpa), and other species are 

presumably similar (Bock et al. 1995). Fruits are high 

in niacin (Morton 1981). 

Two recent studies have been made of the relationships 

of the genus, one based on morphology (Alelius 

1996) and the other on molecular genetics (Mione et 

al. 1994). The results are that Physalis may be 

paraphyletic, and P. alkekengi may not be closely 

related to the other species. The American Physalis 

seems to be most closely related to the endemic genera 

Chamaesaracha and Margaranthus. If that is true, then 

French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort was 

correct when he segregated Alkekengi as a distinct 

genus in 1742. 

Physocarpus 

(From the Greek physa, a pair of bellows, and karpos, 

fruit, a reference to the inflated carpels) 

Physocarpus opulifolium. From Britton and Brown 1897. 

Physocarpus opulifolius (powerful leaves, but 

probably a comparison with the leaves of Viburnum 

opulus) 

Blasenspiere (bladder spit, German) 

[common, eastern] ninebark (dating from 1796 or 

earlier when it was applied to Spiraea, and 

alluding to multiple bark layers) 

Linnaeus called these shrubs Spiraea opulifolia in 

1753. He had studied living plants at the Hortus 

Cliffortianus and specimens sent by John Clayton 

from Virginia. They did not seem all that different 

from the other ten species of Spiraea that he described 

in Species Plantarum, and he saw no reason to 

separate them. However, Carl Johann Maximowicz, 

1827 /1891, studying them over a century later, 

decided they were distinctive. The fruits were inflated, 

unlike Spiraea, so he named it Physocarpus. There are 

now ten species known in the genus, which grows in 

North America and Asia (Mabberley 1997). 

The best-known species in Physocarpus is the one 

in Florida, and it also grows from Virginia and West 

Virginia to Tennessee south to Alabama and Georgia. 

Ninebark barely extends into Florida, known only 

from Calhoun and Jackson Counties near Tallahassee 

(Wunderlin and Hansen 2002). 

Moerman (1998) listed three eastern tribes who 

used the plants. The Iroquois used ninebark as a 

gynecological aid. The Menomini made a bark drink 

to cleanse the woman’s system and enhance fertility. 

The Ojibwa used the root as an emetic (King 1984). 

Tribes in the western states used it to treat gonorrhea



and tuberculosis, and as a laxative (Foster and Duke 

1990, Moerman 1998). 

These plants are potentially toxic (Foster and 

Duke 1990). Presumably that toxicity is due to the 

cucurbitacins and triterpenes (Sarker et al. 1999, Kim 

et al. 2000). 

Phytolacca 

(Greek, phyton, a plant, and lacca, derived from Hindi, 

lakh, referring to a crimson dye) 

Phytolacca americana. a. Part of fleshy taproot. b. Upper 

branch with flowers and fruits. c. Flower. d. Upper surface of 

berry. e. Seed. From Buchholtz 1968. 

Phytolacca americana (American) 

amerikanische Scharlachberre (American scarlet 

berry, German) 

bledo carbonero (charcoal saltwort; also used for 

Blutaparon, which see) 

cancer root (one of many plants with this name, 

Carolinas) 

chou-gras (fat cabbage, Louisiana, fide Rafinesque) 

cokan (northern tribes, fide Millspaugh 1892; 

Algonquian and cognate with pakkan) 

coskîlpâ [oskílpá] (Creek; in Oklahoma, the word 

applies to Sambucus) 

crow-berry (USA) 

dla:-ya-de (Cherokee) 

garget (the throat, originally from Old French 

gargette; the association is not clear) 

herbe de la laque (lacquer herb, Quebec) 

ink-berry (Carolinas) 

Kermesbeere (scarlet berry, based on kermes or 

cochineal insects, German) 

koshe [kó:sî, ko:si] (Mikasuki); koshiba (Choctaw); 

koshibba’ (Chickasaw); kosiba (Alabama); 

kosabí (Koasati); os’a [osa, osá:] (Creek, Muskogee) 

kox tinpka (Biloxi) 

morelle a gràppes (bunch blackberry, Quebec) 

paok (by Swedes in Pennsylvania in 1740s, fide 

Kalm [1753 /1761] 1972; from an Algonquian 

word; cognate with pakkan) 

pigeon [poke] berry (Carolinas) 

poke salat (although ‘‘salat’’ and ‘‘salad,’’ are 

etymologically the same word, from Latin salata, 

they are not the same preparation; ‘‘salat’’ is 

made by boiled the young green leaves as a 

potherb) 

[American] poke weed [pokeweed] (in use by 1751, 

USA); [Virginian] poke [skoke] (from Virginia 

Powhatan pakkan, based on Algonquian cognates 

meaning ‘‘blood’’; in use by 1708; see also 

Lithospermum; OED 1971 incorrectly derived it 

from the Powhatan uppówoc or apooke, smoke, 

and cognate with the Narragansett puck, smoke) 

tabosso (sometimes used for this plant, although 

also for sumac, Rhus, Alabama) 

wild spinach (Carolinas) 

Each spring when I was growing up, we went 

farther into the country to gather ‘‘poke’’ for greens. 

When just the first young leaves and stems came 

through the ground, we cut off the tops and took them 

home. After monotonous winter meals mostly lacking 

vegetables, those ‘‘greens’’ were a treat. We called the 

meal ‘‘poke salat.’’ 

Anyone growing up in the eastern United States is 

likely to have eaten this spring potherb. The dish was 

shared by the Cherokee, Malecite, Iroquois, and 

Mohegans (Moerman 1998). Interestingly, the modern 

Alabama have noticed that ‘‘white people eat the 

young leaves,’’ but they do not (Sylestine et al. 1993). 

‘‘Poke salat’’ is a dish of the young Phytolacca shoots 

and/or leaves eaten well cooked and with two changes 

of water. The potherb, however prepared, is somewhat 

laxative, and historically constituted an important 

addition of vitamins and minerals across the South 

(Morton 1968b, Nellis 1997). 

The entire plant is poisonous when raw (Morton 

1974, Foster and Duke 1990). Perhaps the first record



of that was left by Mark Catesby (1731, 1:24). He 

wrote of the bird we now call the mourning dove 

(Zenaida macroura), ‘‘They feed much on the Berries 

of Poke, i.e., Blitum Virginianum, which are poison.’’ 

Common names crow-berry and pigeon berry also 

note that birds feed with impunity on the fruits. 

Strained juice of ripe fruits may, however, be used 

to color food, when carefully separated from the 

poisonous seeds (Morton 1968b). Several groups 

used the red-purple fruits as dyes (Moerman 1998), 

and use in coloring is how the herb got its name. 

The association of ‘‘poke’’ with Phytolacca dates 

from the first English colonists sent in the late 1500s 

by Sir Walter Raleigh to the Virginia coast. There they 

found Algonquian-speaking people referring to a 

number of plants as pakkan. That word became 

‘‘puccoon’’ for Lachnanthes, Lithospermum, and Sanguinaria. 

The fourth one, Phytolacca, became ‘‘poke,’’ 

although based on the same root. The color is from 

the betacyan pigment caryophylline (Nellis 1997). 

Juice of the berries was also used in coloring wines 

(Nellis 1997), but Porcher (1863) reported that practice 

was outlawed in Europe. He wrote, ‘‘The French 

and Portuguese mixed it with their wine, to give it 

color, and this was prohibited by royal ordinance of 

Louis XIV, ‘on pain of death, as it injured the flavor!’’’ 

Juice was also made into ink. Porcher (1863) wrote, 

‘‘With alum to fix the color, I have used the juice of the 

pokeberry as a red ink. The directions to the printer 

for this volume were written with this; before adding 

alum I found that the red color was fugitive. I consider 

it, prepared as above, an excellent substitute for 

carmine ink.’’ 

The first records of Florida Glades people using 

Phytolacca were the pre-Columbian pollen samples 

studied by Hogan (1978). How Glades people used the 

plant is unknown, but they probably used it in the 

same ways as others in the United States. Yanovsky 

(1936), Sylestine et al. (1993), and Moerman (1998) 

recorded that the Alabama, Cherokee, Delaware, 

Iroquois, Mahuna, Micmac, Mohegan, Rappahannock, 

and Seminoles used the plants as medicine. 

More indigenous groups probably shared the custom. 

Sturtevant (1955) found the Seminoles using the 

berries as an analgesic, especially for rheumatism. The 

Cherokee and Delaware used the berries exactly like 

the Seminoles, but the Iroquois and Rappahannock 

treated that problem with different preparations of the 

herbs (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975, Moerman 1998). 

The Alabama still make a decoction of the leaves as an 

emetic and formerly used the berries in making a 

medicinal whiskey (Sylestine et al. 1993). Other tribes 

and European settlers used various plant parts as 

emetics, expectorants, cathartics, and poultices on 

sores (Porcher 1863, Millspaugh 1892, Foster and 

Duke 1990). Root tea from the herb was still in use to 

cure ‘‘ground itch’’ in the Panhandle when Murphee 

(1965) talked with people there. 

Ingestion of seeds, leaves, or other parts is 

especially dangerous because of the toxins, although 

small quantities are not obviously immediately poisonous 

for most people (Lewis and Elvin-Lewis 1977, 

Foster and Duke 1990, Nellis 1997). Among the toxic 

chemicals are the alkaloid phytolaccin and the triterpene 

saponins phytolaccagenin and phytolaccatoxin. 

The latter is similar to cicutoxin of water hemlock (see 

Cicuta). Among the poisons are proteinaceous mitogens 

that produce blood cell abnormalities when 

ingested or absorbed through the skin (Foster and 

Duke 1990, Nellis 1997). 

Many other species of Phytolacca are used, 

including the widespread P. icosandra (Morton 

1981), for which the U.S. species was formerly 

confused. That plant is called by the Zapotec of 

Oaxaca, biaa or piaa, soap plant (Reko 1945). The 

chemical that led to use as soap also kills snails (Nellis 

1997). 

Howard (1984) found that older Seminoles in 

Oklahoma used the plant to predict the next growing 

season. He was told that, shortly before New Year, a 

person would go out to the Phytolacca patch and 

clean out the dead growth so that only the roots were 

left. On New Year’s Day, they returned to inspect the 

roots. If there were new young leaves, it meant a good 

growing season. 

Picramnia 

(Named by Olaf Swartz with Greek pikros, bitter, 

amnion, the membrane around the fetus, in reference 

to the bark) 

Picramnia pentandra (five anthers) 

aguedita (little ague, ultimately derived from Latin 

[febris] acutus, referring to malaria, Cuba, Dominican 

Republic) 

bitter-bush [root] (Bahamas, Puerto Rico) 

bois montagnes [moudongue, Madame] ([lady] 

mountain bush, Guadeloupe, Martinique) 

bois poisson (fish bush, Haiti, Guadeloupe); bois 

sardine (sardine bush, Haiti) 

café marrón (wild coffee, Dominican Republic) 

fwenn (possibly from foin, hay, Haiti) 

graines dorées (golden grains, Guadeloupe) 

guarema (probably Taino, Puerto Rico) 

hueso (bone, Puerto Rico) 

ojo [palo] de peje [pez] (fish eye [tree], Dominican 

Republic)



Picramnia pentandra. (Left). a. Branch with pistillate inflorescences. b. Staminate flower, side view. c. Staminate flower, 

longitudinally dissected. d. Floral diagram of staminate flower. e. Pistillate flower, side view. f. Pistillate flower, longitudinally 

dissected. g. Floral diagrams of pistillate flower. (Right). a. Branch with fruit. b. Serial buds in leaf axil. c. Leaf with opposite 

leaflets. d. Leaf with alternate leaflets. e. Fruits, complete and transversely dissected, showing variation in seed numbers. Drawn 

by Priscilla Fawcett. Correll and Correll 1982. 

quina [quinina] de la tierra [del país] (wild quinine, 

Cuba) 

snake-root [snake-stick, snake-wood] (Bahamas) 

vaillant garçon (strong waiter, Haiti) 

Olaf Swartz gave us both the genus and species 

names for these trees in the late 1700s. He founded the 

genus on plants from Jamaica, and P. pentandra he 

discovered on Montserrat in the Lesser Antilles. Today 

the genus contains 45 species, all confined to tropical 

America (Mabberley 1997). 

As suggested by the references to ague and quinine 

in the common names, this is a venerable remedy for 

fevers, malarial and otherwise (Roig 1945, Liogier 

1974, Ayensu 1981, Morton 1981, Beauvoir et al. 

2001). Throughout the Caribbean, the tree is used as a 

tonic and febrifuge (leaves, roots, bark), and against 

diarrhea. Roots are boiled with Chiococca alba and 

the decoction used to alleviate gas and menstrual 

cramps. That tea is used against colds and tuberculosis, 

and to increase the appetite (Roig 1945, Ayensu 

1981). In Hispaniola, the wood is rarely used, but a 

red dye is extracted from the flowers (Liogier 1974). 

Haitians consider a decoction made from leaves and 

bark effective against fever, indigestion, dysentery, 

intestinal worms, and anorexia (Beauvoir et al. 

2001). Caribs on Dominica soak the wood chips to 

make a bitter drink to alleviate appetite loss. Sap from 

the bark is put on lesions from yaws (framboesia) 

(Hodge and Taylor 1957). Among the Warao of 

Guyana, it is used to ‘‘bitter the blood’’ (Reinders 

1993). 

Pilea 

(John Lindley named this with Latin pileus, cap or hat; 

he thought the sepals of pistillate flowers covering the 

achene resembled the ‘‘felt caps’’ used by Romans) 

Pilea microphylla (small-leaved) 

alfombra (carpet, Venezuela) 

artillery plant (from the way it ‘‘shoots’’ its seeds 

into nearby areas, Florida, Jamaica, Puerto 

Rico, Virgin Islands); escopetilla (little shotgun, 

Venezuela); gunpowder plant (was it really used 

in manufacturing powder? or is this another 

allusion to ‘‘shooting’’ its seeds?, England); 

kanonneer-plant (Dutch Antilles) 

baby puzzle (Jamaica, Lesser Antilles); baby’s lace 

[lace plant] (Bahamas, Jamaica, Lesser Antilles, 

Belize) 

beldroega (derived from Arabic burd(u)lagá, 

usually applied now to Portulaca, Brazil) 

botisuelo (ground cover, Hispaniola) 

brilhantina (shiny one, Brazil) 

dentelle [petite dentelles, tidentelles] (little tooth 

[teeth], Hispaniola)



doradilla (little golden one, in reference to resemblance 

to a medicinal fern, Venezuela) 

erva gorda (fat herb, Brazil); folha gorda (fat leaf, 

Brazil) 

erva mucuim (worm herb, from mukoo’í, Tupí, 

Amazonas, Brazil) 

frescursa (unkept, Cuba) 

gale of wind (a comparison with Phyllanthus, 

which see, Florida) 

golondrina (swallow, Hispaniola) 

ha’il tsan (snake water, Huastec, San Luis Potosí) 

hierba de la viruela (measles weed); hierba del 

tejado (roof herb, from its growing there, Cuba) 

madre perla [madreperla] (mother-of-pearl, Puerto 

Rico); madre selva [madreselva] (mother of the 

forest, Puerto Rico) 

mañanita (little tomorrow, Cuba) 

marposa (probably a variant of ‘‘mariposa,’’ butterfly) 

palma del norte (northern palm, El Salvador); 

palmilla [palmita] (Hispaniola) 

panchita (little belly, Hispaniola) 

paragüita (little umbrella) 

parietaria (wall weed) 

[petit, ti] teigne [tengn] [blanche, plan] (little [full, 

white] ringworm, Lesser Antilles) 

pitsits wal (scattered eyes, Huastec, San Luis 

Potosí) 

rockweed (one of the most common places it 

grows is in rocky crevices) 

samancito (little useless one, Venezuela) 

schaam-teloos 

señorita (lady, Cuba) 

sereno de invierno (winter serenity, Hispaniola) 

smoke plant 

tumiin ts’ohool (money plant, Huastec, San Luis 

Potosí) 

urtiga (comparing it to Urtica, Brazil) 

verdolaguilla (little purslane, Puerto Rico) 

wild thyme [wild tim] 

yedra [del tejado, de vidrio] ([thatching, glass] ivy, 

Cuba, Puerto Rico) 

yomha 

zizal-xiu [siisalxiw] (zizal or sisal, Agave sisalana, 

xiw, herb, so called because it occurs frequently 

in the shade at the base of Agave, Maya, 

Yucatán) 

Linnaeus called these plants Parietaria microphylla 

in 1759. At the time, European Parietaria was one of 

the few relatives that he knew, and he was inclined to 

include these tropical plants there rather than create a 

new genus. It was not until 1821 when John Lindley 

created the genus Pilea, and then in 1851 F.M. 

Liebmann put the Linnaean species in it to create 

Pilea microphylla. Subsequently, about 200 species, 

from tropical and warm regions around the world, 

have been discovered (Mabberley 1997). 

In the northeastern United States, the Iroquois 

and Cherokee have used P. pumila as a medicine 

(Moerman 1998). The more tropical P. microphylla 

has a much wider range and many more people have 

used it, although no records were found within the 

United States. 

Roig (1945) recorded that Cubans use the plant as 

a refresher and against liver problems. He also noted 

local use as a diuretic, often used to treat inflammations 

of the urinary tract, as it is throughout much of 

its range (Meléndez 1989, Mors et al. 2001). The 

Huastec crush the plant and apply it to sores, itchy 

sores, and burns. They also treat sore eyes, mouth 

sores, susto, and fever in children with measles (Alcorn 

1984). Brazilians not only use it as a diuretic, but also 

as an antithermic; poultices hasten maturation of boils 

(Mors et al. 2001). Other people use it to expel worms 

(Asian) and to treat wounds, female problems, inflammation, 

and tuberculosis. 

Piloblephis 

(Rafinesque named these Florida near-endemics with 

Greek pilos, hair, and blepharis, an eyelid, so a ‘‘hairy 

eyelid,’’ in reference to the sepal pubescence) 

Piloblephis rigida. Drawn by P.N. Honychurch.



Piloblephis rigida (stiff, refers to the short leaves) 

( /Satureja rigida) 

hapo:sikâ:yî [hapóçigaiyi, hapoosikaayi] (simple 

term, Mikasuki); haposhekaaye-choobe (big haposhekaaye, 

Mikasuki) 

kvfockv [kafócka] (simple term, Creek) 

pennyroyal [pennyrile, penyryall] (dating from A.D. 

500 /600, derived from Anglo-French pulyole 

ryle, Old French puliol real, and other variants, 

ultimately from Latin pulegium real, royal thyme, 

or Mentha pulegium, Florida, Bahamas) 

wild pennyroyal (mentioned by Williams [1837] 

1962, Florida) 

William Bartram ([1791] 1958) was the first to find 

these shrubby mints in Florida. However, it was not 

until 1834 when George Bentham officially created the 

name Satureja rigida, based on a suggestion by 

Bartram. It was under that name that the plants 

were discussed for many years, even though Rafinesque 

had put them in Piloblephis in 1838. Only since 

the 1980s has Rafinesque’s name for them been 

adopted, and this seems to be the only species in the 

genus. 

It was thought that these mints were endemic to 

Florida until they were found in the Grand Bahama 

region by the Corrells (1982). Presumably, those 

Bahamian plants are native and not introduced, but 

with the reputation ‘‘pennyroyal’’ has as medicine and 

food seasoning, that is problematical. 

Well before Sturtevant (1955), the Creeks were 

known to have used kafócka, particularly in what they 

call ‘‘Cow Creek Sickness.’’ During his work with the 

Miccosukees on the Big Cypress Reservation, Sturtevant 

(1955) found them using this mint to treat ‘‘Hog 

Sickness’’ (periodic unconsciousness with shallow and 

slow breathing) and fever, and in medicines used at 

births, deaths, and during the busk (see Pterocaulon). 

An infusion also was used to treat sores and ulcers on 

the legs and feet. When used to treat these maladies, it 

was either mixed with several other plants or used 

alone, depending on the problem. 

Alice Snow wrote: ‘‘My mother told us if you have 

a cold you could smell this. It was good smelling, so we 

would smell it all the time. Kvfockv is used in different 

treatments. Usually one or two sprigs of the leaves are 

needed’’ (Snow and Stans 2001). She still uses 

pennyroyal to treat congestion; boiling it and breathing 

the steam. 

An important application has long been for 

flavoring food. Hapo:sika:yi is documented as having 

been added to soups (Sturtevant 1955), but probably 

to other dishes. Currently, the leaves are added to pots 

of turtle meat (Bennett 1997). 

Morton (1968) recommended branches be used to 

make tea, but she did not mention that fresh is better 

than dried. Once the branches have dried, they lose 

some of their fragrance and taste. 

Pinckneya 

(André Michaux named this genus after General 

Cotesworth Pinckeney, 1746 /1825, appointed as minister 

to France in 1796, but the revolutionary regime 

there refused him, cf. Taylor and Norman 2002) 

Pinckneya bracteata. From Sargent 1905. 

Pinckneya bracteata (having leaf-like structures in 

the inflorescence) 

fever-tree [fevertree] (Florida) 

Georgia bark tree (Georgia); bitter bark (Florida) 

John and William Bartram found these plants near 

Fort Barrington in Georgia, and later William named 

the species Bignonia bracteata (Harper 1958). André 

Michaux did not realize that the plants he found on 

the St. Mary’s River were the same, and published 

Pinckneya pubens. Rafinesque created the name now 

used in 1827. There are 17 species placed in the genus, 

with only 1 in the southeastern United States (Rogers 

1987, Mabberley 1997). 

Michaux originally recorded that the plant was 

‘‘very useful in intermittent fever’’ in his North 

American Sylva of 1817 /1818 (Porcher 1863, Taylor 

and Norman 2002). He learned that from either 

indigenous people or the Americans they had taught. 

The bitter bark, containing cinchonin, was used 

during the Civil War as a substitute for quinine in 

treating malaria (Millspaugh 1892, Mabberley 1997). 

Porcher (1863) recorded, ‘‘Dr. Law, of Georgia, cured 

six out of seven cases with it. It did not distress the 

stomach.’’ Later he noted, ‘‘In Georgia a handful of 

the bark is boiled in a quart of water till the liquid is 

reduced to one-half; the infusion is given.’’



Pinguicula 

(From Latin pinguiculus, somewhat fat, referring to the 

viscid appearance of the upper leaf surface it uses to 

catch insects) 

butterwort (name used from at least the time of 

John Gerarde’s Herball of 1597, who wrote, 

‘‘called Pinguicula, of the fatnes or fulnes of the 

leafe, or of fatening; ...it is called Butterwoorts, 

Butter roote, or white roote’’) 

earning grass (‘‘earning’’ is a North Country 

British Isles word for cheese rennet) 

erba grassa (fat herb, Italian); Fettkraut (fat herb, 

German); grasilla (little fat one, Spanish); grassette 

(little fat one, French); measgran (buttery, 

Gaelic) 

la:nihiliswâ (lane, yellow, heleswa, medicine, Creek) 

mòthan (Gaelic) 

talakcíhcayikcî (raw medicine, Mikasuki) 

ta˚t-ort (ta˚t, to plug or stop up, ort, herb, Swedish); 

tettegras (tette, to plug or stop up, gras, herb, 

Norwegian) 

Pinguicula lutea (yellow, the flowers) 

Pinguicula pumila (dwarf) 

Linnaeus had grown up with butterworts, which he 

knew as ta˚t-ort (Linnaeus [1749] 1979). A few 

Pinguicula are circumboreal in acid bogs, and some 

grow south into Portugal and Italy. Butterworts were 

Pinus. Pinus clausa (left). Pinus elliottii (right). Both drawn by P.N. Honychurch. 

used to curdle milk. They were important medicines 

and were believed to avert evil in the British Isles 

(Beith 1995, Vickery 1995). Linnaeus (1753) knew only 

4 species, but there are 46 in the Americas and Europe 

(Mabberley 1997). 

Both Florida species have been used to treat ‘‘Raw 

Meat Sickness’’ (Sturtevant 1955). That malady stems 

from the belief that undercooked meat not only 

remains in the body, but ‘‘grows,’’ and causes abdominal 

pain. For mild problems the infusion is drunk 

cold, but if severe, the medicine is boiled. 

Pinus 

(Ancient Latin name for pines) 

ʔe’ksha (Tunica) 

chooye [co:yî] (Mikasuki); choyyi (Alabama); 

coyyí (Koasati), cule [cúle, colî] (Creek, Muskogee); 

tiak (Choctaw); tiyak [ittiyak] (pine tree, 

Chickasaw) 

furu (Norwegian); Föhre (German) 

Keifer (German); keper (Dutch) 

nohji (Cherokee) 

ocote (torch, from ocotl, Náhuatl) 

pin (from Latin pinus, French); pinho (Portuguese); 

pino (Italian, Spanish) 

wazi (Dakota) 

Pinus clausa (closed, meaning the partly serotinous 

cones)



co:yihiskopóskî [tcoihiçkopoçki] (Mikasuki; cognate 

to Creek cule, pine, esse, leaf, lopockuce, 

little) 

pitch pine (called ‘‘P. rigida,’’ which is not in 

Florida; the trees were ‘‘low, poor timbered tree, 

but produces turpentine and tar,’’ which seems 

best to describe this species, cf. Williams [1837] 

1962) 

sand [scrub] pine 

Pinus echinata (spiny) 

ácuwe [etcuwe’, ícuwe] (Catawba) 

choyyihissi hobaski (choyyi, pine, hissi, hair 

[needle], hobaski, short, Alabama); coyyí acakí 

(coyyí, pine, acakí, dwarf, Koasati) 

[long-tag, shortleaf, short-leaf, yellow] pine 

taklaha (tiak, pine, lakna, yellow, Choctaw) 

teetpa hitcuwe’ (chewed pine, the resin, Catawba; 

also applied to P. palustris) 

Pinus elliottii (commemorates Stephen Elliott, 

1771 /1830, professor in Charleston who published 

a flora of South Carolina and Georgia in 

the 1820s) 

chooye enlepaatooche, chooye ebeele (pine branch 

tips, Mikasuki) 

chooye [co:yí] (Mikasuki); cule [colí, chuli] 

(Creek); tcuyi (Alabama) 

cule emohlowakuce (cule, pine, em, its, elvcce, 

branch, Creek) 

este lopockuce or este-lopocke emeto (‘‘where the 

little people live’’; from este, person, lopockuce, 

small, em, its, eto, tree, Creek) 

nat’tsi (Cherokee) 

slash pine (Florida) 

yaat-hoboske emahe (where the little people live, 

Mikasuki) 

Pinus glabra (smooth) 

spruce pine (Florida) 

Pinus palustris (of swamps, a misnomer) 

atcuwe nu’re (pine fat [rich], Catawba); ansudi’ 

[ansûdi’] (generic for pine or P. palustris, Biloxi); 

ansudi’ nitan’xti (Biloxi) 

choyyihissi hobaski (choyyi, pine, hissi, hair [needle], 

hobaski, long, Alabama) 

choyyinaani (choyyi, pine, naani, male, Alabama); 

coyyí ná:ni (coyyí, pine, ná:ni, male, Koasati) 

longleaf pine (southeastern United States) 

ne’c mañ ne’c (ne’c, tree, mañ, long, ne’c, tree, 

Atakapa) 

tiak fanya (tiak, pine, fani, squirrel, Choctaw); 

tiak hobak (tiak, pine, holba, resembling, Choctaw) 

yellow pine (once the ‘‘principal timber, used for 

plank and scantling in the southern states; and 

also produces turpentine and tar,’’ Williams 

[1837] 1962; is this a translation of the Koasati 

coyyilá:na, coyyí, pine, lá:na, yellow?) 

Pinus serotina (late, alluding to the cones typically 

not opening until burned) 

many cored pine (Williams [1837] 1962) 

[marsh, pond] pine 

Pinus taeda (Latin for torch; ancient name for a 

resinous pine) 

choyyihoba (choyyi, pine, hoba, castrated, Alabama) 

coyyí ná:ni (coyyí, pine, ná:ni, male, Koasati) 

loblolly pine (‘‘has much sap,’’ Williams [1837] 

1962) 

oldfield pine (the plants quickly re-seed and sprout 

in old agricultural areas) 

Pines are among the most widely used of plants 

throughout their range (Standley 1920 /1926, Moerman 

1998). Many pines have been employed in North 

American medicines, e.g., Pinus palustris and P. rigida 

have stimulant, laxative, diuretic, pectoral, vermifuge, 

discutient, antiherpetic, detergent, baslasic, and vulnerary 

properties (Vogel 1970). Pine tar was in the U.S. 

Pharmacopoeia between 1820 and 1950 and has been 

in the National Formulary from 1950 to the present; it 

is considered an antibacterial, irritant, parasiticide, 

and expectorant. 

The earliest records of pines being used in Florida 

were among the Glades people (Gilliland 1975, Hogan 

1978, Austin 1980). Wood is the best-known product, 

although there are numerous other uses by people 

(Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975, Austin and Smith 1997). 

The inner bark and roasted seeds were eaten as famine 

food. Needles were cooked or eaten raw. Resin was an 

effective salve alone or as a medicine base, and teas 

from leaves were expectorants, antidiarrheics, and 

vermifuges. Lighter pine (the resinous heartwood) 

has long been used as fuel. 

The Creeks used the wood for beams, ball poles, 

houses, torches, bighouse seats, baskets, and religious 

scarification (Swanton 1928a). The Seminoles continued 

those practices (Sturtevant 1955). In addition, the 

Seminoles formerly used the resin as arrow point glue 

and extracts of bark for tanning. When Sturtevant 

(1955) worked with the Miccosukee, they were using



pines for ‘‘Ballgame Sickness’’ (caused by getting hit 

by a ball during the traditional single-pole game) and 

to treat rheumatism. 

Snow and Stans (2001) note that the tips of 

branches are the best medicine. The Choctaw used 

them similarly (Taylor 1940). Four pieces, 4 inches 

long, are taken, crushed, and put in water with vtakroluste 

(dog fennel, Eupatorium capillifolium) and 

boiled. [Note: The multiple of four, an allusion to 

the cardinal points, is a reverential request for the aid 

of the spirits.] Sometimes the bark is used as medicine. 

The liquid is used to clean sores; for women’s 

medicine, a forked stem is used. Snow uses that 

branch in a medicine to prevent miscarriage. 

Piscidia: Fish-Poison 

(From piscis, fish, and caedo, to kill or poison, Latin) 

Piscidia piscipula. From Sargent 1905. 

I vividly recall the first time I ever saw a fishpoison 

tree (Piscidia piscipula) in flower in the spring 

of 1970. Not only was the tree impressive for the 

multitude of white, pink, and yellow legume blossoms, 

but it was literally alive with insects and birds. 

Standing in the Florida Keys on the edge of a road 

segment that had been abandoned in 1935 after the 

Labor Day Hurricane, I was able to distinguish at least 

ten kinds of bees. Moreover, I watched as birds from 

four families sipped nectar. There were ruby-throated 

hummingbirds (Trochilidae), several species of warblers 

(Emberizidae), spot-breasted orioles (Icteridae), 

and doves (Columbidae). 

Europeans learned of these trees when British 

physician Hans Sloane returned from a tenure in 

Jamaica that began in 1687. In his book on the plants 

of that island, Sloane wrote Coral arbor polyphylla non 

spinosa, fraxinis folia, siliqua, alis foliaceis exstantibus, 

rotae molendinariae fluviatilis, vel seminum laserpitii 

instar aucta (Unarmed red tree with many leaves, 

leaves resembling ash, fruit pods with winged leaves 

standing out like windmill blades along rivers, or 

having seeds resembling carrots). That may not sound 

much like the plants we now call Piscidia piscipula, but 

the specimen in the herbarium at the British Museum 

of Natural History in London confirms the identity. 

Furthermore, Sloane wrote, ‘‘The Indians and negros 

make use of this bark to take fish, especially in deep 

holes in inland rivers.’’ Later, 57 years after Sloane’s 

book was published, Linnaeus used its description and 

plate as the basis of the name Erythrina piscipula (little 

fish). Linnaeus was fooled by Sloane’s reference to the 

flowers as ‘‘red,’’ and he put the plants in the wrong 

genus. 

Patrick Browne, however, knew the trees were 

distinctive and proposed the name Ichthyomethia 

(fish-wine, Greek) in 1756. Much later, Browne’s 

name was rejected by international agreement and 

replaced by Piscidia. Charles Sprague Sargent gave us 

the modern name in 1891 when he made the combination 

Piscidia piscipula, and Rudd (1969) reinforced 

that placement. Unfortunately, some modern publications 

have not reached the 19th-century level; they 

retain the old synonym Piscidia erythrina. The incorrect 

name appears in many of the chemical records 

(Heller and Tamm 1975, Pietta and Zio 1983, Delle 

Monache et al. 1984, Redaelli and Santaniello 1984, 

Labbiento et al., 1986, Della Loggia et al. 1988, 

Tahara et al. 1991, 1992, 1993a,b, Moriyama et al. 

1992, 1993). Surveyors of the literature must be aware 

of this and similar nomenclatural complexities that 

may cause confusion. 

Many of the common names, extending from the 

time of Hans Sloane in the late 1600s until today, 

allude to use of these trees to catch fish. To do that the 

bark and leaves are mashed and put in water. Some 

people simply say Piscidia is barbasco (fish poison), a 

Spanish word applied to a variety of plants, ranging 

from other trees in the Fabaceae to herbs in the 

Asteraceae. Others say Piscidia is barbasco amarillo 

(yellow fish poison, Colombia, Venezuela), alluding to 

the wood color to distinguish it from others called 

‘‘barbasco.’’ Wood in P. piscipula is heavy, hard, closegrained, 

and clear yellow-brown. It is more certain 

that the Huastec alternate name k’anaw te’ (yellow 

maize tree, San Luis Potosí) is an allusion to the wood. 

There the wood is preferred for house posts; the 

heartwood is used to cure a variety of ailments, to 

divert evil eye in adults and even unborn children, and 

to ensure a long life (Alcorn 1984). There is a popular 

Mexican belief that the wood petrifies after many 

years, beginning with the heart. Perhaps that is why 

the heartwood is considered so potent in medicines. 

Other people note that the wood takes a fine polish 

and is durable in water, and therefore is used for boat



building and piles of wharves. It has also been used as 

fuel, to make charcoal, and for cartwheels. 

In the Lesser Antilles Piscidia is known as the 

morta [à] poissons (fish killer). Elsewhere it is the 

colorin de peces (red [flower] for fish, Guerrero, 

Michoacán), fish-fuddle (USA, Jamaica), fishpoison 

(Florida, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Panama), or matapez 

[mata-pescado, mata-peces] (fish killer, Mexico, 

Colombia). 

People used chemicals in the plants to stupefy fish 

and themselves. When a sedative was needed, extracts 

from Piscidia served the purpose, thus gaining it the 

names borracho (drunkard, Venezuela), palo emborrachador 

(intoxicating tree, Venezuela), and bois [à] 

énivrer [énvirage] (intoxicating tree, Martinique, Guadeloupe). 

The dry bark, especially from roots, has a 

strong odor of opium and tastes unpleasant (Standley 

1920 /1926). This bark produces burning in the 

mouth, and both odor and taste have resulted in the 

names guamá [guaná] hedondida (stinking guamá, a 

Taino word for several legumes, Cuba), and stinkwood 

[stink tree] (Virgin Islands, St. Eustatius, St. Martin). 

Mexicans said cocuile [cocuite] (cococ, pungent and 

huitl, herb, Náhuatl, Mexico) because of the taste. 

Maybe the name cachimbo (pipe, Costa Rica) is 

related. The names palo de zope [palo-zope] (vulture 

tree, Guatemala), and zopilocuave (zopilote, vulture, 

from zopilotl or tzopilotl, and cuave from uaxin or 

huaxin, Náhuatl, El Salvador) more clearly refer to 

the odor and medical uses. The Aztec word uaxin 

[guaje, huaje, huaxin, guaxi] refers to both Leucana 

esculenta (Fabaceae) and Crescentia cujete (Bignoniaceae). 

Other people simply view the trees, perhaps as I 

did when they were in flower, as a candelón (large 

candle, Cuba), guamá candelón (candle guamá, Cuba), 

and guamá [guaná] de costa (coastal guamá, Cuba). 

Those who say flor de papagallo (parrot’s flower, 

Mexico) were surely noting the presence of those 

nectar-loving avians. 

Alternatively, people may compare these trees with 

others. People call Piscidia the black mahoe (Trinidad, 

Tobago), dog (Jamaica), dogwood (Belize, St. Eustatius, 

St. Martin, Jamaica, Puerto Rico), black dogwood 

(Jamaica), Jamaica dogwood (Florida, 

Bahamas), Jamaika hundsholz (Jamaica dogwood, 

Dutch Antilles), or frijolillo (little bean, Mexico). 

Surely the name chijol (chi-xo-lli, swollen pod, Náhuatl, 

Tamaulipas, Veracruz) also refers to the legume 

fruits. Apparently, this Aztec name occurs in the 

Veracruz dialect of Huastec as chiihol, and among 

San Luis Potosí speakers as ts’ijol [tzijol], although 

Alcorn (1984) did not comment on the relationship. 

Some of the names are either simple or obscure. 

These include chaperno (Guatemala), haabi [habi, 

haabim, haabin, habim, jabin, jabine, jamcui, jamguij, 

javin, jebe, jubi] (ha, water, bin, imperfect future form, 

or ‘‘that which will be green after the rains,’’ Maya, 

Yucatán), may bush (Belize), cahuirica [cahuinga, 

cahuiricua] (Michoacán), cuchiván (Venezuela), tatzungo 

[taizungo, zatzumbo] (Tarascan, Michoacán), 

tiazab [tiaxib] (Guatemala, Belize), and tuncuy (Mexico). 

Several names clearly allude to medicines. Use 

against inflamed bowels is inherent in colango naranja 

(orange colango [from col(e)], derived from Greek 

cholé, bile /angi(o), derived from Greek aggeîon, 

vessel, Brazil). That same sense is inherent in ventura 

[ventiera] (for the belly, Puerto Rico). Since the 

chemicals are toxic, it is easy to see why the names 

bois de chiens (dog bush, French Antilles), matapoijo 

(louse killer), palo de gusano (worm tree, Belize), and 

worm-wood [wormwood] (Belize) are used. 

There are seven species in Piscidia distributed 

throughout Central America, the West Indies, and 

northern South America. There are differing opinions 

on how these species should be circumscribed (Rudd 

1969, Liogier 1974, Liogier and Martorell 1982). As 

now delimited, P. piscipula grows in southern Florida, 

the Bahamas, through the West Indies to Trinidad and 

Tobago, southern Mexico (Veracruz, Chiapas, Campeche, 

Yucatán, Quintana Roo), and through Central 

America to Panama and perhaps Colombia and 

Venezuela. 

The bark contains compounds that are narcotic 

and analgesic. It has been used as an anodyne in 

neuralgia, nervous insomnia, and whooping cough 

(Standley 1920 /1926, Goodding et al. 1965, Duke 

1972). In addition, the bark extract has been used 

against toothache. Other uses include as a uterine 

depressant with low toxicity, a hypnotic, antispasmodic, 

diuretic, diaphoretic, and expectorant. In addition 

to applications to humans, it has been used to cure 

mange in dogs and as an insecticide. 

Plants contain isoflavones (erythbigenin, erythgenin, 

jamaicin, junipegenin A, lisetin, piscigenin), 

saponins, piscidiasaponin, resin, rotenone and rotenoids, 

glycosides, piscidic acid, and the Neutral Bitter 

Principle piscidin, which is actually two compounds 

(Heller and Tamm 1975, Pietta and Zio 1983, Redaelli 

and Santaniello 1984, Labbiento et al. 1986, Della 

Loggia et al. 1988, Tahara et al. 1991, 1992, 1993a,b, 

Moriyama et al. 1992, 1993, Hocking 1997). Laboratory 

studies indicate that the extracts are antifungal 

(Cáceres et al. 1991), antiviral against poliovirus II, 

herpes, influenza, and vaccinia (May and Willuhn 

1978), a uterine relaxant (Pilcher 1916, Butler and 

Mullen 1955), and a molluscicide (Domínguez and 

Alcorn 1985). Previous use as a sedative or analgesic 

also is supported by experiments (Della Loggia et al.



1981, Pietta and Zio 1983). As poisonous as many of 

these compounds are, there are still insects that have 

been able to detoxify and consume them in Piscidia 

and the notoriously poisonous related genus Lonchocarpus 

(Cervantes 1999). 

In a testament to Huastec attention to environmental 

interactions, they use the trees as predictors of 

the future. When the flowers dry up without setting 

fruit, farmers know that their milpas (corn fields) will 

fail that year (Alcorn 1984). 

Pisonia: Devil’s Claw 

(Commemorates the Dutch physician and pharmacist 

Willem [Wilhelm] Piso [Guillaume Le Pois], ca. 1611 / 

1678) 

My friend Barbara Hiaasen, who works at a Fort 

Lauderdale animal rescue center, once brought in a 

small plastic bag full of bird feathers. She said that a 

cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) had been rescued 

with its feathers so full of these fruits that it could 

not fly. I pulled the mass of breast feathers and sticky 

fruits from the bag and examined them with a hand 

lens. They were devil’s claw (Pisonia aculeata) fruits. It 

has long been known that the fruits of this scrambling 

bush endanger birds and Paul C. Standley, in his book 

Trees and Shrubs of Mexico, published in the 1920s, 

said that the ‘‘fruits stick to bird feathers so much that 

they cannot fly.’’ Standley was a focused botanist, and 

for him to comment on birds getting stuck required 

unusual circumstances. That trait is not confined to 

this species; in Malaysia there is another called the 

‘‘bird-catching tree’’ (Dalziel 1937). 

These armed climbers have been known to Europeans 

since at least the late 1690s, when they were 

mentioned by Leonard Plukenet (1696). Indeed, he 

provided the first common name for the plants when 

he listed them as being called fringego (Jamaica). That 

name remains today in the Bahamas as fingrigo, 

although no one seems to know its meaning or origin. 

Given the armed nature of the plants I cannot help 

wondering if that name is a version of fin de gringo 

(end of whites). The name more likely came from 

fingerer (thief), a word more commonly used in 

English in the 1500s and 1600s. Anyone who has 

ever been caught by these plants will understand that 

the claws on the stems steal bits of flesh, clothes, and 

other items from their victim. 

Pisonia aculeata is known in southern Florida, the 

Bahamas, the West Indies, Mexico (Campeche, Chiapas, 

Oaxaca, Yucatán, Quintana Roo), Central America 

and South America through coastal Brazil to 

Paraguay and Bolivia. The same species occurs in 

Africa, Asia, and Australia, and that is the part of the 

range where it is perhaps not native. Morton (1981) 

attributed the devil’s claw Asian and African range to 

human introduction, but that is uncertain. 

Most of the common names for these nasty lianas 

refer to its armament. The names pull-and-haul-back, 

hold-back, pull-back, and pullback (Florida, Bahamas) 

date to the 1800s or earlier in Florida. Other 

names in English that note the curved, paired thorns 

on the stems are black thorn (Barbados), cat’s claw 

(Florida, British Antilles), cock spur (Bahamas), 

devilsclaws (Florida), prickly mampoo (Puerto Rico, 

Virgin Islands), tiger nail embra (Belize), and wait-abit 

(Florida, Bahamas). 

In Spanish, the plant becomes a bueno amigo 

(good friend, Colombia), cruceta espinuda (little spiny 

cross, Oaxaca), cruz espino (spiny cross, Chiapas), 

goma de uña [coma de uña] (sticky claw, Tamaulipas), 

uña de diablo (devil’s claw, Michoacán, Guerrero), uña 

de gato (cat claw, Tamaulipas, Michoacán, Guerrero, 

Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico), uña de tigre 

(jaguar claw), or simply zarza (spiny like Rubus, 

Cuba). To some people, these plants are a caballero 

(gentleman, El Salvador), probably derived from 

cagalero [cargalera] or cagalero negro (black cagalero). 

The word cagalero must be from an indigenous 

language because the similarly thorny Celtis pallida is 

cagalero comestible (edible cagalero, Nicaragua). Another 

comparison with that hackberry is garabato 

(iron hook, Durango, Sinaloa), and garabato prieto 

(black iron hook, Michoacán, Guerrero). They are 

also tutum prieto (black tutum, San Luis Potosí), 

maybe a comparison to tutumushte (El Salvador) or 

tutumuste (Guatemala), both references to tree Ipomoea 

(Standley 1922 /1926). 

French speakers say P. aculeata is an amourette 

(little lover, Guadeloupe, Martinique) or croc à chien 

[croc de chien] (dog’s tooth, Haiti, Guadeloupe, 

Martinique). One of the names in Brazil suggests 

that it is the espora de gallo (rooster spur). 

Indigenous languages convey the same ideas with 

beeb [hbeeb] (vine with spines, an interjection of 

surprise or pain upon encountering the spines, 

Maya, Yucatán), huitzcocólotl [huiscalote, caltute] 

(spiny, from uitzcolotl, Náhuatl, San Luis Potosí, 

Puebla; also applied to Caesalpinia bonduc in Cuba), 

itsik’ mitsu’ (cat claw, Huastec, San Luis Potosí), and 

mitz-matlayahuale (mitz, you, matlaçautl, pest, Náhuatl, 

San Luis Potosí). The last Náhuatl name 

apparently was taken to the Dominican Republic by 

the early Spanish where it became mayacaule. There 

are also simple and untranslated names like istijánuaiya 

(Totonac, Veracruz) and loh [loj, lo] (simple 

term, Huastec, San Luis Potosí).



My personal favorite among all these names is 

blaspheme-vine (Florida). Some of my students have 

provided their own invectives after getting inextricably 

caught by these plants. 

Other people see the plants differently. Although I 

find nothing in the botanical literature about it having 

tuberous roots, it is called espino y camote (spine and 

tuber, Oaxaca, Chiapas) and guechi-gu (guechi, spine, 

gu, potato, Zapotec, Oaxaca). Those people were using 

those roots as laxatives (Standley 1920 /1926), the 

universal cure-all. 

Individual plants may climb for tens of meters over 

the surface of others or into nearby trees. Where they 

get so large, the scramblers form tangles of barbed 

stems that led Watt ([1889] 1972) to comment that they 

form ‘‘most excellent impenetrable fences.’’ Indigenous 

people also note those tendencies and call them 

tapaciriba (clothing the countryside, probably from 

tapeçaria, Brazil), tampamolón [tampamaloh] (place 

covered with loh, Teenek, San Luis Potosí), and 

yaguapendá (from Tupí, ya’wara, ground, pi’nima, 

painted, Argentina). 

Another name in Brazil is cipó mole (soft vine), 

presumably an allusion to the soft wood. The related 

P. excelsa of the Andaman Islands in Asia has such 

soft wood that elephants have been known to eat the 

branches with zest (Burkill 1966). 

Devil’s claw belongs to the family Nyctaginaceae, 

including more familiar plants like cultivated Bougainvillea, 

four-o-clock (Mirabilis), and the devil’s 

bouquet or scarlet musk-flower (Nyctaginea capitata). 

Many members of that family have nocturnal blossoms. 

For its night-time flowers P. aculeata is called 

huele de noche (fragrant at night, Oaxaca, Guatemala). 

Linnaeus gave us the genus Pisonia in 1753. The 

basis for that genus is Pisonia aculeata, called the 

‘‘type species,’’ or the permanent reference by which 

other species may be judged as related or not. In 

coining the name, Linnaeus honored Willem Piso who 

served the Dutch settlement in Bahia, Brazil with 

Georg Marggraf [Georgius Marcgravius]. Together 

they wrote one of the earliest books on medicinal 

plants of Brazil, the Historia naturalis Brasiliae: De 

Medicina Brasiliensi (book 4). 

People throughout the Americas have used P. 

aculeata in a variety of ways. The branches formerly 

were made into barrel hoops in Jamaica (Standley 

1920 /1926). In Mexico, the plants are burned in milpa 

(corn field) preparation, the ash serving as a fertilizer 

(Alcorn 1984). Mostly, however, the plants have the 

reputation as medicines. Throughout its range, the 

root of P. aculeata is considered purgative, and 

decoctions or infusions of bark and leaves are used 

externally or internally against rheumatism, joint 

inflammation, and venereal disease (Standley 1922 / 

1926, Roig 1945, Martínez 1969, Liogier 1974, Grimé 

1976, Mors 2001). The Mayas in Yucatán use it for 

urinary problems and to treat itch or mange (Martínez 

1969, Morton 1981). The Huastecs in San Luis Potosí 

and Maya in Yucatán use the plants to treat boils and 

the ash mixed with lime and nixtamal water for other 

dermatological problems (Martínez 1969, Alcorn 

1984). Nixtamal is the preparation of maize (Zea 

mays) kernels treated with the alkali in ashes to 

remove the outer coating prior to making the cornmeal 

for tortillas. Liquid from the raw stems and 

leaves is drunk to reduce fever. 

No laboratory studies of P. aculeata have been 

found, but its Puerto Rican relative P. borinquena has 

shown 50% to 100% parasite suppression at 5 mg/ml of 

resistant malaria (Plasmodium falciparum), and 85% 

or more inhibition of microbial growth at 100 mg/ml of 

tuberculosis bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) 

(Antoun et al. 2001). Another species, Pisonia umbellifera, 

contains six saponins, three of which are 

oleanolic acid saponins, and two of which have an 

unusual seco-glycopyranosyl moiety (Lavaud et al. 

1996). Since other members of the family are known 

for diuretic and wound-healing activity, perhaps 

similar chemicals are in devil’s claw (Lewis and 

Elvin-Lewis 1977). 

Surely, the most famous medical relative of devil’s 

claw is the four-o-clock (Mirabilis jalapa). That 

species contains a number of alkaloids such as 

trigonelline, saponins that make it soapy, and probably 

resins that make it a drastic purgative (Morton 1981). 

The plants are considered poisonous by most, and are 

now grown only for ornament. In Florida, however, 

the best-known relative of devil’s claw is the Bougainvillea, 

cultivated in many yards and anywhere a 

beautiful, but armed, barrier is desirable. Anyone who 

has trimmed a Bougainvillea plant will relate to the 

common name of P. aculeata, ‘‘blaspheme vine.’’ 

Pithecellobium: Black Bead 

(From Greek pithekos, an ape or monkey, and ellobion, 

ear-ring, in reference to the unique coiled fruits) 

British leader Oliver Cromwell’s fleet took Jamaica 

from the Spanish in 1655, and 32 years later, in 

December 1687, Hans Sloane arrived on the island. 

Sloane, who was to become Britain’s most prominent 

botanist of his century, lived and worked on Jamaica 

until his return to England in 1689. His herbarium 

specimen of plants we now call Pithecellobium unguiscati 

provides documentation for the first common



Pithecellobium keyense. Drawn by P.N. Honychurch. 

name*/a necklace of its black seeds. The name ‘‘black 

bead’’ was already in use in the 1680s. 

Both Leonard Plukenet (1642 /1706) and his 

sometime rival Sloane simultaneously introduced 

black bead to England in 1696, although they called 

the tree an Acacia in their books. It was not until 1837 

that Karl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794 /1868), 

German botanist and professor in Munich, created the 

genus Pithecellobium. The ‘‘ape’’ (pithekos) he saw 

eating the fruits was a New World monkey, probably a 

howler (Alouatta spp.). 

Some names suggest other fanciful items. To 

people in Guadeloupe and Martinique the trees are 

acacia à bracelets (bracelet acacia) or collier [à] diable 

(devil’s necklace). Other people note the leaves with 

acacia à quatre feuilles (four-leaf acacia, French 

Antilles), or the bark with vainita de iguana (iguana 

bark, Venezuela). People even think the curved fruits 

resemble horns and call the plant goatbush (Virgin 

Islands). 

Several designations note the black seeds with 

their contrasting red arils. Among those names in 

English are beefsteak (Grenadines), black bead (Florida 

and Bahamas to Panama), black Jessie (Trinidad), 

bread-and-cheese (Virgin Islands, Barbados, Trinidad), 

mangrove beadtree (Barbados), and mangrove 

black bead (Barbados). In Spanish, they are coralillo 

(little red one), more of a reference to the aril than the 

seed. The Maya name t’siu-che’ [t’sin-che’, tsim-che’, 

tzin-che’, otsuiché] (t’siu, red-eyed bird, che’, tree, 

Yucatán), notes a bird of the region (Molothrus aeneus 

or red-eyed cowbird), whose eyes resemble the red in 

the fruits. In Belize, it is xa-coy (xa, a word to 

introduce a question, coy, tranquil or serene, Maya). 

One French name in the Lesser Antilles is a 

curiosity. It is either tendre à caillou (tender [thing] 

with pebbles) or tendre à caillou-rivière (tender [thing] 

with pebbles that grows by the river (Dominique, 

Martinique). Perhaps that is a reference to the edible 

aril. A German name is Antillen kieselholz (Antillean 

pebble-tree), but its allusion too is unclear, as the 

‘‘generic’’ name for Pithecellobium is Spiralhülse 

(spiral bean) (Nikolov 1996). 

A number of common names have other allusions. 

Aromo (perfume, Puerto Rico) presumably comments 

on the odor of the flowers, although I have never 

noticed much fragrance. Cinazo (ash-colored, Dominican 

Republic) could be another reference to the 

pinkish flowers. In Costa Rica, P. saman is known 

as cenizero (ashy one), so the names are related 

(Janzen 1982). Some think the trees look like privet 

(Jamaica), the temperate Ligustrum (Oleaceae). People 

in northwestern Mexico say guamuchilillo (Sonora) 

because it is a small version of guamúchil (Pithecellobium 

dulce). 

There are also several names apparently in indigenous 

languages that have not all been identified or 

translated. These names include dinde (Colombia), 

güichere (Venezuela), orore (Cumanagota, Cariban, 

Venezuela), pidua (Chocó), and yacure (Arawak?, 

Venezuela). In Barbados, the tree is moabite. However, 

any relationship between the plant and the people of 

Moab, a region that bordered on the territories of the 

trans-Jordanic Israelites in the 1380s or earlier, seems 

unlikely. 

By far the most common allusions are to the 

plant’s armament. The best-known English names 

mentioning the thorns are cat’s claw [catclaw] (Florida, 

Puerto Rico), catclaw blackbead (Florida), crab 

prickle (Virgin Islands), and crab wood (Dutch 

Antilles). Other languages render these uña de gato 

(cat claw, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, 

Nicaragua, Panama), uña de gatu (cat claw, Dutch



Antilles), griffe-chatte (cat’s claw, Dominique, Martinique), 

or bois crabbe (crabwood, French Antilles). 

People have some wonderfully obtuse ways of 

cursing these plants. They may be the arranca pellejo 

(skin puller, Venezuela), the beshi di Juana (Jane’s kiss, 

Dutch Antilles), bois traînant (dragging tree, Dominique, 

Martinique), manca montero (wild impediment, 

Cuba), rolón (enveloper, Puerto Rico), or the rolón 

escambrón (scaly enveloper, Puerto Rico). To others, 

they are avaramo (Brazil) because they resemble the 

avará or Arecastrum palm, both notably spiny. They 

might be escambrón colorado (big red scale), espino de 

mar (sea spine), espino de playa (beach spine, Nicaragua), 

or the espinuelo (spiny one, Venezuela). Nevertheless, 

everyone’s view after being caught in the claws 

and branches of this plant is that it is the diaballe 

(devil, Martinique). 

Linnaeus ([1753] 1957) captured the bristly nature 

of the tree when he called it Mimosa unguis-cati (cat’s 

claw mimosa). He knew the plants from the botanical 

garden in Uppsala, Sweden, and from Sloane’s 

Jamaican herbarium specimen. However, the species 

ranges from southern Florida, through the Bahamas, 

the West Indies, and Mexico (Tamaulipas and Sinaloa) 

south through Central America to Bonaire and 

Curaçao, Venezuela, and Guyana. Throughout its 

range, everyone has used the plants. The wood is clear 

brown, hard, and heavy, and has been used by all who 

know it, especially in construction (Morton 1981). The 

fruit yields a yellow dye. 

The Spaniards apparently thought that the black 

seeds resembled the kidneys and the immature white 

aril the fat surrounding them. Therefore, by the 

Doctrine of Signatures, they concluded that the plant 

was good to treat kidney problems. Some think the 

Spaniards started using the bark and fruits to treat 

kidney problems, but people who preceded them in the 

Americas had used the plants long before Europeans 

arrived. Since the bark and fruit are rich in tannin and 

astringent, they had been used to treat bronchitis, 

chronic diarrhea, and hemorrhaging for generations 

(Standley 1920 /1926, Roig 1945, Mors et al. 2001). 

The bark was also considered tonic and diuretic and 

was used to treat fever, and to cure chronic sores. 

During early European history the plant in Jamaica 

was considered the ‘‘sovereign medicine for the stone 

and gravel,’’ and also for the liver and spleen (Standley 

1920 /1926). In Curaçao the leaf decoction is taken to 

relieve colds (Morton 1981). 

The related species, P. keyense (of the Keys), is 

similarly rich in tannins, and is used to stop bleeding. 

In the Bahama Islands, leafy twigs are chewed or 

made into a ‘‘tea’’ to stop bleeding 3 or 4 months into 

pregnancy (Morton 1981). That species, easily confused 

with P. unguis-cati, is also known as black bead 

(Florida, Bahamas), ram’s horn (Bahamas), or aroma 

(Bahamas). 

People consider the aril edible, but some are sweet 

and others are astringent. Perhaps if they are eaten 

while still white they would be tastier, but those I have 

tried were red, in fully open fruits, and tasted too 

much like alum. Seeds are still strung into necklaces 

and rosaries as they were in Sloane’s time. 

The most famous member of the genus is the 

American P. dulce. That species is most often known 

under some variation of the Náhuatl name quauhmochitl 

(snake jaws), including huamúchil, cuamúchil, 

guamúchil, quamochitl, guamuche, camanchil, camonsil, 

and camachile. While the plant was first recorded by 

Hernández in 1651, the connection between the name 

and the plants carried around the world by the 

Spanish remained unknown for centuries. Indeed, 

the vagaries of where a plant is first collected and 

reported as new to science are unpredictable. Pithecellobium 

dulce was described in 1795 from the Coast 

of Coromandel in India, and for decades people 

thought it was native to the Old World. Then it was 

discovered that it had been taken there by the Spanish, 

first to the Philippines, and then to mainland Asia 

(Standley 1920 /1926). 

Since no chemical studies have been found for P. 

unguis-cati or P. keyense, the best that can be done is 

to compare it with congeners. Pithecellobium dulce 

contains tannins (Steynberg and Hemingway 1994), 

triterpene glycosides (Yoshikawa et al. 1997, Nigam et 

al. 1997), triterpene saponins (Sahu and Mahato 

1994), and vernolic, malvalic, and sterculic acids 

(Hosamani 1995). An Indonesian species contains 

flavan-3-ol gallates and proanthocyanidins (Lee et al. 

1992). Triterpene saponins are anti-inflammatory 

(Sahu and Mahato 1994), triterpenoid glycosides 

are antifungal (Khan et al. 1997), and other compounds 

are antimicrobial (Ali et al. 2001). Related 

species P. saman and P. mangense yield gum exudates 

(Leon De Pinto et al. 1995), and P. saman contains 

saponins similar to those in P. dulce (Varshney et al. 

1985). 

Pithecellobium flexicaule produces seeds that are 

consumed in northeastern Mexico (Alanis Guzman et 

al. 1998) and that have been used in afforestation in 

Texas (Vora and Labus 1988). Related species have 

uses like P. unguis-cati and maybe similar chemicals. 

Sometimes Florida common names are specific: 

P. keyense is blackbead and P. unguis-cati is catclaw. 

Nowhere else in their range are they distinguished, and 

botanists did not even separate the two until 

P. keyense was described in 1928. However, a small 

gall-wasp (Tanaostigmodes pithecellobiae) uses only P. 

keyense and ignores P. unguis-cati (Weekley



2000). Once again, insects are better biologists than 

humans. 

Pityopsis 

(Thomas Nuttall named this Greek pitys, pine, and 

opsis, resembling) 

Pityopsis graminifolia. Polyploid varieties. a. Pityopsis var. 

latifolia; habit of a robust plant. b to e. Pityopsis var. tracyi. 

b. Habit. c. Head; only some florets drawn; the heads of var. 

latifolia are smaller. d. Mid-series phyllary; chlorophyllous 

zone dark. e. Mature cypsela with disk floret attached. 

Drawn by John C. Semple. Modified from Semple and 

Bowers 1985. 

Pityopsis graminifolia (with leaves like grass) 

fever grass (Florida Panhandle) 

golden aster (Florida) 

gopher grass (Florida Panhandle) 

[silk, silver]-grass (reference to the white pubescence 

on the stems and leaves) 

nashoba impisa (nashoba, wolf, im, its, pisa, eyes, 

Choctaw) 

paháɬ lo:cí (white-black grass, Mikasuki) 

pahe hatkooche (small white grass, Mikasuki) 

paho:catlî (Mikasuki) 

pvhe hvtkuce [pvhke hvtke] (pvhe, grass, hvtke, 

white, oce, small, Creek) 

solopí ahissi (solopí, ghost, ahissi, medicine, Koasati) 

scurvy-grass (a use not recorded elsewhere) 

The genus Pityopsis comprises eight species ranging 

from Canada to northern Mexico (Semple et al. 

1980, Semple and Bowers 1987). In the southeastern 

United States there are records of use among several 

native groups. Indigenous people in the coastal 

Carolinas used the plant as a poultice for sprains 

(Morton 1974). Now people in the Carolinas make a 

tea of fresh leaves before the plants flower to treat 

kidney and bladder problems. The tea is considered a 

good diuretic to relieve dropsy (edema). 

The Choctaw use burned plant ashes to treat 

mouth sores (Bushnell 1909). The Creeks used a 

mixture of plants including Pityopsis to reduce fever 

(Spoehr 1939 in Sturtevant 1955). The Seminoles on 

the Big Cypress Reservation were using an infusion of 

the plants for colds and fevers when Sturtevant (1955) 

worked with them. He also recorded that they used the 

plant for ‘‘Cow Creek Sickness,’’ in childbirth and in 

the busk (see Pterocaulon). Modern Seminole Alice 

Snow recorded that the plant is used to treat headache 

but gave no further information (Snow and Stans 

2001). 

Sturtevant (1955) was told about a plant called 

pahátlo:cî (white-black grass, Mikasuki). He had no 

voucher and did not know its identity. Based on the 

uses and other information he gave about that plant, it 

might have been P. graminifolia. Murphee (1965) 

found residents of the Panhandle continuing the use 

of ‘‘gopher grass’’ to treat boils and infected cuts, 

fevers, gout, ground itch, and rheumatism. 

Plantago 

(Linnaeus continued the Latin planta, footprint or sole 

of the foot, ago from agere, to bear or resemble, 

following use by Pliny, A.D. 23 /79) 

cuach Phàdruig (cuach, drinking cup, Phàdruig, of 

Father Druid, for P. major, Gaelic) 

groblad (healing leaf, for P. major, Norwegian) 

kjempe (giant, Norwegian); koempe (translated 

‘‘warrior’’ by Coffey 1993; supposedly called 

that because of a game in which children try to 

knock the ‘‘heads’’ off each other’s ‘‘weapons,’’ 

which are the flower stalks; generic for genus, 

Danish)



Plantago, comparing alien and native species. 1. Plantago 

lanceolata. a. Flower. b. Capsule. c. Seeds. 2. Plantago major. 

a. Flower. b. Capsule. c. Seeds. 3. Plantago rugelii. a. Flower. 

b. Capsule. c. Seeds. Drawn by Regina O. Hughes. From Reed 

1971. 

llantén [yanten] (the broad one, from Latin planos, 

Spanish) 

plantain (from Latin plantagenim, sole of foot, in 

reference to the large broad leaves; first used in 

English about A.D. 1255); piantaggine (Italian); 

plantain (French) 

slàn lus (healthy herb, Gaelic) 

waybread [waybred] (from Old English waybráde, 

meaning ‘‘broad-leaved plant growing beside the 

way’’); vejbred (waybread, Danish); weegbree 

(Dutch, from Middle Low German, wegebrede); 

Wegebreite (German, from Old High German 

wegbrieta); Wegerich (of roads, German) 

white-man’s footprint (‘‘New England Indians,’’ 

tribe not specified, cf. Millspaugh 1892) 

Plantago aristata (bearing bristles) 

buckthorn [buckhorn plantain] (from Latin cervi 

spina; applied by Valerius Cordus, 1514? /1544 

to Rhamnus catharticus; later applied to other 

genera) 

[bottlebrush, bracted, large-bract, largebract] 

plantain (the modifiers refer to the inflorescence) 

ribwort (an allusion to the prominent veins in the 

leaves; originally applied to the European P. 

lanceolata about A.D. 1440; later expanded to the 

American species) 

Plantago rugelii (named for its discoverer Ferdinand 

Rugel, 1806 /1879, German-born planter 

and explorer in the southeastern United States) 

[blackseed, common, Rugel’s] plantain 

Plantago virginica (of Virginia) 

bo-u-na (Kiowa) 

[dwarf, hoary, pale-seed] plantain 

It has always struck me as odd that temperate and 

tropical plants (Musa, Plantago) are both called 

‘‘plantain.’’ Apparently, I have not been alone in 

that reaction, as it was discussed by Father Acosta 

in 1590 and numerous authors since (de Candolle 

[1886] 1959, OED 1971). Current opinion suggests 

that the Musa, named ‘‘plantain’’ or plátano in 

Spanish, came from Latin platanus, referring to the 

broad leaves. The original comparison was not to the 

temperate deciduous tree, but simply a reference to 

wide leaves (see also Platanus). In Portuguese, plátano 

still means Platanus, even in Brazil where Musa is 

banana. 

A dictionary of Galibí published in 1664 glosses 

Musa as palatana, and a Carib dictionary of 1665 says 

they were known as ’balátana. In Tupí, they were 

prátane (OED 1971). De Candolle ([1886] 1959) 

suggested that those words were derived from bala 

or palan from Malabar and introduced by the early 

Portuguese. The Brazilian Tupí now is pacoba or 

bacoba, while in French Guiana it is bacove (both from 

Tupí pa ’kowa, leaf for wrapping). Regardless of how 

the name for Musa was derived, it is clear that the 

name for Plantago came from the Old Latin name for 

the temperate plants. 

It probably is impossible now to separate what 

indigenous people did with Plantago from uses they 

learned from European settlers. The plantain had long 

been used in medicines in Europe, and it figured 

prominently in the writings of Pliny (A.D. 23 /79), 

Dioscorides (A.D. 40 /80), and Galen (A.D. 129 /?200). 

Two species were discussed by Leonard Fuchs in 1542, 

William Turner in 1568, and John Gerarde in 1597, 

among others. During this time period, P. major, the 

best-known species, was called weybrede or plantayne



by Turner, while in German it was Wegrich (orthographic 

variant of Wegerich), in Dutch wechbree 

(orthographic variant of weegbree), in Italian piantagine, 

and in Spanish llantén. Then, as when discussed 

by Millspaugh (1892), it was largely considered 

vulnerary and demulcent, and recommended for 

coughs and bronchial problems. 

Plantago aristata was used by the Cherokee to 

treat headache, dysentery, poisonous bites and stings, 

burns, and sore eyes, and in a douche (Hamel and 

Chiltoskey 1987). The Kawaiisu and Mendocino also 

used it in the western United States (Moerman 1998). 

The Menomini used P. rugelii as a dressing on burns 

or to treat inflammation (King 1984). 

Possibly a formerly more widespread view of these 

plants was recorded by Vestal and Schultes (1939). 

They found that the Kiowa regarded P. virginica as a 

symbolic plant. Old men tied garlands or wreaths 

around their heads during dances as a symbol of 

health. 

Platanthera 

(Louis Claude Marie Richard created the name from 

Greek platys, broad, anthera, anther) 

Platanthera ciliaris (fringed, the petals) 

orange-plume 

Waldhyazinthe (forest hyacinth, German) 

yellow finger orchid; yellow fringed orchid [orchis] 

When I was growing up, I learned from watching 

to spit on the baited hook before beginning fishing. 

The practice always struck me as odd, but many of the 

older fishermen did it routinely. I never knew if it was 

part of my Gaelic or Cherokee ancestry. 

Then I learned that the Cherokee used roots of the 

yellow-fringed orchid on hooks to make fish bite 

(Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). Members of that tribe 

have not always used the orchid, but they formerly 

used the Venus fly-trap (Dionaea muscipula). Mooney’s 

(1885 /1886) paper included the following prayer 

for catching fish by his Cherokee informant A’yuninis’, 

whom he called Swimmer: ‘‘Listen! Now you settlements 

have drawn near to harken. Where you have 

gathered in the foam you are moving about as one. 

You Blue Cat and the others, I have come to offer you 

freely the white food. Let the paths from every 

direction recognize each other. Our spittle shall be in 

agreement. Let your and my spittle be together as we 

go about. The fish have become a prey and there shall 

be no loneliness. Your spittle has become agreeable. I 

am called A’yuninis’. Yu!’’ 

The Cherokee took a cold infusion of the orchid to 

stop headache and diarrhea (Hamel and Chiltoskey 

1975). The Seminoles used the roots in a remedy to 

treat snakebite (Sturtevant 1955). 

Platanus 

(The original Greek, platanos, broad, in reference to 

the leaves, a name for the plane-tree used by Pliny, A.D. 

23 /79; the Greek Theophrastus, 370 /288 B.C., spelled 

it platys) 

Platanus occidentalis. a. Branch with fruit. b. Achene. 

c. Trichome. Drawn by Vivian Frazier. From Correll and 

Correll 1972. 

Platanus occidentalis (western, i.e., of the Western 

Hemisphere) 

akhatka (oke, water, hatka, white, Alabama); akhv’tkv 

[akhatkv] (owv, water, hvtke, white, Muskogee) 

álamo [álama blanco] (usually used for Populus, 

Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, 

Veracruz) 

American plane [plane-tree, planetree] (to distinguish 

it from the European plane tree, P. 

orientalis, Canada, USA); plane [plane-tree, 

planetree] (from Old French plasne, in turn 

from planus, broad, because of the broad leaves, 

used in English by 1382; perhaps originally 

applied to Acer pseudoplatanus); Platane (German); 

platane (Quebec, France); platano (Italian); 

platano occidental [occidentale, de Virginia] 

(western [Virginia] plane-tree, Canada, USA);



westerse plataan (western plane-tree, Dutch, 

Canada, USA, West Indies) 

aya (Veracruz) 

ayan’ sanhan’ udi’ (‘‘strong wood tree’’ or san, 

white?, Biloxi; compare with Omaha jan san, 

white wood and Osage sansan, white sycamore) 

bois puant (stinking tree, Canada, France) 

butterwood (a corruption of ‘‘button’’?, North 

America); buttonball[-tree] (USA); buttonwood 

(surely an allusion to the round, buttonlike 

fruits; recorded in Swedish by Kalm in 1753; 

first published in English by Frederick Pursh in 

1814 for this species, Canada, United Kingdom) 

ciɬ ó (Koasati); sini (Choctaw) 

cotonier (cotton tree, French, USA) 

keisewaquata (Shawnee, fide Edgar 1891) 

kuwajunega (Cherokee) 

oo-da-te-cha-wunnes (big stockings, Delaware?, 

USA) 

[American] sycamore tree [sycomore] (‘‘sycamore’’ 

was originally applied to Ficus sycamorus, a fig in 

Egypt, Syria, and nearby countries. The word is 

a combination of Greek sykos, fig, and moros, 

the mulberry, and came into English about A.D. 

1300. By ca. 1588, it was applied to European 

Acer pseudoplatanus, and then to American 

Platanus by 1814 or perhaps before.) 

Virginia maple (name in New England in the 

1740s, fide Kalm 1753) 

wasbok [watenbok] (water beech, used by Swedes 

in Pennsylvania in the 1740s, Kalm 1753); water 

beech [waterbeech] (published in Swedish by 

Peter Kalm in 1753; the OED says first in 

English by Frederick Pursh in 1814) 

yap hi·tuwi·’ (tree of burrs); yap taktce’ hi·tcuwi·’hare 

[ya bwe] (tree white [of] many burrs, 

Catawba) 

The common names ‘‘plane-tree’’ and ‘‘sycamore’’ 

have been confused in English since the 1300s. That 

confusion reflects the application of the names to Acer 

pseudoplatanus and Platanus orientalis. For example, 

Vickery (1993) devotes almost two pages to the 

‘‘sycamore’’ (Acer), yet that maple in Norway is the 

tanbark plane (platanlønn). In the United States, a 

‘‘sycamore’’ is Platanus. 

The name ‘‘plane’’ was in English before the 

‘‘official’’ introduction of Platanus. In 1398, a John 

De Trevisa wrote, ‘‘The plane is a colde tre and a drye, 

and ye leaves therof helep in hoot eveles.’’ Therefore, 

by that period, Europeans as far north as England 

were making medical use of a ‘‘plane’’ tree that must 

have been Acer. 

William Turner’s Herball recorded that P. orientalis, 

a native to Asia Minor, was introduced into Britain 

around 1562 (OED 1971). Then, 78 years later, John 

Parkinson told us that John Tradescant had P. 

occidentalis sent to him from Virginia and introduced 

it into England. Neither of these two species did 

well in the British Isles. In 1675, people noticed 

a different plane-tree. Although these hybrid trees 

(P. /acerifolia) are now called the ‘‘London Plane,’’ 

they probably originated in France or Spain (Edlin 

and Mitchell 1985). From that point, the ‘‘plane’’ 

became one of the most common street trees in 

England and much of the rest of Great Britain. 

The Cherokee were one of the few tribes recorded 

as using the wood of Platanus (Hamel and Chiltoskey 

1975). Settlers used the wood for crates, interior 

finishing, furniture, cooperage, rollers, butcher blocks, 

and tobacco boxes (Vines 1977). In spite of this usage, 

the technical sheet from the U.S. Forestry Service is 

not overly complimentary. It states that, although the 

wood is not durable, ‘‘It holds its shape well after 

steaming and machines, but requires high speed cutter 

heads to prevent chipping. It shrinks moderately in 

drying and is inclined to warp when flat sawn.’’ The 

sapwood is white to light yellow, while the heartwood 

is light to dark brown. Sycamore is classified as 

moderate in weight, hardness, stiffness, shock resistance, 

strength in bending, endwise compression, and 

nail-holding ability. It has a close texture, glues well, 

and resists splitting due to interlocked grain. The 

Forestry Service noted modern application in furniture 

(especially drawer sides), containers, millwork, 

flooring, veneer, pallets, boxes, plywood, pulp wood, 

paper, and particle boards. 

Although there seem to be no medical applications 

of Platanus in Europe, indigenous Americans used it 

throughout its range. The Cherokee considered the 

trees, but especially the bark, cathartic and emetic, and 

used it for menstrual and urinary problems and 

measles. They also treated dysentery with an inner 

bark infusion. Externally, the Cherokee and Iroquois 

used sycamore in a steam bath for rheumatism (Hamel 

and Chiltoskey 1975, Moerman 1998). The Creeks, 

Delaware, and Meskwaki treated colds, sore throat, 

hoarseness, and tuberculosis with the bark. The 

Cherokee, Iroquois, and Meskwaki used bark or root 

infusions to treat skin eruptions, scabs, eczema, and 

knife and ax wounds (Swanton 1928a, Taylor 1940, 

Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975, Moerman 1998). 

Moerman (1998) recorded Mahuna use of this 

species, but this tree does not grow there (Hickman 

1993). 

Foster and Duke (1990) found that the bark was 

once recommended by descendants of Europeans for 

rheumatism and scurvy. They found no evidence of 

efficacy. Lewis and Elvin-Lewis (1977) mention only 

that the airborne pollen causes allergies. Hocking



(1997) affirms that the leaves were formerly used in eye 

lotions, and that the plant yielded antipyretic tonics. 

He further notes that it, like P. orientalis, contains 

cyanogenic glycosides. All agree, however, that the 

greatest current use for sycamore is as an ornamental 

tree, particularly in parks and along streets. 

Pleopeltis 

(From Greek pleos, full or many, and pelte, a shield, in 

reference to the paraphyses) 

Pleopeltis polypodioides. From Britton and Brown 1896. 

Pleopeltis polypodioides (resembling Polypodium) 

( /Polypodium polypodioides) 

coladilla (little tailed one) 

doradilla (little golden one, Cuba, Dominican 

Republic) 

fougere grimpante (climbing fern, French Antilles) 

gray polypody (a book name, Bahamas) 

helecho que resucita (resurrection fern, Dominican 

Republic); resurrection fern (USA) 

ihosi:cokhíssi (ehose, a mystical being who causes 

people to get lost, kokhesse, whiskers, Creek); 

iwa:satkáhcicô:skî (cognate to the Creek name, 

with the same meaning, Mikasuki) 

istilibuski entaapente [yaato posheke entaapente, 

yatapushkaale entaapente] (isti, person, libuski, 

little, entaapente, his fern, Mikasuki) 

koo’ te’ (tree caretaker, Huastec, San Luis Potosí) 

kutsiil Boo’waat (Boo’waat dance baton, Huastec, 

San Luis Potosí) 

lakcv-cvmpv sohhontat (little thing that sprouts on 

sweet acorn [live oak]; lakcv, acorn, cvmpv, sweet, 

sohhontat, froms-, with, oh-, on, hont- sprout, - 

us-, little, -at, the one that, Creek) 

liane anolis (lizard [Anolis] fern, Haiti) 

liane couresse (running fern, French Antilles) 

okecheske entapente [okiciskintapinti] (okecheske, 

many small bases, entaapente, its fern, 

Mikasuki) 

polypode (many foot, French Antilles) 

tsooy ahaatik (lord rib, Huastec, San Luis Potosí) 

weering grass (Creole, Nicaragua) 

Pleopeltis is often included within Polypodium. As 

now circumscribed, it contains 11 to 50 species 

(Andrews and Windham 1993, Mabberley 1997). 

Resurrection fern is one of the most widespread 

ferns in the New World, ranging through much of the 

eastern United States south through most of Latin 

America (Andrews and Windham 1993). The Houma 

made a cold infusion of fronds used to treat babies’ 

sore mouths (thrush) and use a decoction of the fronds 

for headache, bleeding gums, and dizziness (Speck 

1941). The Seminoles used the fern in a complex 

mixture to treat chronic sickness, certain kinds of 

mental problems, and in certain medicines used in 

childbirth (Sturtevant 1955). Bennett (1997) found 

that modern Seminoles mix P. polypodioides with 

shoestring fern (Vittaria lineata), boil it in water, 

and drink the decoction, or administer it in a steam 

bath to treat depression. They also told him that the 

plant was used in another medicine but would not 

share particulars with him. Alice Snow calls the plant 

okecheske entapente (Snow and Stans 2001). 

In Cuba, doradilla is considered a prime remedy 

for liver problems (Roig 1945). Some there also 

think it good for heart problems. Whole plants, but 

mostly the leaves, are put in water containers 

and give a slight earthy flavor. In Roig’s time, 

there was a patented remedy called Elixir de 

Doradilla. 

The plants are considered a cure for liver problems 

in Hispaniola (Liogier 1974). Morton (1981) found the 

dry fern being sold by herb vendors in Puerto Rico as 

a remedy for high blood pressure, and Hocking (1997) 

found that the entire plant had been used for 

bronchitis. In Mexico, Alcorn (1984) found the 

Huastec used the fern to treat fever and dizziness, 

and to scrub the head. A tea is made from the fern to 

clean the stomach and lungs in Nicaragua (Barrett 

1994).



Pluchea: Cure-for-All 

(Named to commemorate the French abbot Noël- 

Antoine Pluche, 1688 /1761, a seminary teacher and 

naturalist) 

In 1817, the French botanist Alexandre Henri 

Gabriel de Cassini (1781 /1832), who specialized in the 

Asteraceae, described plants in a new genus he called 

Pluchea. The reference species (type) of the genus is 

Pluchea marilandica, which another French botanist, 

André Michaux, previously had placed in the genus 

Conyza. Indeed, Michaux was following Linnaeus who 

placed in Conyza several species that today are 

segregated into other lineages. 

Such changing of names is a normal part of 

scientific learning because evolution has selected 

among different phylogenies to the point that they 

are difficult to distinguish. Not only have scientists 

had trouble sorting out the genera and species in the 

Asteraceae, but nonscientists sometimes apply names 

in what appear to be random ways. However, there are 

two frequent and essentially tropical Pluchea that 

people use across their ranges. Of the five native 

species in Florida, this discussion focuses on P. 

carolinensis and P. odorata. The second of these also 

appears in the literature under the names P. purpurascens 

and P. symphytifolia (Gillis 1977, Khan and 

Jarvis 1989), so it is often difficult to sort out uses. 

Since both species have mostly the same applications, 

exact identity is not critical. 

Only two indigenous common names were found 

in the southeast. The Choctaw call P. foetida hoshukkosona 

(haskuk, grass, kosoma, strong smell), and they 

boiled the leaves and used the water extract ‘‘during 

attacks of fever’’ (Bushnell 1909). The Koasati call P. 

camphorata ittohapakó (ittó, tree, hapakó, death), and 

also used it to treat fever (Taylor 1940). Given the 

importance of the plants to the remaining Americans, 

other linguistic groups probably also had names for 

them. 

In Mexico, the Aztecs knew these plants and used 

them. Both P. carolinensis and P. odorata were known 

as ciguapatle [ciguabate, cichapatle, cipatle, seguapeti, 

siguapete, siguapote], a name derived from cigua, 

woman, patl, medicine (Náhuatl, Mexico to El 

Salvador). However, alternate names were applied. 

Pluchea. Pluchea foetida (left). From Britton and Brown 1898. Pluchea odorata (right). a. Tip of flowering branch. 

b. Enlargement of leaf showing glandular pubescence. c. Flower head, side view. d. Perfect disk flower, side view. e. Perfect disk 

flower, longitudinally dissected. f. Floral diagram of perfect disk flower. g. Pistillate disk flower, side view. h. Pistillate disk 

flower, longitudinally dissected. i. Floral diagram of pistillate disk flower. j. Achene with pappus. Drawn by Priscilla Fawcett. 

From Correll and Correll 1982.



Perhaps comalpatli (comal, cooking disk to prepare 

tortillas, patl, medicine) is simply another way of 

saying woman’s medicine, because cooking is traditionally 

considered the female realm. Probably both 

ahuapatli [alaa-patli] andnahuapate [nahuapote] are 

variants of nahuac, ofanahuac (Mexico, El Salvador), 

meaning a medicine growing near water. Both species 

are most frequent near marshes. Perhaps the modern 

hoja de la playa (beach leaf) comes from the Náhuatl 

source. 

To the Mayas, both plants were chal-ché [chalchay, 

chalche, chalché, ix chal-ché, chal-ch, caal-ca] (wash 

quickly, Maya, Yucatán, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua). 

That name is an allusion to medical use before, 

during, and after childbirth, much as in the Náhuatl 

names. 

Several apparently indigenous names applied in 

different areas have not been translated. These include 

alinanche (Sinaloa), clina, suquinay [suquinayo] (Guatemala, 

El Salvador), teposa, andtewa zahn (Zapotec, 

Oaxaca). 

Perhaps the most widespread view of these plants 

is shown by the names cure-for-all [curforal] (Florida, 

Barbados), and guérit-tout [gueritoute, gueri-tout, 

guerir tou, jewi tut] (cure-all, Haiti, Guadeloupe, 

Martinique). Most of the common names clearly 

indicate medical applications. Both cough bush (Bahamas) 

and sour bush (Bahamas) note usage as a 

remedy for colds and associated symptoms (Morton 

1981). Although the simple comment that the leaves 

are smoked like tobacco is in the literature, the many 

names comparing the leaves with Nicotiana surely 

suggest an adjunct to relieve cold symptoms. Among 

those names are bitter tobacco (Jamaica), Indian 

tobacco, riverside tobacco, tabac à Jacot [tabac à 

jako] (false tobacco, Haiti), tabac diable (devil’s 

tobacco, Haiti, Guadeloupe, Martinique), tabac marron 

[tabac mawon, tabac sauvage] (wild tobacco, 

Haiti), tobacco cimarron (wild tobacco, Panama), 

tabac zombie (ghost tobacco, French Antilles), and 

wild tobacco (Bahamas, Jamaica). 

Of these names, tabac à Jacot requires some 

explanation. The name Jacot [Jacquot] is used in a 

game English speakers call ‘‘Simon Says.’’ In the game 

‘‘Jacques [or Jacquot, the diminutive] a dit,’’ one 

imitates as a parrot [Jacquot] imitates people. So, the 

plants ‘‘imitate’’ the real tobacco. 

Some of the names that allude to medicinal uses 

are obtuse as in feuilles la chose (the thing’s leaf, 

Haiti), fox-leaf, la chause [la chose, la choille, la choise, 

la choige, la choy] (the thing, Haiti), both applied to P. 

carolinensis. 

Several of the names with religious references are 

notations of medical applications. These include flor 

de ángel (angel flower) and flor de Guadalupe (Gua- 

dalupe’s flower), applied to only P. odorata, andhierba 

de Santa María (Saint Mary’s herb, Mexico, Nuevo 

León), given to P. carolinensis and P. odorata. Others 

say Santa María (Saint Mary, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, 

Yucatán, Belize, Nicaragua) or Santa María cimarron 

(wild Saint Mary). 

Several people compare these aromatic shrubs 

with salvia (Latin, to save or preserve) not only 

because both are aromatic, but also because both are 

medicines that ‘‘preserve’’ health. In French, both P. 

carolinensis and P. odorata are grande sauge (Haiti, 

Martinique, Guadeloupe), [la] sauge (sage, Haiti), or 

sauge rouge (red sage, Haiti, Martinique). In Spanish, 

they become salvia (sage, Puerto Rico, Dominican 

Republic, Nicaragua), salvia colorada (red sage), 

salvia de remedios (medicinal sage, Dominican Republic), 

salvia blanca (white sage, Dominican Republic), 

salvia cimarrona (wild sage, Cuba), salvia de playa 

(beach sage, Cuba), salvia del país (country sage, 

Cuba), salvia real (royal sage), or salvia santa (holy 

sage). Although it is not at first obvious, the name 

saab [saav, big-saab] (Bahamas) is probably a Creole 

version of salvia. Other names that note the fragrance 

are camphor-weed (P. odorata, Florida), canela [canelón] 

(cinnamon, Mexico, Baja California), or sweet 

scent (Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands). 

Until the early 1800s, many species now considered 

Pluchea were placed in the genus Conyza (Greek, 

a flea), and the Greek gave rise to the common name 

conyse odorante (fragrant horsetail, Dominican Republic). 

Conyza was originally used by Dioscorides (fl. 

A.D. 40 /80) for some kind of fleabane, so the 

Hispaniolan name follows a venerable usage although 

the original was a Mediterranean plant. Several 

members of the Asteraceae have been considered 

‘‘fleabanes’’ and used to repel those annoying animals 

(see Erigeron). Pluchea carolinensis too is called 

bushy fleabane (Bahamas), hairy fleabane, and 

shrubby fleabane (Bahamas). Both P. carolinensis 

and P. odorata are called sweet-scented fleabane 

(Bahamas. Jamaica, Trinidad), but usually only 

the latter is [salt] marsh fleabane (Arizona to 

Florida). Their names suggest they have been used to 

repel fleas. 

Some of the names denote other uses or comparisons. 

In Guadeloupe and Martinique, P. odorata is 

bois liège (cork bush), and the wood is presumably the 

part used. People in Belize say pito sico. A pito is a 

flower, and sico may be a variant of seco, dry, probably 

a name used like ‘‘straw-flower’’ in English, because of 

the dry flowers. Perhaps corail (coral, Haiti) notes 

the pinkish flowers. Any resemblance to a z’orielle 

mouton (sheep’s ear, French Antilles) must also 

have to do with pubescence, as both are white 

and woolly. Residents of Mexico call P. odorata the



jara. It is not clear if they are comparing the species 

with rockrose (Helianthemum, Sonora) because 

both have white pubescent leaves, or if they are calling 

it an ‘‘arrow’’ (the Spanish from Hebrew khara, to 

cast). 

The common name cure-for-all is an exaggeration, 

but both species are used to treat many problems. 

Among the afflictions treated are asthma, bronchitis, 

cholera, colds, digestive and eye complaints, fever, 

gout, headache, hoarseness, hypertension, menstrual 

difficulties, nervousness, neuralgia, night sweats, rheumatism, 

sores, spasms, stomach disorders, swelling in 

any part of the body, toothache, twitching muscles, 

and wheezing. They are also used to treat new mothers 

and women in labor (Standley 1920 /1926, Roig 1945, 

Martínez 1969, Morton 1981). 

Laboratory studies have shown that P. odorata has 

antifungal, antimicrobial, antibacterial, and anthelmintic 

properties (Dominguez and Zamudio 1972, 

López-Abraham et al. 1979, Scholz et al. 1990, 1994). 

These traits apparently stem from terpenes. Most of 

the known compounds in P. odorata are sesquiterpenes 

(Dominguez et al. 1981, Arriaga-Giner et al. 

1983, Arriaga and Borges-del-Castillo 1985, Ahmad 

et al. 1992a,b, Loayza et al. 1992, Ahmed et al. 1998). 

Sesquiterpenes also are among the most reported 

chemicals in other species (Ahmad and Fizza 1988a, 

b, Ahmad et al. 1989a, 1991, 1992a,b, Ando et al. 

1994, Zdero and Bohlmann 1989, Uchiyama et al. 

1991, Guilhon and Muller 1996, 1998, Mahmoud 

1997, Shimoma et al. 1998). However, monoterpenes, 

triterpenes, and triterpenoids are known to have 

similar properties (Uchiyama et al. 1991, Kaith 1996, 

Pérez-Garcia et al. 1996). Also reported are antiinflammatory 

(Srivastava et al. 1990, Sen and Nag 

Chaudhuri 1990, 1991, Sen et al. 1993a, Pérez et al. 

1995), anti-ulcer (Pal and Chaudhuri 1989, Sen et al. 

1993a), hepatoprotective (Sen et al. 1993b), and 

trypanocidal (Zani et al. 1994) properties. 

Common names indicate an ancient Náhuatl and 

Mayan application for women, especially during and 

after childbirth, and suggest an original specialized 

medicine. With the influx of several European cultures 

and confusion with the Old World fleabanes, that 

specialization may have given way to a broader 

utilization. Indeed, considering the array of uses for 

Pluchea, it is easy to see why it became known as a 

cure-for-all or guérit-tout. Given the Old World use to 

treat poisonous snakebites, it is surprising that people 

in the New World did not include that among their 

pharmacopoeia. Experimental data for Pluchea actually 

indicate that it works for that problem (Alam et al. 

1996). 

Plumbago: Plumbago or Leadwort 

(Latin plumbum, lead, ago from agere, to bear or 

resemble) 

Plumbago scandens. a. Flowering branch. b. Detail of node. 

c. Flowering and subtending bract and bracteole. 

d. Stamens, front and side view. e. Gynoecium, with details 

of stigma and ovary. Drawn by Bobbi Angell. From Acevedo 

2003. 

The word ‘‘plumbago’’ appeared in English by 

1784 although it has a venerable history in southern 

European languages. Most speakers of English call the 

plants leadwort. Both names refer to the genus 

Plumbago and the family Plumbaginaceae. The history 

of the words ‘‘plumbago’’ and ‘‘leadwort’’ is long and 

complicated, and sometimes the plant is inseparable 

from the metal except by inference. 

Dioscorides (fl. A.D. 40 /80) used two Greek words 

to designate both a metal and a plant. Pliny (A.D. 23 / 

79) Latinized those words as molybdaena and plumbago, 

and used both for what is now galena, lead ore. 

However, for the plants, Pliny always used plumbago. 

In Philemon Holland’s 1601 translation Pliny says, 

‘‘There groweth commonly an herbe named in Greeke 

Molybdaena, that is to say in Latin, Plumbago, euen 

vpon euery corne land.’’ Matthioli’s Commentary on 

Dioscorides was translated into French in 1572, and 

subsequently most French, Italian, and German 

speakers reapplied ‘‘plumbago’’ to the metal. Linnaeus



(1753) formalized the use of Plumbago to the plant 

and it has remained that way. 

The white plumbago (Bahamas, Puerto Rico) in 

southern Florida is P. scandens. That sprawling herb is 

also found in the Bahamas, the West Indies, Mexico 

(Sonora and Tamaulipas south) to Costa Rica and 

South America to Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. The 

plant has multiple names throughout its range because 

it is notorious for several reasons.. 

The names for the American plants were complicated 

because Europeans already knew P. europaea. 

They called the Old World plants by two sets of 

names*/one mentioning the metal lead, and the other 

teeth. 

Mostly, P. europaea is associated with the metal in 

the names leadwort (English), piombaggine (lead 

plant, Italian), plúmbago (Sonora, Spanish), and 

Bleiwurz (lead herb, German). Those names are either 

based on an old belief that it could be used to cure 

lead poisoning (Bremness 1994), because of the ‘‘leadcolored’’ 

flowers (OED 1971), or because the roots 

impart a lead color to the hands when handled 

(Walker 1976). Few English speakers recognize the 

word plumbago, and they use its translated form, 

leadwort. According to Nathan Bailey’s A Universal 

Etymological English Dictionary, ‘‘leadwort’’ was first 

used in English in 1727. 

The other names for P. europaea are based on its 

use in treating toothache. Surely the oldest name of 

those referring to teeth was Lepidium Dentillaria 

dictum (little scale called dentillaria) published by 

Gaspard Bauhin in 1623. That name evolved into 

dentelaire (French) and dentilária (Portuguese). This 

knowledge of use was carried to the Americas where P. 

scandens became dentelaire [dentelle] (Haiti) and 

dentelária (Oaxaca, Cuba). 

The European Spanish hierba blesa (pretty herb) 

and velesa (pretty one) are related, and these were 

applied to P. scandens as belesa [beleza] (Puerto Rico). 

These probably gave rise to bella Emilia (pretty Emily, 

Dominican Republic, Colombia, Argentina), belleza 

enredadera [veleza enredadera] (pretty twiner, Puerto 

Rico), and embeles [embeleso] (Yucatán, Cuba). There 

is either a linguistic relationship between these and 

Spanish embelezar (to enchant) because of the beauty 

of the flower or simply as a result of confusion with 

that word. 

Throughout the Americas, there is an ambiguity of 

feelings toward these plants that is typified by homme 

[à] deux faces (man with two faces, Haiti). The herbs 

are pretty because of their flowers, but like their 

European cousin, they are ‘‘acrid, blistering, and 

emetic’’ (Polunin 1969). Many of the common names 

warn against those traits. 

Some of the names are direct, as in blister leaf 

(Virgin Islands), chilillo (little pepper, Veracruz), herbe 

brûlante (burning herb, Guadeloupe, Martinique), 

queimadeira (burner, Brazil), sarne vejiguilla (blister 

herb, Peru), yerba de vejigatorio (irritant herb, 

Guyana), tlalchinchinolli (from tlachichinacapololli, 

cruelly tortured, Náhuatl, Querétaro), and tlepatli 

(fire medicine, Náhuatl, Querétaro). Others damn 

them by inference or association, as in caataia (caa, 

plant, taia,fromta’yá /Zanthoxylum violaceum in the 

Rutaceae, a family famous for volatile oils, Tupí, 

Brazil), folhas de louco [louco] (crazy leaf, Brazil), 

malacara (bad-face, Cuba), and herbe bourrique (sheass 

herb, Haiti). Surely, the fiery juice led to the 

comparison with mustards and the names moutard 

pays (wild mustard, Guadeloupe, Martinique) and 

sinapisme (from Latin sinapis, mustard, Guadeloupe, 

Martinique). 

Some people consider the plants the devil incarnate, 

with erva do diabo [erva de diabo] (devil’s herb, 

Brazil), herbe au diable (devil’s herb, Haiti), hierba del 

diablo [yerba del diablo] (devil’s herb, Dominican 

Republic, Colombia, Argentina), and mauvaise herbe 

(damned herb, Haiti). At the opposite extreme, some 

people consider them an erva divina (divine herb, 

Brazil). 

Other names are more obtuse allusions to medicines. 

These include doctor-bush [doctorbush] (Bahamas, 

Florida), herbe à Madame Bihoret [zèbe Man 

Bihoret] (Guadeloupe, Martinique), folha de louro 

(parrot leaf, Brazil), hierba del negro (negro’s herb, 

Oaxaca), hierba del pajaro (bird’s herb, Panama), 

hierba de alacrán (scorpion herb, Sinaloa, Jalisco, 

San Luis Potosí, Oaxaca, Guanajuato), lagaña de aura 

(vulture’s eyelid, Cuba), lagaña de perro (dog’s eyelid, 

Morelos, Cuba), and muela de alacrán (scorpion’s 

molar, Mexico). 

People also find the sticky fruits worthy of 

comment. Some of these names are positive, such as 

collant (sticky one, Guadeloupe, Martinique), erva de 

amor (love herb, Brazil), and meladillo [melallillo, 

mielilla] [silvestre] ([wild] honey-giver, Puerto Rico, 

Cuba, Mexico). Typically, meladillo is applied to P. 

auriculata in Puerto Rico. Other names are negative, 

as in pegajoso (sticky one, Tamaulipas, Sinaloa), pegapollo 

(chicken-catcher, Dominican Republic), pegoso 

(sticky), mata-pollo (chicken-killer, Dominican Republic), 

and visqueira (the viscous one, Brazil). 

Some people do not know of the medicinal uses. 

They may be the ones calling the plants canutillo (little 

tube, maybe the flower, Sinaloa), guapote [guapito] 

(from guapo, handsome, Venezuela, Peru), estrenina 

(little gift, Sonora), Isabel (Hispaniola), jazmín azul 

(blue jassmine, Yucatán), and jazmim azul (blue 

jassmine, Brazil).



Several indigenous names are descriptive or simple 

terms. Among those are caajandiva [caajandivas] (caa, 

plant, jandiva, from ñandi’á, catfish, Tupí, Brazil), 

caaponga [caapononga, caponga] (caa, plant, ponga, 

climber, Tupí, Brazil), chabak [chab-ak, chabac, chapak] 

(chab, bad odor, ak, vine, Maya, Yucatán), 

guacochile (if Náhuatl, maybe from uactoc, mature, 

chilli, chile, El Salvador), guaicuru (maybe Taino), and 

turicua [tiricua, jiricua] (Guanajuato, Tamaulipas). 

The Huastec call it hurika, and some people have 

spelled that eureka (San Luis Potosí). The second 

spelling has no linguistic relation to ‘‘eureka’’ in 

English. 

Leaves and roots when applied to the skin produce 

almost instant reddening and in a short time blisters. 

An external decoction is used to treat erysipelas, felon, 

itch, mange, warts, external ulcers, leprosy, and similar 

problems (Bye 1986). Root juices have also been used 

to cauterize ulcers in horses (Mors et al. 2001). The 

same parts are poisonous if taken internally (Tokarnia 

and Dobereiner 1982, Medeiros et al. 2001, Mors et al. 

2001). Plumbago europea has similar properties and is 

used as an emetic; when chewed, the plant increases 

saliva flow. Roots are used from both species to relieve 

pains in ears and teeth, for swollen joints, and as a 

purgative (Mors et al. 2001). Beggars have applied the 

leaves to raise sores on their body to arouse pity 

(Standley 1920 /1926). Leaves and roots are macerated 

in alcohol and applied to the skin to treat rheumatism 

(Pittier 1926, Petersen 1974, Liogier 1974). 

Roots and leaves contain plumbagin (Harborne 

1967), a naphthoquinone derivative characteristic of 

most species in the genus (Mors et al. 2001). There are 

related compounds in P. scandens and other species 

(Sankaram et al. 1979, Bhattacharyya and Carvalho 

1986, Dinda and Chel 1992, Dinda 1994, Gupta et al. 

1999). Plumbagin is active against several fungi and 

bacteria (Gonçalves de Lima et al. 1968, Vijver and 

Lotter 1971, Bambode and Shukla 1974, Durga et al. 

1990, Ahmad et al. 1998, Ali-Shtayeh and Abu 

Ghdeib 1999, Beg and Ahmad 2000). In addition, 

plumbagin and related compounds have shown promise 

in cancer treatment, for inhibiting inflammation, 

in controlling cholesterol, and improving cardiotonic 

action (Melo et al. 1974, Itoigawa et al. 1991, Sharma 

et al. 1991, Oyedapo 1996, Devi et al. 1999). 

Several studies show that the chemicals in Plumbago 

inhibit feeding by insects (Kubo et al. 1980, 

Sharma 1984, Hassanali and Lwande 1989). In spite of 

the potpourri of toxins in the plants, one genus of 

North American butterfly uses Plumbago for its 

larvae. Those animals are butterflies in the genus 

Leptotes, but specifically L. cassius (Cassius blue) and 

L. marina (marine blue) use Plumbago (Brown 1990, 

Minno and Minno 1999). How the larvae of those tiny 

blue gems can ingest the scalding compounds with 

immunity is unknown. Yet, when they become adults, 

they can also sip nectar from the flowers. 

Podophyllum 

(From Greek pous, podos, a foot, and phyllon, a leaf; 

Linnaeus modified the name from Catesby’s Anapodophyllum, 

duck foot leaf) 

Podophyllum peltatum. From Britton and Brown 1897. 

Podophyllum peltatum (shield-shaped) 

behen (from Medieval Latin behen, corrupted from 

Arabic bahman [behmen], a kind of root; the 

word appeared in English in Henry Lyte’s 1578 

translation of Dodoens’s Cruydeboek of 1554 as 

‘‘Called ... of herboristes at this day Behen, or 

Been album’’) 

che-sa-ne-pe-sha (it pains the bowels, Osage; also 

called shon’-gthin-dse) 

citron (fruits resembling Citrus medica, among the 

French in 1700, Missouri); citron sauvage (wild 

citron, Citrus medica, Quebec) 

devil’s-apple; hog apple (Iowa); Indian apple; mugapple 

duck’s foot (in use by the 1730s by Catesby); wild 

duckfoot 

fala imisito (fala, crow, im, its, isito, pumpkin, 

Choctaw); fala intanchi (fala, crow,in, its, tanchi, 

corn, Choctaw); falaanosi’ (fala, crow,aanosi’, 

bed, Chickasaw) 

ipecacuana (from ipega’kwai, duck’s penis, or ipekaa-guéne, 

creeping plant causing vomiting, 

Tupí, Carolinas, Catesby 1731 /1732)



kvpotoyv [’kvpotoyv, kvpolóye](kvpoteyetv, something 

to put on the head, Creek) 

[ground, wild] lemon; yellow-berry 

Maiapfel (May apple, German); May-apple 

[American, common, mayapple] (Catesby called 

the herbs May Apple in 1731, although the OED 

1971 says the name dates from Philip Miller in 

1733 as Pomum Maiale, May apple; either way 

Catesby found it in local use in the Carolinas by 

the 1720s); pomme de mai (May apple, Quebec) 

[American, wild] mandrake[-pear] (pear-like fruits, 

compared with Mandragora officinarum, New 

Jersey) 

mäskätámîn utcípa (mäskätá, defecation, mîn, 

berry, utcípa, root, Menomini); maskiíchtew 

[masgichteu] (maashk, defecating, kiich, causes, 

Delaware) 

maypop (a name usually applied to Passiflora, 

Virginia) 

parasols (an allusion to the leaves, Ohio); umbrella 

plant [root] (Virginia) 

podophylle (French) 

Puck’s foot (‘‘Puck,’’ from Old English púca, Old 

Norse, púki, Welsh, pwca, Irish púca, a mischievous 

demon; it is not clear if the word is of 

Teutonic or Celtic origin, but it was in English 

by about A.D. 1000; Middle English the pouke 

was identified with the devil; from the 16th 

century, as Puck, a tricky goblin or sprite; also 

called Robin Goodfellow, Hobgoblin; all three 

were used by Shakespeare in 1590) 

raccoon berry (from ärä’kun, for Procyon lotor, 

Virginia Algonquian; in use by 1884) 

vegetable-calomel (‘‘calomel,’’ from Greek calos, 

beautiful, melos, black or from Ethiopian calos, 

beautiful, melos, black, because white or pale 

bodies rubbed with it become black; mercurous 

chloride [Hg 2Cl2] ormercurius dubius; used as a 

laxative in medicine from 1676) 

vegetable-mercury (the same allusion as ‘‘calomel’’) 

wild jalap (‘‘jalap,’’ from xalli, sand, atl, water, pan, 

upon, Náhuatl, used to identify the city as 

Xalapa and, in this context, Ipomoea purga, by 

1675) 

When I was still a child, I was told that there were 

‘‘male’’ and ‘‘female’’ plants of May apples. They were 

easy to tell apart, because the ‘‘male’’ had a single 

leafstalk, and the ‘‘female’’ had a branched leafstalk 

with a leaf on each branch. Moreover, the ‘‘female’’ 

had flowers in the place where the stalks split into two. 

I was skeptical. I planted some near my home. Each 

rhizome node (joint) bore a single leaf*/which was 

unbranched one year and branched the next. So much 

for male and female plants. 

The first record Linnaeus had of these plants was 

in German physician Christian Mentzel’s (1622 /1701) 

book of 1682, the Pinax, where he called them 

Aconitifolia humilis, flore albo unico campanulato, 

fructu cynosbati (A weak herb with leaves like 

Monk’s-hood, a single, bell-shaped, white flower, a 

fruit like a dog briar). Mark Catesby (1731 /1732) 

called the plants Anapodophyllum canandense (duck 

foot leaf from Canada). Thankfully, Linnaeus shortened 

the name to Podophyllum in his Hortus Cliffortianus 

of 1738. Catesby added that, because the herb 

flowers in May, the local residents in South Carolina 

called it ‘‘May apple.’’ 

Podophyllum has two species (Mabberley 1997). 

Podophyllum peltatum is endemic to the eastern 

United States and ranges from Florida to Quebec 

and Ontario in Canada, and west to Minnesota and 

eastern Texas (Fernald 1950, Correll and Johnston 

1970, Diggs et al. 1999). The other species, P. 

hexandrum, grows from the Himalayas to eastern 

Asia, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, northern India, 

and China (Hsu 1986, Hocking 1997). 

Fernald et al. (1958) noted that the fruits are 

relished by most individuals when fresh, although 

Harvard guru Asa Gray (1810 /1888) was the exception. 

Gray wrote that the fruit was ‘‘mawkish, eaten by 

pigs and boys.’’ Although the taste is ‘‘peculiar,’’ as 

Fernald et al. (1958) described it, the flavor is agreeable. 

Native people in the Americas concurred. At 

least the Cherokee, Delaware, Iroquois, Menomini, 

Meskwaki, Osage, Penobscot, and Ojibwa ate the 

fruits fresh, cooked, or mashed and made into small 

cakes that were dried for future use (Hunter [1823] 

1973, Yanovsky 1936, Vogel 1970, King 1984, Moerman 

1998). As needed, the cakes were soaked in warm 

water, cooked as a sauce, or mixed with corn bread. 

There are accounts of indigenous people committing 

suicide by eating the root of May-apple (Vogel 

1970). Because the roots are purgative, emetic, and 

irritating, that would be an excruciating way to die, 

although Benjamin S. Barton wrote in 1810 that the 

root was ‘‘possessed of some degree of an anodyne, or 

narcotic quality.’’ 

The Cherokee used Podophyllum to treat intestinal 

worms, rheumatism, ulcers, and sores, as a laxative, 

and dropped in the ears ‘‘to restore hearing’’ (Hamel 

and Chiltoskey 1975). The Choctaw treated biliousness 

with the root (Swanton 1931). The Delaware used 

the herb as a laxative and spring tonic (Moerman 

1998). The Iroquois used it as a strong physic, to treat 

boils, as a laxative, and as a poison to soak corn seeds 

in before planting. The Menomini also used it to kill 

insects on cultivated plants (Mahr 1955a). The Mesk-



waki used the root to treat rheumatism, as an emetic, 

and as a physic (King 1984). The Osage used the 

powdered root as a cathartic, gave it as an antidote for 

poison, and used it to ward off fever (Hunter [1823] 

1973). The Penobscot used May-apple to cure warts 

(Vogel 1970). 

Tiny quantities of roots, leaves, or green fruits are 

poisonous, and powdered root and resin can cause 

skin and eye problems. Podophyllum peltatum contains 

more than 15 biologically active compounds, including 

podophyllin, and a bitter resin containing lignins and 

flavonols (Diggs et al. 1999). Podophyllin, concentrated 

in the root, is the drug of choice for treating 

genital warts although it is highly allergenic (Foster 

and Duke 1990). Etoposide, a semisynthetic derivative 

from the roots, is the first-choice drug for treating 

small-cell lung carcinoma and testicular cancer (Foster 

and Duke 1990, Coffey 1993, Hocking 1997, Mabberley 

1997, Swerdlow 2000). Teniposide is used to treat 

brain tumors and childhood leukemia (Swerdlow 

2000). Podophyllum hexandrum has larger rhizomes 

than the American species and contains more resins 

(12%) with about twice the content of podophyllotoxin 

than P. peltatum (Hocking 1997). Podophyllum 

hexandrum also contains podophyllotoxin, desoxypodophyllotoxin, 

isopicropodophyllone, astragalin, hyperin, 

quercetin, and kaempferol (Hsu 1986). 

The major disperser of P. peltatum in Delaware 

forests is the box turtle (Mabberley 1997). Apparently, 

that is why the herbs can get away with ‘‘hiding’’ their 

fruits below the canopy of leaves where birds and 

many other animals have difficulty finding them. 

Polygala: Milkworts 

(From Greek poly, much, gala, milk) 

Milkworts are everywhere in the pine flatwoods in 

late April. Sometimes thousands of plants belonging 

to nine species will be in view on ridges and swales. As 

I look at the plants, I can almost see the Greek 

physician and author Pedanios Dioscorides from the 

Polygala.a.Polygala cruciata.b.Polygala lutea.c.Polygala grandiflora.d.Polygala rugelii. e through k. Polygala nana. e. Habit. 

f and h. Keel, two views. g. Flower. i. Filaments connected to petals. j. Mature seed. k. Pistil. a through d drawn by 

P.N. Honychurch. e through k drawn by Vivian Frazier. From Correll and Correll 1972.



1st century A.D. selecting samples. Bending over, he 

gently snaps off the stems, and thinks that the bitter 

plants will produce polygalon (much milk). They will 

be useful to the farmer who had recently come to him 

for help renewing the flow of milk in his cow. 

Dioscorides tucks the plants gingerly into a small 

bag he has draped over his shoulder and walks on. 

Speakers of different Mediterranean languages 

called these plants their linguistic equivalents of 

milkwort (wort, plant) long before the Dutch herbalist 

Rembert Dodoens published the Latin name in 1554. 

Henry Lyte’s translation of Dodoens’s Dutch text on 

Polygala says that it ‘‘engendreth plentie of milk; 

therefore it is good to be used of nurses that lack 

milk.’’ Others following this idea include Italian 

poligala, Spanish hierba lechera (milk giving herb), 

Portuguese erva leiteira, and French latier (milk giver). 

Gaels also call them lus a’bhainne (milk herbs). In 

spite of these names and beliefs, there is no experimental 

evidence that the plant extracts increase milk 

flow. 

Europeans know the plants by other names. 

Norwegians call them bla˚fjaer (blue-flower). While 

not all their species have blue flowers, they retain the 

basic name and add modifiers, such as bitterbla˚fjaer 

(P. amarella) orstorrbla˚fjaer (storr, big, P. vulgaris). 

In Guernsey Polygala is herbe de paralysie, and it is 

used to treat or prevent paralysis or strokes. Gaelic 

speakers in Scotland call the herb saibann nam bansidh 

(fairy women’s soap). Indeed, many species 

contain saponins (soaplike compounds). The Germans 

call it Kreuzblume (cross-flower). One can see a 

resemblance (with considerable imagination) to a cross 

in the flowers. 

Many of the Florida species have common names 

that reflect their colorful flowers. Bachelor’s buttons, 

the least creative among these, was adopted from 

unrelated European plants (Centaurea cyanus, Asteraceae). 

Sometimes that name is applied to all the 

species, but there are more often modifiers, as in white 

bachelor’s-button (P. balduinii), bog bachelor’s-button 

(P. lutea), dwarf bachelor’s-button (P. nana), and 

yellow bachelor’s-button (P. rugelii). 

Some of the more intriguing common names for 

milkworts are given to P. cruciata (drum-heads) and P. 

pauciflora (gay-wings, bird on the wing, baby’s toes, 

baby’s feet, baby’s slippers, satin flower, Indian pink, 

maywing). However, the most curious names for 

Florida’s P. incarnata are procession-flower or Rogation-flower, 

both of which it shares with European P. 

vulgaris. Herbalist John Gerarde in 1597 explained 

these names by saying that the plants ‘‘flourish in the 

Crosse or Gang weeke, or Rogation weeke; of which 

floures the maidens which use in the countries to walk 

the Procession doe make themselves garlands and 

nosegaies, in English we may call it Crosse-floure, 

Rogation floure, and Milkewort, of their virtues in 

procuring milk in the breasts of nurses.’’ Rogation 

Sunday is the fifth Sunday after Easter, and it is 

followed by Rogation Week when church processions 

(or ‘‘gangs’’), led by a person carrying a cross, bless 

crops. This may be another pagan ritual incorporated 

into the Christian religion, because there is a word in 

Gaelic for the procession*/liodan. 

Milkworts, also known as candyweeds or candyroots 

(because of a licorice taste to the roots of some), 

are small herbs in North America and northern 

Europe, but in drier climates and within the tropics 

they may be shrubs or even trees (Mabberley 1997). 

Some species produce dyes, and one from tropical 

Africa (P. butyracea) yields a fiber. 

Many species around the world are used in 

medicines, although only one in North America has 

received much publicity. That northern species, P. 

seneca (snake-root, Seneca snakeroot), became famous 

as a snakebite remedy when the first Europeans 

arrived in the New World. Although its effectiveness in 

treating snakebite is doubtful, the species became 

popular for treating pleurisy, the most common 

ailment in colonial Virginia (Coffey 1993). Even 

William Byrd (1674 /1744), one of the surveyors of 

the line between North Carolina and Virginia, used it 

to treat gout in a member of his party in early 1728 

(Byrd [1728] 1980). 

Snake-root contains the glucoside senegin (a 

saponin), polygalic acid, resin, methyl salicylate, and 

fatty oils (Hocking 1997). Several of these make the 

plant potentially effective in medicines as an emetic, 

expectorant, cathartic, diuretic, antispasmodic, and 

sweat inducer, to regulate menses, for colds, and 

against croup, pleurisy, rheumatism, heart troubles, 

convulsions, and coughs, and as a poultice against 

swelling. The presence of methyl salicylate also supports 

its use against some of these maladies. This 

chemical is more familiar under the name of ‘‘wintergreen’’ 

and it has long been used in medicine and 

flavorings. Florida’s P. boykinii shares methyl salicylate 

with others, and has been used in Mexico in a cold 

water infusion to correct dizziness (Hocking 1997). 

Similarly, Seminoles told Sheehan in 1919 that it was a 

medicine for treating vertigo (von Reis and Lipp 

1982). 

Pollen of the genus has been found in the pre- 

Columbian deposits at the Glades site of Fort Center 

on the western side of Lake Okeechobee (Hogan 

1978). The Seminoles have different names for P. 

rugelii and related species, but they seem to use each 

one as a generic term for several species. The species 

has had religious significance in Florida for a long 

time, and this relationship is indicated by the Micco-



sukee name sápiyâ:bî or sápiyî (resembling the mythical 

plant ‘‘sápiyi’’) (Sturtevant 1955). Snow and Stans 

(2001) used svpeyv as the Creek name. 

A more detailed explanation of svpeyv is given by 

Martin and Mauldin (2000). They wrote that this is 

the name of ‘‘a plant whose root is used as a charm,’’ 

basing their comment on some notes made by Mary 

R. Haas ca. 1940. For the second meaning, they 

added, ‘‘a charm (once used for hunting, but now used 

to attract a suitor).’’ 

Sturtevant (1955) wrote that the Creeks called 

Polygala, regardless of the species, hi:lamásî (hele, 

medicine, em, its, vse, tea, Creek). He was told 

that they used both P. lutea and P. rugelii, but 

that the former was better. His informants used 

Polygala for ‘‘Sapiyi Sickness’’ (heart palpitations, 

yellow skin, body swelling, shortness of breath), 

‘‘Chronic Sickness,’’ snakebite, birth medicine, and 

sorcery. 

Snow and Stans (2001) added the Creek names 

svpeyv hvlwat (svpeyv, polygala, hvlwv, high, -at, the 

one that is), and svpeyv lopockuce (svpeyv, polygala, 

lopocke, small, uce, small), plus the Mikasuki names 

wootaacheeke em oekekche (properly wootaacheeke em 

alekche, emetic medicine; from wootaach-, make 

vomit, -eeke, thing that, i.e., emetic, em, its, alekche, 

medicine), tofoome chayhe (chayhe, tall, Mikasuki; the 

first word may be cognate with Creek eto-home, bitter 

wood), and shapeye peshkooshka (small polygala). 

Bennett (1997) was told the Mikasuki name eeye 

mashe (eeye, foot, em, its, ashe, tea). 

In the ‘‘Plant Identification Chart for Creek 

Speakers,’’ Snow and Stans (2001) list P. grandiflora, 

P. lutea, and P. rugelii only under svpeyv and 

wootaacheeke em oekekche. There is apparently more 

about identification and use of the genus than 

the simple version given by Sturtevant (1955) indicates. 

Organisms that have uses older than cultural 

memory always have long and complex associations 

with people. 

Snow and Stans (2001) illustrate P. grandiflora in 

their Plate 24, and call it svpeyv, with the English 

names ‘‘small one’’ and ‘‘candy root.’’ Snow wrote, 

‘‘You find this plant in an open place on dry or damp 

land. Get four whole plants with the root attached. 

The thin stem is about a foot tall with small purple 

flowers, and the root is white. You use svpeyv for 

treatment to clean the body and to vomit. It is used in 

‘on the wagon medicine’ as well.’’ In keeping with 

Snow’s comment that svpeyv cleans the body, large 

doses of P. rugelii are reported to act as a strong 

laxative. 

The Choctaw used P. lutea (bog bachelor’s-button, 

candyweed, wild bachelor’s-button), calling it kwonokashaipsa 

[kwonokasha ipsa] (kowaanakaasha, little 

people, impa, eat it), as a poultice to treat swelling 

by infusing dried blossoms in hot water (Bushnell 

1909). Florida’s other species with a recorded use is 

P. polygama. As with several species, it has been used 

to treat coughs. Both probably contain the saponin 

wintergreen. 

John K. Small (1869 /1938), the botanist from 

New York Botanical Garden who explored Florida 

during his winter breaks, was the first to recognize one 

endemic species as distinct. He called that herb P. 

arenicola in 1905. In the 1970s, Robert R. Smith and 

Daniel B. Ward at the University of Florida realized 

that, because of a legal technicality, the plants needed 

a new name. They commemorated this New Yorker’s 

keen observations by dubbing the plants Polygala 

smallii. 

Urbanization in southern Florida has pushed P. 

smallii to the edge of extinction. The species was 

proposed for the Federal Endangered Plant List, and 

it became one of the first from the region to be listed 

in 1985. Because no one knew much about the plants, 

or why they were so restricted, several studies were 

initiated. 

Pamela Krauss, while at Florida Atlantic University, 

discovered by the early 1980s that the species was 

restricted to small sandy spots in rockland pine 

flatwoods in Miami-Dade County. Apparently, the 

Broward County plants were extirpated by then. 

About the same time John Popenoe, then Director of 

Fairchild Tropical Garden, found the species in 

Martin County’s Jonathan Dickinson State Park. In 

the late 1990s George Gann rediscovered the plants in 

Martin and subsequently in nearby Palm Beach and 

St. Lucie Counties. 

Even these northern populations reproduce erratically, 

and studies for the Florida Native Plant 

Society by Christine Lockhart are producing population 

data that will help future management of this 

highly endangered Florida endemic. One of the 

aspects of its biology that is a contributor to its spotty 

distribution is its isolation in ‘‘pockets’’ of sand within 

pinelands. Another of those aspects may be dispersal 

by ants. 

Ant colonies have limited ranges, and that restricts 

where the seeds can be carried. To accomplish their 

dispersal, Polygala seeds have special ‘‘food-bodies’’ 

(elaisomes). Those tiny structures attract these small 

foraging insects. Ants carry the seeds back to their 

nests, eat the food, and then discard the seeds outside. 

The seeds, having been put in a rich garbage heap with 

plenty of open space and reduced competition, germinate 

and provide new colonies. Perhaps our disruption 

of native ants with pesticides and alien introduced ants 

is showing us the ‘‘ripple-effect’’ of disturbing one 

small segment of the web of life.



We humans are incredibly arrogant and egocentric, 

and we tend to think that only big animals 

are important. Still, we can make fun of ourselves, and 

ants. There is a song High Hopes (1959) where, 

although everyone said it could not, an ant carries 

off a rubber-tree plant. So, never underestimate the 

importance of your neighbors. 

Polygonatum 

(From Greek polys, many, gonu, knees, alluding to the 

many joints of the rhizome) 

Polygonatum biflorum. From Britton and Brown 1896. 

frassinella (little ash, Italian 1551) 

Ladder to Heaven (John Parkinson wrote in 1640, 

‘‘Wee in English [call it] Salomon’s Seale most 

usually, but in some countries the peope call it 

Ladder to Heaven, according to the Latine scala 

coeli, which was anciently known to the 

Apotheccaries shoppes, from the forme of the 

stalke of leaves, one being set above another’’) 

poligonia (derived from the Greek polygonaton, 

Spanish 1557) 

Salomans seale (Gerarde [1597] 1975); Solomon’s 

seal (translated from Latin Sigillum solomonis; 

used in English by 1526 in the Grete Herball); 

Salomons segel (Dutch 1549); Salomonssiegel 

(modern German); sceau de Salomon (French 

1549); sigillo di Salome (modern Italian) 

scala caeli (ladder to heaven, Turner said this was 

English in 1548 even though it is Latin) 

Weiswurtz (white herb, German 1542) 

Polygonatum biflorum (two-flowered) 

seal-wort [sealwort] 

[great, King] Solomon’s seal; sceau de Salomon 

(Solomon’s seal, Quebec) 

utistugi’ (Cherokee) 

According to the OED (1971), people in the 

Middle Ages (A.D. 500 /ca. 1500) began calling European 

plants sigillium Solomonis (Solomon’s seal). 

That name was said to be based on an even older 

history, going back to the time of the biblical King 

Solomon. Greek physician Dioscorides (fl. A.D. 40 /80) 

called the plants polygonaton and wrote, ‘‘Spreading 

on the root helps cure wounds. Indeed, it also removes 

and aids facial blotches.’’ Roman doctor Galen (A.D. 

129 /?200) recorded, ‘‘The root of polygonatum is 

spread on wounds. It is with it that they clear 

birthmarks [moles] from the face.’’ In medieval times 

the plants were used to ‘‘seal’’ or ‘‘mend’’ wounds, 

sores, and especially bruises. Fuchs wrote in 1542, 

‘‘Women today still wash and color their faces with 

Solomon’s-seal.’’ (Meyer et al. 1999). 

Fuchs noted in 1542 that the pharmaceutical name 

for the plants in Germany was Sigillium solomonis 

(Meyer et al. 1999). Passage of time led to confusion 

and there arose three versions of why the plants were 

named after Solomon. One of the stories said that 

transverse sections of the rootstocks resembled a seal 

used by the biblical king. Another held that it was not 

the section but the leaf scars that looked like his seal. 

The third view held that it was because the root was 

good ‘‘to seal and close up green wounds’’ (OED 

1971). 

The Cherokee, Menomini, Meskwaki, Ojibwa, and 

Rappahannock used the American plants as medicine 

(King 1984, Moerman 1998). The Cherokee treated 

dysentery, breast diseases, carbuncles and other skin 

problems, leukorrhea, stomach problems, and lung 

diseases with the herbs (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). 

They also considered the root a mild tonic. The 

Menomini used the roots as an analgesic. The 

Menomini and Meskwaki put the root in an incense 

to revive unconscious people. The Ojibwa used the 

root as a physic and cough remedy. The Rappahannock 

treated cuts, bruises, and sores with the roots in a 

salve. 

The Cherokee used the dried roots to make flour 

for bread (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). Young stems 

were also eaten like asparagus. Yanovsky (1936) and 

Fernald et al. (1958) say that several northern 

tribes used them in the same ways. The Ojibwa burned 

the roots as incense before going to bed (Moerman 

1998).



Polygonum 

(Greek poly, many, gonum, knees or bends, in reference 

to the many swollen nodes on the stems) 

arssmerte (for P. hydropiper, by Turner in 1548) 

corriola bastarda (false morning glory, Portuguese) 

glùineach (having large knees, Gaelic) 

Knöterich (knotted, German) 

knotgrass (from the knotted or jointed stem of 

Polygonum aviculare, in English by 1500) 

lus an fhògair (banishment herb, Gaelic for P. 

hydropiper) 

renouée (French) 

Polygonum densiflorum (compactly flowered) 

denseflower knotweed (USA) 

guinea hen bush (Bahamas) 

herbe pou poule (little chicken herb, Guadeloupe, 

Martinique) 

John doctor (Bahamas) 

lechuga (lettuce, Guatemala) 

piment vache (cow pepper, Guadeloupe, Martinique) 

snout smartweed (Texas) 

yerba de hicotea (turtle herb, the jicotea is a 

freshwater turtle, Taino, Puerto Rico) 

Polygonum hydropiperoides (resembling P. hydropiper) 

American water pepper [water-pepper] (USA) 

chillillo (little chile, Valley of Mexico) 

flor de chajutal (hot flower, Guatemala) 

swamp smartweed (Florida) 

tasteless knotweed (a misnomer; the plants are 

spicy when chewed, USA) 

Polygonum punctatum (dotted, meaning the 

tepals) 

canilla de pava (strong turkey, Guatemala) 

chile de perro (dog’s chile, Costa Rica); [chilillo] de 

perro (little [dog’s] chile, Guatemala); chilillo 

rojo (red chile, Veracruz); piment vache (cow 

pepper, Guadeloupe, Martinique) 

curage (cleansing, French, Houma, Louisiana) 

ojig’imin (fisher-berry, Ojibwa) 

roríspwa (korí, chile or Capsicum annuum, Tarahumara, 

Chihuahua) 

[American, dotted, water] smartweed (Florida, 

Texas, Bahamas, Puerto Rico) 

Polygonum. Polygonum densiflorum (left). Polygonum hydropiperoides (right). Both from Institute of Food and Agricultural 

Sciences.



yerba de burro (donkey’s herb, Dominican Republic); 

yerba de caimán (caiman’s herb); yerba de 

hicotea [hycotea, jicotea] (turtle herb, the jicotea 

is a freshwater turtle, Taino, Dominican Republic, 

Puerto Rico) 

Most of Polygonum is referred to as ‘‘smartweed.’’ 

Diggs et al. (1999) cite a comment by Kirkpatrick 

(1992) suggesting that the name was derived from the 

tendency of the sap to ‘‘smart’’ (burn) when it touched 

the skin. However, historical data support a slight 

modification of that view. ‘‘Smartweed’’ was applied 

to P. hydropiper by 1787. In that year, W.H. Marshall, 

writing on the rural economy of Norfolk, said, 

‘‘Smartweed, biting and pale-flowered persicarias; 

arsmart.’’ Indeed, the OED lists ‘‘arsesmart’’ as the 

common name for ‘‘smartweed.’’ So, Kirkpatrick had 

the right idea, but the wrong part of the body. 

Several species have a peppery taste, like P. 

hydropiperoides and its namesake P. hydropiper (water 

pepper). Indeed, Dutch herbalist Rembert Dodoens 

simply called the second species Hydropiper in 1554, 

surely reflecting its use in seasoning food. Fernald 

et al. (1958) noted that application for it and several 

relatives. The practice is problematical because some 

people develop contact dermatitis from the plants 

(Foster and Duke 1990). 

There appear to be no records of people in the 

Americas using P. densiflorum, but Hawaiians use an 

infusion of the plants to purify the blood (Moerman 

1998). Perhaps that species is used like some of the 

others in the New World although there are no records 

to support that. In the Bahamas, the root of P. 

densiflorum is crushed and inhaled to relieve headache 

(Higgs 1969). 

The earliest association of Polygonum with Florida 

people was P. hydropiperoides in pre-Columbian 

Glades coprolites from Fort Center on Lake Okeechobee 

(Hogan 1978). Polygonum hydropiperoides 

contains tannins, rutin (3% in the leaves), quercitin, 

and kaempferol (Hocking 1997). It has been used to 

stop intestinal and uterine hemorrhage, for strangury 

(slow, painful urination), and as a stimulant. In Brazil, 

P. hydropiperoides is considered diuretic, and an 

emmenagogue, and used as a treatment for piles. It is 

used to promote conception in Mexico (Ford 1975, 

Hocking 1997, Vásquez and Jácome 1997). 

Among the Houma, a decoction of P. punctatum 

roots was used to treat pains and swelling in the legs 

and joints (Speck 1941). Farther north, the Ojibwa 

took a decoction of leaves and flowers for stomach 

pain, and the Iroquois made a compound medicine for 

‘‘loss of senses during menses’’ (Moerman 1998). The 

Tarahumara of northwestern Mexico used the plants 

as a fish poison (Pennington 1958). They bundled the 

plants, crushed them, and put them in large baskets, 

which they dipped into water until the water turned 

green. According to Pennington (1958), ‘‘fish rise to 

the surface almost immediately.’’ Tarahumara also 

added young leaves to their corn dish esquiate for a 

spicy flavor. 

In Hispaniola, P. punctatum and other plants in 

the genus are rubefacients when crushed; they are 

stimulant, astringent, diuretic, emmenagogue, anthelmintic, 

and antiarthritic. On that island, the species is 

used against urinary and gallbladder problems, and to 

treat hemorrhoids, intermittent fever, and malignant 

sores (Liogier 1974). Several of the common names 

mention dogs. Those are indications that the herb is 

wild, but perhaps also indicates that the plant has been 

used to treat mange (jiote, fromxiotl, Náhuatl) in dogs 

(Morton 1981). 

Europeans were familiar with Polygonum when 

they arrived in the New World. They had learned that 

the small seeds from weedy species like P. aviculare 

could be harvested and used, at least as a starvation 

diet (Fernald et al. 1958). Indigenous Americans also 

used P. erectum in the same way. Indeed, there is 

evidence they cultivated that species for food (Smith 

1992). More recently, the seeds of at least P. hydropiperoides 

have been promoted as a protein source 

(Boyd 1968, Boyd and McGinty 1981). 

Polyporus 

(The genus was named by E.M. Fries, 1794 /1878, from 

Greek poly, many, and Latin porus, small openings) 

false truffle (USA) 

okipen (earth tuber, Virginia Algonquian) 

turma (truffle, name used by Fontaneda [1575] 

1944) 

When Hernando Descalante Fontaneda was rescued 

from his captivity among the Calusas of southern 

Florida, he returned to Spain and wrote an account of 

his time among those people (Fontaneda [1575] 1944). 

One of the few ‘‘plants’’ he mentioned was a root eaten 

by the Floridians. In speaking of people who lived on 

the laguna de mayaimi (Lake Okeechobee), he wrote, 

‘‘y sobre esta laguna que corre por en medio de la tierra 

dentro tiene muchos pueblos aunque son de treynta i 

quarenta vso. y otros tantos lugares tienen pan de rraises 

ques la comida ordinaria la mar parte del tienpo, aunque 

por caso de la laguna que crese mucho que no alcansan 

estas rraises por estorbo de la mucha Agua y ansi dejan 

de comer Algun tienpo este pan pescado mucho y muy 

bueno, otras Rayses a manera de turmas de las de Aca 

duses.’’



Buckingham Smith translated this as follows: ‘‘On 

this lake, which lies in the midst of the country, are 

many towns, of thirty or forty inhabitants each; and as 

many more places there are. They have bread of roots 

[Smilax], which is their common food the greater part 

of the time; and because of the lake, which rises in 

some seasons so high that the roots cannot be reached 

in consequence of the water, they are for some time 

without eating this bread. Fish is plenty and very 

good. There is another root, like the truffle over here, 

which is sweet.’’ 

In spite of Fontaneda’s comparison of the second 

root to truffles, Smith interpreted the turma as being 

Apios americana. Smith had apparently never been in 

swamps where Apios grows, or he would not have 

selected that species. If the water was too high for their 

common food (Smilax), it was certainly too deep to 

gather Apios. Elsewhere I have made the argument that 

the ‘‘bread’’ noted by Fontaneda was the carpophore 

of Polyporus (Austin 1980). Gerard (1907) found the 

product also being eaten by the Virginia Algonquians. 

Polypremum 

(From Greek polypremnos, many-stemmed) 

Polypremum procumbens. a. Flowering branch. b. Twig with 

flower. c. Flower, from above. d. Flower, longitudinally 

dissected. e. Pistil. f. Floral diagram. g. Fruit within calyx. 

h. Fruit. Drawn by Priscilla Fawcett. From Correll and 

Correll 1982. 

Polypremum procumbens (prostrate or lying on the 

ground, meaning the stems) 

rust-weed 

Polypremum was named by Linnaeus in 1753. The 

genus contains a single species in the warm parts of 

the Americas. Although few disagree that it a distinct 

species, there is contention regarding its familial 

relationships (Cronquist 1981, Mabberley 1997). 

The plant is used as a remedy for metritis (uterus 

inflammation) in El Salvador (Von Reis 1973). 

Polystichum 

(From Greek polys, many, and stichos, rows, alluding 

to the sori of some species being in ranks) 

Polystichum acrostichoides (resembling Acrostichum, 

which see) 

bear’s bed (derived from the Cherokee name); yana 

utseta (the bear lies on it, Cherokee) 

canker-brake (‘‘canker’’ came from Old Northern 

French cancre, and appeared in English by about 

A.D. 1000; the word is cognate with ‘‘cancer’’; 

historically, the disease was a malady of the 

mouth; ‘‘brake’’ is akin to Old Swedish braekne, 

fern) 

Christmas fern 

dagger fern (from the shape of the leaflets) 

fougère à faucilles (sickle fern, Quebec) 

shield fern 

tapasi’ moso’here (flower on [branch grows] rough, 

Catawba; not distinguished from Pleopeltis, 

which see) 

No one had to explain the reason for calling the 

plants ‘‘Christmas fern’’ when I learned it on a college 

course field trip in the early 1960s. Around us the 

woodland was bleak from the winter cold, with bare 

trees, dead and fallen leaves on the ground, and ice 

covering the surface of the creek. Tucked in a hillside 

crevice of rich organic soil was this single green plant. 

From the name, I surmised that people had used this 

evergreen plant in decorations at Christmas time. I 

was correct, but the fern appeared in the literature 

under that name only in 1878. People of North 

America probably began using the name much earlier. 

Polystichum is a genus with four European species 

(Mabberley 1997). While Kartesz (1994) recognized 24 

species and 2 named hybrids in the United States and 

Canada, only 15 were included in the Flora of North 

America (Wagner 1993). 

The German physician Albrecht W. Roth (1757 / 

1834) created the genus Polystichum in 1799 for a



species in his country. In doing that he moved a species 

Linnaeus called Polypodium lonchitis into his new 

genus. That species is now known to range from 

Europe to western North America, with isolated 

localities around the Great Lakes, Newfoundland, 

and Nova Scotia. 

Later, André Michaux discovered the most common 

species in eastern North America in 1803, and they 

were given their modern name in 1834. Unlike some 

ferns, these have a comparatively rich history of uses. 

Hamel and Chiltosky (1975) confirm that the 

Cherokee ate the fiddleheads. We question that 

because neither Hedrick (1919) nor Fernald et al. 

(1958) list the plants. 

The more common application of the plants was as 

medicine. The Cherokee used the plants as an emetic, 

and to treat rheumatism, chills, fever, stomachache, 

bowel problems, and toothache (Hamel and Chiltoskey 

1975). The Iroquois treated cramps, convulsions, 

diarrhea, fever, and rheumatism, used it as a blood 

purifier, and as an emetic for dyspepsia; it was taken 

before and after birth to clean the womb. The Malecite 

and Micmac chewed roots to relieve hoarseness 

(Moerman 1998). 

Pontederia 

(With this name, Linnaeus commemorated Italian 

physician Guilio Pontedera, 1688 /1757, professor at 

Padua and also the prefect of the Botanical Garden of 

Padua from 1719 to 1757) 

Pontederia cordata (heart-shaped, the leaves) 

hicaknâ:blo:cî [hitcakanablotci] (hicakna, feraltaro, 

a:bi, replica, lo:ci, black, Mikasuki; see 

Sagittaria for more on etymology); hikacha nabe 

(hicakna, feral-taro, a:bi, replica, Mikasuki) 

hishi shafuha (hesse, leaf, cofokne, pointed, Creek) 

pickerel [pike]-weed (USA) 

wampee (it is white, Shawnee); wómpí (Massachusetts) 

Linnaeus ([1753] 1957) knew this species from 

publications by several previous authors before he 

studied the living plants at the Hortus Cliffortianus.He 

knew only one, but there are now five American 

species in Pontederia (Mabberley 1997). 

Although Sturtevant (1955) was told this herb was 

useless, seeds may be eaten directly from the plant, 

boiled as cereal, or dried for future use (Fernald et al. 

1958). Dried seeds were ground and made into flour 

for making bread (Morton 1968b). 

Farther north, the Malechite, Micmac, and Montagnais 

people used the plants for medicine. The 

Pontederia cordata. a. Habit. b. Flower. c. Revolute-coiled 

perianth after flowering. Drawn by Vivian Frazier. From 

Correll and Correll 1972. 

Malechite of New Brunswick and Micmac of Nova 

Scotia used Pontederia as a contraceptive (Moerman 

1998). The Montagnais of eastern Quebec and Labrador 

made a treatment for ‘‘illness in general’’ from 

the herbs. 

Populus 

(Classical Latin name for the genus, maybe referring 

to people; or perhaps from Greek paipaloo, shutter, or 

paipapalloomai, tremble, vibrate) 

Populus deltoides. From Sargent 1905.



álamo (based on ala, wing, in both Spanish and 

Portuguese; presumably from a resemblance of 

the fluttering leaves to wings on birds) 

amocholhe (Delaware) 

crintheann (trembling, Gaelic) 

eadha (Gaelic) 

poplar (from Latin populus, spelled ‘‘popler’’ by 

Turner [1548] 1965); chopo (from Latin populus, 

Spanish); choupo (Portuguese); Pappel (German); 

pappel [popel] (Dutch); peuple (French); 

pioppo (Italian); poppel (Norwegian, Swedish) 

squejóna (Onondaga) 

Populus deltoides (deltoid or triangular, from the 

outline of the leaf) 

álamo (cottonwood, Texas); alamo cottonwood (a 

redundant name) 

ashumbala [shumbala] (Choctaw); hashoomala [hasho’mala, 

hashoomala’, ashomala, ashoomala, 

ashoomala’] (questionably from hasha, leaf, im, 

its, ala /?, Chickasaw) 

ba’-k’a hi (a sacred tree, used in rites, Osage); chan 

ya’hu (chan, tree, ya’hu, peel off, in reference to 

their use of the bark as food for horses, Dakota); 

maa zhon (maa, cotton, zhon, tree, Omaha- 

Ponca); wága chan (wága, take off, chan, tree, 

Dakota) 

[eastern, southern, yellow] cottonwood (‘‘cotton,’’ 

originally the wool surrounding the seeds of 

Gossypium, brought into English about A.D. 1300 

from French coton, which in turn came from 

Arabic al-qoton, with the deletion of the article. 

Lewis and Clark called the trees ‘‘Cotton Timber’’ 

at their winter quarters with the Mandan in 

1804. Although the OED 1971 says that ‘‘cotton’’ 

was combined with ‘‘wood’’ about 1823 to 

indicate the cottony fluff around the seeds of 

these trees, ‘‘cottonwood’’ was also used in the 

Lewis and Clark journal of 1804.) 

ete hesha kaklahashe (noisy leaf tree; from ete, tree, 

hissi, leaf, chashahachi, rattle, Choctaw) 

hecélwv [hecelwv] (‘‘poplar,’’ Muskogee; apparently 

not cognate with Creek tvɬ tahkv) 

itti’ tohbi’ (itti’, tree, tohbi’, white, Chickasaw) 

laird (from lier, to bind, related to Latin ligare; 

some books specifically mention fascicles or 

bundles, perhaps of wood, Quebec) 

natakaaru (Pawnee) 

peuplier (from Old French peuple, still in use by 

some country people, from Latin populus, dated 

ca. 1170, Quebec) 

[Carolina-, necklace-, water-] poplar 

pû’titu kayudi’ (Ofo) 

tai [tay] (Atakapa) 

tvɬ tahkv [tarrahkv, tartahkv, tvrtakhv, taɬ tahkv, 

taɬ tv’hkv, taɬɬahkv] (Creek); taɬ tahká [taɬ ahká] 

(Koasati) 

ya-hee-hwai [ä’hi’ñ, ä-heeñ] (ä-heeñ, principal, 

hwai, tree, Kiowa) 

Populus heterophylla (variable leaves) 

[black, swamp] cottonwood 

downy poplar 

According to Greek legend, Hercules was wearing 

a crown of poplar twigs when he returned from Hades 

after vanquishing Cerberus, the guardian hell-hound 

(Baumann 1993). The Greek tree forming his crown 

was the white poplar (Populus alba), and the twocolored 

leaves symbolized respect for the Chthonian 

deities. The dark side of the leaf represented the 

Underworld, and the light side the living. This tree 

became the arbor populi (tree of the people) to the 

Romans, and it was used to decorate public places 

such as the Piazza Poppolo in Rome (Hocking 1997). 

Just how much that Greek association with the 

Underworld affected different cultures is partly indicated 

by the dominance of their word in languages 

throughout Western Europe. The species is now 

cultivated as far north as Norway and Sweden where 

it is known as sølvpoppel (silver poplar). 

In a parallel view, people of the Missouri River 

region also held the cottonwood as sacred but surely 

for different reasons. The Sacred Pole of the Omaha 

was made from cottonwood, and the bark was used as 

fuel for roasting the clays to make paints for heraldic 

and symbolic paintings on their bodies (Gilmore 

1919). 

Many people throughout the range of Populus in 

North America have eaten the inner bark (Moerman 

1998). The Cheyenne, Blackfoot, and Dakota ate the 

inner bark and sap, particularly in the spring (Gilmore 

1919, Moerman 1998). Other people eating various 

parts of P. deltoides include the Coeur d’Alene, 

Flathead, Kutenai, Montana, Ojibwa, Omaha, Pawnee, 

Pima, and Ponca (King 1984, Moerman 1998). In 

the southwestern United States, many people ate P. 

deltoides ssp. wislizeni (Moerman 1998). 

At least four dye colors were obtained from P. 

deltoides. The Cheyenne used the buds to make green, 

brown, and red dyes, although the methods are not 

given (Moerman 1998). Missouri River people also 

used the buds to make yellow dyes (Gilmore 1919). 

Tull (1999) indicates that yellow may be obtained with 

alum, tin, or chrome as mordants. Green results from 

copper or iron mordants. 

Wood from Populus was an important resource 

throughout its range. Swanton (1946) found the



southeastern tribes making their largest canoes of 

poplar. Southeastern people also used the wood to 

make stools, doors of houses, and fire sticks. Populus 

deltoides wood more recently has been used for paper 

pulp, cases and crates, tubs and pails, excelsior, veneer 

for plywood, musical instruments, dairy and poultry 

supplies, laundry appliances, and fuel (Vines 1977). 

There are numerous records of ‘‘poplar’’ being 

used among indigenous people for a variety of medical 

treatments. Many of those references are impossible to 

pin to a species. Probably Duke et al. (2002) have made 

the best choice by listing them all under the name 

‘‘poplar’’ (Populus spp.). Caution is advised, however, 

because reports of ‘‘popular’’ include both Liriodendron 

and Nyssa. Since the Populus species all contain 

salicin, it seems likely that they were used similarly in 

medicines. 

The Populus deltoides was used by several southeastern 

tribes and by some in the northeast. The 

Catawba used an infusion of the bark, along with wild 

cherry and dogwood to treat expectant mothers (Vogel 

1970). The Chickasaw boiled cottonwood and willow 

roots to make a drink to treat dysentery and fever 

(Swanton 1928a). The Choctaw boiled leaves and bark 

to treat wounds and made a combination of stems, 

leaves, and bark to cure snakebite (Bushnell 1909). 

The Creeks used a decoction of cottonwood to treat 

sprains and fractures and a decoction of roots as a 

remedy for dropsy (Swanton 1928a, Taylor 1940). The 

Delaware combined cottonwood with black haw and 

wild plum bark to make a woman’s medicine (Moerman 

1998). The Iroquois made a vermifuge of the 

plants (Hocking 1997). The Ojibwa used the cottonwood 

in two distinct ways. Buds were stewed with bear 

fat and used to treat earache, while the cotton from 

fruits was used as a absorbent on open sores (Vogel 

1970). 

Porcher (1863) wrote of P. heterophylla, ‘‘Upon 

examining the excrescences caused by an insect in 

large numbers on the leaves of the cotton-wood tree 

... I find them possessed of great bitterness, and 

suggest an examination into their tonic properties.’’ 

No other indication has been found of others following 

this lead. However, Porcher (1863) recommended 

using P. deltoides extract as a substitute for quinine in 

treating what was called at the time as ‘‘swamp fever,’’ 

now known as malaria (Hocking 1997). 

Early in its history another North American 

Populus became confused with tropical Bursera. 

Because of that confusion, P. balsamifera became 

known as tacamahaca (Vogel 1970, Bremness 1994). 

That Aztec name was originally applied to Bursera 

(see Bursera: Gumbo Limbo), but the literature on 

common names now largely associates it with Populus. 

In another oddity, the European P. alba became 

official in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia between 1895 and 

1936 as a source of salicin, but native North American 

species were never listed (Vogel 1970). To fill that gap, 

Eclectic physicians recommended several native Populus 

(Culbreth 1910, Felter 1922). 

Prenanthes 

(From Greek prenes, drooping, and anthe, flower) 

Prenanthes serpentaria. From Britton and Brown 1898. 

Hasenlattiach (hare’s lettuce, German) 

lattuga montana (mountain lettuce, Italian) 

prenanthé (French) 

Prenanthes serpentaria (old name for various 

plants used to treat snakebite) 

cancer weed 

[white] canker weed [cankerweed, canker-root] 

(‘‘canker’’ came from Old Northern French 

cancre, and appeared in English by about A.D. 

1000; the word is cognate with ‘‘cancer’’; historically, 

the disease was a malady of the mouth, 

perhaps a reference to thrush or Candida infection) 

dado’cabodji’bik (milk root, for P. alba, Ojibwa) 

DeWitt snakeroot; rattlesnake root; snake-gentian; 

snakeweed (names given alluding to use against 

snakebite) 

drop flower (it is not clear if this English name 

gave rise to the genus created by Linnaeus in 

1753, or vice versa) 

earthgall [gall of the earth] (used since about A.D. 

1000 for Centaurium pulchellum, alluding to it 

being bitter like bile; later applied to Prenanthes)



laitue blanc (white lettuce, Quebec); weisser Lattich 

(white lettuce, German); white lettuce 

[ivy, joy] leaf 

lion’s foot (used for a Helleborus, Ranunculaceae, 

by Turner in 1538; and for Alchemilla, Rosaceae, 

by 1610; later applied to other plants); ped d’leon 

(lion’s foot, French) 

milkweed (usually applied to Asclepias, but also to 

others with white latex) 

Two of the Prenanthes that Linnaeus ([1753] 1957) 

knew were from the New World, and the other five 

were from Europe and Siberia. However, it was not 

until 1814, when Frederick Pursh published his Flora 

America Septentrionale, that P. serpentaria was added 

to the list. Now there are 30 species known from the 

north temperate region, and the European plants have 

been reduced to a single species (Mabberley 1997). 

This was one of the many plants used by the 

indigenous tribes to relieve the bites of snakes and 

other venomous animals. There are many more 

poisonous snake species in eastern North America 

than in Europe, and the settlers were quick to rely on 

the local remedies for these problems. Accounts are 

common in the literature of the time of a person being 

bitten by a reptile and recovering after chewing, 

ingesting, and/or applying a poultice of some plant. 

Writing in 1728, William Byrd gave a typical 

account of the time. Not only were his observations 

dubious, but he also clearly had no regard for the 

safety of his dogs. He wrote: ‘‘The rattle-snake, has an 

utter antipathy to this plant, insomuch that if you 

smear your hands with they juice of it, you may handle 

the viper safely. Thus much I can say of my own 

experience, that once in July, when these snakes are in 

their greatest vigor, I besmear’d a dog’s nose with the 

powder of this root, and made him trample on a large 

snake several times, which, however, was so far from 

biting him, that it perfectly sicken’d at the dog’s 

approach, and turn’d its head away from him with 

the utmost aversion’’ (Coffey 1993). 

James Adair listed several snakebite plants, including 

P. serpentaria, in a book about his trading 

among the Creeks along the Mississippi River in 1775. 

Prince Maximilian listed as a remedy a plant called 

‘‘lion’s heart’’ among the Delaware in the 1830s (Vogel 

1970). 

In the eastern states, several tribes used Prenanthes 

as a snakebite remedy. At least P. alba, P. altissima, P. 

aspera, P. serpentaria, andP. trifoliata were utilized 

(Moreman 1998). These all went under the name 

‘‘snakeroot,’’ ‘‘lion’s foot,’’ or ‘‘gall of the earth.’’ 

Northeastern tribes certainly applied P. alba, and 

there are records of both the Iroquois and Ojibwa 

using it on snakebite (Densmore 1928, Moerman 

1998). The Iroquois also used P. altissima and P. 

trifoliata (Moerman 1998). 

However, indigenous people did not confine the 

plant to those uses. In the south, the Choctaw used P. 

virgata (reported as Nabalus asper, and P. aspera, 

corrected by Joanne Birch) as an anodyne and as a 

diuretic, and for other problems (Campbell 1951). The 

Cherokee used both P. serpentaria and P. trifoliata 

roots in stomachache medicine (Hamel and Chiltoskey 

1975). The Cherokee also cooked and ate the leaves of 

these two herbs. 

Porcher (1863) did not say much about Prenanthes. 

He wrote simply of P. alba, ‘‘The root is excessively 

bitter; it is used in domestic practice in this state as a 

tonic. I would invite further examination.’’ 

Millspaugh (1892), on the other hand, had a lot to 

say about the plants. First, he complained, ‘‘This 

botanically difficult species ... includes in itself what 

were once considered to be 17 distinct species and 

varieties; and affords an interminable field of work for 

a botanist of Rafinesquian tendencies.’’ He continued, 

‘‘As Gall of the Earth, it has been known in domestic 

practice from an early date, and is said to be an 

excellent antidote to the bite of the rattlesnake and 

other poisonous serpents*/one who searches through 

the domestic literature of medicinal plants, wonders 

why the bite of snakes ever has a chance to prove 

fatal.’’ He recommended the species for relieving 

dysentery, anemic diarrhea, and as a stomach tonic. 

Hocking (1997) added that the plants were used as a 

bitter tonic, an astringent, and ‘‘to relieve hypertension 

in Negroes.’’ The genus is not listed by Bremness 

(1994), Bown (1995), or Duke et al. (2002). 

Millspaugh (1892) recorded that chemical studies 

of the plants had found resins, tannins, gums, and 

waxes. Hocking (1997) agreed that they contained 

tannin, and that it was known as Herba Nabali 

serpentariae among the homeopathics. The Latin 

pharmaceutical name was based on the old generic 

name Nabalus. There were no papers listed on the 

genus in either PubMed or AGRICOLA in January 

2003. 

Prunus 

(Classical Latin name of the plum, P. /domestica; 

Greek proumne) 

Prunus americana (of America) 

ciruela (Mexico) 

kande (kande-hi, plum tree, Omaha-Ponca); kante 

(kante-hu, plum tree, Dakota); kon’-dse xo-dse 

(kon’-dse, plum, xo-dse, gray, Osage); kantsh 

(kantsh-hu, plum tree, Winnebago)



Prunus. Prunus americana (top left). Prunus angustifolia (upper middle left). Prunus caroliniana (lower middle left). Prunus 

serotina (bottom left). All from Sargent 1905. Prunus myrtifolia (right). a. Flowering branch. b. Lateral spike at early stage of 

expansion. c. Staminate flower, the pistillode longitudinally dissected. d. Perfect flower, front-side view. e. Perfect flower, 

longitudinally dissected. f. Floral diagram of perfect flower. g. Fruits. Drawn by Priscilla Fawcett. From Correll and Correll 

1982. 

kwanunsdiʔi (Cherokee) 

niwaharit (niwaharit-nahaapi, plum tree, Pawnee) 

pank-ai-da-lo (sour plum, Kiowa) 

[August, Canadian, goose, hog, horse, native, river, 

thorn, wild] plum (‘‘plum’’ from Old English 

plumé, which in turn was derived from Latin 

prunus); Potawatomi plum (a tribe in Michigan; 

the plum was introduced into Utah); red and 

yellow plumb (used by Williams [1837] 1962); 

[American, red, wild yellow] plum (Asa Gray 

1875 distinguished red and yellow plums) 

poskam (Strachey in [1612] 1953 wrote poskamatk; 

Siebert 1975 found cognates among several other 

Algonquian languages, some of which were 

transfers after contact with the imported European 

fruits; the Shawnee say poʔkama for the 

peach, Prunus persica, and used the diminutive 

poʔkama Ta for plum; the Ojibwa say pokkitons, 

but apply it to the pear, Pyrus communis); 

bu’gesana’tig (Ojibwa) 

pvkánvhe (Muskogee) 

sipuamantícan (Delaware) 

sloe (plum, from Old English sláh, used in English 

since about A.D. 725, related to Frisian slé, Dutch 

slee, German Schlehe) 

tischo (Onondaga) 

turi·’tcine’ (fruit bitter, Catawba) 

Prunus angustifolia (narrow-leaved) 

akônt atcû’ti (akônti, peach, atcû’ti, red, Ofo) 

Chickasaw [Chicasa] plum (‘‘Chickasaw,’’ the 

name of a Muskogean tribe, appeared in English 

by 1674; used for the plum by André Michaux 

1802) 

contai (Quapaw) 

eco empvkanv (eco, deer, em, its, pvkanv, peach, 

Creek) 

icho intakkosáwwa [ichintakkosàwwa] (icho, deer, 

im-, its, takkola, plum, sawwa, small, Alabama); 

isi intakkonlushi [isi takkonlushi] (isi, deer, in, its, 

takalo, peach, oshi, small, Choctaw); takkolsalbá 

(takkolá, peach, salbá, maybe cognate with 

Alabama sawwa, small, Koasati)



iti alikchi [italikchi] (iti, tree, alikchi, doctor, 

Choctaw; an axiom of the tribe was never to 

kill a cherry tree; considered the best medicine 

for young girls) 

kwah noon:’ sdeʔee (Cherokee) 

mountain cherry 

[sand, sandhill, Indian] plum 

stiiñki (Biloxi) 

takkonlushi [takkon lushi] (takkon, originally 

plum, now peach, oshi, small, Choctaw); takkoosàwwa 

[takkosàwwa, takkosáwwa] (takkola, 

plum, sawwa, small, Chickasaw); takoloshi’ 

(Chickasaw); takoloshi’ imilhlha’ (takoloshi’, 

plum, imiɬɬa’, wild, Chickasaw) 

Prunus caroliniana (from Carolina) 

[American, Carolina] cherry or laurel-cherry [laurelcherry] 

(‘‘laurel-cherry’’ was in use by 1789; the 

modifiers distinguish the New World from the 

Asian species) 

cherry laurel (in English by 1664; the namesake, 

Prunus laurocerasus was introduced into Europe 

in 1576 from Turkey, according to Linnaeus; Old 

World plants were used to make ‘‘cherry-laurel 

water,’’ a watery solution of the volatile oils from 

the plant containing prussic acid) 

ittokchakkosi (itto, tree, okchakko, blue-green, osi, 

small, Alabama) 

mock-[wild-]orange 

wild-peach 

Prunus geniculata (referring to nodes, sometimes 

resembling knees, the stems being zigzag) 

[Harper’s, scrub] plum 

Prunus myrtifolia (with leaves like myrtle, Myrtus 

communis) 

almendrillo [almendrito] (little almond, Cuba, 

Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico); almendro 

(almond, Venezuela); amandier à petite feuilles 

(little-leaf almond, Haiti); amandier des bois 

(Martinique) 

ants-wood (Jamaica) 

cassada-wood [wild cassada, wild cassava] (comparing 

it with ‘‘cassava’’ [Manihot], Jamaica) 

cuajaní hembra (female cuajaní; a river in the 

Dominican Republic has the Taino name cuaja, 

Cuba); cuajanincillo (little cuajaní, Cuba) 

durasnero de monte (wild peach, Brazil) 

la mandit [le mongier] (the almond, Haiti) 

marmelo bravo [do matto] (wild quince, Cydonia 

oblonga, Brazil); membrillo [membrillito] (little 

quince, Dominican Republic) 

myrtle laurel-cherry (USA); West Indian [laurel] 

cherry (USA, Bahamas) 

noyou (almond, Guadeloupe; a name also applied 

to Merremia dissecta) 

palo de hacha (ax tree, Dominican Republic) 

virarú (maybe from virar, leaning to one side, 

Brazil) 

warimiaballi (warimia, isTapirira guianensis in the 

Anacardiaceae, balli, resembling, Arawak, Suriname) 

yaya boba (crazy yaya, the word yaya is surely 

Taino as it appears in several plant names, 

Dominican Republic) 

Prunus serotina (late-ripening) 

aguasique (Pima Bajo) 

capulín [capolín, capulí] (Náhuatl, Texas, Sonora 

to Veracruz and Chiapas, Guatemala) 

cereso [cerezo, cereza] (Chiapas, Guatemala); 

cerises d’atomne (autumn cherry, Quebec) 

[cabinet, mountain, rum, southwestern, whisky, 

wild] cherry or black-cherry [blackcherry] 

(‘‘cherry’’ was derived in the 1300s from Old 

English ceris, which was taken from Latin 

cerasus; cognates are Spanish cereza, Portuguese 

cereja, French cerise, German Kirsche, and 

Dutch kers; Greek kerasos is related) 

[southwestern] choke-cherry [chokecherry, choke 

cherry] (a name applied to both P. serotina and 

P. virginiana, dating from about 1796 in the 

northeastern United States; the name refers to 

the astringent fruits) 

detsé [detzé] (Otomí, Veracruz) 

gthon’ pa hi [gthon-pa hiu] (Osage) 

ikwe’mic (Ojibwa); okwe’mînûn (grubworm berry, 

Potawatomi) 

ittó fotóhka (ittó, tree, fotóhka, smells decayed, 

Koasati); okòoɬ a [okwaaɬ a, okwáoɬ a, okooɬ a] 

(Alabama) 

ittobaksa (itto, tree, baksa, thread, twine, Alabama; 

cf. also Tilia); ittotalikcho (itto, tree, 

taɬkcho, rope, Alabama; identity doubtful) 

jeco (Guarijío, Sonora) 

kona ha’go (konawv, bead, hayetv, to make, Creek) 

taunday (Zapotec, Oaxaca) 

’to fvmpe [tofv’mpe, tofompa, tofámbi] (eto, tree, 

fvmpe, cherry, Creek, Muskogee; cf. Simmons 

[1822] 1973) 

tup (Quiché, Guatemala) 

usábi (Tarahumara, Chihuahua) 

xeugua (Michoacán)



Prunus umbellata (inflorescence branches resembling 

the ribs of an umbrella) 

[flatwoods, hog] plum 

[black] sloe [of the South] 

Like other youngsters in western Kentucky, I grew 

up nibbling the fruits of Prunus serotina. Although 

they are somewhat bitter, to a boy they were pleasant, 

and helped slake thirst during a hard day spent 

exploring the woods and fields. The more sinister 

side of the plants was completely unknown until a 

neighbor’s horse decided to sample a wilted branch. 

Although I was not yet a teenager, the vivid image of 

that dying animal is still burned in my memory. Later, 

I learned that it was the release of hydrocyanic or 

prussic acid (cyanide) that killed the poor creature. My 

friends and I became more cautious of the fruits, even 

though our reading about them revealed that they 

were a significant food to indigenous Americans, and 

the bark was one of their important medicines. 

Many years later I tried the fruits of capulín in 

Lima, Peru. All my agriculturist colleagues at the 

Centro Internacional de la Papa there could tell me was 

that the fruit was an important food in their country, 

and that it was una ceresa peruana (a Peruvian 

cherry). Eventually, I learned that the drupes I ate 

were simply a larger-fruited subspecies of what had 

been a part of my childhood diet. 

Some 17 of the more than 200 species of Prunus 

grow in Europe (Mabberley 1997). Thus, Europeans 

brought a variety of common names into the languages 

they introduced into the New World. As an 

example, some names of Old World Prunus in Spanish 

are albaricoque (for P. armeniaca, the apricot), cerezo 

de monte (for P. avium, the wild-cherry), ciruelo (for 

P. /domestica, the plum), almendro (for P. dulcis, the 

almond), and melocoton (for P. persica, the peach). A 

similar list could be given for other European 

languages. 

When explorers and immigrants arrived in the 

New World, they found indigenous people using a 

number of native species. Seven of those grow in 

Florida; four native species are called ‘‘plums’’ and 

three are ‘‘cherries.’’ 

Originally, the name ‘‘plum’’ meant only P. /domestica 

and dates in English to about A.D. 700. That 

word was derived from Old Low German pluma, 

which came from Latin prunus. The same Latin word 

or its alternate declension prunum also gave us the 

English word ‘‘prune’’ about A.D. 1345, and its cognate 

prugna in Italian. In the 1700s and 1800s, some 

considered plums to be genus Cerasus, while cherries 

were Padus. However, even that nomenclature is 

confused because the Greeks used the word kerasos 

for the Old World bird-cherry Prunus avium. Theo- 

phrastus (372 /287 B.C.) used Padus (from Greek 

pados or pedos) for a cherry whose timber was used 

for axles. 

According to historic usage, plums are usually 

larger than cherries, have a bloom or whitish wax on 

the skin, a somewhat flat pointed stone, and sweet 

pulp (OED 1971, Davidson 1999). Traditionally, a 

‘‘cherry’’ has smaller fruits, no bloom on the skin, a 

rounded stone, and the pulp may be sweet, sour, or 

even bitter. The basis of the concept for ‘‘cherry’’ is 

P. avium or P. cerasus. However, in practice, usage 

breaks down, and P. angustifolia is called both a plum 

and a cherry. Prunus angustifolia, P. americana, P. 

geniculata, and P. umbellata are ‘‘plums’’; alternately, 

P. caroliniana, P. myrtifolia, and P. serotina are 

‘‘cherries.’’ 

Although Cortez’s conquistadores had eaten Prunus 

in Mexico in 1519, it was the mid-1700s before the 

Florida species were named. Linnaeus knew only P. 

virginiana when he published Species Plantarum in 

1753, and it had been discussed by Leonard Plukenet 

in 1696, Mark Catesby in 1731 /1732, and J.F. 

Gronovius in 1739 /1743. 

However, Prunus was first recorded in what today 

is the United States by the de Soto expedition. The 

Spanish found the plants near what is now New 

Madrid, Missouri, in 1540 or 1541, and noted that 

the Chickasaw were using them for food (Hedrick 

1919). Those plums were surely what Varner and 

Varner translated as ‘‘dried fruit’’ from Garcilasco De 

La Vega ([1605] 1962). André Michaux tried to 

commemorate that important association between 

that tribe and the fruits by calling the trees P. chicasa 

in 1802, but Humphery Marshall had already named 

them P. angustifolia in 1785. Not only did the people 

along the Mississippi eat the fruits, the Ozark Bluff- 

Dwellers of Arkansas used the seeds to make beads 

(Gilmore 1931). 

Prunus angustifolia grows from Florida through 

the eastern two thirds of Texas, and north to Missouri, 

Kentucky, and east to New Jersey and Maryland. 

Fernald (1950) said that it occurred elsewhere, ‘‘as a 

relic of cultivation.’’ Bartram ([1791] 1958) never saw 

them in the wild but always in deserted Creek villages. 

He speculated, ‘‘I suppose it to have been brought 

from the S.W. beyond the Mississippi, by the Chicasaws.’’ 

Maybe that comment is why Harrar and Harrar 

(1946) and Little (1979) thought that the original 

range of P. angustifolia might have been central Texas 

and Oklahoma, but that the trees were early and 

widely spread by indigenous tribes. 

The fruits were favored by the Chickasaws as 

noted by the common name. Diggs et al. (1999) record 

that ‘‘Native Americans’’ dried fruits on hot rocks so 

they could be stored for future use. Otherwise, Moer-



man (1998) listed only the Comanche as using the 

fruits as food, both fresh and dried. Yanovsky (1936) 

and Hudson (1976) wrote that all southeastern tribes 

ate plums of all kinds. 

Prunus americana ranges from Florida to northern 

Arizona and New Mexico, north to Utah and Wyoming, 

and east through Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, 

Minnesota, New York, southern Ontario, Saskatchewan, 

and Manitoba (Fernald 1950, Kearney and 

Peebles 1951). Little (1979) said the American plum 

grows in the mountains of northern Mexico, but that 

appears to be a confusion with P. mexicana (Standley 

1920 /1926). 

Fruits of P. americana were used as food by at least 

the Apache, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Creeks, Crow, 

Dakota, Iroquois, Isleta, Kiowa, Meskwaki, Ojibwa, 

Omaha, Osage, Pawnee, Ponca, and Winnebago 

(Gilmore 1919, Hunter [1823] 1973, Densmore 1928, 

Yanovsky 1936, Sturtevant 1955, Moerman 1998). 

Bundles of the flexible twigs were used as brooms 

throughout the Missouri River region, and the Omaha 

planted their beans, corn, and squash when kande 

came into bloom (Gilmore 1919). Isleta, Navajo, and 

Ojibwa made dyes from the bark, producing yellow or 

red, depending on the other plants mixed and 

mordants (Moerman 1998). 

Several tribes used P. americana in medicine 

(Moerman 1998). The Cherokee made a cough syrup 

of the bark, and an infusion for kidney and bladder 

problems (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). The Cheyenne 

applied the mashed fruits to mouth diseases, and 

the Meskwaki used the root bark. The Mohegan made 

an infusion of twigs to treat asthma. The Omaha 

boiled root bark and applied it to skin abrasions 

(Gilmore 1919). The Ojibwa made a decoction of the 

roots for intestinal worms and put a decoction of the 

bark on cuts and wounds as a disinfectant (Densmore 

1928); they also used the rootlets in a remedy for 

diarrhea. The Rappahannock used the red plum in an 

undisclosed medicine. 

The last southeastern plum to be named was P. 

geniculata. Roland M. Harper (1878 /1966) described 

that species from Lake County in 1911, and it is so 

rare that it has been considered federally endangered 

since 1987 (Ward 1979, Coile 2000, Chafin 2001). 

Little (1979) did not even discuss the name. This small 

plum has fruits to about 2 cm wide and grows in the 

heart of what was Timucua territory before the arrival 

of the Europeans. 

Moerman (1998) does not list P. myrtifolia as used 

by native people, and with its limited distribution in 

Miami-Dade County, that is not surprising. Like other 

species in the genus, this one contains hydrocyanic 

glycosides. Bark, leaves, and twigs are used fresh for 

asthma and cough in Cuba (Roig 1945). In Hispaniola 

and Puerto Rico the trunks are used for electric line 

posts, in rural construction, and in cabinetwork 

(Liogier 1974, Little et al. 1974). The bark has a 

strong smell of almonds and is used to clean false teeth 

(Liogier 1974). 

Stephen Elliott named P. umbellata, called the 

‘‘sloe of the South’’ because of its black fruits. At the 

time he named the plum, Elliott (1821) recorded that 

people were using the fruits in preserves. When they 

are available, they are preferred because they are 

unusually rich in pectin (Harrar and Harrar 1946). I 

found no records that they were used as a substitute 

for the European sloe (P. spinosa), but it would be a 

safe bet that they were. 

The laurel-cherry (P. caroliniana) has the second 

most restricted range of the species, growing on the 

coastal plain from southeastern North Carolina to 

central Florida, west to eastern Texas (Little 1979; 

Diggs et al. 1999). Alabama people boiled the inner 

bark to make a red dye used to color split cane woven 

into baskets. Porcher (1863) was enthusiastic about 

these plants during the Civil War but largely as an 

ornamental. He wrote: ‘‘This tree, the flowers of which 

are much frequented by bees, grows abundantly on the 

sea-coast of our states, and is certainly one of the most 

beautiful and manageable evergreens that we possess. 

It can be cut into any shape, and is of a most attractive 

green color. It forms an impervious hedge, and grows 

rapidly.’’ About its potential as medicine, Porcher 

continued: ‘‘The black, oval berries contain an abundance 

of Prussic acid, as does the whole tree; but I do 

not know of any use to which it is applied. Dr. 

Thompson has found great use from Prussic acid, 

largely diluted, as a local application in impetigo.’’ 

Hocking (1997) added that the leaves and bark 

contain prulaurasin, which hydrolyzes to racemic 

mandelonitrile and glucose and releases hydrogen 

cyanide. As with all members of the genus, laurelcherry 

may be fatal to stock if browsed in quantity 

(Harrar and Harrar 1946). 

Wild black-cherry (P. serotina) grows from Florida 

to Texas and southern Arizona, south through Mexico 

(Baja California Sur, Sonora east to Tamaulipas, 

south to Oaxaca and Chiapas), Guatemala, and north 

to North Dakota and Minnesota, Nova Scotia, New 

Brunswick, southern Quebec, and southern Ontario 

(Fernald 1950, Little 1979). The Mexican and tropical 

American plants are usually segregated into P. serotina 

ssp. capuli (Felger et al. 2001), formerly recognized 

as a distinct species. Fruits from this subspecies 

have long been made into alcoholic and non-alcoholic 

drinks, and they are eaten fresh and preserved 

throughout the Americas (Felger et al. 2001). 

The cherry now called ssp. capuli was first noted in 

Mexico by Hernándo Cortez’s men in 1519 when the



fruits were an important food for Spanish soldiers 

during the siege of Mexico City (Standley and Steyermark 

1946). Francisco Ximémez said in 1615 that the 

fruits ‘‘no son nada inferiores a nuestras cerezas’’ (are 

not inferior to our cherries). Among the tribes in the 

United States, black-cherry fruits were used as food by 

the Cherokee, Iroquois, Menomini, Ojibwa, and 

Potawatomi (Smith 1933, Moerman 1998). Fernald 

et al. (1958) noted that indigenous people first 

pounded dried fruits (including pits) and then leached 

out the poisonous chemicals before using them in 

foods. An alternate view is that, once pounded, the 

poisons volatilize and fruits are rendered harmless 

(Dunmire and Tierney 1997). 

The Cherokee also used the wood for buildings, 

furniture, and carvings (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). 

Trees now are highly prized for the beautiful wood, 

which is used for furniture and cabinetmaking (Vines 

1977, Diggs et al. 1999). Porcher (1863) was similarly 

complimentary, writing, ‘‘The wood of this tree is 

highly valuable, being compact, fine grained, and 

brilliant, and not liable to warp when perfectly 

seasoned. When chosen near the ramifications of the 

trunk, it rivals mahogany in the beauty of its curls.’’ 

Others since have used the wood for furniture, 

cabinets, printer’s blocks, veneer, patterns, panels, 

interior trim, handles, woodenware, toys, and scientific 

instruments (Vines 1977). 

Ximénez recorded that the Mexicans made a 

decoction of the bark that was used to cure ‘‘las 

cámaras de sangre’’ (blood clots). Also, the powder of 

the bark was used to clarify the vision, heal inflammations, 

moisten the tongue when it is dry from the 

heat or fever, and was used to cure various external 

sores and lesions (Martínez 1969). Ximémez considered 

the bark useful against malaria, but later reports 

considered it simply antipyretic (Martínez 1969). 

Tarahumara used the leaves and bark to catch fish 

and in a tea to treat whooping cough (Pennington 

1958). They also added young leaves to their corn dish 

esquiate to increase spiciness. 

In the United States, the black-cherry is used as 

medicine by tribes throughout its range. Eastern tribes 

using it included the Catawba, Cherokee, Delaware, 

Illinois-Miami, Iroquois, Malecite, Micmac, Mohegan, 

Narragansett, Ojibwa, Osage, Penobscot, Potawatomi, 

Rappahannock, Shawnee, and Shinnecock 

(Smith 1933, Vogel 1970, Moerman 1998). People 

typically used the bark in tea or syrup for coughs, 

fever, cold, sore throats, diarrhea, lung ailments, 

bronchitis, pneumonia, and dyspepsia (Foster and 

Duke 1990, Moerman 1998, Duke et al. 2002). In 

addition to those uses, Vogel (1970) recorded the 

Cherokee using a bark decoction to treat measles, and 

the Missouri River tribes treating dropsy with it 

(Gilmore 1919). The Catawba mixed black-cherry 

bark with poplar and dogwood to treat expectant 

mothers (Vogel 1970). Like several other eastern 

tribes, the Illinois-Miami put root bark on infected 

gums (Vogel 1970). The Osage and Shawnee mixed 

black-cherry bark with Arisaema and snakewort to 

treat malaria (Vogel 1970). 

Among the non-indigenous people, Porcher (1863) 

gave a typical view when he wrote, ‘‘This is undoubtedly 

one of the most valuable of our indigenous 

plants.’’ He listed many maladies for which blackcherry 

had been used successfully, but like indigenous 

tribes considered it best against diarrhea, colds, and 

coughs. One of his favorite recipes was for ‘‘making 

‘Cherry’ cordial by the Southern matrons in the lower 

country of South Carolina (Saint John’s)*/a most 

delectable drink at all times, but particularly valuable 

in the present emergency [Civil War]: Fill the vessel 

with cherries (not washed, if gathered clean). Cover 

with whisky. After several weeks pour off all the clear 

liquor and press the cherries through a sieve. Put into 

the juice thus pressed out five pints of brown sugar, 

and boil with syrup enough to sweeten the whole 

demijohn. Pour five pints of water on the thick part; 

boil and strain to make the syrup with the sugar.’’ 

Murphee (1965) found residents of the Panhandle still 

using the gum to make a remedy to relieve colds and 

croup. The fruits are still a flavoring for rum and 

brandy (Uphof 1968, Diggs et al. 1999). 

We partly owe the success of the Lewis and Clark 

expedition to choke-cherry bark (De Voto 1981). 

There were several occasions when the leaders were 

required to give remedies to individuals during the 

journey, and Captain Meriwether Lewis’s mother had 

been a skilled herbalist or ‘‘yarb doctor’’ (Vogel 1970). 

On 11 June 1805, between Maria’s River and the Great 

Falls on the Missouri River in Montana, Lewis 

became ill with abdominal cramps and fever. He had 

no medicine with him at the time so he decided to use 

choke-cherry. He brewed a strong decoction of small 

twigs and leaves and drank a pint at sunset. An hour 

later, he drank another pint. By 10 P.M., his cramps 

and fever were gone. 

Lewis had used the other choke-cherry (P. 

virginiana), but his technique was based on what he 

learned for using the eastern P. serotina. 

Pseudophoenix 

(Charles Sprague Sargent adapted H.A. Wendlands’s 

name pseudo, false, phoenix, genus of the date palm)



Pseudophoenix sargentii. a. Habit. b. Section of leaf midrib 

showing attachment of segments. c. Branchlet of inflorescence. 

d. Complete staminate flower (above) and longitudinally 

dissected staminate flower (below). e. Floral 

diagram of staminate flower. f. Complete perfect flower 

(above) and longitudinally dissected perfect flower (below). 

g. Floral diagram of perfect flower. h. Fruits. Drawn by 

Priscilla Fawcett. From Correll and Correll 1982. 

Pseudophoenix sargentii (named for Charles 

Sprague Sargent, 1841 /1927, director of the 

Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University) 

buccaneer palm (Bahamas) 

cathier (wine tree, Haiti); chacha [cacheo, caicha, 

casei, catey] (wine, Dominican Republic); palma 

de cacheo (wine palm, Dominican Republic) 

[Florida, Sargent’s] cherry palm (Florida, Puerto 

Rico) 

hog cabbage-palm [palmetto] (Bahamas) 

palma de Guinea (palm from Guinea, in the belief 

that the tree was from Africa, Cuba) 

palme marron (wild palm, Haiti); palmiste [à vin, 

mále] ([wine, male] palm, Haiti) 

These palms were not even discovered until the late 

1800s. Four species are known in the genus, all 

endemic to the Caribbean (Mabberley 1997). 

In Hispaniola, people extract from the trunk a 

sweet liquid, which ferments into a drink called cacheo 

(Liogier 1974). In Dominica, Puerto Rico (Mona 

Island only), and Florida these trees are nearing 

extinction, perhaps due to overuse by humans (Coile 

2000, James 2003). At one point the Hispaniolan P. 

eckmanii was thought to have been extinct since 1926 

due to overharvesting for winemaking, but it has been 

relocated (Zona 2002). 

Psychotria: Wild Coffee 

(Based on Greek psyche, soul or life, plus iatria, 

medicine, or ‘‘to give life’’) 

Psychotria nervosa. Drawn by P.N. Honychurch. 

Imagine a world without coffee (Coffea arabica). 

There was no coffee in the Americas before the plant 

was introduced. Perhaps more surprising, there was no 

coffee in Europe when Columbus sailed in 1492. 

German physician Leonard Rauwolf (1535 /1596) 

was the first European to mention coffee after his trip 

to the Levant in 1573 /1576. Still, it was 99 years after 

the New World was discovered before much attention 

was paid to the beverage by Prosper Alpinus in 1591. 

About 200 years after Europeans settled in the New 

World, the French introduced Coffea arabica into 

Martinique in 1717, and the Dutch took it to 

Suriname shortly before that. The plants reached 

Jamaica in 1728 (Hedrick 1919). 

Before the comparison between cultivated coffee 

and wild plants could be made, Coffea had to be 

introduced into the New World. ‘‘Wild coffee’’ was 

first applied to its relative Faramea occidentalis by 

Philip Miller in 1730. That plant is also a member of 

the Rubiaceae, the family containing Coffea, along 

with what is now called wild coffee in Florida 

(Psychotria nervosa, P. sulzneri). When the name 

‘‘wild coffee’’ was extended from Faramea to Psychotria 

is unknown. However, both genera are still known



by that common name in English, French (café 

marron, Guadeloupe, Martinique), and Spanish in 

the Caribbean (café cimarrón, wild coffee, Dominican 

Republic), and Mexico (kapee ts’ohool, coffee herb, 

Huastec, San Luis Potosí). There is an indirect 

reference to the place of coffee origin in Africa with 

palo moro (Moorish tree, Puerto Rico). 

Although Psychotria is compared with coffee, it is 

not used as a beverage. Several people have told me 

they tried using Psychotria seeds as a substitute 

‘‘coffee,’’ and got only bad taste and terrible headaches 

from the mixture. However, these plants are 

surely rich in tannins because mashed leaves are used 

as a hemostat in Cuba (Roig 1945) and Puerto Rico 

(Meléndez 1989). People in Barbados use a leaf 

decoction as a febrifuge, as a remedy for colds, and 

to treat stomach ailments. Leaves are combined with 

other plants as ‘‘bush tea’’ (Goodding 1940 /1942), 

which is used to treat a number of maladies. In keeping 

with their multiple common names, the Huastecs of 

Mexico have the most varied uses (Alcorn 1984). Like 

Barbadians, the Huastecs use it to treat respiratory 

problems, especially asthma. Other uses include application 

to local swellings, such as swollen feet, and 

erysipelas, sores, boils, tumors, and skin fungus. Does 

bois laitelle (milk trees, Haiti) mean they use it with 

milk? 

Before Coffea was introduced into the New World, 

people here used other names for the Psychotria. The 

only indigenous name from within Florida is for P. 

sulzneri. This hammock shrub is known by the 

Seminoles as atópâ:bî (dogwood replica, Mikasuki). 

According to Sturtevant’s (1955) informants, the plant 

was ‘‘useless.’’ However, that name was derived from 

Creek vtvphv [atápha] for dogwood (Cornus), and that 

comparison with another species suggests a loss of 

information (see Cornus). Every species of Cornus in 

North America was used by people of essentially every 

culture (Moerman 1998). 

Florida’s other ‘‘wild coffee’’ (Florida, Bahamas, 

Puerto Rico), P. nervosa, has a diversity of names 

outside the state. Among those names is ipecacuana 

ondulada mayor (big ipecacuanha with undulate 

leaves) in Cuba (Roig 1945). That name was given 

because the roots of P. nervosa were used as an emetic 

as were those in the real ipecacuanha (P. ipecacuanha). 

The comparison is instructive, because ipecacauanha 

has a long history. 

Between 1570 and 1600, the Portuguese priest 

Manoel Tristão was in Brazil where he learned that the 

Tupí people used the roots of a plant for treating 

dysentery. When he returned to Europe, he told more 

people about the plant, and French physicians finally 

made it available in 1672 (Burkill 1966). We get our 

English name ipecacuanha from the Tupí-speakers in 

South America who called their medicinal plant 

ipega’kwai (duck’s penis) or ipe-kaa-guéne (creeping 

plant causing vomiting). The Florida plants have no 

such imaginative names. 

The only name other than ‘‘wild coffee’’ found in 

Florida is Seminole balsamo, given by Morton (1981). 

Since she gives no source for the name and it has not 

been found elsewhere, the origin remains a mystery. 

There is documentation for the name bálsamo in 

Puerto Rico (Liogier and Martorell 1982, Meléndez 

1989). Literally translated, the word means ‘‘balsam.’’ 

The probable sense of its use for ‘‘Seminole balsamo’’ 

is the now archaic meaning of ‘‘soothing.’’ Etymologically, 

the word in Spanish and English has been 

equivalent to ‘‘balm,’’ both having been derived from 

Latin balsamum. The very name itself suggests a long 

medical history*/unless Morton invented the name. 

Some of the other designations indicating use as a 

medicine are kidney bush (Caymans) and St. John’s 

bush (Barbados). While perhaps not exactly ‘‘medical,’’ 

the name strong back (Caymans) suggests 

enhanced stamina. Since the name implies two distinct 

applications of strength, it was perhaps an important 

plant. The interpretation most often given for such 

names is improved sexual stamina. However, there was 

an equally valuable application. Since our species 

became bipedal, we have suffered from innumerable 

back problems. In addition, as the name is endemic to 

the Virgin Islands where the population is largely 

derived from slaves, it takes on added meaning. 

Individuals who could not do their share of work 

during slaving times were not likely to survive long. 

Medicines to ‘‘soothe’’ aching backs would have been 

at a premium. 

Other names show different perspectives. The 

names penda (dangler, Dominican Republic) and 

tapa camino (path coverer, Cuba) are surely related 

to the locations where these shrubs grow and are 

descriptive of their life-forms. Plateado (folded or 

plaited, Cuba) is a literal equivalent of the specific 

name of the technical synonym Psychotria undata. 

That name was proposed by Nicolaus von Jacquin in 

his book of 1798, Plantarum Rariorum Horti Caesarei 

Schoenbrunnensis, and he too was taken with the 

undulating pattern of the living leaves. For some 

reason not understood, the plant is called huesito 

[husito] (little bone) in Panama. If that were an 

isolated case, it would be one thing, but that word is 

applied to several Mexican species. None of the uses 

suggests a bone medicine, so perhaps the name refers 

to the wood. 

Mayans call this shrub ya’ax-k’anan [anal, anal 

xiv, sacxanal, canaan] (ya’ax, green, k’anan, necessary, 

Yucatán), which is their same designation for Hamelia 

patens. Both plants are important in Mayan religious



ceremonies, and other people also have names with 

reverent implications. Although the plants are not 

mentioned in the recent book on Haitian voodoo 

(Beauvoir et al. 2001), the names cabra blanca (white 

goat, Dominican Republic) and cabra santa (holy 

goat, Dominican Republic) suggest involvement with 

that religion. It is locally well known that the 

Santarías, a Cuban religious group related to voodoo 

(Voeks 1997), leave both goat and chicken offerings to 

their deities on the steps of the Miami-Dade County 

courthouse. So, cabra santa carries special meaning, 

and a cabra blanca is the best offering. 

The most information available about the religious 

and medical importance of P. nervosa is among the 

Huastec (Alcorn 1984). There the shrub is wats’ul, a 

simple name denoting great age. Wats’ul also has a 

number of alternate names, including tsakam wats’ul 

(little wats’ul, Veracruz) and wach’ul ch’ohool (wach’ul 

herb, Veracruz), perhaps denoting a taxonomy that 

does not match ours. The names baina ts’ohool (sheath 

herb, San Luis Potosí), itsal kw’a’ (toad chile, San Luis 

Potosí), and tse’tsem ts’ohool (woodpecker herb, San 

Luis Potosí) may also imply religious significance. The 

name tsabalte’ ts’ohool (skin fungus herb, San Luis 

Potosí) points to a medicinal use, and the names 

tse’tsem t’abat’ (little Tabernaemontana alba, San Luis 

Potosí), and tsakam tsabalte’ (little Cestrum dumetorum, 

San Luis Potosí) compare it with other plants 

important among those people. People in Belize say it 

is contra yierba (herb against), which is the description 

often given to a strong plant used to counteract 

poisons, or at least some problem from an outside 

source. 

The genus Psychotria was named by Linnaeus 

because of the reputed medical properties of some 

species. Which species he knew about being medicinal 

is more of a problem, as there are perhaps 1650 in the 

genus (Hamilton 1989a,b,c, Nepokroeff et al. 1999). 

However, discoveries in the late 1960s led to a renewed 

interest in Psychotria. Studies among people in the 

Amazon revealed that one or more members of the 

genus were added to the psychoactive plant mixture 

called ayahuasca (vine of the soul, Quechua), used for 

religious, medicinal, and social purposes (Pinkley 

1969, Schultes and Raffauf 1992). Subsequently, 

several studies of the genus have revealed alkaloids, 

benzoquinones, cyclic peptides, and other chemicals 

that exert a variety of influences on human physiology 

(e.g., Beretz et al. 1985, Adjibade et al. 1991, Amador 

et al. 2000, 2001, Khan et al. 2001, Verotta et al. 2002). 

None of the studies examined the Florida species, and 

the large genus is considered paraphyletic (Nepokroeff 

et al. 1999). Inferences of what might be the potential 

chemical bases for uses of P. nervosa or P. sulzneri are 

impossible, particularly because not all species contain 

the same classes of active compounds (Leal and 

Elisabetsky 1996). 

Still, the Huastec of Mexico use wats’ul as a love 

charm, and that is as good as any. You simply grind 

the seeds and carry them in a pocket. What could be 

easier? 

Ptelea 

(From ptao, to fly, the Greek name for the elm, 

reapplied by Linnaeus to this genus with a similar 

fruit; akin to Akkadian petelu, to wind, entwine) 

Ptelea trifoliata. From Sargent 1905. 

Ptelea trifoliata (three-leaved) 

ague bark (from the use to treat malaria) 

cola de zorillo (little skunk tail, Texas, Arizona, 

Sonora, Chihuahua, Tamaulipas, Veracruz); 

vara de zorro (fox bush, northern Mexico to 

Veracruz); zorillo (little skunk, Hidalgo; because 

plant and animals have a similar odor) 

dreiblättrige Lederbaum (three-leaf leather-tree, 

German, fide Millspaugh 1893); Lederstrauch 

(leather bush, German) 

[common, three-leaf, woolly] hop-tree [hoptree] 

(‘‘hop-tree’’ dates from ca. 1877, with the substitution 

of the fruits of Ptelea for those of hops, 

Humulus lupulus for making malt liquor, and as 

a tonic and soporific) 

orme de samaire à trois feuilles (samara elm with 

three leaves, French; fide Millspaugh 1892) 

pickaway[-anise] 

pinacatillo (comparing the smell with the pinacate 

beetle, Coahuila; from Náhuatl pinacatl, their 

name for the beetle Elodes spp., Tenebrionidae, a 

black insect that sprays an irritating, stinking 

chemical for defense) 

potato chip tree [potatochip-tree] (alluding to the 

flat fruits) 

prairie grub 

psehtin (Lakota) 

quinine-tree (a name comparing these shrubs with 

Cinchona spp., the source of the anti-malarial



compound quinine, an alkaloid first isolated in 

1820 by French Pierre-Joseph Pelletier and 

Joseph-Bienaime Caventou; the word ‘‘quinine’’ 

appeared in English by 1826, although it had 

been used in Spanish as quina or quinaquina, 

taken from Quechua, since at least the 1640s) 

sinaptahaspí (sinapó, ash, tahaspí, light [weight], 

Koasati) 

skunk-bush [skunkbush] (the odor caused comparison 

with the skunk, whose name was taken from 

the indigenous Abenaki seganku or segongw, the 

weasel relative Mephitis mephitis) 

stinking-ash; wafer ash (‘‘wafer’’ refers to the flat, 

rounded fruits, like the thin, crispy cake that 

gave rise to the Old English wafre, and our word 

‘‘waffle’’; the word ‘‘ash’’ compares it with 

Fraxinus because of the leaves) 

swamp dogwood (a misnomer or misidentification; 

this is an upland plant) 

[shrubby, tree] trefoil (called ‘‘trefoil’’ from Latin 

trifolio, three leaves because of the compound, 

trifoliolate leaves) 

wahoo (from uhawhu, a Creek word for the elm; 

however, the Dakota wahú, arrowwood, was 

applied to Euonymus) 

wing-seed 

The first living hop-trees to arrive in Europe were 

those sent to England by Reverend John Banister in 

1704 (Millspaugh 1893). Those plants died, but Mark 

Catesby reintroduced the shrubs about 1724. Subsequently, 

hop-tree was cultivated in other places in 

Europe. 

Both Leonard Plukenet in 1696 and Johann Jakob 

Dillenius in 1732 had studied specimens of these 

plants and called them Frutex virginianus trifolius, 

ulmi samaris (three-leaflet shrub from Virginia, with 

samara fruits like the elm). When Linnaeus examined 

the shrubs, he realized they were distinct from the elm, 

which he called Ulmus (which see). Linnaeus began 

calling the New World plants Ptelea in his Hortus 

Cliffortianus of 1738 and continued using the name in 

Species Plantarum ([1753] 1957). 

Although Linnaeus knew Ptelea only from Virginia, 

William Bartram ([1791] 1958) recorded the 

shrubs in North and South Carolina, Alabama, 

Georgia, and northern Florida between 1773 and 

1777. André Michaux, during his visit to Florida in 

1788, found the plants in Alachua, Levy, Orange, and 

Putnam Counties (Taylor and Norman 2002). There 

are now about 11 species recognized in this North 

American endemic genus (Bailey 1962, Mabberley 

1997). Numerous varieties of P. trifoliata have been 

named, and these intergrade in a confusing manner. 

Perhaps the first record of medicinal use of the 

wafer-ash in the Americas was by the German 

physician Johann David Schoepf (1752 /1800) who 

visited during the Revolutionary War in 1783 /1784. 

He and others of the period considered it aromatic, 

bitter, stimulant, and an expectorant tonic useful 

against malaria (Millspaugh 1893). They surely 

learned about the plant directly or indirectly from 

indigenous people, but that does not seem to have 

been recorded. 

Later, Rafinesque reported Ptelea in his Medical 

Botany of 1830. As usual, he obtained much of his 

information from indigenous people, but typically 

declined recording who and where. Rafinesque considered 

the plants vulnerary and vermifuge (Millspaugh 

1893). Based on his report, the plants were 

most likely used by tribes where he explored; however, 

actual reports have been found for only two groups not 

visited by Rafinesque. The Menominis considered the 

root bark of P. trifoliata, a plant brought to Wisconsin 

from Kansas, as a sacred medicine and panacea to 

season and render other medicines potent (Vogel 

1970). The Meskwakis used it similarly, and for lung 

problems, often in tea with other barks (Vogel 1970). 

Those reports are also the only ones found by Lewis 

and Elvin-Lewis (1977) and Moerman (1998) regarding 

indigenous people in the United States. However, 

in Mexico the plants are still used in remedies for 

dyspepsia, as a mild tonic, in a bath of an alcoholic 

infusion of leaves against chills, and to treat rheumatism 

(Martínez 1969). 

Following Rafinesque, several American physicians 

promoted wafer-ash as a medicine. Eclectic 

physicians considered it second only to hydrastis 

(Hydrastis canadensis) as a tonic, and they thought 

a cold infusion of the plants especially good for 

debilitating fevers (Culbreth 1910, Felter 1922). 

Martínez (1969) reported that the bark of the root 

contains the alkaloid berberine, but that has not been 

confirmed in more recent chemical studies. It does 

contain a variety of alkaloids, including dictamnine, 

pteleine, ptelecultinium, pteleatinium chloride, and 

several others. In addition to the alkaloids, the plants 

produce coumarins (Bailey et al. 1971, Szendrei et al. 

1973, Mitscher et al. 1975a,b, Petit-Paly et al. 1987, 

1989). At least the pteleatinium chloride is antibacterial, 

and some of the other compounds are antipyretic, 

antifungal (antiyeast), and effective against the tuberculum 

bacillus (Hocking 1997, Mabberley 1997). 

Decoctions from roots have been used as a stomach 

tonic and for oral and throat diseases (inflamed 

uvula). The leaves and shoots still are considered 

anthelmintic (Hocking 1997, Vásquez and Jácome 

1997). Equal parts of fresh leaves and bark are used 

by German homeopathics (Hocking 1997). According



to Diggs et al. (1999) the plants contain a poisonous 

saponin that causes photodermatitis. 

Fruits have been substituted for hops in making 

beer since at least 1868 when Asa Gray recorded that 

use (Hedrick 1919, Vines 1977). 

Pteridium 

(J.A. Scopoli, an Austrian physician and professor of 

natural history in Pavia, named the fern with Greek 

pteridion, small fern, a diminutive of pteris) 

Pteridium aquilinum. Drawn by P.N. Honychurch. 

Pteridium aquilinum (of an eagle, from the wingshaped 

fronds or leaves) 

achshikímiinshi [achsh’kíwmiinshi] (ach, abundant, 

sh’kíw, urinate, miinshi, tree, Delaware) 

Adlerfarn (eagle fern, German); eagle fern; fougère 

d’aigle [fougère de aigles] (eagle fern, Quebec); 

helecho de aguilo (eagle fern, Colombia) 

[southern] bracken (perhaps from Scandinavia, 

akin to Old Swedish braekne, fern, USA, 

Bahamas) 

[hog, pasture]-brake (from Old German, brache, 

‘‘wasted’’ [i.e., wild] land) 

faytí:yâ:bî [faitiyabi] (turkey leg replica, Mikasuki); 

pinilio:mâ (penwv, turkey, ele, leg, ome, 

resembling, Creek); fi:tiyyí (fi:tó, turkey, iyyí, 

foot, Koasati); tapitapí (an archaic name, Koasati) 

fiddleheads [fiddlenecks] (the young fronds resemble 

the head of a violin, in use by 1599) 

fourchette (table fork or breast bone, Haiti) 

grande fougère (big fern, Quebec); helecho (fern, 

Panama, Belize) 

poor man’s soap (Alabama) 

raineach-mhór [rainich móire] (Mary’s fern, Gaelic) 

Although Moerman (1998) and Balick et al. (2000) 

separate Pteridium aquilinum var. caudatum into 

Pteridium caudatum, Wunderlin (1998) retains both 

as a single species. Regardless, P. aquilinum is widespread 

and was used by people from Alaska to Mexico 

and Florida. Among the relatives of Florida people, 

the Koasati made a decoction of the roots for chest 

pain (Taylor 1940). The Seminoles used the plant for 

‘‘Turkey Sickness’’ (permanently bent toes and fingers) 

(Sturtevant 1955). Murphee (1965) found people in the 

Panhandle making a tea from the plants to treat burns. 

Farther north, the steamed mature fronds are used 

to make medicinal teas and inhalants for lung 

disorders and headaches (Moerman 1998). The young 

buds (fiddleheads) are edible. Older parts are poisonous 

(Morton 1968b), and King (1984) warns against 

using it for food at any stage. Yellow and green dyes 

are extracted from the roots (King 1984, Tull 1999). 

Pterocaulon: Blackroot 

(From Greek pteron, wing, plus kaulos, stem) 

Within the United States, there are relatively few 

plants whose roots yield a black sap. The two in the 

southeast are called ‘‘blackroot.’’ Scientifically, the 

herbs belong to the genus Pterocaulon. The green 

leaves with their white undersides merging into the 

stem and extending downward toward the ground, like 

wings, are as characteristic as their black roots. The 

first information Europeans had of these plants was 

when Linnaeus called them Gnaphalium virgatum in 

1759. However, it was Stephen Elliott, an American 

professor in Charleston, South Carolina, who gave 

them the Greek name fitting their morphology in 

1823. 

For many years, it was believed that a single 

species grew in the United States, and it was called 

P. virgatum. Then, when the Frenchman André 

Michaux, who explored the Carolinas and Florida,



Pterocaulon pycnostachyum. Drawn by P.N. Honychurch. 

looked more closely, he realized that there were two 

different species. One species grew in the southeastern 

states (North Carolina to Florida, west to Mississippi), 

and the other in Texas, eastern Mexico, and the 

West Indies. The species name virgatum had already 

been applied to the western species, so Michaux called 

the one in the southeast Conyza pycnostachya (pycno, 

thick, stachyo, spike, in reference to the flower cluster). 

Then, in 1823, Stephen Elliott moved the species to 

Pterocaulon to create the name used now, Pterocaulon 

pycnostachyum. Later, in 1836, Augustin-Pyramus de 

Candolle moved virgatum to create the name Pterocaulon 

virgatum for the western species. 

Both species have long been called blackroot or 

Indian blackroot in the United States, but they sometimes 

also are called rabbit tobacco. The last name is 

more often applied to members of Gnaphalium, the 

genus where Linnaeus originally put these plants. Our 

word tobacco came into English from Spanish tabaco, 

first used in the 1500s but taken from a Taino word in 

Hispaniola. The modifier ‘‘rabbit’’ is equivalent to 

saying ‘‘wild’’ to distinguish it from the cultivated 

Nicotiana. Comparison with Nicotiana results from 

Pterocaulon leaves being smoked or chewed either as a 

medicine or simply because tobacco was not available. 

The western species, P. virgatum, has a richer 

history of common names than the eastern plants, 

surely because that species is geographically spread 

from Texas to Argentina, and in the Caribbean. It 

too is called blackroot or Indian tobacco in the United 

States. However, Jamaicans call it golden cudweed. 

That Jamaican name is based on the Old English 

cwidu or cudu, which is sometimes also rendered quid. 

Those words date from about A.D. 1000 and refer to 

any plant substance that is held in the mouth and 

masticated, but not swallowed. Typically, after the 

introduction of Nicotiana into the Old World, the 

‘‘cud’’ has been synonymous with that species. However, 

the practice of chewing a cud is much older in 

Europe than knowledge of the American Nicotiana. 

Other people were more impressed with the looks 

of the aboveground parts of these plants. Due to the 

white pubescence, people call them branqueja (the 

white one, Brazil), calça de velho (old man’s shoes, 

Brazil), or oreille mouton (sheep’s ear, Martinique, 

Dominique). Pterocaulon is called langue à vache 

femelle (female cow’s tongue, Martinique, Dominique) 

to distinguish it from langue à vache, which is 

Elephantopus. Because the plants retain their shape 

and color when dried, they are also called siempreviva 

(everlasting, Cuba). References to where one may find 

the plants are in some names*/alecrim das paredes 

(rosemary of the walls, Brazil), travesera de loma 

(crosser of hills, Cuba), and vela de sabana (savana 

candle, Dominican Republic). Allusions to the potent 

chemicals contained in the herbs are barbasco 

[verbasco] (a fish poison, Brazil) and cura nacío (cures 

at birth, Dominican Republic). 

The eastern P. pycnostachyum has names only in 

English and in two Seminole languages. Sturtevant 

(1955) found literature with various spellings of these 

names back to the 1930s, and then wrote that 

Mikasuki picikcalah kayikcî meant ‘‘blood saver 

medicine.’’ That is the same sense as pechekche alahke 

aayek that the modern Mikasuki speakers translate 

more exactly (pechekche, blood, alahké, leftover, 

ayekche, medicine). ‘‘Blood medicine’’ is the Mikasuki 

name pechekche emayekche recorded by Snow and 

Stans (2001). 

Williams ([1837] 1962) may have been the first 

person to record that this plant was used by the 

Seminoles. He wrote that it was ‘‘[t]he famous Indian 

remedy for pulmonary disorders.’’ Sturtevant (1955) 

later recorded that the Seminoles used these plants 

widely in medicines where there was a real or perceived 

problem with the blood. The plant was used to treat 

chronic sickness, coughs and colds, ‘‘Cow Creek 

Sickness,’’ fever, menstrual difficulties, ‘‘Otter Sickness,’’ 

and was used in childbirth. Modern Seminoles



who recall the old medicines still note similar uses 

(Snow and Stans 2001). 

Chemical studies of several Pterocaulon species 

show that the plants contain a variety of coumarins 

(Debenedetti et al. 1981, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996. 1997, 

1998, 1999, Magalhaes et al. 1981, 1989, Boeykens et 

al. 1994, Vilegas et al. 1995, MacLeod and Rasmussen 

1999, Palacios 1999, Vera et al. 2001). Coumarins have 

a long history of use as a blood anticoagulant (Lewis 

and Elvin-Lewis 1977). Coumarins are lactones, which 

are vitamin K antagonists, and they act as indirect 

anticoagulants with a delayed effect. Following oral 

ingestion, absorption, and metabolism in the liver, 

chemical action results from a reduction in synthesis 

of prothrombin, a plasma protein produced in the liver 

in the presence of vitamin K. Prothrombin is converted 

into thrombin during the clotting of blood. 

Alterations of these pathways change the ability of 

blood to clot, and noticing this change is surely partly 

what led people to use these plants. Clotting alteration 

would have been the obvious result when people used 

Pterocaulon as abortives and styptics, and to relieve 

menstrual difficulties (Sturtevant 1955, Uphof 1968, 

Morton 1974). 

Coumarins and their derivatives are not the only 

bioactive chemicals in Pterocaulon. Other studies show 

that the plants contain caffeolyquinic acids (Martino 

et al. 1979), thiophene acetylenes and flavonols (Bohlmann 

et al. 1981), flavonoids (Semple et al. 1998, 

1999), flavanones, and caryophyllene (MacLeod and 

Rasmussen 1999). These chemicals are antioxidant, 

prooxidant (Desmarchelier et al. 1997), and antiviral 

(Semple et al. 1998, 1999). Thus, the mixture of 

chemicals extracted into medicines made from Pterocaulon 

would be effective against colds and asthma. 

Sturtevant (1955) also recorded the Creek name 

for these plants, and Snow and Stans (2001) confirm 

that it is still used. In Creek, the plants are yvnvsv 

heleswv [yanasa hiliswâ] (yvnvsv, buffalo, heleswv, 

medicine). The allusion to a buffalo may seem odd 

in the modern world largely devoid of them. However, 

Bison bison historically ranged into the woodlands of 

the eastern United States well within the area occupied 

by the Creeks and ancestors of the Miccosukees (cf. 

Caras 1967). 

The Seminoles also sometimes used blackroot in 

the busk (Capron 1953), a term derived from their 

word posketv [poskita] (to fast, Creek). The busk, or 

Green Corn Ceremony, involves a 4-day festival, 

sometimes with 1 to 3 preliminary days added. The 

event occurs between late April and mid-July. Special 

busk grounds are prepared distant from both Seminole 

and white settlements. During the evening of the 

third day, fires are rekindled with flint and steel in the 

old manner, and the sacred medicine bundle is opened. 

The contents of the medicine bundle are usually kept 

secret, but at least three outsiders in recent history 

have been permitted to examine it. Spoehr (1939), 

Capron (1953), and Sturtevant (1954) were each 

permitted to make notes on the contents of different 

medicine bundles. Each of the three found similarities 

and differences in the contents. Capron (1953) is the 

only one who found Pterocaulon in the bundle. 

Regardless of the exact contents of the medicine 

bundle, a variety of its plant contents (up to 20 plants) 

was used to brew the ayikctanahki (gathered medicine) 

or ayikctanahkco:bi (big gathered medicine), a critical 

beverage in the cleansing of the old year and preparation 

for the new. 

The only other record of use of Pterocaulon found 

from Florida was by Murphee (1965). She was told 

that people in the Panhandle used it to cure ‘‘teen age 

trouble’’ (illegitimate pregnancy). 

The genus contains 18 species in the warm parts of 

the Americas and southeastern Asia, reaching to 

Australia and New Caledonia (Cabrera and Ragonese 

1978). Within its range, medicines are known to be 

made from it in the United States, Argentina (Vera et 

al. 2001), Brazil (Magalhaes et al. 1989), and Australia 

(Cribb and Cribb 1981, Semple et al. 1998, MacLeod 

and Rasmussen 1999). Perhaps not surprisingly, the 

aborigines of Australia also use the leaves as a tobacco 

substitute (Cribb and Cribb 1981). Nothing has been 

found to corroborate the inference, but maybe that is 

why Uphof (1968) said blackroot was a ‘‘stimulant’’ 

and Morton (1974) simply wrote that it was ‘‘narcotic.’’ 

Nothing about its chemistry suggests those 

impacts on users. 

Possibly the leaves are poor substitutes for Nicotiana. 

That might be why it was called ‘‘rabbit’’ tobacco. 

Either way, the common name conjures up the image 

of some pensive rabbit sitting on its haunches puffing 

on a pipe. 

Pycnanthemum 

(André Michaux created this name with Greek pycnos, 

dense, and anthemon, a flower, from the compact 

inflorescences) 

[American wild] basil (comparing the fragrance to 

the cultivated basil, Ocimum basilicum) 

Dickblume (dense flowers, German) 

mountain-mint (William Salmon included ‘‘mountain-mint’’ 

in 1671 in his Synopsis Medicina for 

what is now Clinopodium, with about 20 

European species; the name later was shifted to 

the New World, and ‘‘mountain-mint’’ used for 

Pycnanthemum by 1861)



Pycnanthemum albescens. From Britton and Brown 1898. 

Pycnanthemum albescens (whitish) 

sak:fotó [iska fotó] (Koasati; probably cognate 

with Creek kvfockv [kafócka]; cf. Piloblephis) 

shinuktiɬ eli [shinuktelele] (shinuk, sand [probably 

originally shilup, ghost], tiɬ eli, to drive out, 

Choctaw; this name is a variant of the one 

used for Monarda punctata, which see) 

white [white-leaf] mountain-mint [whiteleaf mountainmint] 

Pycnanthemum flexuosum (curved alternately in 

opposite directions) 

Appalachian mountain-mint [mountainmint] 

dysentery weed 

My education about Pycnanthemum began when I 

was working with my undergraduate professor Gordon 

Hunter. He had become interested in the mints 

and hired me in the 1960s to collect and work with him 

on some of the problems in the western Kentucky 

species. I knew the plants in the Jackson Purchase 

region of Kentucky between the Tennessee and Mississippi 

Rivers, but he had me look more closely at 

them. During the time that I was gathering specimens 

for him, I did not know that they had a long and 

complicated history of association with people. 

An early mention of what is now P. virginianum, 

published in 1697 by Paulo Boccone (1633 /1703/04), 

an Italian monk, physician, and professor at Padua, 

alludes to its medical application. He called the plants 

Serpentaria virginianus (Virginia snakeroot), and 

plants with that name were considered remedies for 

snakebite. That common name has been applied to 

numerous plants in different genera over the past few 

centuries (cf. also Aristolochia). 

In 1696, Leonard Plukenet discussed the same 

species, but he gave it the phrase name Clinopodium, 

pulegii angusto rididoque foliio, virginianum (Clinopodium, 

with narrow and rigid leaves like pulegium 

[pennyroyal], from Virginia). Both Jan Gronovius’s 

Flora Virginica and Linnaeus’s Hortus Cliffortianus 

followed Plukenet’s lead in thinking the herbs were a 

Clinopodium, but another early student of the herbs 

thought differently. In his 1699 book, Robert Morrison 

emphasized that the Virginia plants should be a 

distinct species of Pulegium. After further study, 

Linnaeus changed his mind, and in 1753 he called 

the plants Satureja virginiana. Thus, in the first 57 

years that single species had been known, it had been 

placed in four genera. People are still debating 

placement of many species in the Lamiaceae, as genera 

of mints remain problematical. However, most now 

agree that the species discussed from Plukenet to 

Linnaeus is Pycnanthemum, a genus created by Michaux 

in 1803. We now know of 17 species endemic to 

North America (Mabberley 1997). 

Indigenous people in the eastern United States 

have long been familiar with Pycnanthemum. People 

from the Ojibwa of southern Canada to the Cherokee 

of the Carolinas are recorded as using the plants in 

seasoning food (Densmore 1928, Hamel and Chiltoskey 

1975). As Fernald et al. (1958) noted, most of the 

aromatic mints have been used as food additives to 

improve flavors. The common name ‘‘basil’’ or ‘‘American 

wild basil’’ widely applied to Pycnanthemum 

alludes to a more widespread application in seasoning 

food than most literature suggests. It is known that P. 

muticum contains several volatile oils including pulegone, 

menthol, menthone, and limonene; presumably 

all species contain different mixtures of those aromatic 

compounds (Hocking 1997). Porcher (1862) was 

especially complimentary to the family when he wrote 

that it does ‘‘not contain a single unwholesome or even 

suspicious species; their tonic, cordial, and stomachic 

qualities are due ... to the presence of an aromatic, 

volatile oil, and a bitter principle.’’ 

Medicine and food blend in most cultures so that 

it is not always possible to distinguish one from the 

other. However, several tribes considered different 

species of Pycnanthemum a good remedy for colds 

(Moerman 1998). Foster and Duke (1990) say that all 

species were used interchangeably. 

In the southeastern United States, the Choctaw 

used a leaf decoction to promote sweating in treatment 

of colds (Bushnell 1909, Taylor 1940). The Koasati put 

the whole P. albescens plant in water, then used it to 

stop nosebleed. Roots mixed with those of Salix nigra 

were boiled, and the decoction drunk to relieve 

headache (Taylor 1940). To relieve contagion of death 

(onalfapó) leaves were put in cold water and the 

resulting mixture drunk and used to bathe the body 

while facing east (Kimball 1994). The Choctaw, the



Koasati, and the Cherokee also used another species 

that does not grow in Florida, P. incanum (Hamel and 

Chiltoskey 1975, Taylor 1940). Pycnanthemum incanum 

was used similarly to the second Florida species, 

P. flexuosum. The Cherokee used Appalachian mountain-mint 

in a poultice to relieve headache, diarrhea, 

upset stomach, colds, and heart trouble, and to bathe 

inflammations, particularly those of the penis (Hamel 

and Chiltoskey 1975). 

By the early 1860s, Pycnanthemum was used 

through much of the eastern United States, and it 

was also known in Europe. In 1861 the British 

botanists John Lindley and Thomas Moore published 

their The Treasury of Botany. They gave Pycnanthemum 

the common name ‘‘mountain-mint,’’ a designation 

indicating medical use. As Lewis and Elvin-Lewis 

(1977) point out, P. flexuosum was famous during that 

time under the alternate name ‘‘dysentery weed,’’ and 

it was widely used throughout the southeastern states 

for bowel problems. Curiously, neither Porcher (1862) 

nor Millspaugh (1893) mentions Pycnanthemum, 

although they discuss a number of other mints, largely 

European, that were in use as medicines. Perhaps they 

thought that these wild plants had no virtues that 

warranted their substitution for plants already in 

people’s gardens. 

Pyrrhopappus 

(From Greek pyrros, fire or flame-colored, and pappos, 

fluff or downy appendage, an allusion to the pappus of 

the fruits) 

Pyrrhopappus carolinianus (of Carolina) 

boñ-yai (Kiowa) 

Carolina desert-chicory [Carolina desertchickory] 

[false, native]-dandelion 

sunflower (Louisiana) 

toñ-awdl-’kok-yai (Kiowa) 

This genus of three species endemic to North 

America was named by de Candolle in 1838 (Kim and 

Turner 1990). Prior to that, Thomas Walter had 

named this species in his Flora Caroliniana, but he 

put it in another genus. All three species occur in Texas 

(Diggs et al. 1999), but only P. carolinianus ranges into 

the eastern states. In the east it grows from Texas to 

Florida, north to Delaware, southern Indiana, Missouri, 

and Kansas (Fernald 1950). The variation within 

the genus is complex because of apparent hybridization 

(Barber and Estes 1978, Petersen et al. 1990). 

At least two*/and perhaps all three*/species were 

used by indigenous tribes. In the southeastern states, 

the Cherokee used an infusion of P. carolinianus to 

purify the blood (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975). 

Farther west, in the southern Great Plains, the Kiowa 

ate the roots. They considered them good, but said 

they were much sweeter in the autumn (Vestal and 

Schultes 1939). In New Mexico and Arizona, the 

Navajo used the flower stalks of P. pauciflorus as an 

emetic, and the Keres knew the plant but professed no 

use of it (Moerman 1998). 

Porcher (1863), Millspaugh (1892), Foster and 

Duke (1990), Bown (1995), and Duke et al. (2002) 

do not mention the plants.

© 2004 by CRC Press

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