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Plants of the Omaha Indian Reservation
An Ethonobotanical Report
Echinacea augustifolia
American Indian Names
The Omaha name for coneflower is mika-hi which means comb plant. It is also called in shtogahte-hi which refers to it as an eye wash. The Pawnee called it ksapitahako which means hand to whirl. Children played a game in which the plant was whirled. Lakota call the plant, saparidu hahts which means mushroom medicine. It is also referred to as , icahpe hu which means something used to knock something down and on glakcapi which means to comb the hair with. The common name is narrow-leaf coneflower and is called that because of the shape of its leaf. Not all coneflowers have a narrow leaf. There is a Topeka purple coneflower, a smooth purple coneflower, a pale purple coneflower, a Bushs purple coneflower, an Eastern purple coneflower, a sanguine purple coneflower, and a wavyleaf purple coneflower which are all in the Genus Echinacea.
Description
The coneflower is a perennial herb. It grows from 1 to 2 cm in height. The leaves are lance-like in the augustifoli plant but get wider in the other species, some from 10-20 cm long and 1-5 cm broad. The flowers are composite and inflorescence, with purple florets arranged in a prominent, somewhat cone-shaped head. It is called cone-shaped because the petals of the outer ray florets tend to point downward once the flower head opens. They bloom in June-July Location and Habitat
The coneflower grows in upland prairies and primarily in the Great Plains east of the Rocky Mountains. It grows along the highway on the reservation. Many people plant this herb in their gardens because it is attractive and also attracts honeybees. Uses
The Plains Indians widely used the coneflower. It was used as a painkiller and for toothaches, coughs, colds, sore throats, and snakebites. It was also used for beestings. It was used in the Dakotas for hydrophobia. Applied directly to infected areas it would cool off the area. Lakota ate the root and green fruit when they were thirsty or perspiring. The Omaha recognized two kinds of coneflower; male which were larger and miga which were the female and smaller and more efficient as a medicine. The roots were chopped up and applied as an anesthetic. A Winnebago man used it to make his couth insensitive to hear so he could put live coals in his mouth and demonstrate his great power. The Kiowa and Cheyenne chewed a piece of the root for sore throats. Teas were made for rheumatism, arthritis, mumps, and measles. Coneflower was mixed with blazing star to treat smallpox. It was also mixed with puffball spores and skunk oil to treat boils.
By Jasten Grant
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