Yucca (Yucca baccata) - known as Ho'kiapa, or 'long leaf wide' to the Zuni - had a variety of ceremonial uses.
Cords made of Yucca fiber were used to tie prayer-plume offerings together before planting them to the gods. The fibers were also arranged by the Priesthood of the Bow at the base of the idols of the Gods of War for winter and summer solstice ceremonies.
Also, narrow bands of leaves were worn around the head, wrists and ankles by "personators of anthropic gods" during ceremonial dances.
The powdered root of Dock (Rumex mexicanus) - Kwi'mi i'topona, or 'painted root' to the Zuni - was sprinkled into a bowl of water in a fraternity chamber, and then consecrated with an elaborate ceremony. Six stone animal fetishes were put in the bowl in a specific order while incantations were sung to each of the animal-gods they represented.
A tea was made of Rocky Mt. Bee Plant (Peritoma serrulatum) - A'pilalu, or 'hand many seeds', named for the hand-like appearance of the leaves and the quantity of seeds - which was then allowed to evaporate. The pasty sludge left over was used with a black mineral paint to color the sticks of plume offerings to the "antrhopic gods." The mineral was supposed to have been brought from the underworld by the Zuni when they first ascended into this world.
The Tomatilla (Lycium pallidum) - Kia'puli, or 'water fall down', so named because the rains caused so many berries to fall from the plant - was sacred to the Bow Priesthood. The elder and younger priests kept a constant watch on the plant, sprinkling meal around it at its base until the berries appeared while praying that "the peaches the coming season be as abundant as the berries" of the Tomatilla.
These few examples, like those of the other articles about the Zuni and their many uses of their plants, are just a small sample. I hope it has piqued your curiosity to investigate further...
(Note: We haven't just put a man on the moon and run electricity through our guitars over the past 100+ years, botanists have gotten their hands in the cookie jar, mucking about with a few binomials (the generic and specific names of plants). While all the above generic names, which Matilda used a century ago, still apply, many of the specific names do not. Even some entire families have gone through identity crises. Asters and sunflowers were not part of the Composite or Aster Family, but instead members of the Thistle Family. For all I know, the Composite Family didn't even exist in the early 1900s.
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