Herba Cana - Northeastern Illinois University

© 2004 by CRC Press
The Ethnobotany 543
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)