English

Scientific Name

Mertensia ciliata; possibly other Mertensia spp

Arapaho

ceeneeteene’einou’u

Translation of the Arapaho

‘blue heads’

Bluebell and the Arapaho

Alfred Kroeber documents this plant as “a certain blue flower” which was used as a decorative motif on a crupper, depicted there are as covering the prairie. The species above was identified in the field by Arapaho elders as corresponding to this name.