English
plains cottonwood
Scientific Name
Populus deltoides
Arapaho
héé3neebés ; hohóótTranslation of the Arapaho
‘true wood’; 'tree'
Cottonwood and the Arapaho
Fiber: building material. For the Arapaho living on the plains, ‘tree’ and ‘cottonwood’ tree would often have been essentially synonymous. This wood is mentioned in the Arapaho story of “Bluebird, Buffalo Woman and Elk Woman” as one type of wood used in sweat lodges (Dorsey and Kroeber , Traditions of the Arapaho, p. 396).
Food: starvation food, and animal food. Cottonwood inner bark was fed to horses for winter food, and also eaten by humans in ties of famine.
Ceremonial items. The cottonwood is used to construct the Sun Dance Lodge, and is the most symbolically powerful tree within traditional Arapaho thought.
Other: smoke plant. The bark was used in old-time tobacco mixtures.
Fuel. “Dry, pithy cottonwood” was used for tinder in starting fires. The wood in general was used for fuel. It is still the preferred fuel wood for sweat lodge fires.
Implements. The knots of the trees were used for making bowls.
