English
plains cottonwood
Scientific Name
Populus deltoides
Arapaho
héé3neebésTranslation of the Arapaho
‘true wood’
Plains Cottonwood in 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 1997:396 <hahaant>). Hayden 1873:327 identifies the tree of this name as “sweet cottonwood. Populus.”
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.
Other: 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 (Kroeber 1983:22).
Other: fuel. “Dry, pithy cottonwood” was used for tinder in starting fires (1983:24). The wood in general was used for fuel. It is still the preferred fuel wood for sweat lodge fires.
Other: implements. The knots of the trees were used for making bowls (1983:25).
