Black Samson

Echinacea Angustifolia (Condolle)

Úŋglakčapa (Lakȟóta)

Also known as the Purple Coneflower, this species of Echinacea was used for its medicinal powers by Native tribes long before it was discovered by Western health food stores. The Lakota traditionally applied it as a poultice, chewed it for pain relief, and applied it to burns and snake & insect bites. The dried head of the plant also worked great as a hairbrush (L. Black Elk, “Culturally Important Plants of the Lakota”).

Western Meadowlark

Sturnella Neglecta (Audubon)

Tȟašíyagnuŋpa (Lakȟóta)

For the Lakota people, the Western Meadowlark is considered nearly family, the “bird who speaks Lakota.” According to Julian Rice, “Unlike the animals of Romantic and much twentieth-century British and American poetry, the meadowlark is neither more nor less blessed than man; rather, he exists in the Lakota consciousness as both model and messenger” (“How the Bird that Speaks Lakota Earned a Name,” in Swann and Krupat, Recovering the Word).