Puccoon
Encyclopedia
Common name
A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
that refers to any of several plant
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
s formerly used by certain Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
for dye
Dye
A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....
s. The dyes were made from the plants' roots.
The name is derived from the Powhatan
Powhatan language
Powhatan or Virginia Algonquian is an extinct language belonging to the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian languages. It was spoken by the Powhatan people of tidewater Virginia. It became extinct around the 1790s after speakers switched to English. The sole documentary evidence for this...
word poughkone.
Types
- Hoary Puccoon - Lithospermum canescensLithospermumLithospermum is a genus of plants belonging to the family Boraginaceae. Herbs or small shrubs, they are widely distributed except in Australasia...
- Narrow-leaved puccoon, Fringed Puccoon - Lithospermum incisumLithospermumLithospermum is a genus of plants belonging to the family Boraginaceae. Herbs or small shrubs, they are widely distributed except in Australasia...
- Golden puccoon - Lithospermum carolinenseLithospermumLithospermum is a genus of plants belonging to the family Boraginaceae. Herbs or small shrubs, they are widely distributed except in Australasia...
- Hairy puccoon - Lithospermum carolinense var. croceum
- Red puccoon root, Canada Puccoon - Sanguinaria canadensisBloodrootBloodroot is a perennial, herbaceous flowering plant native to eastern North America from Nova Scotia, Canada southward to Florida, United States...
See also
- PokeweedPokeweedThe pokeweeds, also known as pokebush, pokeberry, pokeroot, poke sallet, polk salad, polk salat, polk sallet, inkberry or ombú, comprise the genus Phytolacca, perennial plants native to North America, South America, East Asia and New Zealand...
- List of English words from indigenous languages of the Americas#Words from Algonquian languages