[Fwd: poison ivy]

[Koontz John E]

On Wed, 21 Feb 2001, RLR wrote:
>  From the SSILA Newsletter:
> -------- Original Message --------
> I am writing a popular article on poison ivy and poison oak and I would
> like to provide a list of a few Native American names for these plants.
> I need to know the words and what the phrase or word means. Any assis-
> tance readers of the SSILA Bulletin can give would be greatly appreciated.
>
> --Spencer Tomb
> Kansas State University
> (astomb at ksu.edu)
...
> Good luck with other terms.  I have no separate terms for poison
> oak/sumac -- just ivy.

It may be worth pointing out that there is no reason to expect terms in a
given language, English or Siouan, to map one-for-one to Linnaean species,
even when all the species in question occur locally.  Modern field guide
usage tends to suggest that there is one (or sometimes more) popular term
in each language for each Linnaean species, but this is an artificial
assumption of Linnaean taxonomic principles in non-Linnaean systems.

John Koontz