Cactaceae Opuntia whipplei Engelm. & Bigelow

Whipple Cholla

Navajo, Ramah - Other, Ceremonial Items

Use documented by:
Vestal, Paul A., 1952, The Ethnobotany of the Ramah Navaho, Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology 40(4):1-94, page 37

View all documented uses for Opuntia whipplei Engelm. & Bigelow

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Scientific name: Opuntia whipplei Engelm. & Bigelow
USDA symbol: OPWH (View details at USDA PLANTS site)
Common names: Whipple Cholla
Family: Cactaceae
Family (APG): Cactaceae
Native American Tribe: Navajo, Ramah
Use category: Other
Use sub-category: Ceremonial Items
Notes: Branches made into a wand and used in Red Antway. The Antway wand consisted of five cactus branches with branches of rabbitbrush and other plants wrapped around their combined bases. The base was wrapped with yucca fiber. A small colored wooden disk was attached to each branch by a yucca fiber, each disk a different color.

RECRD: 10570 id: 24877

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