Moss

OˀǪ́HGWAˀ

Moss

Climacium spp.

Family: Climaciaceae Bryophyte

The word we are using for moss here is a general name for moss. There are specific mosses that were used in our medicines that my mother could identify first by where they were growing and then by what they were growing next to. In this way, having the knowledge of medicines used geographic and ecological understanding as indices. This was also true in our politics. From the founding of our people our Path Makers, our “Chiefs”, were given titles, which are passed down to us today, one of which can be translated as “The Mossy Place”. This specific location is still identified in our oral history as a place not far from Tutelo Park.