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Flowers in American Indian Folk Art
Flowers have long held an important place in the folk art of Native American tribes across the United States. From ancient times to the present, floral motifs have inspired beadwork, pottery, weaving, and painting in indigenous communities. These designs are not only decorative but carry deep cultural and symbolic significance, often reflecting a tribe’s connection to nature, beliefs, and resilience. Below, we explore the historical significance of floral imagery, its representation in traditional crafts, and its continued influence on contemporary American Indian art.
We would like to, as simply as possible, preface the article below by saying this was a labor of love and took weeks to research. The staff at Lily's Florist, and myself, are not historians, but we are lovers of flowers and we are all fascinated by how cultures have evolved with the use of flowers in both art and generally life. We have done our complete best to represent this in the work you will hopefully read below. We also realize it's long, like very long, some days when writing the blog post we thought to ourselves "oh my, what have we got ourselves into...". But, we made it! You may also notices that all the imagery, apart from our products, are graphs, charts and the like. The reason we did that was that it was impossible to find true and genuine images that did the article justice.
Historical and Cultural Significance of Flower Imagery
Native American cultures have always drawn inspiration from the natural world – including the flowers and plants around them – as a way to understand and express their identity. Indigenous belief systems view all parts of the environment as interconnected, imbued with spiritual energy, and worthy of respect. It follows that flowers and foliage became important symbols in stories, ceremonies, and visual arts. For example, many tribes have oral traditions or legends about the origins and meanings of certain flowers. The Cherokee, during the tragic Trail of Tears, told the story of the Cherokee Rose blooming along the path where mothers’ tears fell – a white flower with a gold center and seven leaves to symbolize hope, resilience, and the survival of the seven Cherokee clans. Similarly, Plains tribes prize the hardy wild prairie rose; in some communities, wild rose motifs were used in quillwork and beadwork to represent survival and vitality, as the wild roses could endure harsh prairie conditions (a theme reflected in tribal legends).
Importantly, flowers often signify renewal, healing, and the cycles of nature. In woodland tribes like the Ojibwe (Anishinaabe), the first wildflowers of spring – such as violets or forget-me-nots – herald the end of winter and are valued for their medicinal qualities. It’s no surprise that Ojibwe artisans incorporated these blooms into their designs. One early 1900s Ojibwe baby moccasin, for instance, is beaded with tiny blue five-petaled flowers resembling violets, complete with yellow-orange centers and green stalks. By wearing or depicting such flowers, communities symbolically carried the power of spring, rebirth, and healing with them.
Contact with European settlers and missionaries in the 17th–19th centuries added new dimensions to floral symbolism in Native art. European floral patterns were introduced (for example, French missionaries taught embroidery designs to Northeastern tribes), and Native artists readily blended these with their own curvilinear motifs. Over time, flower designs became a shared visual language between cultures – a “fruitful exchange” that led to new art forms. By the late 1800s, floral beadwork had emerged as a dominant art form across Native North America due to this exchange of ideas, techniques, and materials between Native communities and fur traders, missionaries, and settlers moving west. Yet, Native artisans imbued these borrowed floral images with their own cultural meanings. An elder of the Eastern Band of Cherokee recounted that adopting floral designs in beadwork helped their culture survive colonization: “When we worked with flowers, we made the missionaries happy. But hidden in the flowers…the beliefs were kept alive.” In other words, floral motifs became a clever form of resistance and resilience – externally pleasing to outsiders, but carrying coded indigenous symbols and stories.
Thus, historically, flowers in American Indian art are far more than pretty decorations. They link to sacred stories, medicinal knowledge, and identity, and even served as a discreet vessel for preserving traditions under threat. This rich context travels with us as we examine how flowers appeared in various traditional crafts.
Flowers in Traditional American Indian Crafts
Floral imagery found its way into nearly every form of Native American folk art. Artisans from different tribes and regions incorporated flower motifs into beadwork, quillwork, pottery, weaving, basketry, and painting, each in their own unique style. Below, we explore how flowers have been represented in these crafts and highlight their cultural significance within each medium.
Beadwork and Quillwork Motifs
Perhaps the most renowned use of floral designs is in Native American beadwork, especially after the introduction of glass seed beads in the 1800s. Before European contact, many tribes practiced quillwork (dyed porcupine quills) and painted geometric patterns on leather. These designs often abstracted natural elements into geometric shapes due to the rigidity of materials like quills. After contact, however, the availability of fine, colored glass beads and new sewing tools enabled curving lines and detailed pictorial designs. Native women swiftly embraced bead embroidery to depict the flowers, leaves, and vines from their homelands, leading to a floral revolution in indigenous design.
Tribes
This visualization shows the distribution of beadwork motifs across five major Native American tribal groups from the 1700s through 1900s. The donut charts represent the percentage of geometric (brown), hybrid (purple), and floral (green) designs in each tribe's beadwork traditions. Note how Woodland tribes like the Ojibwe embraced floral motifs more extensively, while Plains tribes maintained stronger geometric traditions. These differences reflect both cultural preferences and the historical influences of European contact.
This visualization shows the evolution of beadwork motifs across different Native American tribes from 1700-1900. The horizontal bars represent the transition from geometric/abstract designs (brown) to hybrid motifs blending traditional and European influences (purple) to predominantly floral designs (green). Note how Woodland tribes like the Ojibwe embraced floral motifs more extensively than Plains tribes, who maintained stronger geometric traditions. The timeline highlights key historical events that influenced artistic development. The subtle pattern overlays represent the actual texture and appearance of each motif style.
By the 19th century, Woodlands and Great Lakes tribes such as the Ojibwe, Odawa, Cree, and Menominee were famous for their vibrant floral beadwork, often called “Woodland style.” Floral-decorated bandolier bags, moccasins, and clothing became widespread and are easily recognizable as Ojibwe or Anishinaabe due to their woodland flower patterns. These motifs were not random; artists typically beaded the specific plants around them. For instance, Ojibwe bandolier bags from Minnesota might feature the maple leaf – rendered with such botanical accuracy that the veins and shape are unmistakable. Likewise, a beaded Ojibwe tobacco pouch in one collection shows a bright yellow tulip design – a flower likely observed and admired after European contact – alongside native berries and vines. In woodland beadwork, artists commonly use a five-petal blossom motif (a generic flower shape seen as a sort of universal wildflower) in many color combinations. These floral and leafy patterns came to symbolize the abundance and healing of the forest environment that sustained the people.
In the Eastern Woodlands and Southeastern tribes, beadworkers also adopted floral imagery early on. The Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole, among others, learned European embroidery and beadwork styles in the 1700s and wove them into their own artistic vocabulary. Southeastern beadwork developed a distinctive curvilinear floral style that still carried ancient symbols. For example, an early 19th-century Creek shoulder bag shows a flower-like circle-and-cross medallion (an ancient solar motif) surrounded by petal forms – blending European-inspired roses with Native sacred sun symbols. Even as the designs looked like harmless blossoms to outsiders, Native artists used them to encode spiritual meanings.
Pottery and Ceramic Design
In Native American pottery, especially in the Pueblo traditions of the Southwest, floral motifs also make appearances alongside geometric and animal designs. Pueblo pottery (Hopi, Acoma, Santa Clara, etc.) is traditionally known for bold geometric patterns, kiva step motifs, feathers, and stylized birds. Yet, floral and plant patterns have been part of Pueblo design repertoires for centuries. Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) pottery occasionally featured stylized flower-like symbols (such as rosette shapes or squash blossom designs) amid its abstract patterns. In later historic times, potters began explicitly incorporating flowers into their painted decoration, especially as they interacted with Spanish and European folk art.
This visualization illustrates the diversity of floral motifs in Pueblo pottery traditions. The pottery icons show representative design styles from six Pueblo cultures mentioned in the text, with special attention to how geometric patterns often resolve into floral imagery. The pie chart represents the approximate distribution of design elements in traditional Pueblo pottery, showing that while geometric patterns dominate, floral and plant motifs constitute a significant portion (15%) of design elements, especially in post-contact periods. Note how each Pueblo tradition incorporates floral elements in distinctive ways, from Acoma's fine-line painting with rain parrots surrounded by flowers to Hopi's stylized agricultural symbols.
One notable example is at Laguna and Acoma Pueblos (New Mexico), where fine-line painting is a hallmark. Potterers use delicate black lines on white clay to form complex geometric meshes, which often resolve into large floral patterns when viewed from a slight distance. In fact, Laguna pottery is known for designs that resemble flowers or radiating blossoms created purely from intricate lines. A common motif in Acoma pottery is the “rain parrot” – often depicted with a small spray of flowers or a floral element nearby. The parrot (a bird associated with bringing rain from far lands) is sometimes shown holding or surrounded by stylized blossoms, symbolizing the precious flowers and crops that bloom after much-needed rain. Similarly, some Hopi and Zuni pots include stylized plant forms like corn flowers, squash blossoms, or water lilies, connecting the vessel’s art to prayers for agricultural fertility and rainfall.
Weaving and Basketry Patterns
Floral themes also appear in textile arts and basket weaving among American Indian artisans. In many cases these are stylized or abstract, but they are often explicitly named after flowers.
In basketry, several tribes created patterns that either represent flowers or use floral names. For example, Western Apache and Pima (Akimel O’odham) coiled baskets from Arizona sometimes feature a design known as the “sunflower pattern.” This design consists of a radiating motif in dark willow or devil’s claw fiber on light willow, resembling the round center and petals of a sunflower. Antique Apache baskets made for sale in the early 20th century proudly display such sunflower or daisy-like designs, which appealed to tourists and also reflected the importance of wildflowers in the desert landscape. Similarly, Apache and Pima basket makers would often weave a star pattern (four or eight pointed) that they referred to as a “flower” or “blossom” design. These baskets were both utilitarian and ceremonial – a basket with a blossom could be used to winnow grain or as a gift at weddings, symbolizing fertility and abundance through its flower motif.
Moving west and north, we find that California and Northwest Coast tribes also included floral imagery in certain woven works. The Pomo people of California, famous for feathered gift baskets, sometimes arranged dyed feathers and shell beads in rosette patterns that suggest flowers. In Alaska, the Unangan (Aleut) weavers – who make extremely fine grass baskets – created some late-19th-century pieces with literal pictorial designs. One remarkable Aleut basket has a “basket-of-flowers” motif woven into its side, showing a small basket filled with blossoms as a design element. This was likely influenced by Victorian designs and made for trade, yet it demonstrates the adaptability of Native weavers in including new floral themes. Even the traditionally geometric Tlingit and Haida baskets (tightly woven spruce root) evolved to have dyed patterns; while they mostly feature zigzags and clan crests, some rare examples include floral forms, especially as artists innovated for the curio market.
Sunflower Pattern
Feathered Rosette
Basket of Flowers
Ribbon Appliqué
Tree of Life with Corn Blossoms
Quilled Rose Pattern
This visualization displays the regional distribution of floral motifs in Native American textile and basketry traditions. Rather than using a geographical map that might not render well on mobile devices, the information is presented as a card-based gallery showing representative examples from each region with their distinctive floral patterns. The percentage bars quantify the prevalence of floral imagery across different art forms, highlighting how the Great Lakes ribbon appliqué and Northeastern quillwork incorporated the highest percentage of floral designs. Each illustration preserves the distinctive character of the regional design approach while making the information accessible on screens of all sizes.
In loom weaving and textiles, florals played a subtler role. Navajo weavings (rugs), for instance, are known for bold geometric designs and sacred symbols, but in the late 19th and 20th centuries Navajo weavers produced pictorial rugs that sometimes included flowers. These pictorial designs might show a vase of flowers, or more commonly, elements of nature like corn plants with blossoms, as part of the scene. One well-known Navajo motif is the Tree-of-Life rug, depicting a corn stalk growing from a basket with birds and occasionally flowers around – symbolizing the growth of life and prosperity. Meanwhile, in the Great Lakes and Woodlands, women practiced ribbon work and floral appliqué on cloth after contact. Tribes like the Ottawa, Potawatomi, and Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) developed gorgeous ribbon appliqué designs for skirts and blankets featuring symmetrical floral patterns. These cloth decorations extended the beadwork aesthetic onto fabric, ensuring that clothing would “bloom” with flowers as much as regalia did. Some early 20th-century Ho-Chunk and Ojibwe dancers’ outfits, for example, have large fabric flowers cut from ribbons, echoing the beadwork on their bandolier bags.
Even porcupine quillwork – an older art that typically used angular patterns on birchbark – began to show flowers. In the northeastern U.S., Mi’kmaq and Abenaki artisans in the 1700s made quillwork boxes for the tourist trade with naturalistic floral scenes on them, combining European floral embroidery styles with Native quill techniques. The result was birchbark rattles and containers covered in roses, lilies, and other garden blooms rendered in dyed quills – one more example of how Native craftswomen seamlessly blended traditions to enrich their floral art.
Across all these weaving traditions, floral designs often carry symbolic weight. A flower’s blooming might represent the coming of age (as in girls’ puberty ceremonies marked by painted flower symbols in some tribes), or the blessing of corn pollen (in Navajo textiles, a cross or blossom can signify the gift of pollen and thus harmony). The repetition of flower patterns in a circle on a basket could invoke the cycle of seasons and the continuous rebirth of the land. Thus, whether subtly woven or boldly beaded, flowers in Native folk arts serve both an aesthetic purpose and a storytelling one, connecting daily objects to broader themes of life, growth, and hope.
Painting and Other Decorative Arts
Flowers have also been depicted in Native American painting and other decorative arts, though often in less obvious ways than beadwork or pottery. Traditionally, many tribes used painting (on animal hides, tipis, rocks, or bodies) to record visions, battles, or ceremonial concepts – subjects that didn’t always include flowers explicitly. However, floral elements did appear in ceremonial contexts and later art forms.
In some Plains tribes, for example, the hide paintings on tipis and garments might include floral decorative borders. A Lakota or Cheyenne warrior’s outfit in the nineteenth century could be painted with abstract designs representing thunder or animals, but the craftspeople might add small floral motifs on the fringes or as background. Additionally, in Sioux culture after 1880, women began painting or embroidering realistic wildflowers on items like tipi liners and dance shawls, an influence of Victorian botanical illustrations. These served as embellishments that honored the land’s beauty.
Ceremonial sandpaintings (such as those by the Navajo in healing ceremonies) include highly symbolic representations of plants and flowers. In Navajo sand art, the Holy People are often shown holding spiritual items like healing herbs or pollen bags, which sometimes resemble flowers. Four sacred plants (corn, beans, squash, and tobacco) are central to Navajo beliefs, and their blossoms or leaves can be stylized in sandpaintings. For instance, corn pollen – considered the essence of life and beauty – is symbolized by yellow powder and sometimes illustrated as a yellow flower or star shape in the sandpainting’s design. Thus, while not “folk art” sold to the public, these ritual paintings are an indigenous art form where flowers equate to blessings (blossoms = the land’s bounty).
In the 20th century, a new generation of Native American fine artists and illustrators deliberately drew on traditional floral art for inspiration. The “Kiowa Five” artists of the 1920s (Oklahoma) mostly painted figures and legends, but in backgrounds they occasionally added stylized flowers or plants to signify the natural setting of their stories. More directly, artists of the Woodland School of Art (emerging in the mid-20th century, largely among Ojibwe and Cree in the Great Lakes) embraced the ancient practice of depicting spirits and nature with flowing lines. Painters like Norval Morrisseau (Ojibwe, though from Canada) used vivid colors and curvilinear forms, often including flower and plant motifs entwined with animals and people to show the interdependence of life. His legacy influenced many Native painters in the northern U.S. to incorporate floral patterns reminiscent of beadwork into modern painting.
A striking example of bridging folk art and painting is found in the work of Patrick DesJarlait (Ojibwe). DesJarlait, a modernist painter from Red Lake, Minnesota, in the 1940s created paintings that observers compared to Ojibwe beadwork and quillwork – full of vibrant colors and rhythmic floral-geometric patterns. He himself acknowledged, “I think my color and design comes from the Indian craftwork such as beadwork and porcupine quillwork which I have seen all my life.” In other words, the floral folk art tradition directly informed his fine art compositions. His son, Robert DesJarlait, also an artist, continued this integration. Since the 1980s, Robert often incorporates waabigwan mazina’iganan (floral designs) from historical bandolier bags and leggings into his paintings of contemporary Native life. In one piece titled “Dance of Hope,” he painted an Ojibwe jingle dress dancer surrounded by swirling floral motifs, adapting actual 19th-century beadwork patterns into the painted environment. In another recent painting (“Gentlewoman and Baby”), he placed autumn maple leaves and floral designs prominently in the scene with a mother and child, essentially bringing the traditional floral symbols into a modern storytelling context.
This visualization illustrates the evolution of floral motifs in Native American painting and decorative arts from pre-1880 to the present day. The timeline highlights key developments mentioned in the text, from the subtle floral borders in traditional hide paintings to the explicit incorporation of beadwork-inspired floral patterns in contemporary Native art. The influence diagram below shows how traditional folk art forms influenced modern Native painting through transitional movements like Early Native Modernism, the Woodland School of Art, and ceremonial art traditions. The visualization demonstrates how floral imagery, though historically less dominant in painting than in beadwork, has become increasingly important as Native artists deliberately draw on traditional floral patterns to express indigenous identity in contemporary contexts.
Beyond canvas painting, contemporary Native artisans use floral designs in quillwork pictures, ledger art, and even murals. Some Lakota ledger artists today (who draw or paint scenes on old ledger paper, honoring the 1870s tradition) incorporate floral beadwork patterns as decorative elements in their drawings – for example, drawing the floral beadwork that would adorn a depicted woman’s dress or a cradleboard. Muralists and graphic artists in Native communities have also started using traditional motifs (including flowers) in street art and community murals to celebrate heritage. The presence of a huge painted flower inspired by a Cree rose pattern on an inner-city wall can be a proud statement of indigenous identity blooming in an urban landscape.
In summary, while painting and graphic arts were not historically dominated by floral imagery in the same way as beadwork or basketry, the influence of those craft traditions has spilled over. Today one can find flowers, leaves, and vines – drawn from generations of folk art – thriving in all forms of Native American visual expression.
Contemporary Influence and Revival of Floral Motifs
Floral motifs remain a vibrant and enduring influence in contemporary American Indian art and creativity. In many Native communities, artists are actively reviving traditional flower designs and adapting them to new mediums, ensuring that this rich heritage continues to blossom for future generations. Both in ceremonial life and the commercial art world, flowers serve as a link between past and present for Native Americans.
One of the most visible arenas of continuity is in powwow regalia and modern fashion. Today, if you attend a powwow or Native festival, you will see dancers – men, women, and children – wearing elaborately beaded outfits. Many of these feature the same kinds of floral patterns that their great-great-grandmothers perfected. Ojibwe and Cree jingle dress dancers, for instance, often have floral beadwork covering their dresses, leggings, or purses, showcasing the woodland style in full color. Crow and Lakota bead artists also continue to create floral designs on powwow shawls, vests, and cradleboards, even though geometric designs are also common. This blending of styles is a testament to personal preference and intertribal exchange. Young artisans take pride in learning these old techniques: as one Dene beader in a recent Vogue interview noted, “It is our duty to carry this forward,” and she creates floral earrings and accessories that honor her ancestors’ styles while appealing to modern tastes. Indeed, contemporary Native fashion designers incorporate floral beadwork into items like baseball caps, high-top sneakers, and evening gowns, merging street style with tradition. The patterns might be centuries-old, but their placement on new forms makes them fresh and innovative.
There is also a thriving community of indigenous beaders and craftspeople online who share and sell their work, spreading floral designs worldwide. Many of these artists explicitly draw on their tribal floral aesthetics. For example, an Ojibwe beader might use the double-curved stems and flowers typical of her nation’s art, but apply them to a pair of beaded earrings or a pendant necklace. One collective of artists states, “The main focus in my work is combining my style of Ojibwe floral paintings into my beadwork to create unique pieces of wearable art!” – a perfect encapsulation of how modern creators blend fine art and folk art. Through platforms like Etsy and Instagram, Native artists sell contemporary pieces that feature traditional roses, lilies, and abstract blossoms rendered in beads, quills, or even laser-cut wood. This not only provides economic opportunities but also educates buyers about the beauty and meaning of Native floral art.
In the fine art world, established and emerging Native American artists continue to reference floral motifs as a form of cultural affirmation. We discussed Robert DesJarlait’s work bringing beadwork designs into painting; he is not alone. Artists from various nations – for example, Yatika Starr Fields (Cherokee/Creek) in his energetic murals, or Catherine Blackburn (Dene) in her mixed-media beadwork portraits – incorporate floral designs to symbolize the life force and identity of Native peoples. Blackburn, for instance, created a series of jewelry and portraits where she bead-embroidered classical European portrait costumes with Dene-inspired floral patterns, commenting on colonization while celebrating indigenous design. Another artist, Jamie Okuma (Luiseño/Shoshone-Bannock), known for fashion and beadwork, often covers entire high-heel shoes or designer handbags with vintage-style Native floral beadwork, bridging haute couture and heritage. These contemporary works underscore that flower imagery is not stuck in the past – it continues to evolve and inspire.
Exhibitions and museums are also highlighting the ongoing legacy of Native floral art. The Autry Museum’s “Floral Journey” exhibit (2014) not only showcased historical beadwork but also placed contemporary pieces alongside, demonstrating that the beadwork tradition “continues to thrive” with fresh perspectives from today’s Native artists. Quotes from modern artisans accompanied the displays, reinforcing how flowers remain “a venue for the Native voice to shine through,” whether in a 1870s Ottawa purse or a 2020 beaded skateboarding shoe. Such exhibits have ignited renewed interest and pride in floral folk art, encouraging cultural programs where elders teach youth the old floral techniques. For instance, community workshops on floral applique quilting (reviving the flower designs seen in Plains powwow quilts) or classes on birchbark biting (an Ojibwe art where women fold and bite patterns into bark, often creating snowflake-like flower designs) are increasingly popular in Native communities and intertribal events.
Moreover, symbolic and spiritual significance of flowers remains potent today. Many Native people incorporate real flowers into ceremonies – from Plains Sun Dance altars decorated with wildflowers to Southwest Pueblo dances where participants wear floral wreaths – reflecting the same reverence that is seen in the art. When contemporary artists use a certain flower in their design, it often connects to these cultural meanings. For example, a modern Cherokee painter might include the Cherokee Rose in a canvas to evoke the strength of her ancestors, or a Navajo silversmith might carve a whirling log surrounded by four mountain floral motifs to symbolize the healing journey. By embedding these symbols in modern artworks, they keep their cultures’ philosophies in circulation.
In summary, flowers continue to influence American Indian art in the present day as a dynamic link between heritage and innovation. Whether through the meticulous revival of old beadwork patterns or the bold creation of new cross-cultural artworks, indigenous artists treat floral motifs as a living language. This language speaks of love for the land, memory of ancestors, and hope for the future – themes as alive now as ever. Just as a desert flower blooms after a storm, Native floral art keeps blooming anew with each generation, ensuring that the story of these motifs is far from finished.
Conclusion
From ancient quillwork to digital prints, the floral thread weaves persistently through the tapestry of American Indian folk art. Historically, flowers in Native art carried profound meanings – embodying nature’s gifts, encoding sacred stories, and even safeguarding cultural identity under duress. Artisans expressed these themes in beadwork, pottery, weaving, painting and more, creating beautiful objects that were also repositories of knowledge and hope. Across diverse tribes and regions, floral designs became a shared visual language inspired by Mother Earth’s blooms.
In modern times, this language is continually being rediscovered and reimagined. Contemporary Native artists honor the legacy of floral motifs while applying them in new ways, from high fashion to fine art. The cultural significance – the respect for nature, the symbols of renewal and survival – remains at the heart of these designs, giving them enduring relevance. American Indian folk art shows that flowers, far from being mere decoration, are a vital form of expression, linking the wisdom of ancestors to the creativity of present and future generations.
Sources:
- Dubin, Lois Sherr. Floral Journey: Native North American Beadwork – Exhibition highlights (Autry Museum) themagazineantiques.com themagazineantiques.com
- Buermann, Emily. “Ojibwe Beadwork: A Floral Motif” – Becker County Museum (2025) beckercountyhistory.org beckercountyhistory.org
- “The Visual Language of Beadwork” – Cowboys & Indians Magazine (2016) cowboysindians.com cowboysindians.com
- University of Oregon Museum: Plains and Plateau Beadwork – on regional styles (n.d.) mnch.uoregon.edu
- DesJarlait, Robert. “The Contemporary Aesthetics of Anishinaabe Floral Art” – Fine Arts Blog (2020) robertdesjarlaitfinearts.com robertdesjarlaitfinearts.com
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Pueblo pottery” – design motifs overview britannica.com
- Palms Trading Co. Guide, “Pottery Designs & Styles” – note on Laguna floral patterns palmstrading.com
- Native Languages of the Americas – “Native American Flower Mythology” (legends index)native-languages.org
- National Park Service – “The Legend of the Cherokee Rose” (Trail of Tears story) gathertales.com ya-native.com
