SSBMI Language Department

Shingle Springs Rancheria plant signage

The Language Department created this webpage in collaboration with our Summer Youth Interns and the Environmental Department as part of a plant signage project sharing information about plants found on the Shingle Springs Rancheria. You can use the search function below to look up individual plants by their Nisenan, English, or Latin names as well as use the links to learn more and listen to their Nisenan names.

Heads-up: This website highlights some of the plants growing on the rancheria, including those in the Tribal Community Garden, the arbor area, the Tribal Admin building, and other places. This is not an exhaustive list of all the plants growing on the rancheria nor is it an exhaustive list of all the plants for which there are Nisenan names. If you have any questions, please contact us at language@ssband.org.

Warning: Do not attempt any activities described on this site. The Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians ("Tribe") makes no guarantee as to their risks/safety and provides this information for educational purposes. Engaging in these activities may result in serious injury or death. The Tribe is not responsible for any harm resulting from attempting these activities.

Do you want to know more?

About the project: This website and the associated plant signage were created by staff in the Language and Environmental Departments and our Summer 2025 Youth Interns, Leon Valadez and Angel Bryant, to share information about plants found on the Shingle Springs Rancheria.

The information about plants that you will find on this site comes from a variety of sources, including plant guides created by the Environmental and Traditional Ecological Knowlege (TEK) Departments, the book "California Indians and their environment" by Lightfoot & Parrish (2009), and other sources about Nisenan lifeways like the book "The Valley Nisenan" by Kroeber (1929) and "Ethnology of the Nisenan" by Beals (1933).

About the language: The SSBMI Community has ancestral ties to the Valley & Southern Hill dialects of Nisenan through the Tribe's Matriarchs, Pamela Cleanso Adams and Annie Hill Murray Paris. Pamela spoke the Valley dialect and she, her brother Tom Cleanso, and her daughter Lillie Williams are responsible for passing on most of the knowledge we have of Valley Nisenan today. We have less direct information about Annie’s language; based on where she was from and documented language from her relations and associates, she likely spoke Southern Hill Nisenan.

The Nisenan language that we share is mainly from speakers of the Valley dialect like SSBMI Matriarch Pamela Cleanso Adams and her brother Tom Cleanso as well as speakers of the Southern Hill dialect like William Joseph, Ida Hill Starkey, and Charlie Hunchup. Valley and Southern Hill Nisenan are very similar to one another in their words and grammar; we note any differences between these dialects on this website.

Unless noted, all audio recordings are of Language Department staff. We are learners of the language and hope you will join us in learning too.

Questions? Please contact the Language Department at: Language@ssband.org or the Environmental Department at mrtayaba@ssband.org.

Webpage last updated: 2025-08-13