Native Plant Use
1. Larrea tridentata (Creosote bush) Zygophyllaceae
(Caltrop family). –
1.
The most,
ubiquitous, and characteristic shrub of the Mojave and southwestern
deserts.
2.
Wood was burned
for fuel.
3.
Wood was used for
digging sticks, tool handles.
4.
Branches were
used to build summer shades against desert heat.
5.
The lac, a sticky exudate made by
insects, was an important glue, binding agent, and sealant. Creosote bush lac has been identified on archaeological arrow and spear
points and knives, indicating that it was commonly used to hold the stone tool
or bone awl in its shaft.
6.
Lac was used to
mend pottery and waterproof baskets.
7.
Southern Paiute considered the plant a cure-all, with various teas,
formulas, and baths devised to help measles, rheumatism, cramps (tea), chicken
pox, sores (lotion), venereal disease (tea).
8.
Boiled leaves
used as a liniment.
9.
Antimicrobial
activity.
10. Has the ability to inhibit aerobic combustion of the
mitochondria of the cells. In the desert, oils leeched out to the surrounding
soils inhibit seeds from burning up their sugars; the seeds can’t sprout unless
the oils are washed away by heavy rains (allelopathic).
11. Today chemists obtain a remarkable drug which is used
commercially to delay or prevent butter, oils, and fats from turning rancid.
The drug is being produced in large quantities from the leaves and twigs of the
plant (antioxidant abilities). Essentially used for oils you aren’t going to
cook with: massage, ointments, or salves.
12. Leaves were burned during religious ceremonies.
13. Experimental test of its cancer-curing properties have
been inconsistent; however, recent cases of liver damage have been associated
with internal use of creosote.
2.Ephedra spp. (Mormon tea, Indian tea). Ephedraceae (Joint-fir family).
Medicinal qualities of the tea were well-known: used to treat a variety of ailments,
including stomach, kidney, and other internal disorders.
1.
Dioecious, gymnosperm, with jointed green photosynthetic stems,
and scale-like leaves arranged in 2s and 3s around the nodes (joints).
2.
Tea used to treat
venereal disease or stimulate urination (diuretic).
3.
Ephedra seeds were parched for eating. Bread was made from
the ground seeds into flour.
4.
Refreshing drink
was made by steeping the stems, either green or dried, in boiling water. Length
of time brewing depended on the strength of tea required.
5.
Tea also used as
a tonic for kidney ailments, to purify the blood, and for colds and stomach
disorders and ulcers.
6.
The dried stems
were ground to powder and used on open sores or mixed with the resin from pinyon pine and used as a salve. For burns this same salve
was used with a little added water to make it into a poultice.
7.
In
8.
This plant contains ephedrine and pseudoephedrine
which are used in over the counter medications for asthma (ephedrines)
and as a nasal decongestant (pseudoephedrine). Ma huang is also sold as a stimulant and weight-loss product.
3. Datura wrightii (Jimson weed, thorn apple). Solanaceae
(Nightshade family)
1.
Cosmopolitan
distribution, used by many indigenous peoples for both medicinal and
hallucinogenic purposes..
2.
Generic name is
based on a Sanskrit word dhatura, meaning poison,
reflecting its toxic properties.
3.
Datura stramonium is cultivated for its scopolamine content, used today for motion sickness and its
sedative effects.
4.
Common name, jimsonweed or
5.
Local plant is Datura wrightii.
It’s a sprawling perennial with an enormous taproot, that
may extend 2’ into the ground.
6.
The whole of the
plant contains tropane alkaloids: atropine, hyoscyamine, scopolamine
a. they affect the central nervous system
b. they relax smooth muscles
c. dilate the
pupils of the eye (atropine: once considered to be a beautiful and mysterious
look in Italian women – belladonna means “beautiful lady”, so named because sap
from the closely related belladonna plant, Atropa belladonna, was used as eyedrops to
dilate pupils.)
c.
dilate blood
vessels
d.
increase heart
rate and body temperature
e.
induce sleep and
lessen pain
f.
stimulates and
then depresses central nervous system
g.
induce
hallucinations
h.
as a group tropane alkaloids
are extremely toxic, capable of inducing coma and death due to respiratory
arrest.
i.
they can be absorbed thru the skin and mucous membranes
(they are fat soluble).
7.
Uses
In
ancient
Thieves
in
In
Salves and ointments were applied to
various parts of the body.
Witches putatively rubbed their bodies with the
hallucinogenic ointments of belladonna, mandrake, and datura.
Much of the behavior associated with witches is as
readily attributable to these drugs as to any spiritual communion with demons.
A particularly convenient method of self-administering
the drug is thru the moist tissues of the vagina – the witches’ broomstick
being the effective applicator.
The common image of a haggard woman on a broomstick
comes from the belief that the witches rode their staffs each midnight to the sabbat (orgiastic assembly of demons and sorcerers). It now
appears that their journey was not thru space but across the hallucinatory
landscape of their own minds.
Some aboriginal Indians in
Probably the best know use of datura
among the North American Indian tribes (Algonquin) was the puberty ceremonial
dances involving the drinking of a “toloache” (datura) infusion by young boys preparing to enter manhood.
Adolescents were confined to a longhouse for up to 2
weeks sand fed a beverage based in part on datura.
During the extended intoxication, and subsequent amnesia (a pharmacological
feature of the drug) the young boy forgot what it was to be a child so that he
might learn with it meant to be a man.
4. Prosopis spp. (
1. Important food throughout
the southwest.
2. The plant grows as a shrub
in washes, dunes, and low-lying places of the
3. Green pods of spring were
roasted over hot stones to make a tart food, or boiled and eaten like string
beans.
4. Ripened, but not yet dried,
pods were pounded to make a sweet drink.
5. Ripened and dried pods were
pounded on a metate
(flat stone) into a meal (flour). The meal was made into a mush that was the
base or many stews, or formed into a cake (trail food or stored for later use).
(Two women pounding away could produce about 88 lbs of flour in a day, if a
helper supplied them with seeds. Enough food energy for 3 adults for 3 weeks).
6. Sweet pods made a molasses.
7. Wood was used in construction
and for firewood. Excellent cooking fuel because coals hold heat for a long
time. High specific gravity for wood (dense). Charcoal.
8. Charcoal was used for
tattooing.
9.
10. Arrow tips were fashioned
from the fire-hardened mesquite tips, attaching them to shafts of common reed (Phragmites australis)
with an adhesive made from creosote bush lac.
11. Gum, which exudes from cuts
in the trunk of the tree (and is water soluble) was
edible. Dissolved in water, it was used to ease sore throats, and as a lotion
for sore eyes. It was used as glue and as a black dye for decorating pottery.
The boiled gum, mixed with mud, was plastered on the hair by both men and
women, and left for a day or two. When the “pack” was washed off, it left the
hair black, glossy, and free of lice.
12. Trees were used for shade.
13. Nitrogen-fixer: associated
with the Rhizobium
bacterial nodules in a mutualistically beneficial
relationship.
5. Yucca spp. (Spanish bayonet/Mojave
yucca, Banana yucca, Joshua-tree). Agavaceae (Century
plant family)
1. Small fruits of the yuccas
were occasionally roasted and eaten. Banana yucca fruits (Y. baccata) were gathered in the fall, cut into strips, and the
flesh dried for storage. Dried fruit was sweet and eaten as dried apples, or
they were ground into flour and made into cakes or mush.
2. Fruit of Y. brevifolia (Joshua-tree) were
pit-roasted like agave heads; cut in half and placed
on top of dirt-covered coals in a pit, then sealed over with dirt and steamed
for a couple of days.
3. Occasionally the flowers
were eaten.
4. The strong leaf fibers were
used for making baskets, sandals, cordage, and rough cloth. Baskets were
particularly important to SW desert tribal people because pottery-making was
known to only a few desert and river Indian tribes; most were dependant u[on baskets for cooking, storage, and carrying vessels.
a. To obtain fibers, green
leaves were soaked in water, then pounded on a flat rock with a wooden mallet
or stone, and plunged into the water from time to time during the process to
wash out the skin and softer tissues, leaving behind the fibers (decortication).
5. The pithy insides of the
Mojave yucca leaves and roots (saponins) were used as
a soap and shampoo (emollient). Saponins are also
said to be effective in reducing blood cholesterol levels.
6. Leaves were also tied
together to make a slow match for carrying fire.
7. Strands from roots of the Joshua-tree
(Y. brevifolia) were used for red or
brown design elements in basketry.
8. During WWI, ca. 8 million
lbs. of burlap and bagging material were made from Yucca fibers. During WWII,
strong wood from Joshua-tree was used for making splints. Fortunately, this
practice has been discontinued since Joshua-tree is very slow growing, and any
extensive use of the wood might seriously reduce the numbers of this historic
species.
6. Opuntia basilaris (Beavertail cactus). Cactaceae
(Cactus family)
1. Fruits were eaten fresh or
dried, known as tunas.
2. Fruits still made into
jelly.
3. Dried pads were boiled with
a little salt and eaten, referred to as nopales.
4. Cactus blossoms and buds
were collected and eaten in the spring.
5. Prickly fuzz from the pads (glochids) were rubbed into warts
to remove the growths.
6. The scale that often attacks
the pads of a variety of species of Opuntia (prickly pears), the female Cochineal scale, was
used for its crimson red coloring as a dye. It had been used for the regal
purple robes of Aztec emperors, the redcoats of the British army in the
Revolutionary War, used in Maraschino cherries, lipstick, and litmus paper.
7. The pulp of the beavertail
pads were scraped out and used as a dressing on cuts and wounds.
7. Agave utahensis
(Century plant or Mescal plant) Agavaceae (Century
plant family)
Grows
chiefly in rocky, mountainous areas. In spring, if the plant is going to flower
(it is monocarpic and has but 1 flowering event in
its lifetime; often takes about 25 yrs before it flowers, then it dies, giving
over to the pups that is has spawned.) the flower buds shoot up from the center
of the rosettes. Indians came in large numbers where these plants grew in
abundance. They camped for weeks at a time, gathering, cooking, eating, and
preserving the Agave “heads”.
The
“heads” were gathered in spring when the flower buds were just beginning to
shoot up from the rosette of leaves, just as the Agaves approached sexual
maturity. The mescaleros (or
Agave/mescal harvesters) were able to tell when the
plant was ready for harvesting by the way the lower leaves would spread apart
(to make way for the burgeoning flower stalk?) and the way the base of the
plant would swell with succulence. This was the time of maximal production of
the carbohydrates that would eventually nourish the developing inflorescence.
The mescaleros would also
harvest agaves which had already begun to put up flower stalks from the center
of it rosette of sword-like leaves. Before the flower stalk got too large,
expending its caloric supply the century plant had been storing over its
lifetime, it is carefully “castrated”, cut back to its base with a machete.
Instead of being converted fro growth into a huge flowering branch, the plant’s
carbohydrates simply well up into the leaf bases of the plant over the following
2 or 3 months, making the heart of the plant sweeter.
The
buds were cut out from the plant crowns with a long lever of stout wood,
beveled at one end to cut the “cabbage” loose. The heads were collected in huge
quantities and the cooking became a communal project.
When
the baked heads were taken from the pits, the charred outer leaves were
stripped, leaving a brown juicy mass, very sweet and nutritious. A lg.quantity was eaten right out of the pit; some were
worked into cakes, dried and redried for winter
storage. Dried products were used for bartering with
neighboring tribes and was a very similar product as that made from
Yucca fruit.
Fibers - extracted from dried leaves by beating, and from
the fresh leaves by soaking and rotting off the pulp and outer skin, in much
the same way Yucca fibers were made. Dead leaves contained the stoutest fibers,
and varying thicknesses of cord and rope were made by twisting together two or
more strands of the rolled cord. String of the fiber was often rolled on the
bare thigh by women; cordage made in this way was said to be the strongest and
used in bow strings, carrying nets, and baby hammocks.
Women
also made use of charcoal from burned Agave for
tattooing by pricking in the bluish-black patterns with a thorn of cactus, Opuntia.
Drink source
– the two main liquid products of Agave are aguamiel (honeywater) in its
fresh state, and ‘pulque’ when fermented. The
distilled product is known as mescal, which if manufactured in the region of
Tequila from an authorized distillery is ‘tequilla’.
Agave
roasting pit - earth ovens: a pit dug
in the ground, lined with rocks, and heated by building a fire in it. When the
rock lining the pit was thoroughly heated the fire was raked out and the food
was placed in the hot pit, covered with leaves, and then banked over with earth
and sometimes more rock. Agave heads were usually
kept in the pit for 24 hours.
The
pits were often 1.5’-2’ deep. Great care was taken in selecting the fuel so
that none was used which would give the finished product a bitter or
undesirable taste. Roasting pits could be up to 9’ in diameter, and were used
repeatedly season after season.
8. Nicotiana obtusifolia
(Indian tobacco) Solanaceae (Nightshade family) Common
on ledges and cliff bases (limestone);
Dried
and smoked in pipes for pleasure, as well as for medicinal and ceremonial
purposes.
Smoking
was chiefly done after the evening meal, in the sweathouses, before going to
sleep. It was a social ritual, and the pipe was passed around.
Also
used as a painkiller for ear and toothaches.
Crushed
leaves were used as a poultice to soothe rheumatic and other swellings, and to
treat eczema and other skin ailments. Smoking was said to cure colds
9.
Quercus spp. (Oaks) Fagaceae (Oak
family)
1. Gathered acorns were leached of their tannins (with
water), and pounded into a meal for flour (pinole) to
be used as cakes, or a thick soup (atole).
2. Breads were often mixed with red clay to sweeten it.
3. Bark was used for curing hides (tannins) and making
dyes.
4. The bark was also used, much the same way the bark of Cinchona (quinine) was used – to reduce
fevers.
10.
Pinus monophylla (Pinyon pine). Pinaceae (Pine family)
1. Found just above and with the sagebrush community in
southern
2. Wood was used in home construction and for poles.
3. Pine nuts – unopened pine cones were beaten from trees
with long poles, gathered up by women and children into heaps, and set on fire
to burn off the waster-insoluble pitch, which is generally abundant on the
green cones. Seeds were separated from the charred cones and could be eaten dry
or roasted.
4. The resin (or pitch) was used as glue and as a
sealant. Heated, it was used to draw out splinters and toxins from insect
bites. It was also made into a paste and used as a liniment for muscle
soreness.
5. The gums (water soluble) were used medicinally;
dissolved in water it was used to soothe a sore throat; as a tea it was used to
cure rheumatism, TB, the flu, and indigestion.
11. Lophophora williamsii (Peyote) Cactaceae (Cactus
family) – Probably the most famous New World hallucinogenic plant is peyote, a
small, spineless, globose gray-green cactus native to
the Rio Grande valley of Texas and northern Mexico.
It is unknown when peyote was
first used, but 16th century reports by European explorers describe
its use by Aztecs as a divinatory plant.
These accounts refer to
peyote as the "diabolic root", because the Spanish observed the
Aztecs using the plant ritualistically.
a.
The Spanish tried to ban the use of peyote by native Indians.
After the collapse of the
Aztec empire the use of peyote survived among a few Mexican Indian tribes such
as the Huichol and the Tarahumara.
In the
Indians harvested the plant
by cutting off the top of the spineless cactus and leaving the sturdy taproot
for regeneration.
The stem tips, called
buttons, were either eaten fresh or dried for later consumption.
a.
Dried, the
buttons can keep indefinitely, without losing hallucinogenic properties because
the active ingredient isn't volatile.
b.
Buttons require a
period of softening, either in the mouth or by soaking water, before they can
be swallowed.
The initial experience of
peyote after swallowing is nausea, which gives way to kaleidoscopic visions and
hallucinations after a few hours.
During this period, which
last from 5-12 hours, the faithful report hearing the voices of their ancestors,
who help them diagnose and cure their problems.
Alkaloids
Peyote consists of 30-40
different alkaloids, with mescaline the most active hallucinogen in the group.
Law
There is no evidence that
either peyote of pure mescaline is addicting, but both the plant and the
compound are illegal to possess or sell in the
1.
However, one
religious sect, the Native American Church, uses peyote as an integral part of
its services.
a.
Origins of Native
American church goes back to the 1870s, when the Kiowa and Comanche Indians
learned of peyote from the tribes of northern Mexico, and brought the plant
back with them to Oklahoma (then Indian Territory).
b.
The latter half
of the 19th century was a time of turmoil and humiliation for the
American Indian tribes.
1.
Their pristine
hunting lands were gradually being taken away from them.
2.
They were
swindled by Federal authorities.
3.
They were forced
to move to reservations far from their homes.
4.
They were forced
to attend schools that denied their heritage.
5.
They were
corrupted by the white man's alcohol.
6.
And they had
Christianity forced upon them by missionaries.
c.
Quanah parker,
son of a Comanche war chief, fashioned a series of ceremonies, with cultural
elements from Comanche, Kiowa, Apache, and parts of Christianity, and thereby
sowed the seeds of a peyote religion that he hoped would bring dignity, the
hope for survival, and spiritual sustenance to the native peoples.
d.
The cult grew
very rapidly, especially in the southwest, and they formally incorporated
themselves into the
e.
The church was
initially granted the right to use peyote as a sacramental plant by the Supreme
Court, but later, in 1990, restricted that right by upholding
12.
Washingtonia filifera (Palms). Arecaceae (Palm
family)
1. Native palm has been relegated to oasis areas, areas
with substantial water (seeps, high water table), and winter rains. They are
mostly relicts left over from earlier climates which were more favorable for
the average palm – not as cold, not as dry.
2. Used as food from their copious fruit.
3. Used for fiber – sandals, skirts, trays, baskets.
4. Petioles were used as spoons and digging sticks
(shovels).
5. Fronds were used as thatch for armadas (gazebos).
6. Wood used in construction.
7. Pith used for fire – quick fuel, easily
combustible.
13. Typha sp.
(Cattails) Typhaceae (Cattail family) – perennial
aquatic plant that grows in dense colonies and reaches 10-12’ in height. Alkaline and saturated soils. The upper part of the spiked
inflorescence contains the male pollinating flowers, whereas the lower part
contains the female flowers which eventually become seeds. The brown female
spikes ripen in the summer and break open in the fall, releasing millions of
tiny seeds along with copious amounts of light brown fluff in to the breeze.
1.
Starchy rhizomes
and tender shoots were eaten in winter and spring.
2.
Pollen, rich in
food energy, was collected in summer to make nutritious cakes.
3.
Seeds were also
eaten. They were collected by flash-burning the fluff, then
winnowed in a basket to remove any burned fluff and concentrate the toasted
seed.
4.
Shoots and stems
were used for making decoys, baskets, sweathouse mats, shelters and boats.
5.
Sheaves of leaves
were used to make shingles to cover houses.
6.
Dried stems and
fluff were occasionally used as tinder for fire.
7.
The flowering
heads were sometimes eaten to stop diarrhea.
14. Salix spp. (Willow)
Salicaceae (Willow family) –
1.
Young shoots and
branches were important in the manufacture of baskets, water jugs, and
cradleboards. One of the most important basketry material
in the region. Appropriate stems were cut in winter, before leaves sprouted.
Material was soaked to be made pliable.
2.
Larger stems and
branches were used in construction, walls and posts of dwellings.
3.
Stems were used
for hunting bows and arrows.
4.
A tea made from
boiled twigs was used for venereal disease.
5.
Charcoal made
from willow roots was formed into pills for the treatment of dysentery and
influenza.
6.
Young twigs
steeped in water made a laxative.
7.
Mashed roots
applied to gums eased toothache. An extract from boiled leaves and twigs rubbed
into the scalp prevented dandruff.
8.
Medicinal uses:
to relieve pain, the bark was either chewed of boiled to make a tea to obtain
the salicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin.
a.
The most widely
used synthetic drug, its origin is botanical.
b.
The bark of
willow trees (Salix spp.) has long been
known as an effective treatment for reducing fever and relieving pain.
c.
The ancient
Greeks used an infusion of the bark from white willow (S.alba) to treat gout,
rheumatism, pain, and fever. Many Native American tribes independently
discovered the healing powers of the willow bark.
d.
In 1828, salicin was isolated from the willow bark. Salicin is an glycoside of
salicylic acid (salicylates occur widely in species
of Salix as well as Spirea ulmaria,
poplars (Populus),
and wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens).
e.
Salicylic acid
was used for rheumatic fever, gout, rheumatoid arthritis, but is today
primarily used topically to treat skin ailments, like the removal of warts and
corns.
f.
In 1898, while
looking for a compound that caused less gastric distress, Felix Hoffman, a
chemist with Bayer Co., came across acetylsalicylic acid in the chemical
literature. This new compound was called aspirin: “a” from acetylsalicylic
acid, and “spirin” from Spirea, the plant from which
salicylic acid was first isolated. Salicin and
salicylic acid refer to its Salix
origin.
g.
Aspirin is valued
for:
i.
anti inflammatory
properties
ii.
antipyretic
(fever-reducing)
iii.
analgesic
(pain-relieving)
iv.
prevention of heart attacks - administration of aspirin
following a heart attack or stroke reduces the risk of a second heart attack or
stroke. It also statistically reduces the likelihood of an initial heart attack
in men, and studies show it probably also has prophylactic effects with women
as well.
v.
aspirin suppresses the aggregation of blood platelets, a
necessary step in the formation of blood clots that can block blood vessels and
lead to heart attacks and strokes.
vi.
Aspirin
suppresses prostaglandins (grp of local hormones): an
overproduction of prostaglandins leads to headaches, fever, menstrual cramps,
blood clots, inflammation, and other complaints. Prostaglandins
also prevent the overproduction of acid in the stomach, and promotes the
secretion of mucus that blocks self-digestion of the stomach lining. So,
coupled with relief from headaches, menstrual cramps, fevers, etc, comes
irritation of the stomach lining with the administration of aspirin.
vii.
Salicylic acid
may be a naturally occurring plant hormone involved in a number of reactions,
including plant protection. It may be the signal that turns on a plant’s systemic
acquired response, a plant defense against secondary infections. This may
result in synthesis of specific proteins that increase resistance. The external
application of salicylic acid (or even aspirin - acetylsalicylic acid) to
plants will also stimulate this immune response. It was recently discovered
that stimulation of salicylic acid in an infected plant can also turn on
responses in neighboring plants. Some of the salicylic acid was converted to
methyl salicylate, a volatile compound that readily
evaporated from the diseased areas of the plant. Healthy plants nearby absorbed
the airborne methyl salicylate molecules and
converted it back to salicylic acid. This stimulated defenses, making healthy
plants more resistant to this pathogen.