Edible, Medicinal, Material, Ceremonial: Contemporary Ethnobotany of Southern California Indians

Edible, Medicinal, Material, Ceremonial: Contemporary Ethnobotany of Southern California Indians 2010 Calendar When I gather plants, I try very hard to gather them in a good way. My mom always talked to plants, and she had the most beautiful plants you ever saw. I do talk to my plants when I’m walking around. And I do touch them a lot. They grow magnificently when I do that. —Barbara Drake Edible, Medicinal, Material, Ceremonial: Contemporary rights have become a source of conflict. Rules and regulations commercial and city landscaping. Two of our favorite nurseries Ethnobotany of Southern California Indians comes from our have been created by government agencies without consulting that sell natives are Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano work with southern California Indians and native plants. or considering Native people. These have a detrimental impact and Las Pilitas Nursery in Escondido. Both have great websites, Deborah Small is an artist, photographer and professor of on their health and culture. This is particularly disturbing be- and extremely knowledgeable and helpful people. In addition, Visual and Performing Arts at California State University San cause it has been the study of Native people and their cultural some of the plants we feature are available commercially. Both Marcos. Rose Ramirez is of Chumash descent, a California practices that has been the basis for much of our knowledge of the pads and the fruit of the prickly pear cactus are frequently Indian basketweaver, photographer, and board member of the sustainable land use and management. found in many markets. Chia seeds, now considered a super- non-profit American Indian Channel. We are honored to have food, can be purchased in health food stores and on the Web. worked with our knowledgeable and generous consultants and The information we have documented is not only for Native Useful websites for further research: photographic contributors. We have come together to docu- communities but for the larger society as well. In southern ment the contemporary uses of native plants of profound California, the heart of Native identity lies in the chaparral and Native Seeds SEARCH www.nativeseeds.org sage scrub covered hillsides, oak woodlands, riparian creeks, importance to the intellectual, spiritual, and cultural vitality of Theodore Payne Foundation www.theodorepayne.org Indian people. and desert regions. Our consultants are fierce advocates for Arizona Cactus Ranch www.arizonacactusranch.com these diverse ecological communities and the cultural tradi- Literature on Native uses of plants often refers to what people tions that both shape and are sustained by those communities. The Raw Food World www.therawfoodworld.com did in the past, using works by ethnographers, anthropologists People are not the only ones affected by environmental dam- Tree of Life Nursery www.californianativeplants.com and others who interviewed and observed Native people in the age. Bird, butterfly, insect, animal and plant communities are Las Pilitas Nursery www.laspilitas.com 19th and 20th centuries. The perhaps unintentional implica- severely ecologically challenged, with more rare, threatened, tion of this historical approach is that Native people no longer and endangered species in southern California than anywhere People now speak of the necessity for a major shift to a sustain- exist or that they are completely acculturated. else in the continental United States. To save our environment able society from our unsustainable and ultimately destructive is ultimately to save ourselves and all species with whom we way of life. In southern California, we have the opportunity to Many of our consultants are repositories of cultural knowledge, share this particular part of the planet. learn from people whose ancestors were here for thousands of eloquent defenders of the land, its sacredness for Indian people years, living in sustainable and ecologically viable communities. and its importance for all species who inhabit it. Some of our We hope that you enjoy the information and images. The consultants quietly create foods, baskets and ceremonies that Contemporary Ethnobotany of Southern California Indians is not Our consultants are deeply concerned about ecosystems that their ancestors created a thousand years ago. Others are reintro- a recipe book. We highly CAUTION the use of these plants: sustain species other than own. We want to encourage every- ducing native plants into their lives as part of the contempo- some are toxic or have toxic parts and require knowledge that one to fall deeply and intimately in love with our oak wood- rary revitalization of California native languages, songs, dances, we are not providing here. For many of our consultants, their lands and riparian streams, chaparral and sage scrub, to cuisines, and other cultural practices. knowledge was handed down through many generations. They embrace their sometimes harsh but always extraordinary have a great deal of respect for the power and the importance beauty, and finally, to speak for the community in the widest Today’s California Indians must confront pollution, pesticides, of native plants. sense possible, on behalf of all species. disappearing waterways and shrinking aquifers, the obliteration of gathering sites on private property, and trespassing charges We do not encourage anyone to wild gather, but we encour- There’s no place like home. on their ancestral homelands. Recently, issues about gathering age you to plant native plants in your home gardens and in Deergrass Deergrass, Muhlenbergia rigens, JANUARY 2010 Abe prefers to gather his deer- a perennial California native grass in its natural environment. bunchgrass, is used extensively SMTWTFS “If you grow it and water it too as the foundation for coiled much, the deergrass gets too thick. baskets. A crucial part of 1 2 When it grows in the wild, it’s making a basket is gathering going to stay thinner, and it’s going the materials. According to to be nicer” for basketry. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Abe Sanchez, “deergrass has its Justin Farmer describes deer- seasons. I’ve been able to gather it grass: “It has long leaves, grows in 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 as late as January or February. Any clumps, and sends up a fruit head later and it’s no good.” that may be four feet long.” 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Marian Walkingstick Deergrass is often used as a gathers her deergrass earlier: landscaping plant instead of the “November and December are 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 highly invasive pampas grass. good months to gather. It’s cold and brisk.” 31 According to Justin, deergrass must be burned or cut down periodi- cally to produce the best materials. Burning was a traditional land management practice used by Native Americans for thousands of years. Basketweavers agree that burning is the preferable method of tending deergrass, because it stimulates the growth and vigor of the plant and recycles nutrients by adding ash to the soil. Basketweavers prefer gathering deergrass stems in areas that have recently burned. When burning stands of deergrass is not possible, cutting the plant also works. “Sometime between March and May, I cut the grass to about six inches high,” Rose Ramirez says. “By July, the ﬂ owers are coming straight up. The leaves are green and the stalks golden. Very nice.” Deergrass is an important overwintering site for ladybugs. “When I harvest deergrass, Rose says, I tap the stalks to shake out as many seeds as possible for the songbirds that feast on them. I never take all the stalks. I only take a few from each plant so there’s some left for the wildlife.” Sacred Datura CAUTION: All parts of this plant are highly poisonous. FEBRUARY 2010 For Teodora Cuero, the datura leaf is “very medicinal. The leaf is good if you have a thorn that you can’t remove. Without washing it, put In Daniel Moerman’s comprehensive Native American Ethnobotany, SMTWTFS on olive oil, and then get the leaf of the toloache real hot and put it on he writes that Datura wrightii was considered the “most universally the thorn. The next morning, take it off and the thorn comes out.” used hallucinogenic and medicinal plant known to humans” by Luiseño, Kumeyaay, Cahuilla, Tongva, Chumash and other 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fabiola Toledo uses a strong tea of datura and yerba mansa to indigenous people of southern California and Baja. cleanse badly infected wounds and gangrene. All of our consultants suggest that without an appropriate 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Lori Sisquoc shares with us that she had been told by ceremony and knowledgeable guides, ingesting any part of the “Katherine Saubell and Alvino Siva that it’s one of our sacred plants, datura plant is often foolhardy and potentially fatal. An overdose 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 that the shamans used it for the boy’s coming-of-age. They would can cause convulsions, coma, or cardiac arrest. prepare it for them to see their vision, what they were going to be, what they were going to do, what their purpose was.” Lori relates datura’s According to the authors of Wild Plants and Native Peoples of the 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 healing properties as well: “You could also use parts of it if you broke Four Corners, sacred datura is an “hallucinogen, a potent narcotic, a bone, or extreme childbirth, for pain. I guess it takes you out of there. a medicine of magnificent potential,” but the authors qualify that 28 All parts are supposed to be usable. Or what they say is ‘toxic.’ I hate potential: “when used by a trained medicine person.” making it sound so bad. So all parts are powerful. I don’t know how to 31 prepare it or anything like that.

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