UC Merced Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology Title Ethnobotany of Devil's Claw (Proboscidea parviflora ssp. parviflora: Martyniaceae) in the Greater Southwest Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2dh2f8k2 Journal Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, 8(2) ISSN 0191-3557 Authors Bretting, P. K Nabhan, G. P Publication Date 1986-07-01 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology Vol 8, No. 2, pp. 226-237 (1986). Ethnobotany of Devil's Claw {Proboscidea parviflora ssp. parviflora: Martyniaceae) in the Greater Southwest P. K. BRETTING, Dept. of Crop Science, North Carolina State Univ., Box 7620, Raleigh, NC 27695-7620. G. P. NABHAN, Desert Botanical Garden, 1201N. Galvin Pkwy., Phoenix, AZ 85008. X HE importance of devil's claw (Probos­ outside of southern Arizona led to inaccurate cidea parviflora [Wool.] Wool, and Standi, estimates by floristic workers of its ecogeo- subsp./?a/v//7ora: Martyniaceae) to the native graphical distribution (with the notable cultures of the Greater Southwest has been exception of Hevly [1970]). generally unrecognized for several reasons. During our ongoing research (Nabhan et First, although the use in basketry of fibers al. 1981; Bretting 1982; Nabhan and Rea n.d.) from the claw-like appendages of the fruit we found that devil's claw has a much wider of this plant has long been known (see ecogeographical distribution and is (or was) Tanner [1983] for a review), it only recently important to many more native groups has been demonstrated that these cultures throughout the Greater Southwest than is domesticated devil's claw (Yarnell 1977; commonly known (Fig. 1). This report sum­ Nabhan et al. 1981; Bretting 1982). The marizes the native names, uses, and cultiva­ domesticate (var. Hohokamlana Bretting) has tion practices for devil's claw for that white seeds and disproportionately long, thin region. Herbarium specimens, ethnohistori- claws; the wild plants (var. parviflora) have cal, archaeological, and ethnological litera­ black seeds and generally shorter and ture were first surveyed; these references thicker claws (Nabhan et al 1981; Bretting were complemented and updated by recent 1986). Variety Hohokamlana occurs almost extensive fieldwork (by Nabhan) at more always under cultivation or close to fields than 30 different Indian reservations. With cultivated by native Americans. Variety this information it is possible to detail the parviflora is rarely cultivated; usually it widespread use of devil's claw in basketry grows "wild" in disturbed soil of arroyos, and its enigmatic role in the rituals of pastures, roadcuts, etc. Pueblo cultures. Hjrpotheses regarding the Second, the widely available anthropolog­ chronology and locality for the domestication ical, botanical, and ethnobotanical literature of this plant are also suggested. Processes often gives the misconception that devil's and routes of diffusion for the cultural trail claw occurs and is cultivated only in the of devil's claw cultivation and use are hy­ Pimeria Alta, the Papago-Pima (or O'odham) pothesized; these may be valuable to ethno­ region of Arizona and northern Sonora. logists and others perhaps not interested in Gumerman and Johnson (1971), for example, devWs claw per se. thought that devil's claw was a key cultural resource found only south of the Mogollon USE OF DEVIL'S CLAW IN BASKETRY Rim and thus served as an indicator species BY THE PIMA-PAPAGO for Sonoran desert cultures. Also, the few The interrelationship of the Pima and herbarium specimens of devil's claw collected Papago with devil's claw is profound and [226] ETHNOBOTANY OF DEVIL'S CLAW 227 3 O in O o 4-1 •S (A c o 2 a . o « M _o "o £ o u 0 °.^ 1 .1 o iz aX> 3 (A o. - I O c> . g •o I c o 8 a:-i ice, * O « s o 8. - 3 C o o II II 228 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY complex. Indeed, here we can only sum­ cultivate and use devil's claw in basketry, or marize it; for further information see Nabhan did so in the past. The Yavapai, northern et al. (1981) and Nabhan and Rea (n.d.). neighbors of the Pima in Arizona, cultivate The Papago and River Pima (collectively, the devil's claw and use its fibers as binding O'odham), whose language is Uto-Aztecan, elements in cottonwood or willow baskets of call devil's claw 'ihug and several variations exceptional quality. They formerly traded upon this name (Nabhan and Rea n.d.). They baskets with devil's claw fibers (Corbusier have a hierarchial folk taxonomy which dif­ 1886) to the Navajo, Yuma, and Papago for ferentiates domesticated from wild devil's agricultural products; today, most baskets are claw. The O'odham folk taxonomy for woven for the tourist demand (Robinson devil's claw seems to be in a state of 1954). Devil's claw also was formerly used transition or flux. in Yavapai healing rituals to treat blindness The O'odham and other Southwestern (Euler and Euler 1967). Nabhan found that Indian basketmakers strip bundles of fibers the Camp Verde Yavapai currently cultivate (called "splints") from the lateral surfaces var. Hohokamlana, whereas the Middle Ver­ of the two rostra (the "claws") that tip de, Prescott, and Fort McDowell Yavapai each fruit. The dark brown or black, highly cultivated or protected var. parviflora durable splints are employed as binding ele­ (Nabhan et al. 1981). ments in coiled basketry. They serve as The Yavapai, who speak a Hokan lan­ decoration, or to improve durability as they guage, call devil's claw helaka (Gifford are stronger and more resistant to abrasion 1936). Like the Papago, they wove both than are other fibers available to the specific sacred patterns and purely decora­ O'odham. Certain decorative patterns tive designs (Robinson 1954). Their intricate created with devil's claw fibers are consid­ sacred designs may indicate that they have ered sacred, perhaps because in the Papago gathered and used devil's claw in basketry creation myth the Great Spirit showed Papa­ for some time. go women how to weave devil's claw fibers The Walapai also speak a Hokan lan­ into different patterns that identified the guage, and their culture is closely related to baskets of each family or village (Wright that of the Yavapai (Newcomb 1974). They 1939). apparently obtained most of their agricul­ Even in the last century, some of the tural seed, perhaps including devil's claw, O'odham gathered devil's claw fruit from the from the Havasupai or Mohave (Kniffin et al. wild. Now the majority either buy the claws 1935). In the past, they cultivated devil's or fruit or cultivate the plants using a claw and wove its fiber into baskets (Mason variety of agricultural and gardening 1904) made mostly of sumac twigs (Robinson techniques, according to the extant economic 1954) which were once prized and traded and ecological factors. It is notable that throughout the Southwest (McGuire 1983). the O'odham territory (Fig. 1) is the center They call devil's claw mak dtuny (Watahomi- of genetic diversity for Proboscidea parvi­ gie et al. 1982) or makatiu in older ethno­ flora suhsp. parviflora (Bretting 1982). graphies. Devil's claw fibers are woven into Hava­ USE OF DEVIL'S CLAW IN BASKETRY supai willow baskets (Robinson 1954; McKee BY OTHER GROUPS et al. 1975). Basketry has long been a very Many other native Southwestern groups important trade item for the Havasupai ETHNOBOTANY OF DEVIL'S CLAW 229 (Schwartz 1983), who traditionally have dragging across the ground" (Spier 1933:122- farmed Havasu Canyon, where both var. par­ 123; Forde 1931: 124-125). According to viflora and var. Hohokamlana have been col­ Forde (1931), the Yuma no longer weave lected. Their plantings of devil's claw baskets. There is no evidence that these (usually var. Hohokamlana) bear enough fruit Colorado River groups cultivated devil's claw for local use; therefore, plants are rarely during recent times. gathered today from wild populations. How­ The Maricopa currently live near the ever, Nabhan (Nabhan 889 and 900, ARIZ)1 Pima in south-centreil Arizona, but until recently found that plants probably referable about 150 years ago their homeland lay west to var. parviflora were protected, or even along the Gila River (Castetter and Bell cultivated, in Havasupai fields. 1951). They speak a Hokan dialect, like The Havasupai apparently imported var. their western relatives, and call devil's claw Hohokamlana or a non-local type of var. gwoxotd n. In Maricopa coiled willow bas­ parviflora about a century ago. Spier ketry, devil's claw fibers serve as binding (1929:232) was told that it was introduced by elements on the base and on the sides. "a Walapai wife, who procured it from a Pima baskets were also used by the Marico­ sister, who in turn got it from the Paiute." pa, and are highly prized household items It has been reported that the Havasupai (Lamb 1972). began to manufacture a new type of According to Castetter and Bell (1951), basketry tray coetaneously with their the Gila Pima, Papago, Maricopa, and the adoption of the "new" devil's claw, and the Hokan speakers of the southern Colorado availability of its perhaps superior fibers River Valley comprise a single, large cultural may have contributed to this innovation province, differentiable into two subgroups (McKee et al. 1975). These reports and by their different assemblages of crops. In­ morphological evidence (Bretting 1982) terestingly, the lower Colorado River tribes seemingly confirm that var. Hohokamlana and the Maricopa (recent immigrants from arrived among the Havasupai recently, where that region) apparently have not grown it is termed halaa' kaki-yula 'hooked-long' devil's claw, nor has this species been found according to WTiiting (specimen 1045/B4504, in the lower Colorado River Valley.